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What Is Counselling

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Introduction
This essay will reflect on counselling, and include what I think that is, and how it differs from other forms of helping. I will analyse and compare the different types of counselling, giving specific examples of how they vary from each other. This essay will also evaluate some of my personal experiences of having professional counselling which will enable the reader to gain an authentic perspective from the clients viewpoint.
This essay will also state some of my own perspectives on what counselling is and what counselling has done for me personally. I will also demonstrate my understanding of the laws and legal implications of counselling

Counselling can be a complex and abstract subject. Everyone has their own …show more content…

As well as the different types of counselling there are also different approaches to counselling, some of which will be discussed in this section. I will start by giving a brief evaluation of the humanistic approach. (Pete Saunders 4th Edition p21). “ This was developed by a group of American psychologists in the 1950’s. In counselling terms, the most influential was Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987), founder of the persons centred approach.”
One of the differences between humanistic counsellors and other therapies is that they would always consider the other person to be a client and not a patient. You would see yourself and the client as equal and not an expert treating a patient. In this type of therapy you do not give advice to the client which can be challenging. The counsellor would demonstrate excellent listening skills and consistently use techniques such as paraphrasing and reflecting. Paraphrasing involves using other words to reflect what the client has stated. The counsellor would rephrase the sentence so that they are not just repeating what the client said, which can be patronising. Although you would use some of the same words, such as the most influential words the client used as words can have different meanings to each of us. Also by paraphrasing you show that you are listening and attempting to understand what the client is saying.
Reflecting is when the counsellor acknowledges the meaning or feeling of what has been

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