I agree that the core conditions for counselling of empathy, acceptance and genuineness as Carl Rogers advocates should be at the heart of the work that we do as career advisers, but when clients come to see an adviser they sometimes want more than just a positive feeling about themselves when they leave. In some cases, where people are totally bewildered or unsure of the next steps to take to move forward, I believe that constructive advice is needed. It's a very complex issue, because on the one hand you do want to empower the individual to go and take steps themselves. Some people will respond to that approach, but others are looking for more than the exploration of their likes and dislikes etc. Everyone is different and that's where the adviser has to adapt to each and every individual client. Rogers talks of 'knowing what it feels like to be her' and 'entering into her world of experience' - for me this is an idealistic but worthy endeavour, if it can be achieved. However, we can never really know what it feels like to be in another person's world - however hard we try. We can only imagine as best we can.
Canisp's vision for the future....part 2
17 years ago
I agree that when clients come to see a careers adviser they want something more than simply listening or every question/statement being reflected back. Often people need encouragment, inspiration and new motivation to take positive action.
ReplyDeleteI think you may have missed the point of the person centred approach. The core conditions are 'neccessary & sufficient' to facilitate change. The individual needs to be empowered to find their own answers or asked if they would like some suggestions that they can choose to take or not, It's not a passive process of reflection, far from it. As Yalom would say you have to invent a therapy for each client as each person is different.
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