Counselling continued

The BACP definition of counselling is the following:

Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore any difficulties that 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 received 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 a clients 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 the client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way. They are in fact non judgemental.

In the counselling session, 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 previous experience and training will be able to accept and reflect the clients 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 the client, enabling the client to look at many aspects of their lives, 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 starting point. The counsellor may help the client to look at and consider the options open to them and help them to decide the best option for themselves.