Foundations of Counselling

 Foundations of Counselling 

The speed and complexity of modern life continue to increase as do people's expectations from it. Coping well requires autonomous and flexible thinking and clear decisions. Unfortunately most of us have been conditioned to conform, not think for ourselves. Counselling skills help people to change as they learn to think things through for themselves and make their own decisions, free of the effects of past conditioning.

What is counselling for?

When we seek, or accept, help with an issue we have been unable to resolve on our own, there is often an emotional component in the situation. We often feel bad about needing help. The problem may itself cause confusing feelings. It is extremely difficult to think clearly when we are feeling strong feelings whether good or bad. The primary function of counselling is to help people think clearly when feelings are present. The feelings can arise from an experience in the present. Hearing "Your job is redundant" would obviously generate negative feelings in most people. Someone who got into trouble with a superior at work might equally find meeting a senior administrator intimidating. This would remind that person of the earlier painful experience. He or she would then find it hard to think.

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.

What are counselling skills?

Your job as a counsellor is to help the other person, the client. If the client is to feel safe enough to be open about her/his thoughts and feelings, he/she needs to feel safe, respected and understood. Some skills are listed here below that you need to have.

How does counselling work?

All humans have immense potential and are intrinsically intelligent, powerful, cooperative, zestful and loving. Unfortunately, this basic nature is often obscured as we grow older. Our nature is such that we are easily hurt and when hurting our thinking process shuts down. When we act without thinking, the consequences often cause further hurts (distress) which reduce our capacity to think in the situation still further. We then behave in a rigid, stereotyped way every time we experience a situation that reminds us enough of the original situation in which we were hurt. This complex process develops rigid (patterned) responses to situations rather than a flexible appropriate response.

Fortunately, we have highly effective mechanisms for discharging our hurts and thus recovering our ability to think in any situation. A child that is experiencing, or has experienced hurt, will typically find someone, often an adult, and get this person to pay attention to him/her. The children will then talk actively, laugh, sweat, shake, have a tantrum (storm), cry or yawn. If the adult can stay in touch with the child, perhaps offer a warm hug or hold a hand, the child will discharge the painful emotion exhaustively and then go back to playing etc. quite freely and with no rigidities installed by the hurtful experience.

The above describes the counselling process in its natural state. Unfortunately most adults have had their discharge processes thoroughly interfered with in their childhood so will suppress the exhaustive discharge required because it disturbs them. Children quickly learn that discharging painful emotion is punished and learn further rigid ways of controlling their feelings, when discharging them would be helpful.

In the counselling process the counsellor provides the love, safety and attention necessary for the client to feel her/his feelings and discharge them. The feelings that condition behaviour in rigid patterns may arise from present hurts or past hurts. It is necessary for the counsellor to examine many ways to identify and outwit the client's patterns, including the control patterns, so they can discharge.

Counselling or psychotherapy training?

It is not possible to make a generally accepted distinction between counselling and psychotherapy. There are well founded traditions which use the terms interchangeably and others which distinguish between them. If there are differences, then they relate more to the individual psychotherapist's or counsellor's training and interests and to the setting in which they work, rather than to any intrinsic difference in the two activities. A psychotherapist working in a hospital is likely to be more concerned with severe psychological disorders than with the wider range of problems about which it is appropriate to consult a counsellor. In private practice, however, a psychotherapist is more likely to accept clients whose need is less severe. Similarly, in private practice a counsellor's work will overlap with that of a psychotherapist.  Those counsellors, however, who work for voluntary agencies or in educational settings such as schools and colleges usually concentrate more on the 'everyday' problems and difficulties of life than on the more severe psychological disorders. Many are qualified to offer therapeutic work which in any other context would be called psychotherapy.

Mental Health Counselling

 

Mental health counselling is an important intervention for helping people maintains mental wellness. Counselling is focused on educating, guiding, and referring people in the community to psychological support services as opposed to psychotherapy where professional therapists administer established formal techniques. Specifically, mental health counselling involves empathic listening, understanding the basic signs of psychological distress, and problem solving skills including basic advice on how to cope with distress, and obtain a more detailed evaluation and treatment if necessary. Counsellors also provide individuals, families and the community with information about mental wellness and raise the public‘s awareness of stigma and other key mental health issues through community education activities.

 

Modes of Counselling

 

Individual Counselling

 

Counselling for individuals may aim to improve knowledge or to provide an outlet for expressing feelings associated with mental health conditions. Specific interventions for individuals are outlined for varied conditions discussed throughout PART III of the manual.

Group Counselling

 

There are many different types of therapeutic groups. People can come together on a variety of shared concerns, issues, and conditions. Some groups require a different approach from other groups (e.g. a group focused on medical issues and their consequences ask for a different approach than a group focused on psychological issues or traumatic experiences). In some groups the group leaders will find some participants who are eager to share their experiences and some who are hesitant to speak. The intellectual and emotional levels of the groups may vary and therefore impact the methods used and program planning. Some groups may be led by professional psychotherapists while others, such as self help groups, are initiated by facilitators with basic group support skills.

 

Self-help groups

 

A self-help group is a group of people with the same kind of experiences who meet on a regular basis to help each other to deal with issues related to a health condition or specific experience. People with similar experiences can help each other in the healing process. In self-help groups people can find support, attention, and other participants who can be examples of how to deal with problems. These groups are usually flexible and with-out a set number of sessions. Participants may attend when they want and facilitation or leadership of the group is less structured. Self help groups may be useful as a single supportive intervention or in combination with other interventions such as individual counselling. These may be formed in the community or in a health care setting

The purpose of self help groups is to provide a means for:

·       Sharing information and knowledge about a problem;

·       Meeting others who can empathize because of having a similar experience;

·       Support and empowerment;

·       Recognition and acknowledgement;

·       Self expression and making contact;

·       Regaining self confidence;

·       Learning alternative constructive coping methods.

 

 

Advantages and ways that self-help groups may differ from professional psychotherapy groups include:

 

·       Leaders and participants have had similar experiences and both openly share their experiences. There is less potential for power differences between facilitator and groups members.

·       Self-help groups may be less expensive (and therefore more accessible) as professional therapists may charge significant fees for their services.

 

Possible disadvantages of self help groups include:

 

·       Potential periods where emotional turbulence and conflict between group members is less controlled since there is less structure and professional guidance;

·       No guarantee of continuity since regular attendance is not a set rule and group leadership can change frequently;

·       Screening participants is limited, so there may be difficulty in man-aging the needs of individuals who have emotional or intellectual capacities that vary significantly from other group members;

·       In acutely stressful situations such as situations of massive loss, people may find that sharing experiences with others amplifies their distress rather than reduces it.