Obviously, you need to study a heavy amount of psychology to become a professional counsellor. You need to attend relevant courses, complete them successfully, and get your certificates. Unless you have professional credentials, you cannot start out as a counsellor! However, besides the official education for the certificate, you need to devote sufficient time at a personal understanding of psychology.
You have to have an open mind, and a deep sense of offering safety. Often, people visit counsellors to be safe from their own demons! The mind can be tricky. No patient would reveal the entire picture at first. You have to follow your understanding of the mind to bring out the right answers from the patient. You have to be careful that the answers are honest. Ensuring the vital aspects require a deep sense of clarity. Look up the following suggestions on how to be an excellent and intuitive counsellor.
Maintain a professional distance from the patient
It is vital to introspect the other mind without involving in its labyrinths. Minds are like weird magnets, pulling or repelling each other. You need to keep your magnet within a boundary so that you can feel the pull or repulsion, but from a distance.
Be careful about emotional involvements
Emotional involvements also cloud the judgment usually. Even the greatest surgeon may not choose to do an operation on his son! The connections of emotions can be strong, and a manipulative mind can use it as a tricking tool. A patient may try to convince you into believing something farthest from the actuality. You must have the necessary mental safety mechanism to handle such appointments. Besides, you are rendering a professional service. You are accepting a payment in return of your services. Where money plays the bridge, you must be careful.
Have your personal relaxing mechanism
It is vital for the counsellor to have some sort of a relaxing mechanism. It can be listening to your favorite music, or a habit of reading books everyday. It can also be the time with your family. Cherish the family moments, and keep professional discussions at a minimum, unless you need to share it surely. In addition, remember to keep time for vacationing. Your family is going to be your sanity refuge in the crazy world of professional psychiatry. The amount of derangement a human mind is capable of handling, sometimes stuns even the staunchest professionals.
Be compassionate and healing up to the last straw
Patients visit you to cure their fears, worries, perversions, repressed memories, sordid sexual experiences, and so many other things. Your task is not to judge but to help, but of course, you have to have a good judgment of intentions. Some patients do not want a cure. Be compassionate and healing up to the point where a patient wants to get rid of the problem. If the issue persists because the person finds it enjoyable, it is the right time to roughen up the conversation rightly.
Forsake sugarcoating the truth
If you can identify clear signs of a derangement, point out the truth gently, but avoid sugarcoating it. Often, people just need someone reliable to hold a mirror to their minds because they cannot bring themselves to the task. Hiding the signs of a twisted mental condition does not heal it.
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