Transcript Building your foundation as a helper ----Understanding yourself and interpersonal patterns

Building your foundation
as a helper
----Understanding yourself
and interpersonal patterns
Typical needs and motivations of helpers
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The need to make an
impact
The need to return a
favor
The need to care for
others
The need for self-help
The need to be needed
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The need for money
The need for prestige and
status
The need to provide
answers
The need for control others
The need for variety and
flexibility
How these needs might enhance or interfere with
a person’s ability to help others?
The Effective Counselor
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The most important instrument you have is YOU
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Be authentic
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Be a therapeutic person and be clear about who
you are
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Ideal helper
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Warm, accepting, caring
Know who they are
Open to change
Sincere, honest, & authentic
Invested, willing to take risks
Good boundaries
Live in the present
Sensitive to culture…………..more
Interpersonal patterns (see handout)
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Intimacy needs
Need for approval from others
Importance of relationships in life
Preoccupation with relationships
Need for relationships
Level of trust
Level of trustworthiness in relationships
Level of confidence in relationships
Dependency Needs
Self-versus-other orientation in relationships
Comfort with asking for help
Importance given to feedback from others
Interpersonal patterns (see handout)
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Level of self-versus-other absorption
Approach-avoidance behaviors
Level of value granted to relationships
Social skills
Comfort in new relationships
Center of attention
Self-disclosure in relationship
Emotional expressiveness in relationships
Identification with others
Conflict with authority figures
Stance toward equality in relationships
Source: Basic Skills in Psychotherapy and Counseling, by C. Brems (3rd), 2001
Counseling for the Counselor
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Being a client, you can:
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Therapists can help their client no further
than they have been willing to go in their
own life.
The Counselor’s Values
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Be aware of how your values influence your
interventions
Recognize that you are not value-neutral
Your job is to assist clients in finding answers
that are most congruent with their own
values
Find ways to manage value conflicts between
you and your clients
Begin therapy by exploring the client’s goals
Multicultural Counseling
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Become aware of your biases and values
Attempt to understand the world from your
client’s standpoint
Gain a knowledge of the dynamics of
oppression, racism, discrimination, and
stereotyping
Study the historical background, traditions,
and values of your client
Be open to learning from your client
Multicultural counseling Competence
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Awareness of self
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Understand others
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Appropriate Skills
*Adapted from Sue, D. R., & Sue, D. (2004).Counseling the culturally diverse:
Theory and practice (4th Edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Eight Racial Related Defenses
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Color Blindness
Color Consciousness
Cultural Transference (client)
Cultural Counter transference (counselor)
Cultural Ambivalence
Pseudo-transference
Over-identification (minority therapist)
Identification with the Oppressor (minority
therapist)
Issues Faced by Beginning Therapists
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Common concerns:
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Unrealistic beliefs: