Important Qualities of a Therapist: Congruence, Unconditional Positive Regard, Empathetic Understanding, Multicultural Awareness, and Self-Reflection

Running head: Counselling
Counselling
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Counselling
Introduction
Corey (2017) mentioned that the human aspect is one of critical influence to the
therapeutic process and many types of research have shown the centrality of the person of the
therapist as the main factor of effective therapy. The personal qualities of the therapist
influence his ability to create and sustain a healthy therapeutic alliance with the client
(Norcross & Lambert, 2011) and it is important to identify what are the qualities a therapist
or counsellor should have. This paper identifies five significant personal qualities that the
writer feels are important for a trained counsellor. The first three characteristics would be a)
congruence, b) unconditional positive regard and c) accurate empathetic understanding which
Carl Rogers believed are integral to a successful therapeutic relationship (Corey, 2017). The
fourth important characteristic will be multi-cultural awareness as the author will be
practising in a multi-ethnic environment has many different social and racial sub-cultures.
The last characteristic would be the ability to self-reflect, which also includes the awareness
to learn from mistakes and to self-heal.
Important qualities of a therapist.
Professional counsellors provide diagnosis, assessments, as well as counselling to
individuals going through psychological problems and stresses (Rodica, 2015). In order to be
effective in their roles, counsellors possess various qualities. To begin with, we have
congruence. Congruence in Car Roger’s definition means realness and genuineness. It is the
most important characteristic that must be present for all 2-way relationships to work, and
being real means the outer expression of a therapist fits his inner experience of the feelings
that are present during therapy (Corey, 2017). Kolden et al. (2011) mentioned that therapist

Counselling
should aim to achieve congruence with their clients and this meant to be open about the
feelings and attitudes during therapy and not to hide behind the front of a professional.
Being real will also mean that the therapist needs to have self-awareness of his
internal feelings during therapy and communicate these feelings effectively to the client
without affecting the therapeutic relationship. (Tudor & Worrall, 1994). The therapist should
take note that they should not fake acceptance if they do not agree with their clients or appear
to be over-enthusiastic to look genuine because this could constraint the therapy process
(Corey, 2017). In order to develop congruence, a therapist needs to hone communication
skills, especially active and engaged listening skills so that he can provide honest responses
of self-disclosures to the client’s thought, feeling or emotion (Kolden et al. 2011).
Secondly, we have unconditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard and
acceptance forms an integral part of a therapeutic relationship (Corey, 2017). Unconditional
positive regard and acceptance means that the therapist should provide real care to the client
without judging whether the client’s feelings, actions or thoughts. The author feels that it is
important for the client to feel accepted and understood during the therapy session, especially
in scenarios where the clients are unsure about whether they would be judged for their actions
and feelings. Showing unconditional regard for the client would allow him to feel accepted
and supported by the therapist (Cherry, 2018) and clients would feel more comfortable to
discuss and explore solutions for the issues they face in a therapeutic relationship.
Rogers (1957) mentioned that unconditional positive regard has no prerequisites for
accepting the client and this care must be non-possessive and should not be manipulated for
the therapist’s own needs. However, Rogers also shared that it is not possible for therapists to
show unconditional positive regard and acceptance for all clients (Corey, 2017), especially in
cases where the client continues to engage in negative actions that are incoherent with the

Counselling
therapist’s moral beliefs. In order to develop competence in showing positive regard, the
author felt that it is important to look back at the client’s current psychosocial development
stage and empathise with his current developmental challenges and issues. This allows the
therapist to look at the client beyond his surface behaviours and accept them for who they are
(Hill, 2014).
Thirdly, we have an empathetic understanding. Empathy is described by Carl Rogers
as one of the core conditions for effective counselling Rogers (1957). This section will look
into the importance of empathy in therapy and how the author could develop an accurate
empathic understanding to aid his training to be a therapist. In order to assist individuals
undergoing stress or difficult times, counsellors display empathy to their patients which is the
ability to feel what another individual is feeling or stand in the shoes of an individual. This
attribute calls for a counsellor forgetting oneself so as to be direct and open to a patient.
According to a study on the importance of empathy in counselling, psychotherapy
clients consider empathy to be essential in the professional and personal relationship they
have with their psychotherapist (Selva, 2017). Empathy is crucial in counselling since it
allows patients to feel connected, understood and heard. Besides, empathy builds trust
between the therapist and client hence higher levels of security and happiness are assured.
The treatment outcomes are also influenced by the level of empathy displayed by the
therapists. Therefore, success in counselling sessions may be depended on the level of
empathy directed towards the patients or individuals concerned.
Fourthly, we have multicultural awareness. This attribute is crucial to counsellors
since individuals in the quest of seeking counselling often come from various backgrounds
and walks of life (10 Multicultural Factors, 2017). Therefore, the need for multicultural
awareness in counselling is increasing as populations are becoming much diverse.