Nuturing

2014. Cait Johnson.

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The first few chapters provide insight on effective counseling. One of the concepts covered was avoiding countertransference as a counselor. With each one of us having had their own life experiences, issues may arise that may  get in the way with the counseling relationship. The counselor is therefore responsible for ensuring that they do not harm their counselees. The therapist will want to avoid countertransfarance because clients are coming into counseling with their own burden and the clients do not need to have an additional burden to bear. Countertransference may leave the client vulnerable, perpetuate clients problems  and disrupt the direction of the counseling process. One example provided by Thomas and Sosin (2011) is that the counselor may have the need to nurture the client. The counselor may view their counselee as fragile and in need of emotional support. As a result, the counselor may find it difficult to confront or challenge the client resulting in a loss of focus from the goals of counseling. The counseling process becomes stalled because the counselee is trying to unconsciously fulfill his unmet needs. The client may end up becoming more dependent on the counselor.  It is therefore important for the counselor to recognize and manage personal feelings. According to Thomas and Sosin (2011), effective counseling helps the counselee to develop a sense of dependency and reliance on God rather than on the counselor.

Reference

Thomas, J.  & Sosin, L. (2011). Therapeutic expedition: Equipping the Christian counselor for the journey.