Characteristics of a Good Counselor

General characteristics of a good Counselor can be listed out as follows;

1. A good counselor must be fluent in the language of his client in order to guess what is unsaid, and to correctly interpret nuances in communication.
2. A good counselor must understand the culture to which the client belongs. Without such an understanding, the counselor may misinterpret various behaviors that the client shows.
3. A good counselor should have charisma and personality. He should inspire confidence and respect in his client. .
4. A good counselor must have much experience of life.
5. A good counselor must be reasonably mature and intelligence to understand the client’s problems, formulate an appropriate plan of management, and carry it through.
6. During therapy, the counselor's values invariably percolate down to the client. Therefore, a good counselor must have a healthy set of values.
7. A good counselor should be psychological minded; that is, he should understand the intricacies and the workings of the human mind.
8. A good counselor should be knowledgeable about the range of psychological disorder that individuals experience.
9. A good counselor should be knowledgeable about the client’s problem field.
10. A good counselor should have few emotional problems. This is because a counselor who is unhappy may not be able to give the client his undivided attention. Furthermore, his judgment may be clouded by his personal problems. 
11. A good counselor must be well trained.
12. A good counselor should have good communication skills; he must know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it.
13. A good counselor should be genuinely motivated to help persons in distress. He should not counsel merely out of a feeling of duty.
14. While counselors can be of any age or sex, most clients tend to prefer their counselor to be older than they are. Some clients may find it easier to confide of a particular gender, In India many clients (particularly females) prefer same gender counselors.