The Effective Therapist - Mitigation vs Relationship in a Complex Counselling Environment - Essay Example

The effective therapist – mitigation versus relationship in a complex counselling environment BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE “In a positive therapeutic relationship, the therapist will behave towards the client as if he or she is someone who makes sense, who is worthy of attention, who has the power to choose and who has strengths” (Berger & Staggs, 1987 cited in J. McLeod) Effective Counselling The quotation above indicates that it is the role of an effective counsellor to establish camaraderie with clients, putting particular emphasis on giving the individual a personal sense of belonging. The statement suggests patients have a certain need requiring fulfilment that involves assistance in developing a healthy self-identity through reinforcement tactics or other socialisation models of therapy. An effective counsellor, as identified through research, is a multi-faceted individual with the ability to blend distance with close interpersonal relationship-building in order to succeed in assisting with helping identity formation or how best to come to terms with client problems. A positive therapeutic relationship with clients takes into consideration lifestyle elements of clients and attempts to incorporate these principles into the pursuit of building a two-way association. Before any of these interventions become successful, effective counselling skills require dedication to multiple domains of study, thus there is evidence these qualities must be taught. Skills portfolio for effective counselling Coombs (2005) identifies a series of skills required in order to qualify as an effective family counsellor, which is by definition an environment in which complex social structures are developed. These skills include perceptual skills that are the ability to look through perceptual lenses and interpret sporadic client data. Among these are executive skills, or the demonstration of appropriate social interventions and actions in the counselling environment (Coombs). The idea that effective counselling and the positive relationship can be developed for a more positive therapy is supported by Coombs as it infers that family counselling, as the relevant example, is going to be dynamic and involve unique social interactions between family members that require a flexible therapist. Body language, gesturing, and some of the more fundamental principles of family lifestyle are going to be present, thus requiring an individual to identify deficiencies of genuine hostility that might not be spoken by the client group. At the same time, Coombs reinforces that relationship has an executive-level mentality to it in which the counsellor is a mediator who conducts themselves against the appropriate behavioural model for the profession understanding how to prioritize and accomplish positive interactions. If the notion that positive therapeutic relationships are created with generic belonging tactics and emphasizing personal client strengths, it can be associated with a coaching or mentoring role as both a model of behaviour and through close association at the interpersonal level. Holistic therapists have identified 17 different wellness dimensions that lead to a more positive therapeutic relationship. They include emotions, positive humour, self-worth, spirituality, friendship and love; under the Indivisible Self Model (uncg.edu 2004). This respected holistic model of therapy identifies a needs-based client system in which the basic concepts of worth and belonging are recognized an incorporated into a total therapeutic system. The Indivisible Self Model supports effective counselling as relationship-based in which complex self-concept issues are built into the interactions between therapist and client. The California State University College of Science (2002) recognizes a variety of skills needed to be considered an effective counsellor. These include setting boundaries as the therapist and recognizing when to say ‘no’, thus avoiding altruistic giving. This touches on the executive-level functions required of counselling in order to deliver an effective series of interventions. Setting distance limitations in the early life cycle stages of the client/therapist relationship are necessary as supported by the educational field in order to gain effectiveness in this career role. There is clearly a need for therapist distance, which somewhat negates that concept of establishing a strong bond or belonging environment where self-concept theories are utilised to create a more positive, lasting therapeutic result. One professional in this field believes that there is an inherent need in clients to receive: “positive regard from others… over time, their intrinsic sense of their own identity and their own evaluations of experience and attributions of value may be replaced by creations partly or even entirely due to the pressures felt from other people” (Mulhauser 2010). Coombs recognized that there is a requirement for a flexible and perceptive individual to achieve an effective counselling intervention. Assuming that this need is inherent to most client individuals at the foundational needs level, drawing out personal attributions of self-value would require in-depth discussion and reinforcement as part of needs fulfilment in order to establish ongoing and lingering feelings of empowerment and self-worth. However, as Mulhauser identified, attributions that might be positive and inherent can be transformed into partial creations, thus creating a sort of social complexity that would require an exploratory counsellor; as provided by Coombs. Consider the opinion of person-centred counselling as described by two experts: “Person-centred counselling is essentially a relationship between two persons, both of whom are committed to moving towards a greater fullness of being” (Mearns &Thorne 2007, p.2). In this case, yet again the relationship concept is identified in which both parties are gratified and seeking personal enrichment through relationship-building. The authors further identify that the inner worlds of both the counsellor and the patient are explored to meet the client at their inner depths (Mearns & Thorne). These experts link effective counselling, especially in relation to person-centred approaches, as being wholly committed to establishing a broad connection between emotion and lifestyle. This somewhat conflicts with the idea of executive leadership and distance that is needed in this role in the opinion of some counsellors in this field. However, the majority of evidence indicates a need for significant relationship focus that border on having understandings of sociological principles and cultural awareness. This is supported by the National Career Development Association (1997) who express counselling competencies to include an identification, awareness and understanding of cultures, family structures and subcultures. Though this pertains to career counselling, the idea of the positive therapeutic relationship has been inferred to be compared to a mentoring role, it is similar to that of a counselling coach in the workplace environment. The organisational structure and the political dynamics involved represent considerably complicated social structures that must be addressed with the client in order to leave a lasting impact. “Client-centred counselling radically departs from the medical model paradigm in which clients are assessed, diagnosed, and treated” (Moon 2007, p.78). In any counselling environment, whether career-oriented or in personal practice, these complex social structures are unpredictable, flexible, and would require the conceptual examiner in order to gain positive therapeutic results. The skills needed to build an effective counselling practice would then require the establishment of an interpersonal relationship in order to identify needs characteristics associated with respect, empowerment and strengths amidst a sea of unique and cultural social environments. Daly & Mallinckrodt (2009) offers that distance from the client is only needed during the early stages when approaching the client and are transformed later in the relationship; under psychotherapy concepts related to anxiety counselling. In this type of environment, anxious individual exhibit inordinate numbers of behaviours that are linked to the client’s personal lifestyle or belief systems. Distance would be inferred to be necessary early in the relationship to identify more obvious signs of internal emotional disturbances before engaging the client with building self-worth. In any event, the evidence supports that there are situations that will arise unique with certain clients that will entail some level of professional distance in order to achieve a positive therapeutic result. In the early stages of engagement, the therapist understands that they have the counsellor’s attention and may not necessarily prefer being on display for analysis. The more in-depth concepts such as empowerment and personal self-value would not be achieved until after executive-level analysis has been performed early in the client engagement sessions. So, what does this jumble of information that both supports and conflicts relationship building in order to achieve effective counselling? The line between coaching and counselling are growing ever-thinner, as “disciplines that inform both coaching and therapy overlap one another” (Development & Learning in Organisations 2006, p.24). Feminist, multicultural and social justice counsellors rely on relationship establishment in the objective of creating empowerment with clients (Crethar, Rivera & Nash 2008). Establishing a sense of empowerment in clients, when none might exist previously, involves connection that moves well beyond the traditional counselling role and touch on mentoring practices. This type of environment, such as feminist counselling, could involve a number of sociological or cultural concerns that have enacted to change the client’s views of self-worth and value. Distance would not provide the solutions in this case especially if dealing with feelings of abandonment or loss as a product of the social environment. Effective counselling in this case involves understanding concepts associated with human coaching that deal with empowerment, the right to choose, and identifying personal client strengths. There is less emphasis on executive level decision-making and the need for interpersonal connection with considerable depth. Lifestyle and the client’s personal environment are significant in working towards the development of a healthy and functional existence. Consider a counsellor in the role of providing therapy to law enforcement officers. According to the data, provided by Tanigoshi, Kontos & Remley (2008), a study involving 852 officers returned that 48 percent of males consumed high volumes of alcohol, and 27 percent using nicotine products. Of all officers surveyed, 83 percent had at least one unhealthy lifestyle behaviour. In general, these are attributions in lifestyle and not necessarily dependence habits created through angst. Less than 16 percent in both the male and female group, in this study, reported stress symptoms which would generally be attributed to dependency issues on substances. In this environment, in the role of counselling public service employees amid complicated organizational and social structures, there might be less emphasis on personal need but a stronger understanding of the self and empowerment. Therefore an individual problem in a client from the law enforcement environment might have less stress behaviours, less reliance on empowerment needs, but simply look for someone to make sense of perceived senselessness. This would require a more distanced approach with the modelled behaviours described by Coombs (2002) involving executive behavioural modelling. The point of introducing counselling sessions from a variety of different environments indicates the complexity that is unique with each type of client engaged. At the same time, the counselling environment is one where experimentation, creativity and innovation are often stifled in what is referred to as a “complaints culture” (Merry 2006, p.7), thus inhibiting the progression of counselling. Counsellors, themselves, must work amidst an organisational series of barriers that pose limitations to creative approaches to therapy. Establishing that an individual makes sense, is worthy of attention, with empowerment and self-worth included cannot be established with initial executive-level analysis but relies on more in-depth understandings and discussions with the client. A regulatory environment that impedes growth or expansion in personal creativity might limit the extent of the client/counsellor relationship. Some counsellors might experience their own complaints culture, which puts the role of counsellor closer to that of executive behavioural modelling where new models of counselling that are built on experience-based perceptive models might be discouraged by bureaucracy. The effective skills and qualities of the effective counsellor are to understand their liabilities in this role as mandated by the complaints culture before considering more depth in relationship to include being the model by which to establish client belonging. In further analysis of the Indivisible Self Model that includes holistic therapy that is in touch with human emotional awareness and perception, the evidence has supported that in order to gain effective therapeutic results client emotional needs must be engrained into the counselling intervention. If every client can be expected to inherently desire positive regard from others, then it is a logical assumption that this will be a primary expectation of the client: a sense of personal regard where losing this is considered a client risk situation. Thus, one would believe that there is expected that there would be needs from virtually all clients for reinforcement of worth and empowerment. The question, however, that has been asked is what skills and qualities are necessary to facilitate effective counselling when the positive therapeutic outcome desired is one where belonging and self-value are instilled? There is logic in all of the viewpoints provided, both academic and from knowledge professionals, that the skills required are balanced behavioural modelling with a significantly strong emphasis on understand foundational human needs and then integrating these into a programme of mentoring through executive-level behaviours. Using the perceptive lens and understanding of cultural, subcultural and familial structures, they are incorporated into a relationship-based programme of interventions each designed to build a positive sense of self-worth through mutual understanding about both client and counsellor. The most interesting concept of counselling was provided by California State University (2002) that suggested effective skills portfolios included limitations on altruism and setting limits that are appropriate to keep professionalism balanced with in-depth social exchanges. In the event of anxiety, it is likely the client is driven more by emotional needs or is somehow affected by their natural environment that drives them to exhibit their dysfunctional behaviours. A different client with self-esteem problems might require a psychoanalytical approach in which the counsellor is much further distanced from involvement in shared exchanges and focuses much less on the client as an equal or with belonging principles on the forefront of therapy approach. The most respected and supported concept on what qualifies an effective counsellor is Coombs position of balanced executive with a perceptive lens by which to examine clients on initial engagement sessions. Depth, it would seem, would be natural outcome of ongoing interventions with the client unless it was necessary, by measure of client dysfunction, to maintain professional distances and treat counselling more like a medical diagnosis. Conclusion Again, it was the responsibility to uncover effective skills and qualities of effective counsellors when the outcome of positive therapeutic relationships involve concepts of empowerment, self-value and client strength reinforcement. The overlapping nature of counselling as both a mentor and as a needs-focused examiner offer that the most effective skills are competence in executive organization and analysis. Second in priority is understanding what lies at the foundation of social and cultural environments and how these impact client behaviours or pressure their dysfunctions. In many cases, assuming this definition is most valid, then being an effective counsellor can be taught since many of these needs are found in business professional literature and sociological curricula. Though the evidence provided indicated that there were considerable needs-based situations that might drive relationship need in the client/patient intervention, it is first the perceptual and analytical skills of the counsellor that is needed to first identify the type of client and what might be driving their behaviours before emphasizing concepts of belonging that will likely occur naturally through routine interactions. References California State University College of Science (2002). Effective counselling: personal & professional issues. [online] http://www.sci.csuhayward.edu/~dsandberg/CLASSES/4630PSYTX/PsyTxLect02Prof.htm (accessed October 18, 2010). Coombs, R.H. (2005). Family Therapy Review: Preparing for Comprehensive and Licensing Examinations, N.J. 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