Course Snippet

The text on this page is taken from Unit 7 of the Certificate in Interpersonal Skills for Volunteers by distance learning course.

Counselling Approaches

Introduction

The term 'counselling' can be very confusing as it has a different meaning for different people. This is hardly surprising when the Concise Oxford Dictionary (9th Edition) gives at least two definitions of counselling, which appear to be conflicting:

“give advice to (a person) on social or personal problems, especially professionally.”

and

“the process of assisting and guiding clients, especially by a trained person on a professional basis, to resolve especially personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties.”

Many volunteers find themselves in the role of counsellor without having a true understanding of the concept of counselling and the role of the professional counsellor. There is a difference between a professional counsellor and a person who uses counselling skills as part of their role. A professional counsellor is a highly trained individual who is able to use a different range of counselling approaches with his/her clients.

This Unit aims to give you an overview of three of the main approaches used by professional counsellors and is for information purposes only. It does not set out to turn you into a professional counsellor and we strongly urge those of you who feel that counselling plays an important role in your work to undertake a recognised professional course.

Objectives

At the end of this Unit students should be able to:

Define what counselling is and what it is not.
Explain the role and skills of the professional counsellor.
Describe three professional approaches to counselling.

Course Snippet

The text on this page is taken from Unit 7 of the Certificate in Interpersonal Skills for Volunteers by distance learning course.