Advantages And Disadvantages Of Counselling

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) define counselling, along with psychotherapy, as being “umbrella terms that cover a range of talking therapies” (BACP, 2012: 1). In addition, counselling is provided by practitioners who “work with people over a short or long term to help them bring about effective change or enhance their wellbeing” (BACP, 2012: 1). Those who practice counselling in a professional manner undergo intensive training and personal development, the latter of which has been “defined in terms of self-awareness and change” (Wheeler, 1996: 75). These changes, according to Johns, “influence the

Cognitive-behavioural therapy is widely short-term and concentrates on enabling clients to deal with very particular problems. Often six weeks to six months sessions of course depending upon the problem it is pacifically goal directed and places great weight upon self-help as a long term coping tool that the client can take away with them and successfully use. Cognitive-behavioural therapy believes that clients can learn the wrong ways of developing and making sense of information during their cognitive development. This can often lead to distortions in the way they identify reality, it’s the job of the therapist to enable them to work this out.

This essay will explore the counselling relationship along with the benefits and limitations as well as discussing other factors that have an important impact in relation to the outcome of counselling. Counselling is an interpersonal relationship between the client and qualified therapist, the relationship involves communicating with the client and using skills to explore the client's feelings. The counselling/ therapeutic relationship can be used in all types of counselling such as psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioural, person centred and cognitive therapy. As mental health disorders increase so does the need to deliver effective counselling, which means that the therapeutic relationship is more crucial than ever. (Miller, Hubble, Duncan and Wampold 2010; Norcross and Lambert 2011).

According to National Board of Certified Counselors online counseling defined as “technology assisted distance counseling for individuals, couples, and groups involves the use of the telephone or the computer to enable counselors and clients to communicate at a distance when circumstances make this approach necessary or convenient”.

The British Association for Counselling’s Code of Ethics and Practice for Counsellors states that ‘Counselling may be concerned with developmental issues, addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with crisis, developing personal insight and knowledge, working through feelings of inner conflict or improving relationships with others’ (BACP Ethical Framework).

Due to Marks very depressed state, the initial interaction required a great deal of empathy and high degrees of compassion. When first engaging a client, it is important to be compassionate and empathetic and listen without interrupting, prompting or advising (Berg-Weger, 2013). Reflecting and summarizing content delivered in the session is a valuable way to let the client know that you are actively listening to what they are saying

Accurate empathy - accurately sensing the client's world and communicating that understanding. Genuineness - self-awareness, honesty and openness; being real (not phony). Unconditional positive regard - accepting and valuing the client as a unique and worthwhile person, being nonjudgmental. Active listening - listening carefully and empathically to the client's story with undistracted attentiveness to 1) gain an understanding of the client's problem, 2) learn how the client thinks, feels and acts, 3) discover the client's strengths, assets and personal power, and 4) build rapport with the client. This includes maintaining comfortable eye contact and open body posture. Reflecting - mirroring the client's thoughts and feelings to demonstrate active listening and encourage the client to continue speaking. This includes: Restating - repeating verbatim the main thought or feeling expressed by the client. Paraphrasing - stating, in your own words, the main thought or feeling expressed by the client. This 1) lets the client know you are working to understand what they are communicating, 2) brings focus to the client's communication, 3) allows the client to correct any misperceptions or misunderstandings, and 4) encourages client self-exploration. Summarizing - summarizing, in your words, a set of thoughts or feelings expressed by the client. Open-ended questioning - Asking questions that require more than a minimal or one-word response by the client. They usually begin

However, she also said that open communication, being professional, and showing empathy were paramount as well. Next, I asked what she considers her strengths to be when working with clients. She stated, that her ability to show empathy and sympathy have been crucial in helping her clients. She also stated, that her life experiences have proven to be beneficial as well. However, she stated, that she does not self-disclose any personal information to clients. She will say, “I have been there too”, or “I know how that feels”, but she will not give personal details or experiences at all. On the other hand, she identified caring too much at times as being a weakness.

A good way to let a client know you are listening is by the use of minimal responses including expressions and non verbal responses that occur in our everyday conversations (Geldard & Geldard, 2001). For example at the beginning of the session my client said “..., Sometimes I feel I choose my job or something else in my life over my uni...” I replied by nodding and made use of the expression “Mm-hmm”. I demonstrated this skill to allow the client to speak without interruptions and to verbally express my interest in her issue.

This essay is an evaluation of two counselling models applied to a situation where a client has experienced loss and how a counsellor can create a therapeutic relationship with the client using each counselling model. It will also contain other skills a counsellor could use to obtain/maintain a good therapeutic relationship with the client.

When I was in the social worker role I made sure to look at my client in the eye when they were speaking to me to validate that I was listening. While listening I made sure to listen actively by summarizing what the client was saying and remembered to say things that could reassure the client that I am trying to understand what they are feeling. Examples of this are phrases such as: “I hear what you are saying that you felt this way” and “I don’t know what you’re feeling but it must be hard on you to feel this way”. Which in turn also helped me create open ended questions to ask the client. By being an active listener and empathizing with the client it makes it easier to ask open ended questions because I have more information to work on than if I was not really listening or being sympathetic instead of empathetic. I can ask questions that can fill in any loop holes that might be able to help to understand my clients’ strengths or what their needs are. I am glad that I learned that I have these strengths as a social worker and how these strengths will be great tools to help my future

For this essay there will be a critical evaluation of the counselling approaches and skills that are used which can guide the practice of education professionals and benefit relationships with children/ young people in supporting their social and emotional well-being. The approaches that will be looked at and compared are the Person-centred approach and the Psychodynamic approach. The approaches will be discussed and linked to the use in an educational context by teachers with children and young people. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches will also be examined. It is important for teacher to support children and young people’s social and emotional development right for the start of their educational experiences in the early years. The statutory frame work for the early years published by the department for education in 2014 makes sure that every practitioner follows by law the learning and development requirements of every child. The DFE 2014 suggests educational programs have to include activities and experiences involving the children as suggested: personal social and emotional development entails assisting children to develop an encouraging view of themselves, and others; to make positive relationships and develop respect for others, progress on their social skills and acquire the skill how to deal and control their feelings, to know how to behaviour correctly in groups and to have self confidence in what they can do. From this practitioners can pick up on

Counselling has one aim: to help the client. This is a simple aim however it is often difficult to put into effect, this was experienced first-hand in the practice therapy session. Counselling encourages individuals to develop a self-awareness and enables them to make changes in their lives (Cross, 2010). The use of micro-skills is essential in any counselling session as it ensures that the client feels heard and understood and the use of the skills impacts the strength of the therapeutic relationship (Geldard and Geldard, 2005; Lambert & Barley, 2001). The following will outline a summary of the session as well as the clients presenting problems and my aims when approaching this particular session. The video will then be analysed in relation to the micro-skills that were displayed or were attempted, the essay will then outline a case conceptualisation in regards to this particular client and the factors that may influence them to prematurely discontinue with the therapy sessions.

stories, we may get caught up in our own emotional reactions, how we would feel if we were in a similar

Peer counseling is giving advice to a problem to a person who is equal to you either in rank, status or ability. I this case we are focusing on teenager (Persons of ages between 13 to 19 years). Sadly, a considerable number of teenagers find counseling boring but its time they change their mindset and join the league. While life has no guarantees, it is all about yourself and how you impact on someone`s life. While many teenagers may wonder how to start counseling, it is all about interest and believing in yourself. Young as you may be, full of vitality at the threshold of puberty, and give yourself some dignity by joining this noble practice. You can do this by first joining the peer educators club in your school.