A curious little exercise I decided to embark upon. I interviewed myself, what lead me into counseling, what continues to be my driving force and what problems doe it create for myself and others….
I asked myself the following questions:
1.
What are your main motives for counselling?
2.
Do you ever feel curious when talking to
clients? How does this impact your work
with clients?
3.
To what extent are you drawn to clients who
have had similar experiences to you?
4.
Do you ever find yourself becoming
emotionally involved with clients, or with their
issues and concerns? How would you
recognise and handle this?
5.
What issues have you, personally, received
counselling for? To what extent have you dealt
effectively with any unfinished business? What
leads you to this conclusion?
6.
How do you handle clients ‘pressing your buttons’?
7.
How comfortable are you with confronting and
challenging clients?
8.
What do you do if clients become defensive?
9.
What do you do if clients start attacking you,
either personally or professionally?
10.
How do you handle feeling shocked by clients’
stories – what was done to them or what
they’ve done to others?
11.
How do you handle strong displays of
emotion – from tears, to s
tony silences, to
outbursts of anger?
12.
How easy do you find it to accept all clients,
regardless of their colour, gender, race, social
class, education, religion or belief system?
13.
Are there any client groups that you’d prefer
not to work with?
14.
How easy do you find it to accept all clients,
regardless of the is
sue they bring
to counselling?
Dylan Kerr Addiction Therapy 