Importance Of Person Centred Counselling

“Compare and contrast the different ways the person-centred and cognitive- behavioural approaches to counselling understand and make use of the counselling relationship”

I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me; but you've got to help me.

“Joel is a 36 year old man who has come to counselling because he feels unhappy and unsatisfied in his life. Joel’s mother died when he was 12 and Joel grew up with his Father, who he describes as a good man, who worked hard to support his son, but struggled with anger and alcohol issues and was never able to fully recover from the death of Joel’s mother. Joel felt that his father was distant and so caught up in his own grief that he was never able to love Joel. Joel describes himself as a rebel in his teens, who gave his father a hard time but that he worked hard and went to university, which he saw as a way out of the small town he grew up in and a way to escape his father. He now has a successful career in corporate law and

Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) embodies a humanistic approach, which is intended to increase a person’s feelings of self-worth, and reduce the level of incongruence between the ideal self and the actual self (Gelso, Cepeda & Davenport, 2006). This critical analysis is meant to examine various approaches and skills counselors/therapists would use when applying a ‘person-centered’ type of therapy. This analysis briefly outlines what PCT is, but focuses more heavily on the various approaches used by social workers throughout the therapeutic relationship. More specifically, PCT approaches such as, counselor/client congruence, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive regard are the main approaches highlighted in this analysis as they play an integral role in the counseling relationship.

“How do person-centred counsellors use the therapeutic relationship to facilitate change- and in what way (s) does person-centred therapy differ from other helping relationships?” word count: 2,495

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).

Evaluate the claim that Person-Centred Therapy offers the therapist all that he/she will need to treat clients.

One of key concepts of person centred therapy is the belief that the client has the ability to become aware of their own problems and has the inherent means to resolve them. In this sense,

Person-centred therapy came about through Roger’s theory on human personality. He argued that human experiences were valuable whether they were positive or negative so long as they maintained their self actualising tendency. Through one’s experiences and interactions with others Roger believed that a self-concept/regard was developed. Carl Rogers believed that a truly therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor depends on the existence, of three core conditions. The core conditions are important because they represent the key concepts and principles of person-centred therapy. These core conditions are referred to as congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. Congruence is when the therapist has the ability to be real and honest with the client. This also means that the therapist has to be aware of their own feelings by owning up to them and not hiding behind a professional role. For example, a therapist may say ‘I understand where you are coming from’’ to the client. However the therapist has expressed a confused facial expression while saying this. The clients can be become aware of this and may feel uncomfortable in expressing their feelings, which might impact their trust and openness towards the therapist. Therefore the major role of the therapist is to acknowledge their body language and what they say and if confusion happens the therapist needs to be able to

Compare and contrast how the psychodynamic and person-centred approaches to counselling understand the person, and how these two approaches explain psychological distress experienced by individuals. In part 2 reflect on and write about which of the two models appeals most to you and why?

Person Centred Counselling was developed by Carl R. Rogers (1902-1987), a leading American psychologist who was along with Abraham Maslow a major theorist of Humanistic Therapy which developed in the 1950. It is sometimes called the third force distinct from psychoanalyzes and behaviourism. It proposed that therapy could be simpler, warmer and more optimistic and that the client himself has the solution to his difficulties and can access this deeper

The person –centred approach was born from the work of Carl Rogers as a method of counselling and psychotherapy .According to Rogers (1980) “individuals have within themselves vast resources for self –understanding and for altering their self –concepts, basic attitudes and self-directed behaviour; these resources can be tapped into if a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided.” This approach places emphasis on putting the client at the centre of health care practice and giving them choice and control over the care plan and service provided for them. The person-centred approach is about engagement between the service provider and the service user whereby the health care worker treats the client with empathy and

When looking at the Person-Centred Approach to counselling, this cannot be done without exploring the important figures that paved the way for this approach, discussing its origins and evaluating how it helps to shape society in present times.

Carl Rogers believes, that a person- centred counsellor should show and make the client feel the three core conditions; empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence (which Rogers said to be the most important), to their client in order for them to reach their full ideal self.

The essay will evaluate the necessity and importance of the development of the core conditions in the counselling process and critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the person-centred approach on the counselling process.