ABSTRACT
Now that you have begun to look at your own characteristics and have completed several exercises to help you develop data about yourself as a people person, take a look at some of the more specic characteristics associated with being a counselor. e following list includes descriptors or characteristics that many people in the counseling professions would identify as very important:
Be a good listener.• Be open-minded.• Be able to hear strong emotions expressed.• Be able to let people make their own decisions.• Be positive and optimistic about possibilities.• Be able to work without specic reinforcement or recognition.• Be interested in and able to work with many dierent • populations. Be empathetic without getting “hooked” by another’s situation.• Be aware of your own boundaries and be able to maintain them.• Be able to take care of your own physical, emotional, and men-• tal well-being. Be intellectually curious and a continuing learner.•
e list above is not comprehensive. ere are other characteristics that could be added depending on the kind of counseling philosophy you take on as your own and depending on the kind of counselor or the kind of counseling setting in which you work. If we examine each of the items in the list above, some of the explanation for each would be as follows.
