There’s a lot of strange ideas out there about what counselling is. Some come from movies where therapists give lots of advice and break lots of boundaries. Others come from stories of counsellors who’ve not had proper training and caused harm.
I’ve heard too many bad stories and had too many bad experiences myself of counselling. So, I hope that the following can help people to know what to expect from proper counselling.
Let’s start with two definitions of counselling from well-known sources:
The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) in 2013 defined counselling as:
‘Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose.’ BACP 2013 cited in https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/60092_Aldridge__A_short_introduction_to_Counselling.pdf
And the National Health Service (NHS) define counselling as:
‘Counselling is a talking therapy that involves a trained therapist listening to you and helping you find ways to deal with emotional issues.’ https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/counselling/
There are many different types of counselling offered in the UK, but they usually all involved the following:
- Regular sessions: counselling sessions are usually 50 minutes, either weekly, or fortnightly. They can be online or in the room.
- Listening: the counsellor is trained to listen well to the client in a non-judgmental way.
- Confidentiality: counselling is a safe space to talk about things without the worry that someone’s family or boss will find out what is said.
- Clarifying: the counselling process should help the client to have a clearer picture of their problems.
- Resourcing: the counsellor shows the client ways to help them with their problems.
- Empowering: the client grows in strength and over time, might not need counselling anymore.
- Ethics: counsellors should follow a code of conduct from their governing body to ensure neither the client nor counsellor are harmed.
- Boundaries: there is usually a counselling contract that limits the counselling relationship to the 50-minute sessions.
Of each of these, I feel that Ethics is the most important one. Proper counselling should have an ethical code that determines how it is done safely. So, if you’re considering a potential counsellor, ask what ethical framework they use.
I hope the above gives a broad picture of what counselling is. If you’d like more information you might want to read my article on ‘How is counselling done?’
By Duncan Forbes