Chapter 5 of 515% of exam

Core Counseling Attributes

This domain is about who the counselor is in the room: empathic, genuine, non-judgmental, culturally responsive, and aware of their own reactions. Questions usually offer several plausible responses and ask which best shows the attribute.

Empathy, regard, and genuineness

The person-centered conditions of genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and accurate empathy underpin the helping relationship. Empathic responding reflects the client's meaning or feeling; well-meant reassurance, advice, and praise often get in the way.

Rogers' conditions

Clients change in a relationship where the counselor is genuine and warm, shows unconditional positive regard, and expresses accurate empathy.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019)

Reflect feeling

Complex reflections name the underlying feeling or meaning and deepen exploration.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019)

Roadblocks

Reassuring, advising, moralizing, praising, and labeling can derail listening; sympathy is not empathy.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019), Gordon's 12 roadblocks

Acceptance is not agreement

Respect for the client does not require approving everything the client does.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019)

Affirm with 'you'

Affirm specific efforts and strengths, not the counselor's feelings, and check how the affirmation lands.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019)

Self-awareness and non-judgmental stance

Counselors notice their own values, reactions, and history, and keep them from steering the client. Supervision and consultation are the usual route when a personal reaction affects the work.

Do not impose values

Be aware of your own values and beliefs, and avoid imposing them, especially when they differ from the client's goals.

ACA Code of Ethics (2014) A.4.b; NBCC Code of Ethics (2023) standard 17

Know your attitudes toward suicide

Take a personal inventory of experiences and reactions around suicide and clarify them in supervision.

SAMHSA TIP 50 (2009)

Avoid the labeling trap

Pressing a client to accept a label such as 'alcoholic' evokes discord; focus on the client's concerns.

SAMHSA TIP 35 (2019)

Consult when unsure

Obtain supervision or consultation when unsure about treatment or professional responsibilities.

NBCC Code of Ethics (2023) standard 5; ACA Code of Ethics (2014) C.2.e

Culture, diversity, and group therapeutic factors

Multicultural competence is required across all practice. It shapes how diagnoses are made, how confidentiality is discussed, and how language barriers are handled. In groups, the counselor fosters the therapeutic factors that make group work effective.

Culture and diagnosis

Culture shapes how clients define and live with their problems; guard against historical and social bias in misdiagnosis.

ACA Code of Ethics (2014) E.5.b-c

Cultural meanings of confidentiality

Hold ongoing discussions with clients about how, when, and with whom information is shared.

ACA Code of Ethics (2014) B.1.a

Nondiscrimination

No discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, culture, language preference, immigration status, or other characteristics.

ACA Code of Ethics (2014) C.5

Therapeutic factors

Yalom's factors include instilling hope, universality, altruism, and corrective recapitulation of the primary family group.

SAMHSA TIP 41 (2005)

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