Counselling

When we look at other professions like social workers, housing officers, the emergency services, the police and priests who utilise counselling skills we realise that some of the key concepts that are fundamental to the counselling profession are not their main priority. If such people were to introduce themselves as counsellors their clients may be under the impression that such things as confidentiality will be upheld. An example is the work of doctors, social workers, nurses and carers, in these types of professions advise is given to the client as to what to do and what not to do, medication is administered to the client whereas in the case of counselling especially with

Counselling is based on a therapeutic relationship, whereby the counsellor using their skills and knowledge to help the client to explore and understand their difficulties. This is done in a safe and secure setting, whilst maintaining a confidential and non judgemental manner. Before the therapeutic relationship can develop, both client and counsellor must write up a contract covering areas such as confidentiality, fees, duration of sessions, number of sessions and responsibilities. Counselling can help with issues such as depression, anxiety, bereavement, low self esteem, domestic violence, midlife crisis, sexuality and relationship.

I understand counselling to be a helping practice that differs from other helping activities, such as teaching for example. Counselling requires professional training and is specifically contracted or explicitly agreed. It has a theoretical base and uses specific methods within an ethical framework. The relationship between the counsellor and the client is built upon mutual expectation and is central to the process of the client under-going significant change in their lives.

Rogers regard empathy as the basis for anything that occurs during a counselling. A counsellor should be empathic with the client as trusting relationship can be formed when the client feels cared for and secure. This relationship can be developed by understanding of the thoughts and feelings that the client experienced. In other words, a counsellor should ‘walk into the client’s shoes’ to get a better understanding of the client. With this trust, the clients might expose their innermost thoughts and feelings to the

To have good ethical practice within counselling it is important that there are boundaries and contracts in place that are agreed to and understood by both the counsellor and the client.

Counsellors do not offer advice as such but instead give an insight into a client’s feelings and behaviour and they help the client to change their behaviour accordingly. They do this by actively listening to what the client has to say and comment from a professional perspective. Counsellors are trained to be effective helpers, especially in sensitive and difficult situations. They have to be independent, very neutral and professional as well as respecting the privacy and confidentiality of a client. Counselling can help clients to clarify their problems, identify the changes they wish to make and give them a fresh perspective. Counsellors should help them to seek other options and look at the impact that life events have made on the

They must provide a non-judgmental environment so that the client feel respected, and of value to openly discuss life events, behaviors, feeling, and thoughts. The Professional Counselor’s role is to create this climate for the clients to examine their emotions to arrive at solutions that is best for the clients. The professional’s assignment is to assist the individuals in finding solutions that are most corresponding with their own values, not to persuade the clients by imposing their values on the client.

Mental health counselors take other professional’s feelings and needs into consideration. Counselors respect the obligations of other organizations and institutions. They treat other professionals with the same respect as they do with clients. Counselors work with others whenever necessary in cooperation to benefit the welfare of clients. When counselors are not competent in an area, they refer clients to a professional who has the competency to serve. When counselors have knowledge of incompetency of another professional they are obligated to inform the state licensing board or ethics committee (American Mental Health Counselors Association, 2010).

BACP definition of counselling and psychotherapy:'Counselling and psychotherapy are umbrella terms that cover a range of talking therapies. They are delivered by trained practitioners who work with people over a short or long term to help them bring about effective change or enhance their wellbeing.’ (BACP [online]). The BACP states that “counselling takes place when a counsellor see a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one

My personal counseling philiosphy leads with kindness and the willingness to help an individual's experience by dealing with the issues together. My objective in counseling is to help people and see happy, healthy individuals living a fulfilling life. I believe that as a counselor, encouragement is the most important. A counselor must listen to a client with understanding and help direct the individual toward the right path but not solve their problem. A counselor’s role is to help the client find a goal and work on it together.

of practice that is put in place by the main counselling bodies like the counselling national

respect that the counsellor has for the client and his problems, even though the counsellor may

My role as a counselor is not to judge the client or determine whether or not they deserve services, my job is to be present in the session, show unconditional positive regard and help individuals reach their goals. As a counselor it is important for

The first of which are issues that are personal to me, I realise that there are experiences in my past that may hinder me as a counsellor the most important of which is my inability to maintain eye contact with another person which wasn’t an issue in the past years but in the counselling session might convey a very negative impression to the client for they may interpret it as my disinterest. This issue has prompted me to go to personal therapy and also has increased the relevance and importance of personal therapy in my eyes. Through this experience I have also realised how unresolved issues in the past can impact the counselling process with or without you being aware about them. There are many areas that I need to work on expect this and the major among them is my competence as a counsellor, I still need to develop various professional skills that I will be required to employ in the counselling session and that is something I believe I will gain from my course. The most important thing that believe I need to work on are my own beliefs about counselling, for a long time I didn’t realise that despite being trained for becoming a counsellor I never realised that even to me counselling seemed appropriate as the last option, a choice you make when all else fails and also that with time things will eventually get better and you don’t need therapy to work through it. Both of these beliefs seem wrong to be now that I have gained more objective knowledge of counselling. Firstly, to keep counselling as a last resort the person is embracing a very likely possibility that things would get worse then on rather than better and if proper therapy is undertaken at the very beginning of a problem it will improve things for the individual for definite and may also be more effective and efficient in comparison to if you let it blow to proportion that may severely

As a counselor you are there to comfort the patient, and make sure they 're comfortable. You have many duties to fulfill in this position, you have to establish and maintain a relationship of trust and respect with your client, they won 't open up if they don 't trust nor respect you, it would be like talking to a brick wall. Also you can not judge the client nor show any type of bias towards them, they are there to be complete free and know that everything is strictly confidential in a judgment-free zone. You have to be able to help them make decisions, and also help them to understand why they keep making the same mistakes and how to stop