Person-centred therapy
Carl Rogers was one of several psychologists who helped establish the humanistic approach to psychology in the 1950s. Rogers was particularly focused on the theory of person-centred therapy, which came to be used extensively in career counselling as well as in mental health.
Rogers’ ideas departed from more traditional models of career counselling in that he suggested the counsellor was no longer an expert who dispensed help and advice but, instead, acted as a facilitator to help the client achieve their goals.
Person-centred therapy proposes that the client is the true expert on their thoughts, feelings and experiences. They know themselves best and, with help from a counsellor, are best equipped to help themselves change, grow, and attain their goals.
This method suggests that constructive change and growth are more likely to occur when three conditions are in place:
- Empathy
- Unconditional positive regard
- Congruence.
Empathy
The counsellor empathises with the client by seeing things from their perspective. This not only acknowledges and values whatever the client is feeling and experiencing, but means that the counsellor can also help the client to clarify and understand uncertain thoughts and feelings.
Unconditional positive regard
The counsellor creates an environment in which the client may safely communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas without fear of judgement or negative response. The client understands that they are free to express whatever they are feeling at that moment – indecision, pride, depression, uncertainty – and still be positively regarded and unconditionally accepted by the counsellor.
- The counsellor aims to see things from the client's perspective
Congruence
The counsellor removes their professional façade, making themselves transparent to the client. During the session, both client and counsellor become increasingly transparent to each other. There is no sense of a hidden agenda, only openness, genuineness and a sense of trust.
The person-centred career counsellor will not try to analyse, categorise or diagnose. Instead, their role is to facilitate and create an environment where the client can reach greater awareness of their thoughts and feelings and how to reach their goals.
This therapy relies on the counsellor’s personal qualities to create a positive, non-judgemental environment that fosters the client's growth. Indeed, the success of person-centred therapy depends on the quality of the relationship between client and counsellor. The counsellor offers an accepting and authentic relationship; the client, engaging in this relationship, will solve their own problems because of an innate tendency toward being the best that they can be.
Sources
- Association for the Development of the Person Centred Approach.
- British Association for the Person-Centred Approach, (www.bapca.co.uk).
- Bryant-Jefferies, R, ‘Person-centred Counselling Supervision’, Oxford: Radcliffe, 2005.
- Mulhauser, G, 'An Introduction to Person-Centred Counselling', accessed January 2009, (www.counsellingresource.com).
Further reading
- Mearns, D, and Thorne, B, 'Person-centred Counselling in Action', California: Sage Publications, 1999.
- Rennie, D L, 'Person-centred Counselling', London: Sage Publications, 1998.
