According to Tjeltveit, which strategy is essential for examining your own values in counseling?

The strategy of being intensely aware of your own values is crucial in counseling, as it allows counselors to recognize how their personal beliefs and biases can influence the counseling process. This self-awareness helps in maintaining a professional stance, ensuring that the counselor does not project personal values onto clients but instead fosters a supportive environment for clients to explore their own values.

Understanding one’s values aids in providing a balanced and empathetic counseling experience, allowing for authentic engagement with clients. It also ensures that the counselor can respectfully navigate differences in values between themselves and their clients, promoting a therapeutic alliance where clients feel accepted and understood regardless of their individual beliefs.

While referring clients to others with similar values and respecting clients with differing values are important practices in counseling, the foundational requirement is the counselor's awareness of their own values. This self-reflection not only enhances the counselor's effectiveness but also upholds the ethical standards of the counseling profession, making it essential for effective practice. Thus, while all items mentioned are indeed significant, the core strategy highlighted here is having a clear understanding of one's own values to facilitate a more ethical and client-centered approach.