Issues in Counselling

ETHICAL FRAMEWORK, LIMITS OF PROFICIENCY AND THE LIMITATIONS ON COUNSELLORS COMPARED TO OTHER PROFESSIONS THAT USE COUNSELLING SKILLS.

How does Person-centred counselling, influence the understanding of the development of concept of self? (245 words)

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.

The decision to take this course was rooted in a deepening interest in psychotherapy, self–development, the welfare of other people and in a desire to gain a theoretical base to enrich my current arts and health practice.

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.

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).

Carl Rogers, Born in Chicago in 1902 as the 4th of 6 children in a strict Fundamentalist Christian household.

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).

“Therapeutic building blocks” (Young, 2001, p. 30) is a phrase used to describe the helping relationship and the components of that counseling relationship. The ability to facilitate the client into relaying their story is the basis of therapy for change. I have listed my therapeutic helping skills below, and have described an example of each.

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

Therapeutic approaches to counselling have evolved over the last century as therapists’ attempt to help their clients’ resolve negative patterns of thoughts and emotions. Whilst fear and sadness are said to be naturally occurring human emotions that evolve and form part of ‘life and living’, society is becoming increasingly aware of the negative physiological implications of stress caused by changes in environmental conditions, and clients’ are encouraged to seek professional help before their emotions spiral out of control leading to anxiety and depression, and in some cases mental health concerns.

Sanders, Frankland and Wilkins. (2009) Next Steps in Counselling Practice. 2nd Edition: Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books Ltd

When clients enter into counseling they typically bring with them a variety of issues concerning them. The counselor, with the help of the client must determine which of these issues require to be focused on first. As reported by Long and Young (2007) a couple may complain about arguing all the time, although through interviewing the clients a trained counselor listens for key issues such as financial struggles or trust issues could actually be the main concern. Another way counselors can obtain information about the client of clients is by conducting tests, like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and observations by the counselor using a Funnel of Assessment method (Long & Young, 2007). As professional counselors we

Counselling is considered a learning process, especially for the client. An effective counsellor displays affirmation and nurturing behaviours whilst less effective counsellors use the ‘watch and manage’, ‘belittle and blame’ and ‘ignore and neglect’ behaviours (Najavits & Strupp, 1994).

The first counseling session was an introductory time for me and Counselor, Janine King to become acquainted. Janine introduced her techniques and her journey to becoming a counselor. I shared my counseling journey, my academic goals, and the areas that I wanted to focus on during the ten weeks. The session ended by creating a road map of the areas in my life that might be explored.