Counselling Theory and Practice 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Counselling Theory and Practice 2 - Essay Example session may emphasize on exploration of the clients childhood experiences, which may provide a rightful assessment of the clients reaction to challenging situations. Mostly, after careful analysis of these experiences, the counsellor will consider ways in which the client could adjust these reactions. Effective counselling will allow the client see situations with the much needed clarity essential for making positive steps towards changing their mindset towards challenging situations. The critical aim of counselling is enabling the client arrive at, and make their own decisions and act upon them accordingly, and does not involve any form of advice giving. In understanding the client centred approach, we first have to look at its architect, psychologist Carl Rodgers (1902- 1887) who made enormous steps in expounding his dislike in the way psychology treated people as object of study rather than individuals deserving respect and understanding(Merry, 2002, pg 2). This meant that the counsellor, needed to show attributes such as positive regard, empathy and congruence whenever a client sought help from them. The client centred approach is therefore defined as a precise from of interviewing in which the client only responds to questions asked by the counsellor, more like a direct interview rather than a discussion. Patterson (1985) however outlines a number of characteristics exhibited by the client centred approach that may either promote or limit it as a form of counselling A counsellor must have in mind the face that no two clients are similar or share the same train of thought and capability of handling difficult situations and experiences, owing to the fact that the way they will react to a situation is dependent on their personal experiences in the world. Therefore, it is very essential that the counsellor avoids instances of expecting his/her clients to react in a manner they would when faced with a similar situation. The role of a counsellor is primarily to