Person Centred Counselling Theory and Practice Essay

Carl Rogers (1902-87) was the founder of the client-centred or person-centred approach to counselling and therapy. (McLeod 2001)

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

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

There are four main approaches to person centred practice, “Pathway” planning, “Maps” planning, “Person centred portfolios” (otherwise known as “Essential Lifestyle Planning”) and “Personal Future Planning.” Discussion will prove that “ each shares characteristics that explicitly emphasise the personal empowerment of service users, in which the principal direction for support generates from those for whom planning is being carried out.”(Langley, 2001) However the use different formats means that each approach focuses on different aspects and my comparison will note strengths and weaknesses, and how they are designed for implementation in different scenarios of person centred practice and planning.

The first thing would be alarms bells ringing with regard to child safety with the possibility of having to break client confidentiality with regard to potential Child Protection issues. That part, in my view, is not the real dilemma because I am bound by law to do ‘something’. For me, the dilemma is how to handle the situation to achieve the best outcome for my client, myself (professionally and morally), the family concerned and the organization that Sue works for.

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.

A safe space for a client could be described as a place or space in which a client feels secure and free to express him/herself in a real, true and open way. This could mean a number of things to different clients, it is very individual.

The skills used in counselling, vary from model to model, here are definitions of the skills used in person centred counselling,

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.

“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

Write an essay of your own choice, e.g. “My understanding of person-centred counselling”. Relate and refer to your own life experience and/or your work context.

“The Person-Centred Therapy approach has its limitations when it comes to treating a gambling addiction.” Discuss.

Biljana van Rijn, Ciara Wild Transactional Humanistic and Integrative Therapies for Anxiety and Depression: Practice-Based Evaluation of Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, and Integrative Psychotherapies and Person-Centered Counseling Analysis Journal Vol 43, Issue 2, pp. 150 – 163.First Published October 2, 2013https://doi.org/10.1177/0362153713499545

The final core condition is congruence or genuineness, this trait has to do with the person-to-person nature of the helping relationship and it is only through maintaining an absence of façade and sustaining a consistency between what I as a counselor say and present in non-verbal terms in response to the what the client verbalizes. Genuineness is key to the helping relationship as Roger’s says “It is only by providing the genuine reality which is in me, that the other person can successfully seek for the reality in him” . I agree with Roger’s core conditions as an aid to developing a safe environment and trust within the helping relationship that will encourage the client to delve deeper and truly work with their problems; without these characteristics the client may feel reluctant to truly expose themselves and may only work superficially with their difficulties preventing long term growth and healing.

In the field of Counselling and Psychotherapy there are many differing theories which are used to help those who seek counselling including Person Centred Therapy.