Six Therapeutic Mistakes that Counselors / Therapists Make

This video answers the question: Can I review some of the common therapeutic mistakes that counselors tend to make. Here I'm not talking about signs of a bad counselor - I've talked about that before - rather just mistakes that I've seen in the practice of counseling. When I use the term counselor, I'm using it more in a general sense - so professional counselors, but also social workers, psychologists, and anyone who uses psychotherapy as part of their practice.

I assembled six counselor mistakes six therapeutic mistakes that I've seen a few times during my experience as a counselor and as a supervisor:

1. When getting a new client a counselor assumes that the last diagnosis is correct - so really skipping the assessment phase.
2. Writing poor progress notes – unclear, nebulous notes
3. Overreacting to a revelation by the client – counselors must be prepared for surprises
4. Excessively noticing nonverbal behaviors the moment that they happen – Nonverbal communication is important, but mostly themes are acknowledged rather than single events
5. Pretending to follow the narrative – Interrupting is a critical skill
6. Not admitting mistakes – Learning from mistakes allows counselors to be more effective