Counsellor’s Value

Respect is one of the values that could benefit the relationship with my clients. From an early age, my parents taught me that every person deserves to be treated fairly, as I could wish then to treat me. I addition to professional training and academic work, I uphold a high level of respect for everyone, including my clients, making sure not to harm them or rush into judgment. Egan (2013) explains that such is a level of cultural competence, which enhances geniuses, commitment to clients’ goodwill, and focus on the clients’ agenda. That way, clients feel valued and are willing to cooperate throughout the course of our professional relationship, leading to better health outcomes.

However, privileges could hinder the effectiveness of my relationship with clients. As mentioned by Egan (2013), privilege is offered by cultural assumptions or being in some respectful categories. I have found over time that I tend to give increased attention to clients who are educators. This may be because my parent was an educator, and I experienced have psychological struggles or because my love for her has made me defensive of educators. A study has found that a lack of equity in therapeutic relationships hinders the resilience and effectiveness of social help interventions (Leonard, 2020).  Thus, privileges hinder the effectiveness of my relationship with clients.

I look forward to overcoming this hindrance by working towards the delivery of effective and culturally competent services. That will entail creating a framework that appreciates equity, to make all clients feel valued and appreciated (Gellatly et al., 2018). That is, I will be proactive and diligent to all clients in equal measures, and overcome all presumptions and stereotypes that may cause insufficient attention to particular categories of clients.

References

Egan, G. (2013). The Skilled Helper (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Gellatly, R., Brookman-Frazee, L., Barnett, M., Gonzalez, J., Kim, J., & Lau, A. (2018). Therapist Reports of EBP Client Engagement Challenges in Sessions with Diverse Youth and Families in Community Mental Health Settings. Child & Youth Care Forum, 48(1), 55-75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9472-z

Leonard, H. (2020). A Problematic Conflation of Justice and Equality: The Case for Equity in Music Therapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miaa012