Counseling Thoughts

When it comes to counseling people, there are many different aspects of the person that you have to consider.

They range from culture, race, sexual orientation, gender, family, SES, education, history, and much more.

Now when it comes to counseling people who have chronic illnesses, you have to think about all of the above....plus how they feel and think about their illness, how their medication might affect them or their diagnosis, how their family and friends think and feel, their support systems, and much much more.

On the website I have listed below, you'll find information regarding the psychologist's role in helping someone with a chronic illness, as well as some annual costs that come along with that.

So what is the psychologist's role?
Well, like I mentioned above, they have to take into account all the different social, economical, biological, and psychological things that a person is experiencing. They also wear a few different hats. They are the teacher, the researcher, and health provider.

In the teacher role they simply provide education and training to their client about the many different influences that certain things can have, whether that be attitudes or medications. Counselors can also provide psychoeducation on how the client can better take care of themselves.

In the researcher role, the counselor simply learns more about the new things in their field of study. This can better help the counselor and benefit the client. By doing this, the counselor and be sure he/she is providing the best care possible for their client.

In the health provider role, the counselor provides the services that the client needs.

One of the more important aspects that the counselor has to think of is the needs of the client they are seeing. These needs range anywhere from helping the client cope with the emotions that come along with their illness, changing the clients behaviors in order to better help the health of the client, or even helping the client learn ways in which they can better organize their lives in order to accommodate their illness.

Check out this website for more information:

http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/health-care/chronic.aspx