So many people just want to find careers in which they can help people in a meaningful way on a daily basis. One area where that can happen is within the medical field, of course, but not everyone can invest the money or time it takes, not to mention they lack the educational background. Other supporting and related areas of the medical and care world however include counselling. Professional mental health trauma training, for instance, is an area that is much more accessible to those with the right mindset and ambition.
But how would one know if they were suitable for such a role? Trauma counsellors, while dealing with very different cases, do share a number of key personality traits. If you have any of these key characteristics, then you could make a great trauma counsellor.
1. You Have a Passion for Helping Others
If what drives you is an overwhelming desire to do good for others and be a positive influence in people’s lives, helping them through some of their most challenging periods in life, then becoming a trauma counsellor could well be the ideal career for you.
Trauma victims are sometimes still trying to deal with events that happened years prior to their coming to see you. Your contribution to their recovery could be that key step that they need to find the inner peace they so desperately want.
2. You’re a Strong Listener
Central to the skill set of any counsellor is being able to listen and absorb the words, tone, and underlying feeling and emotion of what their patients say. Being a strong listener even goes beyond just the taking in of information from a patient, to also being able to show that patient you have heard and understood their point of view. They need to feel that acknowledgement and understanding as well for the therapy to really mean something.
3. You’re a Problem Solver
A big part of trauma counselling is helping people overcome their past experiences and find practical and workable solutions to return their lives to some degree of normality. It’s simplistic to see trauma as ever being fully removed, but if you’re the kind of person quite adept at helping people find realistic, achievable and practical solutions to what are serious complex emotional problems, then this kind of career is a good one for you.
4. You Value Discretion
If you’re the kind of person who finds it easy to keep secrets, and believes in the importance of discretion, confidentiality and the respect that such things entail, then you’re already in possession of one of the most important traits of good counsellors. As a trauma counsellor, you’d become privy to your patients’ most intimate and personal experiences that have occurred in their life. Those with a compulsion to tell others about “juicy” info they’ve learned through the day are not well suited to this solemn duty of discretion.
5. You’re Not Afraid to Be Honest
Counsellors sometimes have to “get tough” with their patients. It’s not uncommon for patients suffering from trauma to be in denial about what happened, or how to move forward. Counsellors have to always be able to offer sound and practical advice, and not simply pander to their patient’s emotions.
6. You Don’t Fear Rejection
Following on from the previous point, the act of “getting real” with a patient can sometimes drive them away. Patients may also choose to leave you and work with other therapists for other reasons, but in all cases you’re dealing with a rejection. If that doesn’t deter you and you’d be happy carrying on under those conditions, then you should seriously consider trauma counselling as a potential career option.
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