Discuss the ways in which counsellor qualities such as Empathy, Genuineness and Unconditional positive regard are important in the counselling relationship.

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

This is supervised and checked regularly by an accredited member of the BACP to ensure that the requirements of the BACP are being met. A person using counselling skills in other occupations may use similar methods but will not be formally using the guidelines and being assessed in such a way as that of a qualified counsellor. The intention of the use of the skills is also different. The counsellor and client relationship is a therapeutic one and both parties understand the potential or intended result of it, whereas using counselling skills may used for other purposes. For example, a person in a professional setting such as a people-management role may use listening, reflective and paraphrasing in a similar way to a counsellor yet the objective is different. The use of the counselling skills facilitates the relationship of the manager and the employee but there isn’t the intention behind it that there is between a counsellor and their client.

There are three important aspects to the therapist’s approach; congruence, unconditional positive regard and accurate empathic understanding. These are three core conditions that facilitate the actualization and growth. These conditions relate to the shared journey in which therapists and clients reveal their humanness and participate in a growth experience together.Its only

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.

In this essay I will describe key elements of Psychodynamic theory, Person-Centred theory and Cognitive-Behavioural theory. I will also identify the key differences between the above theories. I shall also describe how counselling theory underpins the use of counselling skills in practise. I will then end with my conclusion.

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).

I believe counseling is a collaborative partnership between client and counselor. Furthermore, this collaborative partnership is built from trust and acceptance of both client and counselor. I hope in conjunction with clients to understand the issues and concerns so to help them tap into their wisdom, creativity, and strengths to meet their current challenges. I believe in a comprehensive perspective through which clients can better comprehend themselves in the framework that our thinking about events can lead to emotional and behavioral upset. Moreover, counselors are to provide a safe environment for clients to explore their challenges and identify ways to move differently in overcoming these challenges.

The process involved in establishing a counselling relationships includes many factors to ensure that a client feels safe and comfortable with a counsellor to explore his or her feelings with them.

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

A counselling relationship is likened to being on a journey - a beginning, middle and end (Smallwood, 2013). During the beginning phase the client develops sufficient trust in the counsellor and the relationship ‘to explore the previously feared edges of his awareness’ (Mearns and Thorne, 1988, p.126).

The term counselling facilitates personal and interpersonal functioning across the lifespan with the main focus on emotional, vocational, social, educational, health related and developmental concerns this encompasses a broad range of practices that help people to improve their well being, alleviate stress and maladjustment, reslove crisis and increases their ability to live more fully functioning lives. Counselling is unique in its attention to both normal developmental issues as well as the problems associated with physical, emotional and mental disorders. The BACP states that “counselling takes place when a counsellor see a client in a private and confidential

The background and moral differences of a client should not prevent the counsellor attaining the Rogerian conditions. The counsellor has to accept the positive and negativity of ones

Counseling is a relatively young profession when compared to other mental health professions. In my brief personal and professional experience with the field, I have come to define counseling as a process of engagement between two people, both of whom are bound to change through a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and the client in co-constructing solutions to concerns.

Bozarth (1998, 2001a), a representative of the classical view argues that unconditional positive regard is the ‘curative variable’, if ‘conditional positive regard’ is a condition that leads to a client being incongruent. By being shown unconditional positive regard, the client can free themselves from their prior constraints and be able to integrate with the experiences of the ‘organism’. Thus, ‘organismic and self-experiences ultimately become integrally aligned with the unitary actualising tendency’ (Rogers 1963). Bozarth (2001a) proposes that this is Rogers’ (1959) theory and that to ignore this underlying assumption results in a radical change of Rogers’ theory of therapy. Bozarth (1998) proposes a re-conceptualisation of the therapist

Developing self-awareness as a counsellor is considered “central to many of the mainstream theoretical approaches” (Mcleod, 2009, p624). I will argue that without the development of self-awareness neither a trainee nor qualified counsellor can meet the core conditions set out in most theoretical approaches to counselling, congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard. I will also argue that counselling trainees need to experience the role of client themselves before they can take others on the same road to self discovery. To answer the benefits and difficulties of the counselling trainee developing self-awareness whilst practicing skills in triads I will argue the feedback received from fellow peers can be very beneficial to