PYC4809 Exam preparation Notes

The counsellor person and professional Chapter 2 The person and the professional are intertwined and cannot be separated in reality. The counsellor as a therapeutic person • Counselling demands a practitioner who is willing to shed stereotypes and be an authentic person in the therapeutic relationship! • It is within these person to person connections that clients experience growth, if counsellor hides behind professional mask our clients will likely keep themselves hidden from us --- leading to sterile counselling. • It is through the genuineness of the counsellor and their aliveness that clients can be helped and truly effected. • As therapists we serve as models for our clients. If we model incongruent behaviour and remain distant we can expect our clients to also behave in the same manner. If we are real in our approach and engage in appropriate self-disclosure our clients will tend to be honest with us in the therapeutic relationship. Personal characteristics of effective counsellors The following are is a list of the characteristics a therapist should strive to possess: 1. Have an identity 2. Respect and appreciate themselves – Can give and receive help they feel adequate with others. 3. Open to change 4. Make choices that are life orientated –committed to living fully rather than settling for mere existence 5. Authentic / sincere and honest 6. Sense of humour 7. Make mistakes and are willing to admit them 8. Generally live in the present 9. Appreciate the influence of culture – aware of the ways culture effects them, respect the values and diversity of other cultures 10. Have a sincere interest in the welfare of others 11. Possess effective interpersonal skills – capable of entering the world of others without getting lost in their world. 12. Become deeply involved in their work and derive meaning from it 13. Passionate 14. Maintain healthy boundaries – strive to be fully there for their clients but still maintain healthy boundaries, they do not carry their client’s problems around with them. S - The study-notes marketplace Downloaded by: hlabanganemilly | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The study-notes marketplace 2 Personal therapy for the counsellor: Should the counsellor undergo some kind of personal therapy? The underlying consensus is YES. Personal therapy contributes to the therapist’s professional work in three ways: 1. As part of the therapists training – personal therapy offers a model of therapeutic practice in which the trainees experiences the work of a more experience therapist and learns what is helpful and what is not! 2. A good experience in personal therapy can enhance a therapist’s interpersonal skill that are essential to skilfully practicing therapy. 3. Successful personal therapy can contribute to a therapist’s ability to deal with the on-going stresses associated with clinical work. Research gather has proved that personal therapy has positive effects in the following areas: Self esteem Work functioning Emotional expression Interpersonal conflicts And more…. Personal psychotherapy is not an end in itself but a means to help potential counsellors become therapeutic persons--- increasing their impact on clients! The counsellor’s values and the therapeutic process The roles of values in counselling: The degree to which a counsellor should enter into a therapeutic relationship is a matter of debate, our therapeutic interventions rest on core values. Even the choice of words we use to express our value systems. In is neither possible nor desirable for counsellors to be neutral about values … even though our values influence the way we practice it is possible to maintain a sense of objectivity. Counsellors need to guard against tendency to assume one of 2 extremes: 1. Counsellors who hold definite and absolute beliefs and see it as their job to exert influence on clients towards what they (counsellor) thinks is right