Everyone has particular values, beliefs, and attitudes developed throughout the course of their lives. The primary factors contributing to how people perceive the world include friends, family, community, and personal experiences. From working experiences, people can interact with vulnerable individuals or those living with unacceptable behavior. Additionally, different moods affect how people interact with clients (Koç & Kafa, 2019). An individual may feel outgoing on another day and look insecure and reserved the next day, noted when communicating with others. Having excellent achievements or spending time with close friends affects personal moods, which in turn influence how one communicates with clients.
A number of values, beliefs, identities, and roles may influence psychologists’ interaction with clients. Some of the significant values include peers, technology, family, loyalty, freedom, security, creativity, kindness, honesty, diversity, respect, personal development, religion, and prosperity. On the other hand, the factors defining identity include age, gender, ethnicity and race, abilities, religious beliefs, and social/economic statuses. Roles could be managerial or advisory, affecting relationships with clients.
A person’s relationship with clients may also vary depending on their values, beliefs, roles, and identities. For example, an individual brought up in a caring family would tend to be compassionate and kind to clients. An extroverted person is likely to be a team player and open-minded when interacting with clients. A culture that focuses on individuality rather than conformity to groups is likely to promote personal interests as opposed to those of clients (Koç & Kafa, 2019). Moreover, values determined by significant life events such as losing a loved one, divorce, and marital status affect relationships with clients. Extreme events are likely to prompt an individual to value oneself instead of clients.
Clients who seek counseling often originate from different backgrounds, affecting the counseling therapy undertaken. For example, religion may demand a particular dress code or limit association with people of the opposite gender. In this case, the counselor must have the same sexual orientation as the client (Koç & Kafa, 2019). Additionally, it may prohibit mentioning topics or using particular words, which would have been appropriate for the success of counseling therapy. Habitual thoughts and behaviors may also influence how people negotiate and create relationships. The leading factor to mitigate during counseling is prejudice. It challenges cross-cultural relationships because people have a tendency to judge others based on their cultural norms.
The development of professional relationships with diverse clients relies on the factors discussed above. A client’s identity will affect the perceptions of a counselor, such that the professional would develop negative relationships with clients who respond rudely (Koç & Kafa, 2019). Similarly, the counselor would blame the person’s personality and call them evil with psychopathic tendencies. It is important to identify with patients but it may result in countertransference, where a consular unconsciously reacts and relates information with the patient.
This essay aimed to analyze issues affecting counselor-client relationships. Family and values are the most cited factors, and they require that a counselor works on the basis that supports the patient’s values (Koç & Kafa, 2019). Overall, psychologists and other community workers should provide services that meet the needs of particular groups and empower them. To achieve this, it is crucial to appreciate multicultural differences such as values, beliefs, and attitudes.
Reference
Koç, V., & Kafa, G. (2019). Cross-cultural research on psychotherapy: The need for a change. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50(1), 100-115. Web.