Competencies of a Counselor:
and his or her substance-related and other presenting clinical problems. Cultural awareness is
Counselors are trained to provide guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems.
A professional counselor needs a graduate-level degree from an accredited university. They
should also complete supervised experience before they're allowed to practice on their own. In
this lesson, we will follow Jeremy's experience as he attends graduate school and seeks
licensure as an independent counselor.
Cultural competence has evolved into more than a discrete skill set or knowledge base; it also
requires ongoing self-evaluation on the part of the practitioner. Culturally competent
counselors are aware of their own cultural groups and of their values, assumptions, and biases
regarding other cultural groups. Moreover, culturally competent counselors strive to
understand how these factors affect their ability to provide culturally effective services to
clients.
Self-Knowledge
Counselors with a strong belief in evidence-based treatment methods can find it hard to relate
to clients who prefer traditional healing methods. Conversely, counselors with strong trust in
traditional healers and culturally accepted methods can fail to understand clients who seek
scientific explanations of, and solutions to, their substance abuse and mental health problems.
To become culturally competent, counselors should begin by exploring their own cultural
heritage and identifying how it shapes their perceptions of normality, abnormality, and the
counseling process.
Counselors who understand themselves and their own cultural groups and perceptions are better
equipped to respect clients with diverse belief systems. In gaining an awareness of their
cultures, attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions through self-examination, training, and clinical
supervision, counselors should consider the factors described in the following sections.
Cultural awareness
Counselors who are aware of their own cultural backgrounds are more likely to acknowledge
and explore how culture affects their client–counselor relationships. Without cultural
awareness, counselors may provide counseling that ignores or does not address obvious issues
that specifically relate to race, ethnic heritage, and culture. Lack of awareness can discount the
importance of how counselors' cultural backgrounds—including beliefs, values, and
attitudes—influence their initial and diagnostic impressions of clients. Without cultural
awareness, counselors can unwittingly use their own cultural experiences as a template to
prejudge and assess client experiences and clinical presentations. They may struggle to see the
cultural uniqueness of each client, assuming that they understand the client's life experiences
and background better than they really do. With cultural awareness, counselors examine how
their own beliefs, experiences, and biases affect their definitions of normal and abnormal
behavior. By valuing this awareness, counselors are more likely to take the time to understand
the client's cultural groups and their role in the therapeutic process, the client's relationships,
the first step toward becoming a culturally competent counselor.
Trust and power
Counselors need to understand the impact of their role and status within the client–counselor
relationship. Client perceptions of counselors' influence, power, and control vary in diverse
cultural contexts. In some contexts, counselors can be seen as all-knowing professionals, but
in others, they can be viewed as representatives of an unjust system. Counselors need to explore
how these dynamics affect the counseling process with clients from diverse backgrounds. Do
client perceptions inhibit or facilitate the process? How do they affect the level of trust in the
client–counselor relationship? These issues should be identified and addressed early in the
counseling process. Clients should have opportunities to talk about and process their
perceptions, past experiences, and current needs.
Practicing within limits
A key element of ethical care is practicing within the limits of one's competence. Counselors
must engage in self-exploration, critical thinking, and clinical supervision to understand their
clinical abilities and limitations regarding the services that they are able to provide, the
populations that they can serve, and the treatment issues that they have sufficient training to
address. Cultural competence requires an ability to assess accurately one's clinical and cultural
limitations, skills, and expertise. Counselors risk providing services beyond their expertise if
they lack awareness and knowledge of the influence of cultural groups on client–counselor
relationships, clinical presentation, and the treatment process or if they minimize, ignore, or
avoid viewing treatment in a cultural context.
Advice to Counselors and Clinical Supervisors: Using the RESPECT Mnemonic To
Reinforce Culturally Responsive Attitudes and Behaviors
 Respect—Understand how respect is shown within given cultural groups. Counselors
demonstrate this attitude through verbal and nonverbal communications.
 Explanatory model—Devote time in treatment to understanding how clients perceive
their presenting problems. What are their views about their own substance abuse or
mental symptoms? How do they explain the origin of current problems? How similar
or different is the counselor's perspective?
 Sociocultural context—Recognize how class, race, ethnicity, gender, education,
socioeconomic status, sexual and gender orientation, immigrant status, community,
family, gender roles, and so forth affect care.
 Power—Acknowledge the power differential between clients and counselors.
 Empathy—Express, verbally and nonverbally, the significance of each client's
concerns so that he or she feels understood by the counselor.
  Concerns and fears—Elicit clients' concerns and apprehensions regarding help-seeking • to understand, recognise and integrate personal and professional values and be accepting of
behavior and initiation of treatment. the challenge of difference
 Therapeutic alliance/Trust—Commit to behaviors that enhance the therapeutic
• to work with risk, resilience and change
relationship; recognize that trust is not inherent but must be earned by counselors.
• to have an awareness and understanding of issues of personal and professional power and
Advice to Counselors and Clinical Supervisors: Behaviors for Counselors To Avoid
authority
 Addressing clients informally; counselors should not assume familiarity until they
• to tolerate uncertainty and the unknown
grasp cultural expectations and client preferences.
 Failing to monitor and adjust to the client's verbal pacing (e.g., not allowing time for
clients to respond to questions).
 Using counseling jargon and treatment language (e.g., “I am going to send you to our Responsibilities of on the job counselors:
 Work with individuals, groups and communities to improve mental health
primary stabilization program to obtain a biopsychosocial and then, afterwards, to
 Encourage clients to discuss emotions and experiences
partial”).
 Examine issues including substance abuse, aging, bullying, anger management, careers,
 Using statements based on stereotypes or other preconceived ideas generated from
depression, relationships, LGBTQ issues, self-image, stress and suicide
experiences with other clients from the same culture.
 Work with families
 Using gestures without understanding their meaning and appropriate context within the
 Help clients define goals, plan action and gain insight
given culture.
 Develop therapeutic processes
 Neglecting the client's history (i.e., not understanding the client's individual and  Refer clients to psychologists and other services
cultural background).  Take a holistic (mind and body) approach to mental health care
 Providing an explanation of how current difficulties can be resolved without including
the client in the process to obtain his or her own explanations of the problems and how
he or she thinks these problems should be addressed.
 Downplaying the importance of traditional practices and failing to coordinate these
services as needed.
Core Competencies
The core competencies for fitness to practice counselling include the capacity:
• to enter and understand the world of another person and to be authentically present for
him/her in the therapeutic relationship
• to understand the counselling relationship and process in theory and in practice
• to establish and maintain a therapeutic relationship
• to work coherently within a theoretical model that informs the counselling practice
• to be ethical and accountable in all aspects of practice
• to use supervision for development of self-awareness and safety of clients
• to recognise and respond to one’s needs and limits in relation to professional competence,
boundaries and personal circumstances • to value and support difference and diversity
.

Professions Job Responsibilities

What Is an Army Mental Health Specialist? Members of the armed forces, like the Army, often have difficult times - to say the least - when it comes to staying mentally
and emotionally stable. These brave men and women go through grueling training, and are separated from their families when they’re shipped overseas to live in an
unfamiliar world amidst Continue Reading

Army Mental Health Specialist

Career counselors help prepare their clients for the start, change, or advancement of their career. They provide consulting, coaching, and counseling so that clients can
explore their interests and options more in-depth. The counselors take things like personality, aptitude, interests, personality, and behavior into consideration as they help
guide clients towards careers that will make them happy.

Career Counselor

Child abuse counselors have the demanding and rewarding job of helping victims of serious child abuse try to rebuild their psyche, trust, and happiness. They use their
training to identify, analyze, and treat specific symptoms of child abuse and they provide crucial therapy to help the child overcome their awful ordeal. Some of that
therapy can involve playing, or encouraging children to speak their minds, or even working with the family to ensure the child is provided a safe and comfortable
environment to continue their development.

Child Abuse Counselor

Child counselors are specifically trained to provide outpatient counseling treatment services for children, adolescents, and their families. They perform assessments for
specific issues such as ADHD and autism and they also offer counseling services for children with behavioral, social, or emotional issues. They use their training to help
families identify and treat issues in children such as weight disorders, anger problems, or social anxiety disorders.

Child/Pediatric Counselor
Professions Job Responsibilities

Community Mental Health Counselors are mental health professionals who provide therapy, consulting, and coaching to people who are having issues in a community
setting. These counselors are well-versed in the makeup of their community and they try to help clients understand their relationship to that community and help identify
and treat issues and problems that arise out of the community setting. They are often charged with helping people adjust to and understand their community better as to
minimize issues and promote mental health for everyone.

Community Mental Health Counselor

Conflict resolution is the art and science of resolving disputes in healthy and mutually agreed-upon ways. When handled correctly, conflict can actually be a good thing
that leads to teamwork and better communication. When handled incorrectly, it can permanently damage relationships, slow progress and create even larger issues. A
conflict resolution mediator is essential in a variety of professional fields and can often same companies or people time and money that would have been otherwise
wasted.

Conflict Resolution

The role of a Couples Counselor is rather straightforward. Couples Counselors are absolutely trained psychologists who are specifically tasked with helping couples of
all ages lead happy and healthy relationships. In some cases this can mean dealing with serious mental and emotional issues and in other cases in can mean helping
couples understand themselves and how they affect each other. Marriage and Family Therapists are very similar to Couples Counselors and their roles are the same.

Couples Counselor

The word “crisis” pops up in the media everywhere today, from internet news to television broadcasts, on the headlines of newspapers to the home next door. While
research reports that most people consider themselves happy, unfortunately, many people do not lead balanced lives.

Crisis Intervention Specialist

Professions Job Responsibilities

Depression counselors are specifically trained to deal with the mental, emotional, and physical issues that can arise out of depression. Depression counselors don’t just
prescribe medication, they try to drill down to the root cause of the depression and help clients identify steps they can take to overcome the depression. Helping clients
understand why they are depressed and helping them through the steps to recovery can have a profound impact on the quality of life for the clients.

Depression Counselor

Domestic violence is one of the more prevalent issues that take place in the home setting and domestic violence counselors are the ones who help victims of domestic
abuse deal with and overcome their traumatic experiences. Their training helps them identify certain adverse effects of domestic violence and they can then help the
patient slowly work to treat and combat those effects. They provide an important therapy for clients in need of understanding of their trauma and someone to listen to
their issues.

Domestic Violence Counselor

Geriatric counselors provide treatment, analysis, and counseling services to seniors and their families. The counselors are considered experts and have specialized
training and knowledge of common mental health issues that are known to affect seniors in particular. They can assess, identify and treat problems so that seniors can
understand the issues they face and work to overcome them and live comfortably. These services are usually provided to seniors who live in long-term care and
residential facilities, and help these seniors live a fulfilling and comfortable life.

Geriatric Counselor

Grief counselors are usually licensed therapists who help people cope with the grief and sense of loss that usually follows the death of a loved one, a particularly
emotional divorce, or another tragic life experience. Coping can happen in a number of different ways and grief counselors are adept at identifying what method of
counseling or treatment works with each individual. They try to help clients not only deal with that grief, but also help those clients deal with the grief while they
continue to be productive members of society.

Grief Counselor
Professions Job Responsibilities

Most think of guidance counselors in the school setting and it is true, most guidance counselors work in schools. But on a more general level, guidance counselors are
not just solely responsible with helping students make wise educational and career choices. They can also provide young adults with career advice and help students of
all ages adjust socially to the school environment to fulfill their potential in the classroom. They can be found in primary and secondary schools and even in post-
secondary institutions as well but many can also be found working career centers and job-placement organizations too.

Guidance Counselor

Licensed professional counselors provide a variety of different kinds of care to patients. LPCs are trained to provide mental, emotional and even physical care for
patients suffering from everything from abuse, addiction and even depression. They can work with individuals, couples, or families and really can identify and treat a
large swath of issues. Licensed professional counselors are some of the most common mental health professionals in the workplace. They can be employed everywhere
from hospitals and community health organizations to elder care facilities and rehab clinics.

Licensed Professional Counselor

What Is Marriage and Family Counseling? Despite many people looking forward to "happily ever after", this doesn't always happen. Many relationships and families
aren't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, and some have so many problems that they seem irreparable. However, contrary to what some may believe, happy
marriages and peaceful families are possible.

Marriage & Family Counselor

What Is Mental Health Counseling? Life is full of frustration and difficult times. Most adults will usually have to deal with such things as balancing family and career
life, and paying bills that they can’t afford. These stressful times can be very hard to get through and extremely overwhelming for some.

Mental Health Counselor

Professions Job Responsibilities

What Is Multi-Cultural Counseling? It’s no secret that the population in this country continues to rise. This increase can be attributed not only to longer lifespans and
births, but also to an increasing amount of immigrants to this country.

Multi Cultural Counselor

Pastoral counselors are psychologically trained ministers of faith who are responsible for tending to the physical and emotional needs of their followers or congregations.
They work within the religious community and are a result of the belief that therapy can be combined with faith and science. They can help followers with a wide range
of afflictions including family issues, depression, abuse and substance issues.

Pastoral Counselor

Rehabilitation counselors are responsible for treating patients with physical, mental, or emotional issues so that they can live as independently as possible. Trained at the
graduate level, rehabilitation counselors deal with psychological and physical issues that affect patients including post-traumatic stress disorders and severe brain
injuries. They combine the knowledge to help patients understand and overcome their disability.

Rehabilitation Counselor

School counselors are responsible for all aspects of their students’ educational life from academic achievement to social adjustment to even career selection and
development. They work within the school infrastructure to support and foster academic success as well as personal and social development. They help ensure their
students remain well-adjusted and prepared for whatever lies ahead.

School Counselor
Professions Job Responsibilities

Spiritual counselors deal with patients who have suffered spiritual trauma or dissatisfaction and they help these patients get in touch with their spirituality, understand
what is afflicting them, and overcome or deal with that issue. These counselors combine their spiritual or religious knowledge with an in-depth understanding of the
psychology behind the issues so that their patients can live happy and fulfilling lives.

Spiritual Counselor

Substance abuse is an unfortunate issue for thousands of people across the country and substance abuse counselors are ones trained to help people understand the
motivations behind their substance abuse issue, and then help people overcome and defeat those issues. They have psychological and physiological training that helps
them understand emotional and mental issues of substance abuse as well as the physical ones.

Substance Counselor

Suicide Intervention counselors have some of the most stressful and rewarding jobs as they are specifically training in the psychology behind suicidal feelings and
depression and their job is to help patients with suicidal thoughts think more positively and continue to live a fulfilling and rewarding life. These counselors are trained
to identify motivations behind suicidal thoughts and help the patients deal with those motivations so they can gain more self-confidence and self-worth.

Suicide Intervention Counselor

Transformational counselors offer an alternative form of mental and physical healing that focuses on self-improvement, spiritual healing, and deeper life satisfaction.
The counselors combine traditional psychological knowledge with alternative methods for inner-healing to help patients find a greater sense of purpose, excitement, joy,
and self-satisfaction.

Transformational Counselor
Professions Job Responsibilities

With more than five million veterans in the country, veterans’ counselors have their hands full assisting the nation’s heroes with a myriad of physical, emotional, mental,
or social problems that can arise in people who have experienced combat. Veterans’ counselors help their patients identify the root of their issues and then help them
adjust to a more traditional life by helping them treat and cope with the issues.

Veterans Counselor

Severe and permanent disabilities can be crippling to a person's career and daily life. Vocational rehabilitation counselors are specifically trained to help people with
such disabilities cope with these disabilities by helping them find jobs and live on their own. These disabilities can be wide-ranging and can include physical, mental and
emotional disabilities. They can also include severe mental illnesses and substance abuse issues. They work with these patients to help them learn to live more active
lives and, more importantly, secure gainful employment.

Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor