Carl Rogers Person-Centred Helper Model

For the purpose of this essay I shall be outlining Carl Rogers Person-Centred approach and Gerard Egan’s Skilled Helper Model in relation to my experience partaking in group sessions as both a helper and a client during the course of the practical assignment task. The objective of this essay is to identify my growing edge and to demonstrate how I can develop as an effective and ethical skilled helper from my experience partaking in group sessions.
It was quite difficult playing the part as both a helper and client during the early stages of group sessions. Through the many discussions prior to partaking in a role as both helper and client, “fear” appeared to be the overriding feeling that held back the learning experience for not only myself
The overall reluctance to come forward and share feelings really affected the growth of the group in general. There appeared to be a lack of trust between group members to really engage in the process for real learning and I believe this delayed not only my understanding but also my willingness to engage in the process. However, over the course of the practice sessions and the reality of our assessment looming over us, the group began to come together and open up a little more so that the listeners could really learn how to practice the art of active listening.
In this section the focus will be on my experiences as being helper and my role as being the client. Attention will be drawn to the challenges that I faced whilst listening to the client and also the outcomes of that process from the beginning of our practice session to our final assessment. As the client I will discuss my experience of using Rogers and Egan’s theoretical
I had a real difficulty in reflecting back the client’s thoughts. I found it really challenging drawing out the salient parts of the conversation. I felt this occurred due to my lack of confidence and my ability to over analyse what the client was sharing. I understand now that I had a difficulty in searching for the right responses (open questions etc.) for the client and therefore I was not attentively there for my client at times. However, over the course of the practice sessions I believe my confidence grew and my ability to paraphrase improved greatly through course work. According to Cooney, M. (class notes, 2017) paraphrasing and summarising are important ways of communicating to the client that they have been listened to. Summarising is also another useful tool because it helps the client organise their thinking