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PERSON-CENTRED
COUNSELLING |
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This type of counselling allows the client to
guide themselves rather than being led by the
professional. This theory suggests that sessions
should not be directive and the counsellor should be
a source of understanding and encouragement rather
than the problem solver. The person-centred approach
allows clients to move at their own pace and to
direct their own development. This means they are
aware that the counsellor believes in their
capability to manage problems, which encourages them
to believe in their strengths, values and worth.
The person-centred approach maintains that three
core conditions provide a climate conducive to
growth and therapeutic change. The core conditions
are:
Empathy
Empathy means that the counsellor accurately
understands the client's thoughts, feelings, and
meanings from the client's own perspective. When the
counsellor perceives what the world is like from the
client's point of view, it demonstrates not only
that that view has value, but also that the client
is being accepted.
Congruence
Congruence means that the counsellor is authentic
and genuine. The counsellor does not present an
aloof professional facade, but is present and
transparent to the client. There is no air of
authority or hidden knowledge, and the client does
not have to speculate about what the counsellor is
'really like'.
Unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard means that the
counsellor will always accept the client
unconditionally and non-judgementally. The client is
free to explore all thoughts and feelings, positive
or negative, without danger of rejection or
condemnation. Crucially, the client is free to
explore and to express without having to do anything
in particular or meet any particular standards of
behaviour to 'earn' positive regard from the
counsellor.
Together, these three core conditions are believed
to enable the client to develop and grow in their
own way -- to strengthen and expand their own
identity and to become the person that they 'really'
are independently of the pressures of others to act
or think in particular ways.
As a result, person-centred theory takes these core
conditions as both necessary and sufficient for
therapeutic movement to occur and that if these core
conditions are provided, then the client will
experience therapeutic change. Person-centred
therapy suggests that there is nothing essentially
unique about the counselling relationship and that
in fact healthy relationships with significant
others may well manifest the core conditions and
thus be therapeutic.
The person-centred approach assumes that clients are
the experts on themselves. The focus of
person-centred therapy is always on the client's own
feelings and thoughts, not on those of the therapist
-- and certainly not on diagnosis or categorization.
The person-centred therapist makes every attempt to
foster an environment in which clients can encounter
themselves and become more intimate with their own
thoughts, feelings and meanings. |
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