Person-Centred Counselling is a humanistic approach to counselling where clients are encouraged to become their true self and reach their full potential, this is called ‘self-actualisation’. To help a client achieve self-actualisation the counsellor will adopt three core conditions:
Unconditional Positive Regard – Accepting you exactly as you are now and being non-judgemental
Congruence – Being open, honest and transparent with you
Empathy – Seeing your story from your perspective to understand your feelings
Person-centred counselling is non-directive, led by the client and the client is encouraged to bring their own issues to the session, therefore the client can maintain control over the content and pace of sessions. Person-centred counselling will not tell you what to do or provide a quick fix to your challenges, it encourages you to explore your own issues, feelings, behaviour, beliefs and realise your inner qualities and resources so you can gain greater understanding of yourself and develop independence. The approach emphasises the importance of becoming who we want to be rather than being how others think or expect us to be.
A person-centred approach uses the idea of ‘self-concept’, which refers to the beliefs and ways we view ourselves. This can have an influence on how we feel about ourselves and how we view the world. Our self-concept can be developed and changed as we go through life and can be impacted if we are focused on trying to be accepted by others. For example, if the acceptance we receive from others is conditional, we may internalise these expectations and begin to shape our self-concept around them. For example, a child who is only praised when they achieve high grades may come to believe that they are only worthy of love and acceptance when they are successful. In this example, the child’s self-concept may have a negative impact on them including setting high/unrealistic expectations, perfectionism, low self-esteem, and not coping well when they feel they have not achieved success. Overtime, our identity can be lost or distorted by the expectations of others, therefore person-centred counselling can help clients begin to free themselves from their developed concept of how they should be and begin to embrace and become who they truly are.
Overall, person-centred counselling is a great opportunity to explore your thoughts and feelings in a safe and non-judgemental setting. Throughout person-centred counselling at Everlight, you are treated as the expert on you and your life as no one else truly knows what it is like to be you. Therefore, you are the one who knows what is best for you and you will be encouraged to explore what this looks like.