How Do I Make Use of Counselling Skills and Knowledge in Helping Interactions and/or in Helping Work?
November 2010
Essay
How do I make use of counselling skills and knowledge in helping interactions and/or in helping work?
In this assignment I intend to define ‘counselling skills and knowledge’ and then show how I actively employ these qualities during my everyday life. These include informal helping interactions with family and friends, in a supervisory capacity at work and during skills practice sessions as part of my counselling course. Finally I’ll analyse the effects that these helping interactions have on me personally and the various ways in which I deal with those effects.
Firstly it’s important to distinguish between using counselling skills and being a counsellor. From my own research I think the distinction revolves around the fact that a counsellor has formal qualifications and is bound by a code of ethics and professional practice – what the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) calls the ethical framework. In contrast, anyone can use counselling skills in a non-counselling situation – be that as a nurse, line manager, social worker, neighbour or friend. The BACP states that counselling skills are being used when “There is an intentional use of interpersonal skills, which reflects the values of counselling and the user’s primary role is enhanced without them taking on the role of counsellor, and the recipient perceives the user as acting within their primary professional caring role, which is not that of being a counsellor.” As a non-qualified counsellor myself I’m going to explore the ways I use counselling skills and knowledge across a number of ways during my everyday life. As Gerard Egan points out in his book The Skilled Helper (1984), in the majority of cases, helping skills, including counselling skills, are provided by people who are not counsellors.
As a trainee counsellor I can only offer limited experience and knowledge of counselling skills, what Pete Sanders (2002) refers to as ‘helping in a counselling
Essay
How do I make use of counselling skills and knowledge in helping interactions and/or in helping work?
In this assignment I intend to define ‘counselling skills and knowledge’ and then show how I actively employ these qualities during my everyday life. These include informal helping interactions with family and friends, in a supervisory capacity at work and during skills practice sessions as part of my counselling course. Finally I’ll analyse the effects that these helping interactions have on me personally and the various ways in which I deal with those effects.
Firstly it’s important to distinguish between using counselling skills and being a counsellor. From my own research I think the distinction revolves around the fact that a counsellor has formal qualifications and is bound by a code of ethics and professional practice – what the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) calls the ethical framework. In contrast, anyone can use counselling skills in a non-counselling situation – be that as a nurse, line manager, social worker, neighbour or friend. The BACP states that counselling skills are being used when “There is an intentional use of interpersonal skills, which reflects the values of counselling and the user’s primary role is enhanced without them taking on the role of counsellor, and the recipient perceives the user as acting within their primary professional caring role, which is not that of being a counsellor.” As a non-qualified counsellor myself I’m going to explore the ways I use counselling skills and knowledge across a number of ways during my everyday life. As Gerard Egan points out in his book The Skilled Helper (1984), in the majority of cases, helping skills, including counselling skills, are provided by people who are not counsellors.
As a trainee counsellor I can only offer limited experience and knowledge of counselling skills, what Pete Sanders (2002) refers to as ‘helping in a counselling
References: Egan, G. (1984) The Skilled Helper. London: Brooks/Cole Hough, M Mearns, D. and Thorne, B. (2007) Person-Centred Counselling in Action. Trowbridge: Sage Rogers, C.R Sanders, P. (2002) First Steps in Counselling. Glasgow: PCCS Books Electronic references Dwyer, D. (2002) Interpersonal Relationships. London: Routledge Egan, G Hough, M. (2010) Counselling Skills and Theory. Bodmin: MPG Books Mearns, D Rogers, C.R. (1961) On Becoming a Person. London: Constable Sanders, P