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Assessment Two: Professional practice in counselling.
Counselling is defined as several talking therapies delivered by counsellors to bring about an effective change or enhance their well-being (BACP, 2010). People who are in need of counselling are those who are experiencing difficulties while dealing with problems and those who are distressed psychologically, physically and/or spiritually. However, not all of these people who undergo these problems actually approach counsellors. These people are usually left in a state of indecision. Counselling offers a way to tackle this; through means of supportive and empathic relationship between the client and the counsellor to provide a framework for emotions to be delved into, as well as behaviours and thinking patterns. This would improve the client’s condition through the facilitation of benign changes. However counselling does not solve the client’s problem, counsellors merely serve as guides, assisting the client through their problems.
Counselling can stretch over any period of time. Counselling typically uses a theory-based approach, usually with the psychoanalytic, person-centred, cognitive behavioural and psychodynamic theories being utilised. Depending on the theory or theories used, the counselling could either be directive or non-directive. Directive counselling refers to the counsellor advising and helping the client to realise his goals, while the non-directive approach, predictably does the opposite.
Counselling would require a large amount of formal training. Peer counsellors, who can be friends, colleagues and family members, are non-professional counsellors. They cannot counsel others as they already know who the client is and have an impression of the person. This would lead to them being biased, due to the perception that they already possess of that individual. Paraprofessional