The Role of a Counselor in the Family

Many people at one point in their lives have found themselves acting as a counselor without having the real understanding of what counseling is. Most of these people are not aware that there is a huge difference between being a professional counselor and a person who finds him or herself having skills at just counseling people. Some find it very easy encouraging and cheering up  people, for example, their colleagues or friends.

A professional counselor is one who has undergone counseling training and is able to use the different types of counseling approaches with their clients.

It should be noted that counseling is an act of helping the clients to see things more clearly from a different view point and not been judgmental, giving advice, or trying to sort out clients problems.

There are different approaches of counselling and the right approach is used on clients based on the clients problems. In this article, we are focusing on family counseling.

The Family plays a vital role in our physical, spiritual and emotional development since each member in the family system impacts or is being impacted by other members.

The family as a whole regularly needs counseling. The couple needs proper counseling on a constant basis so as not to derail from what brought them together in the first place. So also are the children, they need to be counseled as they advance in age so as not to miss it in life. Many of the vices in the society today are as a result of adolescents lack of proper counsels. At every stage of a child’s development, the child needs to be guided of what lies ahead in the society.

The Reasons for Family Counseling

The most important connection that exists amongst humans occurs in the family. Many families have one or more challenges they face on a regular basis. The key to having a successful family is looking beyond the challenges that occurs in the family unit and find ways to balance it to keep moving forward.

Whenever conflicts, troubles or stress arises in family, having a counselor is the answer to help with managing such chaos.

Are you considering having a family counseling, then that means you are in need of it but if you are amongst those that do not see the reason to have one, then you need to read this to the end.

The main goal of a family counselor is to help members of a family to solve its  problems, improve communication and handle unexpected family situations such as illness (mental or physical), death, child or adolescent issues and creating better functioning home environment.

A family who decides to seek the help of a therapist in creating a better functioning environment for his family stands to gain a lot.  Getting this counsel will improve the communication within the family.

Family members who find it difficult to open up to one another creates distance and disconnection amongst members and thus, paves ways for a larger problem in the future. With the help of a family counselor, the therapist will help members of such family to understand their roles in the family.

Another reason for having a family counseling is building self esteem. Without healthy self esteem, it will be difficult to cope with the major challenges that arises in the community. Many of those who live without self esteem are vulnerable to peer pressure and interpersonal problems. A family therapist will help at restoring this wherever it is lacking.

Other benefits include making the family happier, enhancing and strengthening bonds amongst family members, re-uniting family members. Most important, it is always advisable for couples who are seeking divorce to seek the help of a counselor.