Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Approaches to counselling - psychodynamic counselling


This week we began to explore different approaches to counselling.


We began with the work of Freud and the development of psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic counselling is derived from psychoanalysis and the work of Freud and subsequent psychoanalytic theorists. We looked at Freud's early theories in class and your class handout includes some of the other notable psychodynamic theorists. You can also find some good resources on the web if you want to know more.

The psychodynamic model that uses psychoanalytic concepts to explain human growth and development, and the nature of psychological problems.
Modern day psychodynamic counsellors work in a broad range of settings, with both long and short term clients. Psychodynamic counselling uses the therapeutic relationship to gain insight into unconscious relationship patterns that evolved in childhood. Memories and other evidence of early relationships are used to make sense of current concerns. The process of change occurs as clients become more aware of the power of the unconscious, including defence mechanisms, instincts and rules for life, to influence behaviour, and hence more able to control their actions and responses.
Skills used by counsellors working psychodynamically:
  • Making contracts
  • Listening
  • Observing
  • Clarifying
  • Linking
  • Interpreting
  • Attending to transference
  • Looking at dreams
  • Giving reflective responses
  • Drawing parallels between past and present

Follow up work for your journal?......
  • thoughts related to Freud's ideas, what do you like/dislike, why?
  • comparisons between Roger's (person-centered) assumptions and Freud's

The work which is being done in your journals is revealing some very good work in regard to developing self-awareness. I hope the work which we did last week looking at mental defence mechanisms and the influences of the past on current behaviour has given some good stimulus for your work this week!

Monday, October 26, 2015

Empathy and Advanced empathy

Here's some more notes on advanced empathy. This can be a tricky concept to grasp initially....don't worry....where there is a will there's a way.....it will fall into place eventually!


The communication of empathy to the client is thought to be the most important factor in bringing about change and learning (Dryden, 1996).
The empathic counsellor enters the private perceptual world of the client and experiences the feelings and sensations as if they were the counsellors own. To do this the counsellor must lay aside her own views and values and make no value judgements of that client. This allows her perceptions to be true to the client’s feelings and not tainted by her own feelings or opinion of the client.
Empathy allows the client to feel really understood and the non-judgmental, understanding caring attitude of the counsellor fosters a safe environment where the client can express their feelings.
Empathy must be communicated to the client for it to be of any value. The counsellor reflects their understanding of the clients experience and feelings to them, checking for accuracy and being guided by the response that is received, gradually focusing on meanings and allowing fuller understanding and deeper exploration. Empathy redresses poor self-worth and alienation, as the client feels valued and cared for due to the counsellor’s efforts to ‘be there for’ and understand the client. Being really listened to by someone who understands and the deeper exploration of themselves and their feelings allows the clients to listen more accurately to themselves and become more caring and empathic towards themselves. This increased understanding and prizing changes the client’s self-concept, becoming more accurate. The self-concept is now more congruent with the experience the client has of himself and his behaviour changes to match the new concept.

Advanced empathy enables the client to see new perspectives on their behaviours, experiences and feelings (Dryden, 1996). The intense listening, probing and clues from clients expressions and body language or how they view their experiences or their behaviours allows the counsellor to see or sense feelings or meanings that the client is scaresly aware of. The sharing of these blind spots may enable the client to move on. An advanced empathic response may be a tentative questioning response ‘I think what I’m hearing is...’ While this indicates real understanding it can also challenge aswell. What the counsellor reflects to the client is not her opinion of what is going on but is securely based in what is flowing from the client at that time, it is a sensing. This may open up whole new areas, shedding light on a situation. It may enable the client to see themes, help them to give expression to their feelings or see the bigger picture. It encourages clarity. Some empathic responses may be echoes of clients feelings ‘It’s as if...’ as the counsellor checks out a feeling with the client.

In advanced empathy what the counsellor is communicating to the client is the felt sense. The felt sense it what is on the edge of the awareness, between the known and the unknown. The known being what we recognise as our behaviours and feelings. The unknown contains deeper levels of feelings. Underlying feelings are often not strong feelings like anger or sadness they are more like sensations, tightness, welling up or warmth. To access the unknown, the underlying feelings, the counsellor must focus on the edge of the client’s awareness. The felt sense is the door to the unknown. Its may be accessed by echoing words or sensations the client is experiencing - reflecting tightness, blackness. Unlike empathy where the client may immediately respond as the counsellor indicates their understanding, here the client may hesitate as the echoing of the sensing of their feelings is just out of their awareness.

The real therapeutic value of advanced empathy is helping the client to become aware of feelings and meanings. The challenging and new perspectives that emerge with the use of this skill depend of the formation of a trusting relationship where the client feels cared for and understood.
Growth occurs in clients experiencing person-centred counselling, as the client moves towards a more autonomous existence, which is more in keeping with their true self. Changes happen in the way the client feels and experiences life. The trust and value themselves more which changes the way they conduct relationships and the decisions they make.

References
Corey, G (1996) Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Pacific Grove.
Dryden, W (ed) (1990) Individual Therapy. Open University press, Milton Keynes.
Hough, M (1998) Counselling Skills and Theory. Hodder and Stoughton.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Beginnings

People often struggle with the in-class practise sessions when it comes to beginning the session with the client. Here's a blog post which discusses some of the things which are often included in a first counselling session. The article also deals with how clients might feel when faced with their first counselling session.

This video demonstrates how one counselling service approach defining boundaries and guiding client's expectations at a first counselling session.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Self-awareness

A simple definition for self awareness: conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
(Oxford Dictionary).

There are various internet resources which you can use to help you develop increased self-awareness. Here are a few which you might like:
(don't be put of by Rory's facial expression, maybe he's not very self-aware!)

Here's the diagram we used in class to explain how Johari Window works
  

A workbook for you to read more about Johari Window.

Test how self-aware you are with this resource.

A similar off-line version is available here.

Web resources about how to get started in writing a journal.

Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Welcome to Counselling Skills!

Hello and a warm welcome to the Intermediate Counselling Teaching Blog. I hope that you enjoyed the first class and are feeling confident about the course!
It was great to see everyone from The Introduction to Counselling Course again and also to welcome those of you who have completed your initial counselling training elsewhere.

I've created this blog for students who like using the internet.

It will provide

  • Information about the course.
  • Useful resources about counselling.
  • Links about learning and development.
  • Career information.
  • The means to post your own comments.
  • An email link to myself.
Please feel free to comment on the points raised on the blog (and in the class) and also to email me if you want to communicate with me between classes.
If you want to leave a comment about anything on the blog just click on comments at the bottom of each posting. My email address is on the contact me page at the bottom of the blog.
I hope to update the blog at least weekly but it will probably vary.
I hope that this is a useful resource for your studies and that you enjoy the course!