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:
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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.
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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'.
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- Unconditional
positive regard
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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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