Reflective Writing on Counseling: Skills, Beliefs, and Future Goals

This reflective essay explores the personal and professional development of a counseling student. The author identifies key personal characteristics, such as the ability to establish therapeutic relationships, authenticity, and a good sense of humor, that positively influence their work. The essay also discusses the importance of avoiding personal prejudices and problems, and respecting clients' beliefs and cultures. The student assesses their current skill set, highlighting strengths in attending and questioning skills, while acknowledging weaknesses in short temper and summarizing. They are currently enrolled in a counseling workshop program at the University of Illinois and aim to become a professional counselor. The essay reflects on their journey, the skills they've learned, and the goals they've set for their future career.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
Personal characteristics that could positively influence my work as a counselor are
very much crucial in developing my skills as a counselor. The primary characteristic that I need
to have is to develop an ability to establish an effective therapeutic relationship with my client.
My interpersonal and personal skills, client-agency and other extra therapeutic factors will
influence my work as a counselor. I must have a proper identity which will allow my client to
recognize me, every time I conduct a session with him. I need to be authentic, honest and sincere
in my approaches, which will ensure the trust of my client (Simons et al., 2017). A good sense of
humour will allow me to put life events in perspective. This factor will allow my client to enjoy
the counselling session. I must listen to my client very carefully and then derive a conclusion
about him or her. This condition will be met if I dive deep into the matter of the discussion.
Lastly, I need to ensure that I am not thinking about my client's issues, in my leisure times. This
condition will assure my well being and a fresh feeling when I am conducting a new session with
my client. All of the above-stated characteristics will positively influence the work of a
counselor (Mellin, Hunt & Nichols, 2011).
Personal prejudice, values and problems must not interfere with my ability to work with
clients. Personal prejudice will pose a detrimental issue to my work since I may not consider the
condition of every client equally (Tilley, McLeod & McLeod, 2015). This will make some of my
clients to lose their trust in me. Personal problems should not come in between the counselling
sessions. According to Geldard, Geldard and Foo, (2017), these problems can hamper the
interaction process of my client and me. I must respect my client in his ways. As an example, if
my client has some spiritual beliefs, then I have to respect his beliefs without any biasness.
Racism should be avoided by interaction procedures. On the condition of racist behaviour from
me, my client can deny having any conversation with me. This kind of personality can have

2Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
damaging effects on the carrier of a counselor (Corey, 2015). A right attitude will consist of
respecting every perspective of my client in most of the possible ways. For this factor to
function, culture must be incorporated into the counselling practice. Culture can be incorporated
into the process by knowing about the background and worldview of all the clients (Paris, 2013).
As a counselor, my skills mainly includes some communication skills. These skills vary
from person to person. Some of my skills are good; however, some of the skills need
improvement. First comes my skill of attending. This skill helps me to support my client in both
physical and psychological ways. I also use a particular skill termed as SOLER (Sit squarely).
By using SOLER, we can maintain eye contact while talking (Bedi & Hayes, 2019). This skill
allows me to be genuine to my clients and helps me to produce my inner attitudes and respect to
my client. My questioning skills are also good. I can provide my client with some in-depth
questions, which allows me to understand my client in a better way although these skills help me
in interacting with and understanding my client in a much broader sense than others who lack
these skills. However, my weak points include my short temper and providing a summary of the
issue to my client. My short temper mainly comes to play sometimes when I get biased about
some fact. Although I am trying to recover it by removing any sense of biasness from my
personality, my issues still exist with summarizing. I spend a lot of time in understanding the
psychological condition of my client. This factor removes my attention slightly from the central
issue of my client. In other words, I try to find the cause rather than listening to its present
outcome. Thus, I need to remove my biasness from my personality, along with tackling my issue
of a short temper. Questioning skills can be improved more by listening to the client rather than
asking in-depth questions (Weger et al., 2014).

3Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
I am pursuing my masters in counselling from the University of Illinois. Currently, I am
attending a counselling workshop program hosted by my university. I have to undergo several
rounds of counselling with different clients who are visiting this seven-day workshop. This
program has made me understand my skills, my weak points, as well as my strong points in
counselling someone. In future, I aim to be a professional counselor, provided I can complete my
master degree with a good score and understand the studies in depth.

4Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING
References:
Bedi, R., & Hayes, S. (2019). Clients’ Perspectives on, Experiences of, and Contributions to the
Working Alliance. Working Alliance Skills for Mental Health Professionals, 111.
Corey. (2014). Counselling (pp. 18,25). Corey.
Geldard, D., Geldard, K., & Foo, R. Y. (2017). Basic personal counselling: A training manual
for counsellors. Cengage AU.
Mellin, E. A., Hunt, B., & Nichols, L. M. (2011). Counselor professional identity: Findings and
implications for counseling and interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Counseling &
Development, 89(2), 140-147.
Paris, J. (2013). How the history of psychotherapy interferes with integration. Journal of
Psychotherapy Integration, 23(2), 99.
Simons, L., Haas, D., Massella, J., Young, J., & Toth, P. (2017). Exploring Professional Identity
Development in Alcohol and Drug Counselors in the 21st Century. Journal of Alcohol
and Drug Education, 61(2), 40-61.
Tilley, E., McLeod, J., & McLeod, J. (2015). An exploratory qualitative study of values issues
associated with training and practice in pluralistic counselling. Counselling and
Psychotherapy Research, 15(3), 180-187.
Weger Jr, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Robinson, M. C. (2014). The relative effectiveness
of active listening in initial interactions. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), 13-31.

5Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING ON COUNSELLING