What Makes an Effective Counsellor?

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Counsellor Burnout & Self-Care ( Date 23rd April 2025)

Counsellor burnout is not just a theoretical concept—it’s a very real, lived experience for many in the helping professions. Being emotionally available, empathetic, and present for others on a daily basis requires immense inner resources. Over time, if these resources are not replenished, it can lead to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment—core components of what we call “burnout.” Even as a student of psychology, I’ve begun to witness the early signs of this within myself. I’ve always been the one friends turn to when they need someone to talk to. I genuinely value being that safe space for others, but I started noticing that after these conversations, I often felt drained, heavy, and emotionally worn out. I wasn’t even practicing professionally yet, and still, I felt the emotional toll. This was a wake-up call for me. It made me confront a hard truth: self-care isn’t a luxury, or something you reward yourself with after caring for...

Crisis Intervention: Learning to Be a Safe Space(Date ; 2nd April 2025)

Crisis intervention is the process of offering immediate, short-term support to individuals who are experiencing intense emotional distress. It doesn’t always require elaborate tools or complex techniques — often, it starts with being present, calm, and compassionate. I still vividly remember the first time I witnessed someone in a state of crisis. A classmate of mine was having a panic attack right in front of me. Her breathing was erratic, her hands trembling, and her eyes filled with sheer terror. In that moment, I felt completely helpless. I wanted to do something, anything — but I froze. My mind went blank, and all I could do was watch. At the time, I didn't know what she needed, nor did I trust myself to intervene without making things worse. That experience stayed with me, not because of what I did, but because of what I couldn't do. Now, after learning about crisis intervention through my coursework and training, I realize that even the simplest responses can make a dif...

Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy: A Lifeline Through Distorted Thinking( Date; 25th March 2025)

Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy, often referred to as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), revolutionized the way we understand and treat psychological distress. At its core, Beck’s model suggests that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected, and that by identifying and altering distorted thought patterns, we can significantly improve our emotional well-being. During one of the most challenging phases of my life, my mind became a battleground of harsh, self-defeating thoughts. Cognitive distortions—those irrational beliefs we tell ourselves—took over. “I am a failure,” “Nothing I do matters,” “I’m not good enough”—these thoughts played on a loop, fueling my anxiety and draining my sense of self-worth. Discovering Beck’s theory was like finding a flashlight in a dark tunnel. It introduced me to the concept of *automatic thoughts—the quick, involuntary judgments we make about ourselves and the world. I learned that many of these thoughts were not grounded in reality, ...

Understanding Myself Through Psychodynamic Formulation(Date 23rd March 2025)

Psychodynamic formulation involves looking beneath the surface — it’s about understanding a client's unconscious patterns, early life experiences, and internal conflicts that continue to shape their present behaviour. Initially, when I was introduced to this approach, it felt far too theoretical, almost detached from reality. The emphasis on unconscious drives, childhood relationships, and buried emotions seemed abstract and difficult to truly grasp. However, everything began to shift when I turned that lens inward. As I started linking my own patterns — my persistent fear of abandonment, my need for perfection — to early family dynamics, psychodynamic thinking suddenly clicked for me. It no longer felt abstract; it felt deeply personal and alive. I could trace how certain childhood experiences had quietly laid the foundation for the emotional reactions I have today. Psychodynamic thinking, I realized, is like trying to decode a map drawn in invisible ink. At first, it seems like ...

Therapy as a Healing Process(Date 20th March 2025)

Therapy isn’t a magical fix. It’s not a quick prescription for happiness or a shortcut through the complexities of human emotion. Rather, it’s a slow, often painful, but ultimately rewarding journey — a process of healing, unlearning, and rediscovery. It demands patience, vulnerability, and a willingness to sit with discomfort. True transformation in therapy doesn’t happen overnight; it unfolds gradually, often quietly, in the spaces between words, in the moments of courage when we dare to confront the parts of ourselves we’ve long hidden away. In my own times of personal grief, I came to understand something profound: it wasn’t the "solutions" people offered that brought me comfort. No advice, no pep talk, no attempt to "fix" my feelings could truly reach the aching parts of me. What made all the difference were the rare and sacred moments when someone simply sat with me in my pain — without judgment, without rushing me toward "getting better." Just their...

Ending a Therapeutic Relationship(Date 15th March 2025)

Termination is an essential phase of counselling. It's not just an administrative conclusion — it's a meaningful process that provides space for closure, reflection, and a celebration of the progress made. In therapy, how we end matters just as much as how we begin. A well-planned termination can help solidify the gains achieved and prepare the client for a future where they can navigate challenges independently. On a personal level, I have always struggled with endings. Goodbyes have rarely felt neutral to me; instead, they often trigger deep feelings of abandonment and loss. Throughout my life, farewells — whether with friends, mentors, or significant life phases — have left an emotional imprint that is hard to shake off. So when I first learned that even counselling relationships, no matter how nurturing or transformative, must eventually come to an end, it stirred up old anxieties within me. The idea that something so safe and supportive would have to conclude felt unsettli...