"I believe my biggest strengths are in my ability to draw thoughts and feelings out of a patient without them feeling as though I am prying. This skill has helped me to be very successful in bringing many clients to a life absent of substances."

Many times clients who are attending counseling due to addiction deny the use of substances or relapses they may have experienced. There are a number of reasons why counselors feel that clients do this. Some reasons are that clients don't want to be embarrassed and don't want their counselors to be upset because of their non-compliance. Others still, begin to attend counseling but are not quite ready to take the necessary measures to address their addictions so that they can begin full recovery from them. Either way, dishonesty makes creating and implementing a plan of care very difficult. Tell the interviewer how you would handle a situation like this.

"Unfortunately, I have had this happen more than once. There are some clients who simply don't want to be in counseling but have felt compelled to attend, whether judicially or with family who have ultimatums about receiving addiction care. I have found that being direct, yet professionally polite, is always the best way to address this issue. Simply going along with a client's dishonesty only adds to the problem. However, being hostile about their behavior is not helpful, either. I like to use my first few encounters with my clients to establish some 'ground rules', so to speak. I always tell them that I will be honest with them and that I can help them when they are ready to be honest with themselves and with me regarding whatever their addiction issue is."