Person Centred Counselling
Person-centred counselling was developed by Carl Rogers, an American psychologist and counsellor, who died in 1987, aged 85. He was one of the founders of humanistic psychology.
The Person-centred approach believes that people are motivated by a tendency for growth in the direction of wholeness given the right conditions. The process of therapy is built on a basic trust of the client’s ability, within a growth prompting climate, to actualise his or her human potential.
The quality of the relationship between counsellor and the client is of primary importance. Psychological and emotional healing is promoted within a relationship which the client experiences being accepted, valued and understood.
Throughout the counselling process clients are offered three core conditions; empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence. To show empathy means to sense accurately the feelings and personal meanings that the client is experiencing and communicate this understanding to the client. Unconditional positive regard is expressed by the counsellor conveying in their attitude, genuine respect and acceptance of the client. Congruent means to have in our awareness the feelings that we are experiencing and to communicate them if appropriate.
The counsellor’s role is to be supportive, non-judgmental, honest and genuine whilst trying to see the world from the client’s eyes. They offer a close attendance to unfolding experience, providing the opportunity for clients to find out more about themselves. This is done through active listening and responding in a manner that leads clients to explore and make meaning of their issues. The counsellor trusts the client’s process and does not impose their own agenda, believing that it is the client who knows what hurts and that they know the way forward.
Within the counselling process the counsellor will promote equality of power, creating an environment where the client experiences their own power and ability to make decisions.
