On this page I provide the BACP's definition of counselling as well as a brief description of the approach I use.
The BACP definition of counselling:
Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no-one can properly be 'sent' for counselling.
By listening attentively and patiently the counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client's point of view and can help them to see things more clearly, possibly from a different perspective. Counselling is a way of enabling choice or change or of reducing confusion. It does not involve giving advice or directing a client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way.
In the counselling sessions the client can explore various aspects of their life and feelings, talking about them freely and openly in a way that is rarely possible with friends or family. Bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment can become very intense and counselling offers an opportunity to explore them, with the possibility of making them easier to understand. The counsellor will encourage the expression of feelings and as a result of their training will be able to accept and reflect the client's problems without becoming burdened by them.
Acceptance and respect for the client are essentials for a counsellor and, as the relationship develops, so too does trust between the counsellor and client, enabling the client to look at many aspects of their life, their relationships and themselves which they may not have considered or been able to face before. The counsellor may help the client to examine in detail the behaviour or situations which are proving troublesome and to find an area where it would be possible to initiate some change as a start. The counsellor may help the client to look at the options open to them and help them to decide the best for them.
Ref: BACP What is Counselling?
There are three main approaches to counselling: psychodynamic, behaviourist and humanist. Person-centred counselling, which I offer, is part of the humanist movement. It was founded by Carl Rogers who developed his approach from the 1940s until his death in 1987. He broke from the Freudian psychoanalytical approach, which emphasises the expertise of the counsellor and the diagnosis of the client, to establish a model that understands the client as the expert regarding her/his own life and the counsellor as someone who accompanies and supports that client as s/he works through issues s/he brings to the sessions. Each person has within her/himself ‘vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behaviour – and that these resources can be tapped only if a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided’ (Carl Rogers, A Way of Being). For Rogers, the goal is the ‘good life’ which is a process not a static condition. He understood human beings as striving to fulfil their potential, even when conditions around us make that difficult. Sometimes we lose our sense of self as a result of the competing messages we receive as we grow and develop. Counselling can help us to get back in contact with ‘the self we truly are’ and in doing so, can help ease anxieties and apprehensions that may inhibit our enjoyment of the ‘good life’.
To help the client, the counsellor has three core conditions: empathy (that is, understanding the world from the client’s perspective); unconditional positive regard (which means that the client is treated with respect and regard at all times); and congruence (that is, the counsellor is genuine and open with the client). The counsellor does not direct the client but may ask questions for clarification or reflect back the client’s thoughts and words to help the client ‘hear’ her/himself better and so lead to better self-knowledge and self-awareness.
Although some people may respond better to one counselling approach over another, the most important aspect of counselling is the quality of the relationship between counsellor and client. If this relationship does not work, it does not matter which approach is being used, it will not be as effective as one where there is good rapport and trust between client and counsellor. For this reason I offer an initial 20 minute free consultation so that the client and I can get a sense of one another and whether we can work together. At this stage the contract is discussed and we agree a series of sessions if that is what is decided.
The links page offers suggestions for reading if you require further information or contact me directly to discuss any aspects of the process.
I have also been trained in psychodynamic and systemic approaches. Psychodynamic counselling pays great attention to unconscious processes. Freud saw the mind as being divided into three elements:
The conscious mind is the area of awareness of the moment and what is happening now or what you can remember in the moment.
The preconscious mind is what might be termed ‘available memory’; i.e. anything which can be brought into the conscious mind easily.
The unconscious mind Freud believed to be the biggest part. This includes the things we learn automatically (e.g., driving a car) but also includes other experiences that are not easily retrievable. Some of these are our instincts and drivers but also uncomfortable and difficult things such as memories and emotions associated with trauma. For Freud, the unconscious is where our motivations are based but on occasions we try to deny or resist being conscious of our motivations and they are only available to us in a disguised form -- hence Freud's interest in dreamworlds.
Alongside the notion of consciousness, Freud also focused on three elements of the self: the id; the ego and the superego. As organisms, we attempt to meet our needs and these elements come together and can create tensions within in us as we attempt to identify and satisfy our needs.
The id is the fundamental biological self which is sensitive to the organism’s needs, e.g. food; sex/reproduction; shelter, comfort. A baby is virtually pure id as it knows it has needs but it cannot articulate or rationalise those needs.
The ego relates to the conscious part of the mind and attempts to link the id with reality. It focuses on how it can satisfy the needs emerging from the id in the context of its current situation, i.e. reality.
The superego is that which learns and processes experience until it becomes seemingly naturalised within the individual. It remembers the things that worked and the things that formed obstacles for the ego in trying to satisfy the id. Here, great attention is paid to primary relationships, particularly parents. The superego remembers the strategies that work and the things to be avoided and uses things like pride, guilt, shame, to communicate with the ego. It is thought that the superego comes into being gradually during childhood (some say by the age of seven; others suggest between 5 and puberty), but for some this process is never completed.
Although these different elements could work together, it is often the case that they serve to thwart one another. The id reflects the primacy of the biological while the superego reflects the needs and wants of broader society – i.e. what is acceptable. In psychodynamic counselling, a great amount of store is put on childhood experiences and relationships, some of which may be buried but the legacy of which can be felt in a number of difficult emotions and behaviours in the present.
Systemic theory is one of the most commonly used approaches to family and couple therapy. In its broadest terms it is an approach that looks at the ‘ecology’ of systems: i.e. how do systems (e.g. families) function and how do the people within play different roles. It has a number of core elements of systemic theory of counselling which can be condensed into the following: it is relational; it focuses on the different systems to which we belong; it views the process of communication as vital; the role of the therapist is an engaged one of co-creator, and it is underpinned by the philosophical foundations of social constructionism. In counselling, the approach focuses on the different systems we inhabit (cultural, familial, workplace etc.) In doing so, it moves away from analysing the individual mind (intrapsychic) to the interpersonal relationships. Individuals are not islands merely looking inwards for meaning and understanding; in fact, they are meaningful beings in relations to others – including other aspects of themselves with whom they have conversations and internal dialogues. The therapist’s role is to help people, whether individuals or couples, uncover the ways in which they construct meaning in their lives and that each of them may construct and understand meaning differently.
Social constructionism understands our worlds as socially constructed and that there are no absolutes or fixity. Everything we are is socially constructed and reflects context, experience, social mores, our aims and objectives etc. This challenges the notion that things, including emotions, are given or natural. We construct our emotional responses according to the resources available to us but, given dominant discourses about appropriate responses and the habituation of some actions, we may perceive our actions as automatic/natural responses. Social constructionists view our emotions as constructed within the confines of local narratives that offer a range of appropriate responses: for example, being enraged on the discovering infidelity reflects social mores and local narratives (e.g. what her family/friends/workplace) which inform her expression of distress. For social constructionists, if meaning is constantly being constructed, it can be reconstructed and, tied in with the relational aspect of systemic theory, we can examine how each person’s construction of meaning reflects the influence of the various systems they inhabit. In counselling, the ways in which clients construct their worlds are examined and alternatives are explored. Within this approach, great attention is paid to language and communication and clients are encouraged to see whether there are alternative ways of communicating and understanding the messages in our lives. It also focuses on whether we are successful in our patterns of communication and whether other ways of communicating would be more effective: e.g: when A is upset, she gets angry. This causes B to ignore her which frustrates A further but she doesn't know how to express her hurt except through anger. The counsellor might ask A whether getting angry is efficient (i.e. does it express to B what she wants)? And, if not, how else could she express herself which might communicate to B more effectively how she is feeling.