The Comprehensive Definition Of Counseling Psychology Essay

The essay will be discussing different elements that are found within an effective counsellor. The main points that will be discussed in the essay involves a comprehensive definition of counselling, the setting in which counselling proceeds, the different characteristics of an effective counsellor, the discussion of the importance of unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence in the counselling process, and last and foremost the importance of self care for the counsellor

The comprehensive definition of counseling

According to Cormier’s and hackney (2005 :1-15) “suggested that counselling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and client, This relationship is usually person to person, although it may involve more than two people. It is designed to help client understand and clarify their view of their life space, and to learn to reach their self determined goal through meaningful, well-informed choices and through resolution of problems of an emotional or interpersonal nature.”However Cormier further explains “counselling as a mouth healing process, because it involved intercommunication and interaction of a counsellor as well a client through self-orientation using mouth to human development principles like cognitive affective, behaviour, and personal emotionality intervention and self-concept. The mouth healing aim to help client to reveal his problem and issues, even self-awareness through mouth to mouth, which then make problems or stress unaware of the help-receive but with a intent within counsellor”.(Cormier & Hackney,2005.p:1)

Rogers (1957) “stated real heart of the counselling process is a special kind of relationship between counsellor and client. This relationship is focused on the client’s feelings and needs, while the counsellor offers consistent empathy, warmth and respect.”, according to (Rogers)”people seem able to explore their inscape and their issues; not just the easy ones but those that go deep, perhaps hurt bad, and potentially release real change”. (Carl Rogers 1957)

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Within the process of a therapeutic relationship a well professional or trained counsellor with client came to the counselling session to interact. The clients usually comes to session willing to be helped and seeking knowledge towards resolving a particular issue in his/her life, however within the therapeutic relationship the client communicate effective to ensure a path of healing or a solution is provided to him/her in , safe, supportive, non-judgemental and collaborative manner within the counsellor and the therapeutic setting at the session. Within the relationship between the counsellor and client as it produces changes in cognitive, feelings and behaviour at the end of all sessions the client always have to establish peace within himself. In order for the creation of a strong bond between the client and the counsellor, there is a need of a reciprocal or rapport friendship, so that the client can enable to self-disclose his/her problems to the counsellor, however the counsellor needs to create an environment ensuring trust, confident and empathy at all times

The discussion that involves the actions that are to be taken by the counsellors with regards to making the client feel safe.

According to ( Mearns & Thorne 1988) “the counsellor must build trust to the client or help receiver, because usually client come in a counselling session because they have been hurt badly, let down by other or disappointed, and abused also lacking self-esteem within themselves, which precise show counsellor need to make safety environment to their client always”. However Thorne (1988) suggests that “Mistrust environment around them can be seen as threatening, inferiority and discouraging to attempt life as well as planning for accomplishes certain goals”. Moreover Mearns suggests that “The counsellor needs to create a hopeful devoting setting which inter-personality setting though skills of active listening accurately, reflecting feelings and empathy and paraphrasing as well as summarising interrelationship between each other, The counsellor needs to avoid other aspect like hugs, attention to greet and meeting through channelling his or her client’s perspective, feels toward the client especially falling in love”. (Mearns & Thorne 1988)

The counselling setting plays a vital role in terms of the inter-communication relationship between client and counsellor, whereas the creation of a safe environment towards the counsellor and the client must be considered. The private room in the counselling session makes clients to feel more secure and safe for them to led them to self-disclosure and enabling them to feel free to talk about themselves, the same process should always proceed in all the counselling section to ensure dignity, assurance and safety to the client and for example e.g. an introvert person is an introspective, He/she withdrawals him/herself from people and is always willing to spend time alone ,however if you can take him or her to a variety of places in which there are multiple of people interacting or group counselling such as psychosocial in clinics ,he or she is vulnerable towards exposed and this can led to the client being insecure, self-unconsciously and not able to disclose her or himself. The setting must be in the same room. The counsellor has to always practice consistency.

The private room/office in which the therapeutic relationship will be happening should be a well organised structure that represents the client’s values. If it so happens that the counsellors office/ room is not appropriate towards the client it could led to discomfort within the therapeutic relationship of the client as well as the counsellor. The setting of the counsellor’s office should provide a place of warmth as to the client focus should be upon the engagement that is within the therapeutic relationship. The importance of a good setting enables the client’s attention as well as physiological and psychological attentiveness towards the session. There must be a private room around him and a few pictures, tables and seats so that the interaction should be easy to occur. Between each other creating a safety place for the counsellor and the client to communicate

(Bozarth,J,1997) states that “the counsellor often intention in his or her non-verbal communication with the client to ensure safety because the other clothes which the clients wears can reveal the client non-verbal communication to the counsellor and the client- way of speaking and looking can make or stimulate the client to be inferiority, insecure, and highly emotional towards the client”.However Bozarth,1997 states that ” it depends on the client views for example the counsellor if she wears a short clothes and shows private part can create an unsafely certain to the client because he is easily tempted by his body” (Bozarth, J ,1997).

According to Brems (2001) stated that “if the therapeutic relationship between the client and the counsellor is negative is usually ends up in the collapse because of ignored of boundaries to themselves and then (falling in love unaware of the feelings, actions that is starting within each other) it’s precisely makes unsafely certain to the client because he does not know the ethics of the counsellor section.

The characteristic effective counsellor need to posses within counselling session

Hackney and Cormier (2001) suggest that “a good counsellor is someone who can learn not to make judgments on behalf of the person being helped, although counsellors have their own values, these should not be imposed on the client – and the counsellor must retain the ability to listen to and accept the views of clients with other standards”.However Cormier further places that “Patience and acceptance, a counsellor rarely needs to use his or her self control in dealing with people, even those people who are not likeable, experience, learning to grow into a more complete person from the experience of life’s hard knocks can be a valuable quality in a counsellor” Hackney(2001) suggests that “education, formal degrees in psychology do not necessarily make good counsellors, but a common sense approach is not sufficient. Good counsellors are willing and able to learn about themselves and other people too. (Hackney & Cormier 2001)

Hackney and Cormier (2001) state that “Social Skills is characteristic of effective counsellor, it is not enough to be considered to be a good listener, counsellors learn through training how to perceive all aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication, and deliberately improve their listening skills by using appropriate techniques during counselling”. According to Cormier “effective counsellors have a genuine interest in other people, this is often referred to as respect or unconditional positive regard for the person being helped, people who do not need others in their lives may find this sort of warmth to unknown people as being problematic, effective counsellors have a genuine interest in other people. (Hackney, 2001) states “this is often referred to as respect or unconditional positive regard for the person being helped, people who do not need others in their lives may find this sort of warmth to unknown people as being problematic. Counsellor must show complete discretion, never revealing what others say or do within the counselling context. Confidentiality is paramount in counselling relationships. Practice, counselling requires a lot of training, followed by much practice. A current job that will allow the possibility of a helping role could be very useful. (Hackney, 2001)

The counsellor have difference qualities or trait, which they born with through inherent it to their parent’s genes. The environment also take place to nurture a counsellor with information from childhood in early or pre-school education up until university level and became educated as professional counsellor through frame of reference which nature as well as nurture intertwine.

The other trait which show a good effective counsellor is good psychological health which is a part and parcel that the counsellor posses in his personality. The health relationship between a help-receiver and the counsellor is within the health mind, effective counsellor’s mind need to have good knowledge by reading and experiencing or became curiously to know more about world and your client’s culture which they occupy. Psychology can produce coherent knowledge and facts through eating health and exercising, usually the mind which active produce enough knowledge into their client and the counsellor became effective in working place.

(Mearns, 1998) suggests that a”Effective counsellor has sensitive to understand racial, ethnics and cultural factors in others or your clients in the counselling session, understanding these factors in the help-seek can make counsellor to not judge his clients and criticise”, (Thorne, 1988) suggests that ” cultures that are able to create a good environment or interaction within themselves makes it easier to bring hope and motivation to the clients” . (Mearns, L. &Thorne, K. 1988:56).

The importance of unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruency in the counselling process

Empathy is the ability to understand what the client is feeling. “Therapist’s ability to understand sensitive and accurately the client’s experience and feelings in the counselling. An important part of the task of the person-centred counsellor is to follow precisely what the client is feeling and to communicate to them that the therapist understands what they are feeling. Counsellor who experience the client’s world as if were your own without, even losing the ‘as if ‘quality” it empathy revealing in the client world and problem in the counselling session Rogers, C (1957; 127)

The counselling process between the client and the counsellor reveal interaction and accurate followed or paraphrased by the counsellor through by willing to help all the time ,counsellor can show empathy in counselling session of the client because he wants to know more about the problem and make him to participate easily without a doubt of not listened and understand. The counsellor feels as similar to the client’s issue which concern him but because the counsellor’s work is empathically.

Unconditional positive regard it’s the acceptance and support of a person regardless of what the person says or does without judgment of criticize. “Unconditional positive regard is essential to healthy development. People who have not experienced it may come to see themselves in the negative ways that others have made them feel. By providing unconditional positive regard, humanist therapists seek to help their clients accept and take responsibility for themselves. Humanist psychologists believe that by showing the client unconditional positive regard and acceptance, the therapist is providing the best possible conditions for personal growth to the client” Rogers, C. (1957:128).

The counselling process with acceptances by counsellor is start when a client’s view point or culture is not criticized and judge but the counsellor think out of the box about often culture and presented to him so that he or she can choose his solution, not giving the client a solution to the hands. It he is a bias person toward other countries than he will know that it make him to know one side only and lose other around his, he help him to be objective and curiosity to know other things in world. it he does see a point in change, counsellor doesn’t forced him

　

Carl Rogers (1957) stated “Congruency real heart of the counselling process is a special kind of relationship between counsellor and client, this relationship is focused on the client’s feelings and needs, while the counsellor offers consistent empathy, warmth and respect. people seem able to explore their inscape and their issues; not just the easy ones but those that go deep, perhaps hurt bad, and potentially release real change. According to (Carl Rogers, 1957) the counsellor is authentic and does not put on a professional ‘i know best ‘the counsellor is ‘there’ to the client and is ‘real’. In this way the client does not have to worry about what the counsellor is really like. (Carl Rogers, 1957)

Important of self-care for the counsellor

Corey (2009) stated that self- care can develop within someone slowly as long as heshe search for yourself internal like feelings and external interaction with people or society, which can lead you to find own natural style of counselling. We can be twins or even being educated in the same university but end up not having similar needs, motivation and also value or moral in interaction with people. This can lead us to have difference aspect of style in counselling even way of knowing ourselves and caring for our body as counsellor. The health mind is within health body, meanly self-care like keeping your body health through keeping body relax by sleeping, eating health and reading books can make you as the counsellor to be fit for helping client and find our ways of counselling.

Cormier (2001) suggest “self-care is that you’ve noticed several changes as counsellor, both physical and mental; you’re concerned about your body drastic weight loss and have also noticed difficulty in maintaining a conversation with your client interaction, which you always feel free to express yourself in the last conversation, the counselor recently start to feel lack of focus and a lack of empathy for his client’s care, which is a drastic lead to poor change from previous commitment”. However (Cormier 2001) further continues that as counselYou have shared with other colleagues how much stress you have through at home and at work. This stress has affected you relationship with your clients, resulting in poor professional performance. The supervisor as well as your colleagues said you need to bounce back from stress as called resilient, and defence mechanism including exercising to keep you more physical strong as well as eating proper always. It can make your counselling session to continue without any constraint of self sabotage working with your client; it really shows self-care in working place and your home as family matter. Cormier (2001)

Physical self-care the body of counsellor need to be take care and maintain, so that you can able to be in touch with your body also be aware of it. As a counsellor you need to eat enough foods as the body need and regular healthy food is very important to keep concentrating and strong body to resist disease as well as long hours in counselling session without easily get tired. A self-care of counsellor needs regular medication for privation any sickness and makes sure that month you consult with doctors for body checking in order to ensure self-care. “Enough sleeping is a way of show self-care of your body as the counsellor because if you sleep less hours, it can make you to feel tire, depressed and lack of focus to attend counselling session. If you loss body weight can make you clients to doubt your counselling because of your body weight decrease “dramatically Cormier, G. (2001:230).

Psychological self-care is vital part of counsellor because mind control of body in life span of the counsellor and counselling session, so it needs care every day. Psychological disorder can distort a person’s point of view, for instance a counsellor who has less time in sleeping can be weak minded and easily have disorder as well. You need to notice your inner experience include listing to your thought, judgement toward people or client and beliefs. The health of mind is usually brings by relaxing, even meditating to restrict psychological stress through self-care, other counsellors before they start counselling session, they began to meditate or prey to cool down or relax his mind in the interacting with client

Emotional self-care base in the awareness of counsellor feels within socially like interact with the client in counsellor and his feels. The counsellor needs to spend time with family, colleagues and clients so that he or she can able to experience the emotion. Self-care can reveal that as a counsellor you came across difference feels, for instance a client can be highly aggressive unaware of the client but self-care can make a counsellor to perceive him positive cause of positive self-esteem not him to be easily irritated, depressed and shouted. Reading and exercising can make strong feels of a person to have positive emotion toward clients. Some other counsellor can laugh to feel strong to interact with clients.

In having to conclude and to bring an end towards the overall essay, it can be said and cannot be ignored that the whole assignment in general gives the reader a new perspective and enlightenment towards looking at the counselling as a discipline. The assignment gives a clear description of the counselling process, as within the assignment there is a clear definition of the counselling stages. The assignment furthermore discuses the strategies that are made by counsellors in order to enable that the client feels safe by the counsellors creating a setting that is suitable and comfortable for their clients. The essay has also looked at the importance as well as the characteristics of an effective counsellor .Furthermore within the assignment there is a brief description of the importance of unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence within the counselling process. And last and for most the essay gave a proper description with regard to the importance of self care as a professional counsellor and its effectiveness within a therapeutic relationship.