The Person Centred approach to counselling is one which aims to provide the conditions in which you can find your own unique path through your troubles. We have all had different life experiences and have different personalities and so the solutions will be different for each of us. As a Person Centred counsellor I have a deep trust in the potential of humans: In my experience, even in times of the deepest difficulties people still have strengths to draw on and can often sense something of the way they want to deal with things if only they could be supported in that. It is my job to help my clients to connect with their inner knowing of what is right for them and to support and facilitate them in finding a way through their difficulties. Working as a Person Centred counsellor means I strive to actively understand what is going on for my clients with warmth and compassion. I strive to listen and respond to clients without judgement. I am committed to working with transparency and having an honest, genuine working relationship with my clients. Working in this way is about a set of values that I attempt to embody in my whole life, not just when I am with clients.
I have felt a deep affinity with and commitment to the Person Centred Approach for twenty years, since reading Carl Rogers' 'On Becoming a Person'. What resonated with me then, and still does today, is how respectful and valuing this way of working is. Working in an ultimately non-directive way is about really trusting people and nurturing their potential: On some level, people know the way they need to grow, just as a tree or a flower does. I find the variety of life and experience fascinating and intrinsically valuable - my therapeutic approach allows me to bring my natural qualities of warmth and acceptance in to my work with clients. Another key feature of working in a Person Centred way is the emphasis on equality: I do not see myself as the expert or authority and wish for my clients to feel that we are working together on an equal footing.
The Person Centred approach to counselling was founded by Carl Rogers and originally termed Client Centred Counselling. It is one of the main counselling approaches employed today. The approach was quite radical at its inception as it went against the grain of the prevailing more medically influenced models. The approach is distinctive in its empowering approach - by recognising the innate potential in people this means that Person Centred counsellors strive for a relationship where there is as much equality as possible between the therapist and the client. It is also generally an approach which encourages seeing people in terms of their individuality rather than labelling them.
Find out more about the Person Centred Approach
Find out more about the Person Centred Approach at the BAPCA (British Association for the Person Centred Approach) web page www.bapca.org.uk
The site includes a page on Carl Rogers and the body of theory that he established www.bapca.org.uk/about/carl-rogers.html
Two organisations that organise Person Centred group gatherings are ADPCA and PCAN. These are gatherings where people meet to share with and witness eachother in the spirit of the 'core conditions' - embodying empathy, acceptance and congruence.
The Association for the Development of the Person Centred Approach www.adpca.org
The Person Centred Approach Network www.pcan.info
I have felt a deep affinity with and commitment to the Person Centred Approach for twenty years, since reading Carl Rogers' 'On Becoming a Person'. What resonated with me then, and still does today, is how respectful and valuing this way of working is. Working in an ultimately non-directive way is about really trusting people and nurturing their potential: On some level, people know the way they need to grow, just as a tree or a flower does. I find the variety of life and experience fascinating and intrinsically valuable - my therapeutic approach allows me to bring my natural qualities of warmth and acceptance in to my work with clients. Another key feature of working in a Person Centred way is the emphasis on equality: I do not see myself as the expert or authority and wish for my clients to feel that we are working together on an equal footing.
The Person Centred approach to counselling was founded by Carl Rogers and originally termed Client Centred Counselling. It is one of the main counselling approaches employed today. The approach was quite radical at its inception as it went against the grain of the prevailing more medically influenced models. The approach is distinctive in its empowering approach - by recognising the innate potential in people this means that Person Centred counsellors strive for a relationship where there is as much equality as possible between the therapist and the client. It is also generally an approach which encourages seeing people in terms of their individuality rather than labelling them.
Find out more about the Person Centred Approach
Find out more about the Person Centred Approach at the BAPCA (British Association for the Person Centred Approach) web page www.bapca.org.uk
The site includes a page on Carl Rogers and the body of theory that he established www.bapca.org.uk/about/carl-rogers.html
Two organisations that organise Person Centred group gatherings are ADPCA and PCAN. These are gatherings where people meet to share with and witness eachother in the spirit of the 'core conditions' - embodying empathy, acceptance and congruence.
The Association for the Development of the Person Centred Approach www.adpca.org
The Person Centred Approach Network www.pcan.info
