Unconditional Positive Regard

Rogers worked with many others in developing the idea that clients could heal themselves, if only the therapist provided ‘facilitative’ or core conditions of, ‘empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard.’

Having unconditional positive regard from the beginning will display to the client there is no hidden agenda and that the counsellor is non-judgmental, this will support the client to develop the working relationship and show the client they are valued and wanted, they will start to relax to open up freely and loosen up their attitude towards the session.

The main focus of this essay has to be on the three ‘core conditions’, as utilised by the counsellor to promote a positive movement in their client’s psychology. They are intended for maintaining a focus on the client’s personal growth, and detract from the therapist’s own outside world. The three core conditions are the professional apparatus or tool-kit of the therapist, and the use of each is a skill in itself but the combined forces of all three in an effective manner requires an abundance of skill or experience. These are, as have already been mentioned, congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. They are separate skills but are intrinsically linked to each other. If used correctly, they can guide the client to a state of self-realisation, which could lead to the development of a healing process.

Allowing for our ethical codes of conduct, if the client is someone we feel we can proceed with, then as always, the first stage would be to develop a good rapport and gain the clients trust to develop an honest and open relationship with them. The client centred approach as always is the best method for this – to put the client at ease in a non-judgemental space where they can express their emotions and explore what it is they want to achieve with therapy. In giving the therapist an

Unconditional Positive Regard is a theory by Carl Rogers applicable both for psychotherapy and in interpersonal relations. It recognizes a universal need for positive regard by others to all persons under various situations. It requires that all individuals as counselors should respect, accept and appreciate others without judgments. It is somehow different from unconditional love since it doesn’t require care for or liking. It only calls for acceptance of individuals whether you are fond of them or not. Unconditional positive regard shouldn’t be taken to mean being nice, friendly, or delightful with other people. Unconditional positive regard is more of a feeling towards others. As such, it ensures that a therapist has a genuinely deep caring for a client regardless as to whether He/ She approves or not, the actions of his clients. It is an attitude of accepting individuals as they are.

The relationship with the therapist then can become something like a ‘re-parenting’ or a re-learning of how a trusting relationship should/could have been with one’s parents. Most people will agree that parents should (in a perfect world) give their children unconditional positive regard, empathy and be relatively non-judgemental with them, also show them respect and allow them to keep their dignity. Unfortunately this is not always the case. It is therefore even more important that the therapeutic relationship between counsellor and client show all these things to the highest of degrees.

I beleive that if I cannot be open and honest with myself then how can I expect the client to be open and honest with me. Through experience I Understand how daunting it is to express your thoughts and feelings, not knowing how you will be judged or how others may react towards you. Personally by offering my clients a safe place to be listened to, showing them unconditional positive regard by showing them understanding and respect and helping them to gain back their locus of evaluation has had a positive effect on me also. I feel reassured that I am a good person that i am useful and happy in the knowledge that i have given my clients a positive experience that I have helped them through a difficult and sometimes dark confusing time I am being who I truely am as this is what I have wanted to do for some time now.

This complete acceptance, without judgement and criticism, is important for a client to start to value and accept themselves. In order for a therapist to be able to show unconditional positive regard, they need to know, accept and value themselves and be in touch with their own values and morals. I think that the more a therapist is accepting of who they are themselves, the better they will be able to accept and respect their clients.

The role of the therapist – regardless of their theoretical orientation - is to convey to their clients that they are there to

There are many values this writer wishes to incorporate into a counseling relationship. The fundamental values this writer wishes to incorporate are: flexibility, self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. The ability to be flexible and alter what one does in order to fit the client’s needs is crucial to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship. Flexibility can be demonstrated in many different ways, such as the way the therapist interacts with the client, the tone of voice that is utilized, down to the way the therapist provides material to the client. In being flexible, treatment is able to remain focused on the client and his or her needs (Egan, 2014).

I made sure I used a welcoming tone as the way a counsellor greets their client will influence the clients feeling towards the counsellor, and their confidence in the counsellor. It is equally important to be friendly so that the client feels at ease and valued as a human being. However counsellors need to refrain from putting on an act and remain congruent and true to themselves from the beginning, while trying to meet them in a person to person encounter to avoid intimidation Geldard and Geldard (2005).

By creating a therapeutic environment in which the client feel safe to be entirely honest and open about their thoughts and feelings we can enable the client to be

There are many variables that influence the success of therapy for the client, none more so than the therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic relationship is defined as the strength and collaborative relationship between the client and therapist that emphasises mutually agreed goals and tasks within the context of a strong affective bond (Horvath, 1994.) In the therapeutic relationship, the clinician offers care, touch, compassion, presence, and any other act or attitude that would foster healing, and expects nothing in return (Trout, 2013.) Some clinicians believe that the “therapeutic relationship is a precondition of change, others as the fertile soil that permits change, while others see it as the central mechanism of change itself” (Norcross, 2010.) This is not to devalue other variables that impact the success of the therapy such as client involvement and the treatment method.

Thus, the client would have to be categorized with the assumption that he has experienced in his past “severed free and open communication with his peers”. This would mean that a client with clear and reciprocated communication with her loved ones would not find use in Client Centered Therapy. According to Truscott (2010), “our efforts to feel good about ourselves we tend to try to incorporate others' expectations― thereby denying our true selves and adopting instead a conditional self― resulting in feelings of disorganization and emotional pain. If, on the other hand, we experience genuineness, nonjudgmental caring, and empathy in our relationships with others, then we can achieve our potential as persons” (p.70-71). Thus, a client with emotional support can manage his feelings easier then someone without any emotional support. This still leaves the client with emotional support with the expectation that she should not have any difficulty with expressing her emotions.

As everybody is different and comes from different backgrounds, therefore give us all different values and beliefs, it is important to have an effective client-counsellor relationship based on four main areas of duty of care 1. Helper competence, 2. Client autonomy, 3. Confidentiality, 4. Client protection (Nelson-Jones, 2008). There will be times throughout the sessions with clients that your own values and belief creep in, and you do make judgement, therefore you as a counsellor have to know and acknowledge this happen and understand why it is happening.