Module 2

Professional counselors are licensed mental health therapist who provides assessment,
diagnosis and counseling to people facing a variety of life stresses and psychological
problems. For them to become effective in their roles, give three (3) specific skills /
characteristics that have to acquire.

1.  Empathetic

     Counselors are a professional who provides guidance and make a way to a better
life. One of the skills that a counselor should possess is being empathetic. In order to
understand the client, a counselor should be able to put his/her shoe to the patient’s, in
that way he/she would avoid invalidating the patient’s feelings,  otherwise a possible
conflict would arise; gaining a patient’s trust.

2. Good listening skills

    In times like this, most of the time counselors would encounter people who are
depress and anxious. Those kinds of patients probably have been struggling keeping
everything on themselves, trying to fight demons on their mind; they feel like they have
no one, constantly worrying about everything, and etc. In cases like that, patient’s need
someone who would listen which a counselor should be good at. Good listening skills
would make the patients feel like they are not alone, that there is someone they can
lean on, that there is someone who actually care, and there is someone who would help
them win the battle they have been fighting alone.

3. Patience

    A counselor’s profession is not easy as they think it is, there are patients that still
having a hard time telling what they really felt so a counselor should have tons of
patience. People like them must have been impatient to themselves, that is why they
need someone who is patient no matter how hard it is to deal with them.