The Need for Individual Counselling - Assignment Example

Individual Counselling A good starting point for understanding the need for counselling can be found in Albert Einstein's of the human beings as parts of the Universe with the following words: "A human being is a part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." (Albert Einstein quoted by Starbridge Centre, 2000-2009). Clients in need of counselling most of the time are desperately looking a way out of that prison, and counsellers should help them unlock the doors of that jail. Social work and human services should translate into viable solutions for the clients and user of their services. The role of the counsellor is to facilitate the process of unlocking the doors of the prison caused for a great variety of reasons. O'Connor et al state that "The challenge of social work practice lies in its complexity and diversity. On a daily basis social workers engage with people, groups and communities who are most damaged by social and economic structures and by the consequent ways of living and coping. Social workers often feel limited in their roles because of the particular policies of government or the organizations that employ them and many are overworked because of staff shortages or lack of funding." (O'Connor et al, 2006, p. ix). So the role of a counsellor has to be aligned with the role of social work practice that "seeks to promote human well-being and to redress human suffering and injustice. Practitioners aim to mobilize the forces of the individual, community and state to address the processes by which individuals and groups are marginalized or diminished in their capacity to participate as citizens. Such practice maintains a particular concern for those who are most exclude from social, economic or cultural processes or structures." (O'Connor et al, 2006, p. 1). On the other hand, as Chenoweth and McAuliffe advise to the social work students the following remarks are pertinent in the context of acquiring fundamental counselling skills: "Prepare yourself to be challenged about your views of the world and your morals and values. You will learn to articulate your position on many importan tareas of social interest as you become more immersed in the learning experiece and more exponed to the viewpoints of others. "Be prepared to challenge others and learn to do so in a constructive way, mindful at all times that differences in the cultural experiences of others must be respected. Listening to different experiences and perspectives helps you become more aware of cultural sensitivities and to clarify your views and opinions." (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2005, p. 3) As it can be seen from the statements below individual counselling is a real challenge that has to be tackle with an open mind and flexibility in order to be of help to the clients and users of human services: "Clients and users of social services will teach you the most you will do in the future. It is only through listening to the stories of those who have experienced loss, trauma, disability, alienation, discrimination or isolation that you can ever hope to respect the uniqueness of an individual's experiences. These people will also share their experiences of hope, optimism, resilience, survival and growth, giving you an understanding of the importance of people realising their potential and the power of change processes. Not only are clients to be found in hospital wards or in homeless shelters -they are within reaching distance of all of us, in our social circles, our familias, our workplaces. Learn to listen, and listen to learn." (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2005, p. 5). Regarding the purpose of social work the most frequently used statement was adopted in 2000 by the the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW): "The social work profesin promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work". (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2005, p. 12). On the other hand, Heap (2009) considers that counselling skills "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." So Heap remarks that "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." (Heap, 2009). Heap summarises the basic counselling skills as follows: "The counsellor must So that the client can Listen Develop his/her thinking Not judge Feel safe and respected Pay attention Know you care Accept the client's feelings Know he/she is not being judged Understand the client's world and feelings, put yourself in the client's shoes. Express that understanding. Know you are with him/her Think about the client Get the best help possible The counsellor may So that the client can Ask questions Develop her/his own thinking Summarise Hear her/his thoughts and know she/he is understood. Ask the client to try new behaviour in the counselling session Release blocking emotion such as. unexpressed anger or sadness. Counsellors should not This will make the client Argue Defensive Dwell on their own difficulties Withdraw Solve the problem for the client Dependant Give advice Dependant or hostile Belittle the clients' concern Withdraw or attack Avoid painful areas Be frustrated" (Heap, 2009). Heap describes the counselling process in the following terms: "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 had 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 child 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." (Heap, 2009). The person-centred approach to counselling (Mulhauser, 2008), on the other hand, is derived from the Rogerian approach. Carl Rogers emphasised the therapist's ability to: "1. be congruent, to be herself with the client and, when appropriate, communicate her feelings to him "2. have unconditional positive regard for the client, accept him for who he is and not what he does, have respect for him and his views "3. be empathic, experience the client's subjective frame of reference as if it were her own and communicate this to him, sometimes bringing his feelings into focus from the edge of his awareness, thus enabling him to symbolise them." (UKTherapists.com, n.d.) The Rogerian approach is one of several approaches that try to solve the issue of counselling. Rogers believed that "The therapist creates an environment, or relationship, hitherto denied to the client, that is conducive to growth; she facilitates change using personal skills, communication of understanding, and by modelling another way of being. Further to the core conditions of congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy - which Rogers emphasised were a very special way of being with another person - he later considered a fourth condition of tenderness. It was also his experience that sometimes purely his presence had a positive effect on a client, which he related to intuition and the touching of their inner spirits." (UKTherapists.com, n.d.). Any counsellor can also learn a lot from the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (OCAA, 2008) and other theories and approaches that have proved to be successful in many different situations and with a wide variety of clients and users. (see Horan, 1977). Counselling is an exciting career but it has to be undertaking with a rigorous code of ethics and an open frame of mind if the counsellor wants to be successful in this very challenging field of social work and human services. Works Cited. Chenoweth, Lesley, and McAuliffe, Donna. (2005). The Road to Social Work & Human Service Practice: An Introductory Text. Thomas Learning Nelson. 222 pages. March 22, 2009. . Heap, Nick. (n.d.). Counselling Skills. March 22, 2009. . Horan, John J. (1977). Counseling for Effective Decision Making. Chapter 10. March 22, 2009. . Mulhauser, Greg. (2008, April 22). An Introduction to Person-Centred Counselling. March 22, 2009. . OCAA. (2008, Sept. 30). About AA 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. Orange County Alcoholics Anonymous. March 22, 2009. http://www.oc-aa.org/1212.htm O'Connor, Ian; Hughes, Mark; Setterlund, Deborah; Turney, Danielle; and Wilson, Hill. (2006). Social work and social care practice. SAGE, 242 pages. March 22, 2009. . Starbridge Centre. (2000-2009). Basic Counselling Skills. March 22, 2009. . UKTherapists.com. (n.d.). The Rogerian Approach to Counselling Theory. March 22, 2009. . Read More