Definition of Counselling and Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy and Counselling are professional activities that utilise an interpersonal relationship to enable people to develop self understanding and to make changes in their lives. Professional counsellors and psychotherapists work within a clearly contracted, principled relationship that enables individuals to obtain assistance in exploring and resolving issues of an interpersonal, intrapsychic, or personal nature. Professional Counselling and Psychotherapy are explicitly contracted and require in-depth training to utilise a range of therapeutic interventions, and should be differentiated from the use of counselling skills by other professionals.

Professional Psychotherapy/Counselling:

Utilise counselling, psychotherapeutic, and psychological theories, and a set of advanced interpersonal skills which emphasise facilitating clients change processes in the therapeutic context. This work with client processes is based on an ethos of respect for clients, their values, their beliefs, their uniqueness and their right to self-determination.

Require in-depth training processes to develop understanding and knowledge about human behaviour, therapeutic capacities, and ethical and professional boundaries.

Take account of the cultural and socio-political context in which the client lives and how these factors affect the presenting problem. This includes awareness and assessment of social and cultural influences such as age, development, (dis)ability, religion, cultural identity, Indigenous identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, nationality and gender. Professional Psychotherapists and Counsellors value such differences and avoid discrimination on the basis of these aspects of identity.

May involve intervening with current problems, immediate crises, or long-term difficulties. The work may be short-term or long-term, depending on the nature of the difficulties, and may involve working with individuals, couples, families or groups.

Counselling and Psychotherapy occur in a variety of contexts in the public and private sectors.

Regard ongoing clinical supervision, professional development, self-awareness, self-development, self-monitoring and self-examination as central to effective and ethical practice. Such practices lead to enhanced capacity to utilise the self of the practitioner effectively in the therapeutic relationship.

Although Counselling and Psychotherapy overlap considerably, there are also recognised differences. While the work of Counsellors and Psychotherapists with clients may be of considerable depth, the focus of Counselling is more likely to be on specific problems, changes in life adjustments and fostering clients wellbeing. Psychotherapy is more concerned with the restructuring of the personality or self and the development of insight. At advanced levels of training, Counselling has a greater overlap with Psychotherapy than at foundation levels.

Further distinctions regarding psychotherapy and counselling are offered in the Register Sections of the PACFA National Register:

PACFA will be adding further descriptions of the fields of family therapy, relationship and child counselling and psychotherapy in the near future.

Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy apply theoretical and clinical knowledge developed over the last hundred years. The approach of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is that the source of much of what people think, feel, experience and fear is hidden or unconscious. These unconscious processes can maintain peoples internal suffering, the impact of trauma, crippling emotional difficulties and unsatisfactory relationships within their social and cultural contexts.

The therapeutic relationship is the foundation for this method and requires commitment and responsibility from both the psychotherapist and patient/client. The aim is to work together to make sense of patients emotional life and ways of functioning. The work makes links between present and past as well as emphasising the patients here-and-now experience. Exploration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the therapeutic relationship (also known as transference and countertransference) makes this work different from other therapies or from talking to a friend.

Through non-judgemental understanding and interpretative work within the therapeutic relationship, patients can recognise underlying meanings of dreams, conflicts and fantasies and the way in which thoughts and feelings are expressed and resisted. This understanding enables new choices to be made, and the fulfilment of individuals unique potential.

Psychoanalysts and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists complete theoretical and experiential post-graduate training following a professional qualification. They are required to undergo their own psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy as part of their training, which enables them to understand distress and symptoms, and be mindful of the possibilities of their own personal biases.

Aims, Approaches and Training Requirements for Counselling, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

From: http://www.beyerpsychological.com/counseling.htm

Psychotherapy is meant to:

help someone understand their problems and concerns from a psychological stand-point

process thoughts and feelings from past experiences that impact the present

understand how life context and external stressors impact current functioning

connect with their personal strengths and intuition

develop a plan for healing / change

assist with developing more effective methods of coping and managing life on a daily basis

help someone learn to use effective strategies to prevent return to unhealthy behaviors or ineffective coping strategies

When therapy is successful, a person should feel better able to face life's challenges using more healthy and effective coping mechanisms, without regularly scheduled sessions. Typically, clients start with weekly sessions and then cut back to biweekly as counseling goals are achieved. We will suggest that sessions continue for the time necessary to support a client in maintaining successful change. Sometimes clients continue with monthly or bimonthly maintenance sessions for a time or just schedule sessions as needed.

Counseling is a Collaborative Process

Effective therapy is conducted with continuing input from the client. Once we evaluate presenting problems, we work with the client to develop a treatment plan that prioritizes individual needs and outlines strategies to meet goals. This will guide us in knowing what to look for when therapy is complete. Progress is reviewed regularly in session and changes are made as needed.

Treatment completion is a collaborative decision that is planned for in advance so that the client may have the best healing and growth experience possible. It is important to discuss how a client has or has not changed, plan for future needs, and have closure with the therapeutic relationship.

If at any time a client is dissatisfied with the services he or she is receiving, we encourage discussion with the therapist. This will assist in resolving important issues with regard to the therapeutic process to create the most individualized and flexible therapy experience. Dr. Beyer provides continuing clinical supervision for all therapists.

What is the Difference Between Counseling and Psychotherapy?

The terms Counseling and Psychotherapy are often used interchangeably. Though they have similar meanings with considerable overlap, there are some important distinctions between the two that are helpful to keep in mind when looking for a mental health care provider.

What is Counseling?

Counseling, sometimes called talk therapy, is a conversation or series of conversations between a counselor and client. Counseling usually focuses on a specific problem and taking the steps to address or solve it. Problems are discussed in the present-tense, without too much attention on the role of past experiences.

Though the titles counselor and advisor are often used like synonyms, counselors rarely offer advice. Instead, counselors guide clients to discover their own answers and support them through the actions they choose to take. In Colorado, counselors can earn Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) status by satisfying a number of educational, experience, and testing requirements over a period of years.

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy, like counseling, is based on a healing relationship between a health care provider and client. Psychotherapy, or therapy for short, also takes place over a series of meetings, though often it has a longer duration than counseling. Some people participate in therapy off and on over several years.

Instead of narrowing in on individual problems, psychotherapy considers overall patterns, chronic issues, and recurrent feelings. This requires an openness to exploring the past and its impact on the present. The aim of psychotherapy is to resolve the underlying issues which fuel ongoing complaints. Psychotherapists help to resolve past experiences as part of laying the foundation for a satisfying future.

Many psychotherapists are open to and interested in wisdom from a variety of sources: the body, the unconscious, and the inner child, to name a few possibilities. Therapists should be comfortable working with strong feelings, traumatic memories, and the therapeutic relationship.

In actual practice there may be quite a bit of overlap between the two. A therapist may provide counseling with specific situations and a counselor may function in a psychotherapeutic manner. Generally speaking, however, psychotherapy requires more skill than simple counseling. It is conducted by professionals trained to practice psychotherapy such as a psychiatrist, a trained counselor, social worker or psychologist. While a psychotherapist is qualified to provide counseling, a counselor may or may not possess the necessary training and skills to provide psychotherapy.

Attitudes and qualities of a good counsellor

A capable counsellor must possess a number of personal qualities and develop the proper attitudes to make a client feel at ease and to build rapport so that a client can self-disclose. What are these personal qualities?

Empathy

Empathic understanding is the ability to see things from the clients perspective. Without this quality a counsellor will be unable to comprehend the problems, experiences, thoughts and feelings of another person, and will not be able to offer clients the level of supportive understanding that they will require.

The counsellors full attention and empathy encourages a client to relax and trust and encourages self-disclosure.

Congruence and warmth

A counsellor should be agreeable and act appropriately to provide the client with a comfortable foundation for the counselling relationship. Only by creating a friendly atmosphere can the counsellor encourage interaction and disclosure.

Maintain warmth and genuine understanding.

Use appropriate body language such as a non-threatening posture, while maintaining eye contact and respecting the clients personal space.

Maintain a reassuring and comforting way of speech the tone of voice, speed of speech and style of delivery.

Respect

Counsellors must at all times show respect for clients and their welfare. They must also remain impartial and non-judgmental.

A client must feel comfortable, safe and confident that confidentiality will be maintained at all times and also that the counsellor is committed to helping, encouraging and supporting.

Whilst maintaining a professional focus a counsellor must be able to show a genuine openness.

Positive regard

It is of vital importance in the counselling relationship that the counsellor demonstrates a positive acceptance of the client and that the client is valued and respected.

A positive, unconditional regard for the wellbeing of a client is the basis from which clients can explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences, and develop an understanding and acceptance of their emotions.

A counsellor must not judge in any way. This may be difficult in some situations, but is the basis of a counselling relationship built on trust.

Accepting a client shows the individual that you are there to support them through the counselling process, regardless of their weaknesses, negativity or unfavourable qualities.

Important values

At all times counsellors must show a commitment to values such as the following:

Human dignity

Alleviating personal distress

Appreciating the differences in culture

Remaining non-judgmental

Ensuring the integrity of the client/counsellor relationship

Maintaining client confidentiality and ethical principles.

Personal skills

Each counsellor will bring their own unique abilities, qualities and skills into a counselling relationship to help ensure that their client feels safe and supported. These may include:

Active listening skills

Good interpersonal skills

The ability to question, reflect and challenge attitudes and beliefs

A genuine interest in providing support.

Other important skills include good planning and motivational skills, problem solving, organisational ability and re-orientation skills.

Personal knowledge

In addition to counselling qualifications, a counsellor should be armed with sufficient personal knowledge and understanding of what counselling is all about.

He/she must also be clear about the role of the counsellor and the problems, issues and expectations every client will present.

Counsellors must be self-aware, and must be in control of their feelings, thoughts and emotions whilst working with clients.

Personal development

Through his/her own development a counsellor will also pick up additional understanding and knowledge, which can be used effectively to support a client during the counselling process.

Counselling skills are constantly improved if the counsellor has an interest in self-awareness and self-development. This continual process can include a growth in the following:

Self-awareness

Self-counselling

Work/life balance

Career and personal focus

Goal setting.

Source: Attitudes and Qualities of a Counsellor: http://www.thecounsellorsguide.co.uk/

http://www.saap.za.net/resources/26-counsellingskills/93-attitudesandqualitiesofagoodcounsellor