ANSWER:

1.

An effective counselor is the one who is respectful, non-judgmental and has a flexible attitude towards his clients (Keane, 2014). George is often noticed to be judgmental and narrow-minded about the people who he finds are different from him. His supervisor has also told him about his characteristic of being guarded and defensive. Furthermore, he always thinks that the other people try to put him down and hence, he often forces his opinions on the people. These characteristics will greatly influence his attempt to be an effective counselor. A counselor is one who gives advice to people coping with depression, loss, relationship issues, addictions and other several struggles.

Being judgmental and narrow-minded to certain people who are different than him suggests that he has a certain level of xenophobia. It can have a great affect on the capability of George to be helpful in the field of counseling. Furthermore, it is also doubtful that he would be effective in influencing the ones who he himself believes to be unreachable or undesirable.

Furthermore, George is guarded and defensive. He has put up a wall in between others and himself. Having such a personality which is unapproachable signifies the other people to not to come back around such people. May be, such a personality of George is the result of him getting hurt by someone else. As the saying goes, the person who is hurt tends to hurt others.

Apparently, George thinks that the other are always humiliating and belittling him. This false perception of George will also greatly affect him counseling career. This will lead others to receive him specifically the way George portray himself i.e. undesirable and unrealizable.

With the same, George is highly opinionated. To a counselor, people come when the need assistance, advice and honest response. Such attitude of George will make his client think of him as an annoying and a self-centered man.

2.

The five of the most important skills that a counselor should have to be effective in their field are:

• Questioning skills
• Attitudinal skills
• Verbal communication skills
• Listening skills
• Giving leads (Silverman, Kurtz & Draper, 2016)

The attitudinal skills include respect, guidance, empathy, unconditional positive regards, self-closure and confrontation (Jayne & Ray, 2015). It is important in the therapeutic process because it has the ability to influence the overall performance of the client. If client is ensured that his problems is being taken into account, he is been actively heard and that if the counselor is taking deep interest in his situation, he is likely to put out everything that is disturbing him so that the counselor could suggest him more effective solutions for his problems. Apparently, verbal communication is also an important skill that should be never neglected. If proper vocabulary is been used, understanding and rapport will not be hindered. With the same, the emotional phase of the verbal communication refers to low volume and gestures. A counselor must be sensitive to both emotional and literal phases of the verbal communication. Furthermore, active listening is not just a matter of receiving what the client is saying, in fact, it is about receiving how he says it. Many of the times, how the client communicates is more revealing that what they actually say. Hence, for getting more important and in-depth information the counselor must have good listening skills within himself.  Lastly, giving leads is one of the vital skills needed in an effective counselor.

3.

The challenge of counseling ethically means that counselor will inevitably encounter some situations where he will face competing obligations (Bond, 2015). There is a lack of empathy and sense of respect within George. According to the ethical codes of counseling and psychotherapy, a counselor must respect his client’s autonomy. He must alleviate personal suffering and distress. According to NASW and ASCA; If George does not change his way of interacting with his clients; he would be suspended from practicing his professional career (Herlihy & Corey, 2014).

4.

George must learn to forgive the limitations of others and do not take himself so seriously. In order to make people around him feel comfortable with him, George must cultivate the ability to laugh at himself within him. He should try to involve with people belonging from diverse culture more and more and must listen to them first before speaking something. He must cope up with his problem of forcing his own opinions on other rather than try to work according the opinions of others. He must communicate more and more with others in order to get gel up with them fast. In order to develop his listening skills, George must try to implement the habit of facing the speaker and maintain eye contact with him. He must be relaxed and attentive. He must be open-minded and must understand that everyone is not same. Thinking and perceptions changes from people to people. He must accept this fact. While listening, George must wait for his speaker to finish up first before imposing his solutions and coming up into conclusion.

References:

Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.

Herlihy, B., & Corey, G. (2014). Boundary issues in counseling: Multiple roles and responsibilities. John Wiley & Sons.

Jayne, K. M., & Ray, D. C. (2015). Play therapists’ demonstration of the attitudinal conditions in child-centered play therapy. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 14(2), 119-136.

Keane, A. (2014). The influence of therapist mindfulness practice on psychotherapeutic work: a mixed-methods study. Mindfulness, 5(6), 689-703.

Silverman, J., Kurtz, S., & Draper, J. (2016). Skills for communicating with patients. CRC Press.