Novice Counselor's blog

If I am working at a community mental health center or anywhere else as a counselor, it would be highly unrealistic to expect that each client I encounter will have the same personal beliefs and values as me. The person-centered perception of people is based on the key belief that people respond to their uniquely perceived world (Capuzzi & Gross, 2007). This means that different people relate to the world and their own actions from a unique context and their own individual perception. Their words, behaviors, feelings, and beliefs are selected to match the specialized view of the world held by each individual. Thus, no two people perceive the world in exactly the same way. It naturally follows then that my clients are likely to have differing beliefs and values.

Will it be difficult then in light of these facts to experience and express unconditional positive regard? I suspect so, but we as counselors must be up to the challenge, otherwise there is no point in even attempting to try to be a counselor or therapist.

The client-centered approach teaches us how to handle situations such as these through empathic understanding. Such an understanding means that we try to see the world from the client’s point of view. We must attempt to see the reasoning behind the client’s actions and attempt to convey that understanding to the client (Capuzzi & Gross, 2007). Counselors and therapists must set aside their own views and beliefs and enter the client’s world. For example, an abusive spouse has his own reasons for hitting his wife which may include anger, hate, and frustration. The counselor must identify the client’s reasons for their behavior in order to understand the client’s worldview. This does not necessitate that the counselor shares this worldview but they must acknowledge it.

Empathic responding that is accepting and congruent facilitates the development of clients’
regulation of affect. Clients’ awareness of their affective reactions helps them to label and symbolize
their inner experience. Clients affective reactions are modulated as their experience is represented
in words, and clients internalize the accepting, soothing, and nurturing behaviors of their therapists. The negative extreme of acceptance and understanding is too much freedom so that insufficient guidance and protection is provided.to the client (Watson, 2007).

References:

Capuzzi, D., Gross, R.,(2007); Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories and Interventions; 4th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc.

Watson, J. C. (2007); Reassessing Rogers’ Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Change.
Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training Vol. 44, No. 3, 268–273