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Bittersweet - CPCAB Counselling Studies practise video

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Smokescreen

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Smokescreen - CPCAB Counselling Skills practise video

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Unconditional positive regard

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Unconditional positive regard, or "UPR", is a concept made popular by Carl Rogers. The creator of person-centred counselling, Rogers was also one of the founders of humanistic therapy.

What is unconditional positive regard?

"People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, "Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds." Carl Rogers, in his book Ways of Being

Unconditional positive regard refers to accepting and supporting another person exactly as they are, without evaluating or judging them.

At the heart of this concept is the belief that every person has the personal resources within to help themselves. They simply need to be offered an environment of acceptance that can foster their own recognition of this.

An example of UPR in action

It can help to think of a parent/child relationship to understand UPR.

If you had a good parent they would have shown you unconditional positive regard. You would have been accepted regardless of how you behaved, or what you did or thought. If you made mistakes, or had a temper tantrum, it was okay. When you were a teenager with wildly different opinions to your parent, that was entirely acceptable, too.

You were trying out new things and discovering who you are, and your parent or guardian believed you had the inner resources to get through your 'growing pains' and grow up into a responsible adult.

If your childhood did not contain unconditional positive regard, it would mean you were shown disapproval if you did something that did not match what your parent wanted. For example, if you disagreed with their idea of what was correct you would have been told you were 'wrong' and 'had a lot to learn'.

The idea shared would have been that you didn't have any inner resources to find your own way forward but had to listen to what you were told to do to become a 'man' or 'woman' who 'deserved' things like respect. And if you followed their rules you would be accepted and considered valuable. You were shown 'conditional' positive regard.

Unconditional positive regard vs. unconditional love

Does this example imply that you must love someone, like a good parent loves a child, to show UPR? Absolutely not.
Unconditional positive regard does not even mean you have to particularly like someone.

It only requires that you believe they have the inner resources to find their way forward and extend respect. You put your personal opinion to one side and receive and accept them just the way they are, and believe they are a valuable person like the rest of us.

In this way unconditional positive regard is a psychological approach over the biological impetus 'unconditional love' could be seen as.

So yes, many parents offer their children unconditional love, because it feels a natural drive within them. But this does not instantly imply they also offer their child unconditional positive regard, which requires mental effort and commitment.

The power of UPR in the therapy room

According to Carl Rogers, UPR is about creating an environment for clients that most allows for their healthy development. (This was of course combined with other key mindsets he felt a therapist should offer, some of which you can read about in our article on ' the Elements of Good Listening').
An environment of unconditional positive regard benefits the client in the following ways:

When the therapist offers no judgement the client feels less fearful and can share their thoughts, feelings, and actions freely.

As the therapist accepts the client, the client is encouraged to find self-acceptance.

The therapist allows the client space to think for themselves instead of using questions designed to illicit certain answers. With such a space to think the client can begin to cultivate their inner resources.

By seeing the client and not just their behaviours, the therapist offers the client a chance to realise they are more than just their behaviours.

At the heart of unconditional positive regard, then, is hope. The therapist, by putting aside their own biases, shows optimism that the client can create positive change for themselves. They are more than what they have done.

Moving towards UPR in your daily life

1. Expect people to have internal resources.

How often do you assume that others don't have the skills or knowledge to figure things out by themselves? Start to notice how often you give advice under the guise of being 'helpful'.

2. Suspend judgement and bias.

Are you like a laser, scanning people for what is wrong with them? What would happen if just for one day you decided that everyone was perfect just as they were, even if you can't understand their choices?

3. Listen without a soundtrack.

Notice what is in your head when you are apparently 'listening' to someone. Are you trying to figure out what is wrong with what they are saying? Thinking about your own similar experience you will tell them when they are done speaking? What would happen to your interactions if you cleared your thoughts and only focused on hearing what the other person was saying, just as it is?

4. Allow others to be different.

Notice how often you use the phrases 'that's wrong' or 'you're wrong'. What if the other person is just different? What would happen if you stopped seeing others in terms of right and wrong? Or expecting them to fit a pattern?
Note also how often you do or don't allow yourself to be different. Do you do things just as everyone else is? What would you actually rather do or think instead?
5. Show yourself unconditional positive regard.

Sometimes the best place to start with UPR is to offer it to ourselves.
What would happen if you were as accepting of yourself as you are of your friends? If you let yourself off the hook when you made mistakes? And showed self-compassion?
Learning to accept ourselves as is can help us to then accept others.

Is it really realistic to practice UPR with everyone?

It's a worthwhile question, one that other psychologists have posed. Should unconditional positive regard be something we attempt to show everyone we meet? You might have your own questions too, such as, do your colleagues really need or deserve your positive regard? Won't that make you seem weak and not business-like? Should UPR be reserved just for those close to you?

The best way to answer these questions is by practical experimenting. Try the perspective shift of unconditional positive regard in your daily life. See what affect it has on your relating to others and your own mood and decide for yourself.

Would you like to work with a therapist who uses UPR? We connect you with some of London's best person-centred therapists . Or use our booking site to find UK-wide humanistic therapists now.
Do you have an experience of person-centred counselling and the power of unconditional positive regard you'd like to share? Do so below.
Andrea Blundell is a popular mental health writer and the editor and lead writer of this site. She has training in person-centred therapy and coaching.

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Unconditional Positive Regard -What It Is and Why You Need It

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Unconditional positive regard, or "UPR", is a concept made popular by Carl Rogers. The creator of person-centred counselling, Rogers was also one of the founders of humanistic therapy. "People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be.

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Genuineness

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To be an effective leader, it is crucially important to be a good listener. To be a good listener, I mean a really good listener, there are three conditions that must be met according to Dr. Thomas Gordon. They are: acceptance, empathy, and genuineness. Dr. Gordon studied psychology with Carl Rogers, one of the most famous psychologists of all time. Rogers talked about unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence and Tom Gordon applied those concepts to non-therapeutic situations that were practical for parents, teachers, and managers.

Although these ideas are widely accepted as important and valid, they are often poorly understood and poorly taught. Seldom do I begin a leadership training workshop in which none of the participants have heard of Active Listening, win/win problem solving, constructive confrontation and the like. But, as with many corporate jargon words, these ideas have not been taught well and people have many, often goofy ideas about what they mean. Participants will sometimes moan, "Oh no, not another touchy-feely, group hug, encounter groupy thing!" (Evidence that their previous experiences were less than satisfactory!) "I don't have time for this &*%$. I have a job to do. But in the "real world", there is little that is more important to a leader than to understand the needs of his or her team members.

Organizations are systems of relationships and it is difficult for a leader to achieve much without the support of his or her team members. If the team members do not believe that their needs are understood and respected it is hard to imagine that they will give their best to the organization. So what are these conditions and how do you meet them?

It is important, I believe, to understand what they are not. Acceptance is not agreement. Empathy is not sympathy. Genuineness is not sensitivity. While there is nothing wrong with seeking points of agreement, having some sympathy for someone who is having a really hard time or being sensitive to hurtful topics, these are not the building blocks of effective listening. Let's look at each one.
Acceptance is the ability to see another person as exactly who they are and not try to make them into someone else
It also means accepting that the way they look at the world is real for them. It may not be the way you look at things. You may not think it is the right way to look at a situation. You may believe that you would see things differently. You may disagree with them about how to handle a problem. But acceptance means that you are willing, at least for the moment, to accept that their perception and interpretation of the events are absolutely real for them. It also means that you are not trying to get them to change the way they view things, at least for now.

You are not trying to make them feel differently or see things your way or show them how messed up they are. There may be many good reasons to attempt to influence another person to try to get them to see a situation differently. But, to earn the right to do that, you first need to accept their view of things as legitimate. Otherwise, you will just be seen as manipulative or overbearing and the conversation is not likely to be productive.

Empathy is the ability to understand the other person's point of view - both the content and emotions. It does not mean that you have to have the same feelings or experience the same things or have had the same experience in the past. Have you ever heard someone say, "I know how you feel." It is difficult not to be sarcastic or to respond defensively. "No you don't!" Or, how about, "I feel sorry for you." Wow! How insulting "Can't you do anything on your own? I need to do this for you as well?"

The ability to take a break from your unique point of view and for a bit, step into another person's vantage point, take a look around, see what that looks like, is very powerful. The more you can do this, the less likely it is that you will make poor assumptions about that person's motives and intentions. The benefit for you is that you might learn something. Nothing like looking at something from a different point of view to stimulate new ideas! Have you ever watched a young child examining a new toy or a new place? They look at it from every possible angle, often turning upside down or looking between their legs to get a different perspective. The benefit for the other is that they can have an informed conversation with a person (you) who has actually made an effort to understand their side of the story.
Genuineness is the willingness to be yourself
To be transparent. To not pretend to be anything other than what you are. You don't have to be a "therapist" or a "team-oriented boss" or an "attentive husband." You just have to be you. You do need to be willing to allow the same for the other person. You must truly want to help the other person find solutions that are satisfactory to them, not to you. The "Don't let anyone know how you really feel" gang, or the "Put on your happy face" crowd, don't believe that team members want or need to know anything about you except that you are the boss. They believe that if they reveal too much about themselves, others will use that information against them. They are afraid that they will be hurt. " We camouflage our true being before others to protect ourselves against criticism or rejection. " (Sydney Jourard on "understanding."). But, if teamwork is built on trust, how can you achieve that without some semblance of frankness and openness?

What these traits do not show is weakness. Often, managers fear being good listeners because they believe it will make them vulnerable. It is safer, they believe, to surround themselves with all of the macho bluster that is often heard in the boardrooms and on the factory floors. "We have to make the tough decisions." "We're not babysitters." Or, the newer disparaging admonition, "Put on your big girl (or big boy) pants." In other words, just get over it. Grow up. Don't deal with people's emotions, feelings, or personal lives. Don't be such a wimp. Stay strong. But, the irony of this is that those who try to ignore those things that are important to others ("They shouldn't feel that way.") are often the ones undone by the poor performance of the employees they have chosen to ignore.

It seems ironic to me that those who cry the loudest about "babying" their employees are often the ones who are most afraid. They will say that it is about getting the job done but often it goes deeper than that. The evidence suggests that organizations in which there are good relationships and good teamwork outperform those organizations where there is a lot of mistrust, fear, defensiveness, and backstabbing. The remedy for these kinds of productivity killers is not pampering, avoidance, or bubbly personalities, but clear, frank communication: both on the sending and receiving end.

These ideas have been with us for quite a while but are sometimes slow to really take hold in organizations because they are constantly being supplanted by "new" corporate jargon ("leverage that, incentivize this, take this in a different direction instead of "you're fired", down-size (instead of "layoff").

As long as we keep coming up with new names for these ideas, people will not trust us enough to really believe what we tell them. Good leadership training will stay away from the buzzwords and help participants really learn how to enter a conversation without trying to "fix" the other person, understand the other's point of view, and to do so while being yourself.

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Acceptance, Empathy, and Genuineness: Not A Weakness

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To be an effective leader, it is crucially important to be a good listener. To be a good listener, I mean a really good listener, there are three conditions that must be met according to Dr. Thomas Gordon. They are: acceptance, empathy, and genuineness.

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Empathetic understanding

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Empathy is the art of seeing the world as someone else sees it. When you have empathy, it means you can understand what a person is feeling in a given moment, and understand why other people's actions made sense to them.

Empathy helps us to communicate our ideas in a way that makes sense to others, and it helps us understand others when they communicate with us. It is one of the foundational building blocks of great social interaction and, quite obviously, powerful stuff.

But how do you get empathy? How do you understand what someone else is feeling, if that isn't happening automatically?

Well, to a certain extent we are all designed to naturally empathize with others. Our brains are wired to experience the emotions that someone else is feeling. That's why we wince when someone hits their hand with a hammer, or why we're more likely to laugh if someone else is laughing too. There's an excellent book called Social Intelligence on this topic which explains all of the research behind this natural empathy.

Unfortunately, only a few people have excellent natural empathy. Our empathic wiring exists on a continuum. Some people have fantastic natural empathy, and can pick up how someone else is feeling just by looking at them. Some people have only a tiny amount of natural empathy, and won't notice that you are angry until you start yelling. Most people lie somewhere in the middle, and understand how someone else is feeling only part of the time.

Fortunately, empathy is part talent and part training. Depending on your starting level of ability, getting better at empathy might require more or less work than someone else---but no matter what your starting point, you can teach yourself to be better at empathy.

And this section is here to teach you how.

Empathy contains three lessons.

If you want to understand the emotions of others, you have to learn to empathize with yourself. Understanding Yourself was written to help you understand and accept your emotions. Understanding and accepting your own feelings is essential for a healthy life, and it's the foundation of empathizing with others.

Through practice and a commitment to thoughtfulness, anyone can learn to understand how others are thinking and feeling. Understanding Others is the blueprint that shows you how.

When you understand what someone else is thinking or feeling, it becomes easier to interact with them. But there's a nonverbal aspect to interaction that deserves special attention. The knowledge you gain from empathy can help you to use appropriate nonverbal communication. Nonverbal Empathy explains how.

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Empathy And Understanding Others - Improve Your Social Skills

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Empathy is the art of seeing the world as someone else sees it. When you have empathy, it means you can understand what a person is feeling in a given moment, and understand why other people's actions made sense to them.

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Paraphrasing and reflecting

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I often refer to reflection as 'the lost skill' because when I watch counselling students doing simulated skill sessions, or listen to their recordings from placement (where clients have consented to this), I seldom see reflection being used as a skill. This is a pity, as reflection can be very powerful.

When we use the skill of reflection, we are looking to match the tone, the feeling of the words, and the client's facial expression or body language as they spoke.

For example, they might have hunched their shoulders as they said, 'I was so scared; I didn't know what to do.'

We might reflect that back by hunching our own shoulders, mirroring their body language while also saying 'I felt so scared; I didn't know what to do.'

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Reflecting and Paraphrasing * Counselling Tutor

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Definition of Reflection in Counselling. A reflection in counselling is like holding up a mirror: repeating the client's words back to them exactly as they said them. You might reflect back the whole sentence, or you might select a few words - or even one single word - from what the client has brought.

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Summarising

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A counsellor can encourage a client to continue to talk, open up more freely and explore issues in greater depth by providing accurate responses through encouraging, paraphrasing and summarising. Responding in this way informs the client that the counsellor has accurately heard what they have been saying. Encouragers, paraphrases and summaries are basic to helping a client feel understood.

Encouragers, also known as intentional listening , involve fully attending to the client, thus allowing them to explore their feelings and thoughts more completely. Paraphrasing and summarising are more active ways of communicating to the client that they have been listened to. Summarising is particularly useful to help clients organise their thinking.

The diagram below shows how encouragers, paraphrases and summaries are on different points of a continuum, each building on more of the information provided by the client to accurately assess issues and events.

Encouragers - Encouragers are a variety of verbal and non-verbal ways of prompting clients to continue talking.

Types of encouragers include:

1. Non-verbal minimal responses such as a nod of the head or positive facial expressions

2. Verbal minimal responses such as "Uh-huh" and "I hear what you're saying"

3. Brief invitations to continue such as "Tell me more"

Encouragers simply encourage the client to keep talking. For a counsellor to have more influence on the direction of client progress they would need to make use of other techniques.

Paraphrases - To paraphrase, the counsellor chooses the most important details of what the client has just said and reflects them back to the client. Paraphrases can be just a few words or one or two brief sentences.

Paraphrasing is not a matter of simply repeating or parroting what the client has stated. Rather it is capturing the essence of what the client is saying, through rephrasing. When the counsellor has captured what the client is saying, often the client will say, "That's right" or offer some other form of confirmation.

Example: I have just broken up with Jason. The way he was treating me was just too much to bear. Every time I tried to touch on the subject with him he would just clam up. I feel so much better now.

Paraphrase: You feel much better after breaking up with Jason.

Summaries - Summaries are brief statements of longer excerpts from the counselling session. In summarising, the counsellor attends to verbal and non-verbal comments from the client over a period of time, and then pulls together key parts of the extended communication, restating them for the client as accurately as possible.

A check-out, phrased at the end of the summary, is an important component of the statement, enabling a check of the accuracy of the counsellor's response. Summaries are similar to paraphrasing, except they are used less frequently and encompass more information.

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Encouragers, Paraphrasing and Summarising - Counselling Connection

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A counsellor can encourage a client to continue to talk, open up more freely and explore issues in greater depth by providing accurate responses through encouraging, paraphrasing and summarising. Responding in this way informs the client that the counsellor has accurately heard what they have been saying.

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Definition

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Person-centred counselling is one of the humanistic modalities or approaches. It was founded in the 1940s by the American psychologist Carl Rogers who believed that, given the right conditions, a person can reach their full potential and become their true self, which he termed 'self-actualisation'. This actualisation process is innate and accessible to everyone.

To help you achieve self-actualisation, the person-centred therapist will offer:

unconditional positive regard (UPR) - accepting and valuing you

congruence - being honest and transparent in how they experience you and your world

empathic understanding - seeing your viewpoint as if they were you

When you're attending counselling sessions with a person-centred counsellor, you'll be encouraged to bring your own issues to the session - the counselling is led by you and not directed by the counsellor.

Many clients, with no prior knowledge of counselling, believe that the counsellor will sort their problems out for them. A person-centred counsellor will help you to explore your own issues, feelings, beliefs, behaviour, and worldview, so you can become more self-aware and achieve greater independence.

Discover your own abilities

Your therapist will help you to realise what resources and support are available to you that you can use to work through your own issues, build your self-confidence and appreciate that you always have options. They will treat you as the expert on yourself, as no-one else knows exactly what it's like to be you.

They will not judge you, no matter what you bring to the session. This helps build a trustworthy relationship in which you can feel free and supported to disclose whatever is troubling you. Eventually it will lead you to discover your own abilities and autonomy, so that you can cope with current and future problems.
If you have any comments or would like to share your story, please email us atengage@bacp.co.uk

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What is person-centred counselling? Types of therapy

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Person-centred counselling is one of the humanistic modalities or approaches. It was founded in the 1940s by the American psychologist Carl Rogers who believed that, given the right conditions, a person can reach their full potential and become their true self, which he termed 'self-actualisation'. This actualisation process is innate and accessible to everyone.

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Person - centred theory

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Person-Centred counselling/psychotherapy was the first talking therapy to be based on empirical research. In the 1940s and 50s Dr Carl Rogers and his colleagues audio-recorded therapy sessions to try and determine which therapist interventions were effective for clients. From this work, a comprehensive theory and practice was developed which has been continually expanded and refined and which is supported and validated by decades of research (e.g. recently: Cooper, Watson & Hölldampf, 2010; Elliott et al, 2013; Murphy & Joseph, 2016.)

Originally described as non-directive, this therapy moved away from the idea that the therapist was the expert and towards a theory that trusted the innate tendency (known as the actualising tendency) of human beings to find fulfilment of their personal potentials. In the early years of person-centred therapy, the theory and practice were developed by researchers, theorists and practitioners such as Barbara Temaner Brodley, John Schlein, Jerold Bozarth and CH Patterson in the USA and, later, Pete Sanders and Tony Merry in the UK and Peter F Schmidt in Austria.

The basic tenets of person-centred therapy are the autonomy of the client and their capacity to self-heal and develop when the therapist provides a psychological environment based on specified conditions. This psychological environment is one in which the client feels free from threat, both physically and psychologically - usually in relationship with a therapist who is deeply understanding (empathic), accepting (having unconditional positive regard) and genuine (congruent).

Person-centred therapists believe that all of a client's thoughts, feelings and behaviour are valid responses in the context of their previous and current experience and therefore will not usually diagnose or label clients. Practitioners such as Margaret Warner, Gary Prouty and, more recently, Kirshen Rundle have developed person-centred theory to describe phenomena and processes in a way that respects the individual. This understanding - for example of fragile process, dissociative process and pre-therapy - can enable practitioners to work with extremes of distress and disturbance.

Although initially developed as an approach to psychotherapy, Rogers and his colleagues came to believe that their ideas could be transferred to other areas where people were in relationships. For example teaching, management, childcare, patient care, conflict resolution.

Today there are many people who, although not working as psychotherapists and counsellors, use person-centred principles to guide them in their day-to-day work and relationships.
References
Cooper, M; Watson, JC; Hölldampf, D (2010) Person-Centered And Experiential Therapies Work: A Review Of The Research On Counseling, Psychotherapy And Related Practices. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.

Elliott, R., Watson, J., Greenberg, L.S., Timulak, L., & Freire, E. (2013). 'Research on humanistic-experiential psychotherapies'. In M.J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change (6th ed.) (pp. 495-538). New York: Wiley.

Murphy, D, & Joseph, S (2016) 'Person-centered therapy: Past, present, and future orientations'. In D. J. Cain, K. Keenan, & S. Rubin (Eds.), Humanistic Psychotherapies: Handbook of Research and Practice, Second Edition (pp. 185 - 219). Washington: APA

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Person-Centred counselling/psychotherapy was the first talking therapy to be based on empirical research. In the 1940s and 50s Dr Carl Rogers and his colleagues audio-recorded therapy sessions to try and determine which therapist interventions were effective for clients.

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Definition - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

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cognitive behavioral therapy
Psychiatry Therapy that seeks to alleviate specific conditions-eg, phobias, by modifying thought and behavior Efficacy Uncertain. See Psychotherapy.

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

cog·ni·tive be·hav·ior·al ther·a·py
(CBT) (kog'ni-tiv bē-hāv'yŏr-ăl thār'ă-pē)

A form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of thoughts and attitudes in one's feelings and behavior.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

Cognitive behavioral therapy

A therapy that pays particular attention to a patient's behavior and thinking processes rather than underlying psychological causes of an activity.

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Patient discussion about Cognitive behavioral therapy

Q. What is cognitive behavioral therapy for treatment of depression? What is it all about? Please explain? Could someone who has actually had this explain what it is all about. I don't want to get a copy and paste answer from a web page somewhere, just a simple explanation in plain simple terms that I could relate to.

A. You mention "for example thoughts of worthlessness"

Could anyone identify other examples of these types of thoughts?

I struggle the most with guilt and shame.

Others:
What others think of me being a recovering alcoholic, someone who has depression, having a son who has been in a penitentiary several times.
---

What can anyone really do about these thoughts anyway. I have not come up with anything that works except to offer them all back up to God and let them all go.

What else could a professional come up that is any better than that? I would really like to know. Otherwise, what good would it really do?

More discussions about Cognitive behavioral therapy

This content is provided by iMedix and is subject to iMedix Terms. The Questions and Answers are not endorsed or recommended and are made available by patients, not doctors.

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Psychiatry Therapy that seeks to alleviate specific conditions-eg, phobias, by modifying thought and behavior Efficacy Uncertain. See Psychotherapy. McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (CBT) (kog'ni-tiv bē-hāv'yŏr-ăl thār'ă-pē) A form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of thoughts and attitudes in one's feelings and behavior.

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Cognitive behavioural therapy

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CBT can help you make sense of problems that feel too big to handle. It does so by using a mix of techniques, including:

relaxation exercises

training on coping skills

education about how your thoughts affect how you act

stress management

training on how to be more confident

Certain thoughts, feelings and actions can trap you in a negative cycle or create new situations that make you feel worse about yourself.

CBT helps stop negative cycles by breaking down the things that make you feel bad, anxious or scared. By making your problems more manageable, CBT can help you change your negative thought patterns and improve the way you feel.

And unlike other talking therapies that can continue for months or years, CBT helps you get to a point where you can tackle your problems without a therapist, within a specific number of sessions.

What happens in a CBT session?

When you have CBT, it's common to have sessions every week or every other week. You may have up to 20 sessions that last 30 to 60 minutes each.

You don't always have to do CBT in person. Speak to your doctor about how to find a suitable online or computer CBT programme.

During your first session, the therapist will often ask you questions about yourself and the problem you'd like help with. This is to make sure CBT is right for you, and that you're comfortable with the process.

With the help of your therapist, you will break down your problem into its separate parts - the situation, thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions. To help with this, your therapist may ask you to keep a diary or write down your thoughts and how you respond to them.

You and your therapist will look at your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to work out if they are unrealistic or unhelpful, and to spot the effect they have on each other and on you. Your therapist will be able to help you work out how to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.

After working out what you can change, your therapist will ask you to practise these changes in your daily life. This may involve recognising unhelpful thoughts and actions, and swapping them for more helpful ones.

Your CBT therapist will usually give you 'homework' to do between your sessions. This lets you practise the techniques you've learned in the sessions in your daily life.

Facing things you're worried about can be hard, so your therapist won't ask you to do things you don't want to do or move at a pace you're not comfortable with. They'll also check in with you to see how you feel about the progress you're making.

One of the biggest benefits of CBT is that even after your course has finished, you can continue to use the skills you've learned in your daily life - making it less likely that your symptoms will return.

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What is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and how does it work?

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CBT can help you make sense of problems that feel too big to handle. It does so by using a mix of techniques, including: relaxation exercises training on coping skills education about how your thoughts affect how you act stress management training on how to be more confident Certain thoughts, feelings and actions can trap you in a negative cycle or create new situations that make you feel worse about yourself.

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MIND - CBT

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How does negative thinking start?

Negative thinking patterns can start from childhood onwards. For example, if you didn't receive much attention or praise from your parents or teachers at school, you might've thought "I'm useless, I'm not good enough".

Over time you might come to believe these assumptions, until as an adult these negative thoughts become automatic. This way of thinking might then affect how you feel at work, university or in your general life.

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How does negative thinking start? Negative thinking patterns can start from childhood onwards. For example, if you didn't receive much attention or praise from your parents or teachers at school, you might've thought "I'm useless, I'm not good enough". Over time you might come to believe these assumptions, until as an adult these negative thoughts become automatic.

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What does unconditional positive regard mean?

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What does unconditional positive regard mean?

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What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

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Harley Therapy - Psychotherapy & Counselling

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What is Psychodynamic Therapy? - Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Jane Robinson

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British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

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The Ethical Framework is designed to help counselling professionals provide clients with a secure base for their work together. It creates a shared structure within which practitioners, coaches, trainees, trainers and organisations can all work, but with the flexibility to respond to the needs of different contexts and client groups.

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Ethics and standards for counselling and psychotherapy

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We're committed to promoting ethical practice by developing evidence-based training standards and providing resources to support our members.

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This is the full text of the Ethical Framework. Follow the link in each section for additional information, FAQs and resources.

All BACP members must work in accordance with the Ethical Framework. You commit to complying with the Framework when you join or renew your membership and it is the main point of reference for decisions in professional conduct hearings.

You should read it, and understand its main principles and points, before working with clients. It's much better to build the Ethical Framework into your practice to help you face challenges and issues rather than just turning to it if something goes wrong.

It has three main sections:

Our commitment to clients provides a summary of working to professional standards and building an ethical relationship

Ethics specifies the values, principles and personal moral qualities that inform our work and underpin supervision

Good practice considers the application of our commitments to clients and ethics to our practice

Our commitment to clients

1. Our ethics are based on values, principles and personal moral qualities that underpin and inform the interpretation and application of Our commitment to clients and Good practice.

Values

2. Values are a useful way of expressing general ethical commitments that underpin the purpose and goals of our actions.

3. Our fundamental values include a commitment to:

respecting human rights and dignity

alleviating symptoms of personal distress and suffering

enhancing people's wellbeing and capabilities

improving the quality of relationships between people

increasing personal resilience and effectiveness

facilitating a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned within their personal and cultural context

appreciating the variety of human experience and culture

protecting the safety of clients

ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships

enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application

striving for the fair and adequate provision of services

4. Values inform principles. They become more precisely defined and action-orientated when expressed as a principle.

Principles

5. Principles direct attention to important ethical responsibilities. Our core principles are:

Being trustworthy: honouring the trust placed in the practitioner

Autonomy: respect for the client's right to be self-governing

Beneficence: a commitment to promoting the client's wellbeing

Non-maleficence: a commitment to avoiding harm to the client

Justice: the fair and impartial treatment of all clients and the provision of adequate services

Self-respect: fostering the practitioner's self-knowledge, integrity and care for self

6. Ethical decisions that are strongly supported by one or more of these principles without any contradiction with the others may be regarded as well-founded.

7. However, practitioners may encounter circumstances in which it is impossible to reconcile all the applicable principles. This may require choosing which principles to prioritise. A decision or course of action does not necessarily become unethical merely because it is controversial or because other practitioners would have reached different conclusions in similar circumstances. A practitioner's obligation is to consider all the relevant circumstances with as much care as possible and to be appropriately accountable for decisions made.

Personal moral qualities

8. Personal moral qualities are internalised values that shape how we relate to others and our environment. They represent a moral energy or drive that may operate unconsciously and unexamined. This moral energy or drive is ethically more beneficial when consciously examined from time to time and used to motivate our ethical development or shape how we work towards a good society.

9. 'Personal moral qualities' are a contemporary application of 'virtues' from moral philosophy.

10. The practitioner's personal and relational moral qualities are of the utmost importance. Their perceived presence or absence will have a strong influence on how relationships with clients and colleagues develop and whether they are of sufficient quality and resilience to support the work.

11. High levels of compatibility between personal and professional moral qualities will usually enhance the integrity and resilience of any relationship.

12. Key personal qualities to which members and registrants are strongly encouraged to aspire include:

Candour: openness with clients about anything that places them at risk of harm or causes actual
harm

Care: benevolent, responsible and competent attentiveness to someone's needs, wellbeing
and personal agency

Courage: the capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty

Diligence: the conscientious deployment of the skills and knowledge needed to achieve a
beneficial outcome

Empathy: the ability to communicate understanding of another person's experience from that
person's perspective

Fairness: impartial and principled in decisions and actions concerning others in ways that promote equality of opportunity and maximise the capability of the people concerned

Humility: the ability to assess accurately and acknowledge one's own strengths and weaknesses

Identity: sense of self in relationship to others that forms the basis of responsibility, resilience and motivation

Integrity: commitment to being moral in dealings with others, including personal straightforwardness, honesty and coherence

Resilience: the capacity to work with the client's concerns without being personally diminished

Respect: showing appropriate esteem for people and their understanding of themselves

Sincerity: a personal commitment to consistency between what is professed and what is done

Wisdom: possession of sound judgement that informs practice

Conclusion

13. The challenge of working ethically means that practitioners will inevitably encounter situations that require responses to unexpected issues, resolution of dilemmas, and solutions to problems. A good understanding of the ethics that underpin our work is a valuable resource which is helpful in making significant decisions. The use of an ethical problem-solving model and discussion about ethics are essential to good practice. This Ethical Framework is intended to assist practitioners by directing attention to the variety of ethical factors that may need to be taken into consideration and to identify alternative ways of approaching ethics that may prove more useful.

14. No statement of ethics can eliminate the difficulty of making professional judgements in circumstances that may be constantly changing and full of uncertainties. By accepting this statement of ethics, members and registrants of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy are committing themselves to engaging with the challenge of striving to be ethical, even when doing so involves making difficult decisions or acting courageously.

1. As members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) we are committed to sustaining and advancing good practice.

2. This section of the Ethical Framework looks behind Our commitment to clients and Ethics to consider their implications for good practice in more detail.

3. It sets out what can be expected of all members and registrants of BACP as practitioners providing therapeutically-informed services, particularly coaching, counselling, pastoral care, psychotherapy and using counselling skills. This includes being a supervisor, trainer, educator of practitioners, or researcher of any aspect of the counselling professions. Trainees will fulfil all the commitments to clients within the Ethical Framework when working with members of the public as their clients. Good practice point 81 sets out the commitments for working with other trainees to learn new knowledge and skills.

4. As members and registrants of BACP, we have committed ourselves to the principles and values set out in this Ethical Framework and recognise that our membership or registration may be at risk if we fail to fulfil our commitments.

5. Our responsibilities are set out as full or qualified obligations. We are fully and unconditionally committed to fulfilling a specific requirement of Good practice where we state 'we will...' or 'we must...'. Where we consider a requirement may need to be varied for good ethical reasons, we state that 'we will usually...'.

6. We are committing ourselves to being openly accountable and willing to explain how we have implemented any of these obligations to people with a valid interest in our work.

7. We will make each client the primary focus of our attention and our work during our sessions together.

8. Any professional or personal interests that conflict with putting a client's interests first will be carefully considered in consultation with a supervisor, an independent experienced colleague or, when appropriate, discussed with the client affected before services are offered.

9. We will give careful consideration to how we manage situations when protecting clients or others from serious harm or when compliance with the law may require overriding a client's explicit wishes or breaching their confidentiality - see also 10, 55 and 64.

10. In exceptional circumstances, the need to safeguard our clients or others from serious harm may require us to override our commitment to making our client's wishes and confidentiality our primary concern. We may need to act in ways that will support any investigations or actions necessary to prevent serious harm to our clients or others. In such circumstances, we will do our best to respect the parts of our client's wishes or confidences that do not need to be overridden in order to prevent serious harm.

11. We share a responsibility with all other members of our professions for the safety and wellbeing of all clients and their protection from exploitation or unsafe practice. We will take action to prevent harm caused by practitioners to any client - see also 24.

12. We will do everything we can to develop and protect our clients' trust.

13. We must be competent to deliver the services being offered to at least fundamental professional standards or better. When we consider satisfying professional standards requires consulting others with relevant expertise, seeking second opinions, or making referrals, we will do so in ways that meet our commitments and obligations for client confidentiality and data protection.

14. We will keep skills and knowledge up to date by:

a. reading professional journals, books and/or reliable electronic resources
b. keeping ourselves informed of any relevant research and evidence-based guidance
c. discussions with colleagues working with similar issues
d. reviewing our knowledge and skills in supervision or discussion with experienced practitioners
e. regular continuing professional development to update knowledge and skills
f. keeping up to date with the law, regulations and any other requirements, including guidance from this Association, relevant to our work

15. We will keep accurate records that:

are adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the type of service being provided

comply with the applicable data protection requirements - see Information Commissioner's Office website (www.ico.org.uk).

16. We will collaborate with colleagues over our work with specific clients where this is consistent with client consent and will enhance services to the client.

17. We will work collaboratively with colleagues to improve services and offer mutual support - see 56-59 Working with colleagues and in teams.

18. We will maintain our own physical and psychological health at a level that enables us to work effectively with our clients - see 91 Care of self as a practitioner.

19. We will be covered by adequate insurance when providing services directly or indirectly to the public.

20. We will fulfil the ethical principles and values set out in this Ethical Framework regardless of whether working online, face-to-face or using any other methods of communication. The technical and practical knowledge may vary according to how services are delivered but all our services will be delivered to at least fundamental professional standards or better.

21. We will respect our clients' privacy and dignity.

22. We will respect our clients as people by providing services that:

a. endeavour to demonstrate equality, value diversity and ensure inclusion for all clients
b. avoid unfairly discriminating against clients or colleagues
c. accept we are all vulnerable to prejudice and recognise the importance of self-inquiry, personal feedback and professional development
d. work with issues of identity in open-minded ways that respect the client's autonomy and be sensitive to whether this is viewed as individual or relational autonomy
e. challenge assumptions that any sexual orientation or gender identity is inherently preferable to any other and will not attempt to bring about a change of sexual orientation or gender identity or seek to suppress an individual's expression of sexual orientation or gender identity
f. make adjustments to overcome barriers to accessibility, so far as is reasonably possible, for clients of any ability wishing to engage with a service
g. recognise when our knowledge of key aspects of our client's background, identity or lifestyle is inadequate and take steps to inform ourselves from other sources where available and appropriate, rather than expecting the client to teach us
h. are open-minded with clients who appear similar to ourselves or possess familiar characteristics so that we do not suppress or neglect what is distinctive in their lives.

23. We will take the law concerning equality, diversity and inclusion into careful consideration and strive for a higher standard than the legal minimum.

24. We will challenge colleagues or others involved in delivering related services whose views appear to be unfairly discriminatory and take action to protect clients, if necessary - see 11.

25. We will do all that we reasonably can to ensure that our clients are participating on a voluntary basis. Hesitant clients or clients who feel under pressure from other people or agencies to work with us will have their reservations acknowledged and taken into account in how services are offered.

26. We will work with our clients on the basis of their informed consent and agreement. We recognise that exceptional situations may arise where we may need to prioritise the safety of the client or others over our client's wishes and confidentiality - see 10.

27. Careful consideration will be given to working with children and young people that:

a. takes account of their capacity to give informed consent, considering whether it is appropriate to seek the consent of others who have parental responsibility for the young person, and their best interests
b. demonstrates knowledge and skills about ways of working that are appropriate to the young person's development and how relationships are formed
c. demonstrates a sound knowledge of the law relevant to working with children and young people and their human rights
d. is informed about the current culture and customs that affect parenting/care giving and how children and young people interact with each other and other significant people in their lives.

28. We will give careful consideration to obtaining and respecting the consent of vulnerable adult clients, wherever they have the capacity to give consent, or involving anyone who provides care for these clients when appropriate.

29. Our work with clients will be based on professional partnerships with them that aim to increase their wellbeing, capability and/or performance.

30. We will usually provide clients with the information they ought to know in advance in order to make an informed decision about the services they want to receive, how these services will be delivered and how information or data about them will be protected. Where the urgency or seriousness of the situation requires us to intervene before providing such information, we will do so at the first appropriate opportunity.

31. We will give careful consideration to how we reach agreement with clients and will contract with them about the terms on which our services will be provided. Attention will be given to:

a. reaching an agreement or contract that takes account of each client's expressed needs and choices so far as possible
b. communicating terms and conditions of the agreement or contract in ways easily understood by the client and appropriate to their context
c. stating clearly how a client's confidentiality and privacy will be protected and any circumstances in which confidential or private information will be communicated to others
d. providing the client with a record or easy access to a record of what has been agreed
e. keeping a record of what has been agreed and of any changes or clarifications when they occur
f. being watchful for any potential contractual incompatibilities between agreements with our clients and any other contractual agreements applicable to the work being undertaken and proactively strive to avoid these wherever possible or promptly alert the people with the power or responsibility to resolve these contradictions.

32. We will periodically review each client's progress and, when practicable, seek our client's views on how we are working together.

33. We will establish and maintain appropriate professional and personal boundaries in our relationships with clients by ensuring that:

a. these boundaries are consistent with the aims of working together and beneficial to the client
b. any dual or multiple relationships will be avoided where the risks of harm to the client outweigh any benefits to the client
c. reasonable care is taken to separate and maintain a distinction between our personal and professional presence on social media where this could result in harmful dual relationships with clients
d. the impact of any dual or multiple relationships will be periodically reviewed in supervision and discussed with clients when appropriate. They may also be discussed with any colleagues or managers in order to enhance the integrity of the work being undertaken.

34. We will not have sexual relationships with or behave sexually towards our clients, supervisees or trainees.

35. We will not exploit or abuse our clients in any way: financially, emotionally, physically, sexually or spiritually.

36. We will avoid having sexual relationships with or behaving sexually towards people whom we know to be close to our clients in order to avoid undermining our clients' trust in us or damaging the therapeutic relationship.

37. We will avoid continuing or resuming any relationships with former clients that could harm the client or damage any benefits from the therapeutic work undertaken. We recognise that conflicts of interest and issues of power or dependence may continue after our working relationship with a client, supervisee or trainee has formally ended. Therefore:

a. we will exercise caution before entering into personal or business relationships with former clients
b. we will avoid sexual or intimate relationships with former clients or people close to them. Exceptionally, such a relationship will only be permissible following careful consideration in supervision and, whenever possible, following discussion with experienced colleagues or others concerned about the integrity of the counselling professions, when:

enough time has elapsed or the circumstances of the people concerned have sufficiently changed to establish a distinction between the former and proposed new relationship

any therapeutic dynamics from the former relationship have been sufficiently resolved to enable beginning a different type of relationship. (This may not be possible with some clients or inappropriate to some therapeutic ways of working.)

an equivalent service to the one provided by the practitioner is available to the former client, should this be wanted in future

the practitioner has taken demonstrable care in ensuring that the new relationship has integrity and is not exploitative

c. We will be professionally accountable if the relationship becomes detrimental to the former client or damages the standing of the profession

38. We will inform clients about any fixed limits to the duration or number of sessions as part of the contracting process.

39. We will endeavour to inform clients well in advance of approaching endings and be sensitive to our client's expectations and concerns when we are approaching the end of our work together.

40. We will inform clients in advance of any planned breaks in working together, for example, holidays or medical treatments, and give as much notice as possible.

41. Any unplanned breaks due to illness or other causes will be managed in ways to minimise inconveniencing clients and, for extended breaks, may include offering to put clients in touch with other practitioners.

42. In the event of death or illness of sufficient severity to prevent the practitioner communicating directly with clients, we will have appointed someone to communicate with clients and support them in making alternative arrangements where this is desired. The person undertaking this work will be bound by the confidentiality agreed between the practitioner and client, and will usually be a trusted colleague, a specially appointed trustee or a supervisor.

50. We will take responsibility for how we offer our clients opportunities to work towards their desired outcomes and the safety of the services we provide or have responsibility for overseeing.

51. We will discuss with clients how best to work towards their desired outcomes and any known risks involved in the work.

52. We will ensure candour by being open and honest about anything going wrong and promptly inform our clients of anything in our work that places clients at risk of harm, or has caused them harm, whether or not the client(s) affected are aware of what has occurred by:

a. taking immediate action to prevent or limit any harm
b. repairing any harm caused, so far as possible
c. offering an apology when this is appropriate
d. notifying and discussing with our supervisor and/or manager what has occurred
e. investigating and take action to avoid whatever has gone wrong being repeated

53. We will consider carefully in supervision how we work with clients - see 60-73.

54. We will monitor how clients experience our work together and the effects of the work with them in ways appropriate to the type of service being offered.

55. We will protect the confidentiality and privacy of clients by:

a. actively protecting information about clients from unauthorised access or disclosure
b. informing clients about how the use of personal data and information that they share with us will be used and who is within the circle of confidentiality, particularly with access to personally identifiable information
c. requiring that all recipients of personally identifiable information have agreed to treat such information as confidential in accordance with any legal requirements and what has been agreed with the client at the time of disclosure
d. informing clients about any reasonably foreseeable limitations of privacy or confidentiality in advance of our work together, for example, communications to ensure or enhance the quality of work in supervision or training, to protect a client or others from serious harm including safeguarding commitments, and when legally required or authorised to disclose
e. taking care that all contractual requirements concerning the management and communication of client information are mutually compatible
f. ensuring that disclosure of personally identifiable information about clients is authorised by client consent or that there is a legally and ethically recognised justification
g. using thoroughly anonymised information about clients where this provides a practical alternative to sharing identifiable information

56. Professional relationships will be conducted in a spirit of mutual respect. We will endeavour to build good working relationships and systems of communication that enhance services to clients.

57. Practitioners will treat colleagues fairly and foster their capability and equality of opportunity.

58. Practitioners will not undermine any colleague's relationship with clients by making unjustifiable or ill-judged comments.

59. All communications between colleagues about clients should be on a professional basis and thus purposeful, respectful and consistent with the management of confidences agreed with clients.

60. Supervision is essential to how practitioners sustain good practice throughout their working life. Supervision provides practitioners with regular and ongoing opportunities to reflect in depth about all aspects of their practice in order to work as effectively, safely and ethically as possible. Supervision also sustains the personal resourcefulness required to undertake the work.

61. Good supervision is much more than case management. It includes working in depth on the relationship between practitioner and client in order to work towards desired outcomes and positive effects. This requires adequate levels of privacy, safety and containment for the supervisee to undertake this work. Therefore a substantial part or preferably all of supervision needs to be independent of line management.

62. Supervision requires additional skills and knowledge to those used for providing services directly to clients. Therefore supervisors require adequate levels of expertise acquired through training and/or experience. Supervisors will also ensure that they work with appropriate professional support and their own supervision.

63. All supervisors will model high levels of good practice for the work they supervise, particularly with regard to expected levels of competence and professionalism, relationship building, the management of personal boundaries, any dual relationships, conflicts of interest and avoiding exploitation.

64. All communications concerning clients made in the context of supervision will be consistent with confidentiality agreements with the clients concerned and compatible with any applicable agency policy.

65. Careful consideration will be given to the undertaking of key responsibilities for clients and how these responsibilities are allocated between the supervisor, supervisee and any line manager or others with responsibilities for the service provided. Consideration needs to be given to how any of these arrangements and responsibilities will be communicated to clients in ways that are supportive of and appropriate to the work being undertaken. These arrangements will usually be reviewed at least once a year, or more frequently if required.

66. Trainee supervision will require the supervisor to collaborate with training and placement providers in order to ensure that the trainee's work with clients satisfies professional standards. The arrangements for collaboration will usually be agreed and discussed with the trainee in advance of working with clients.

67. When supervising qualified and/or experienced practitioners, the weight of responsibility for ensuring that the supervisee's work meets professional standards will primarily rest with the supervisee.

68. Supervisors and supervisees will periodically consider how responsibility for work with clients is implemented in practice and how any difficulties or concerns are being addressed.

69. The application of this Ethical Framework to the work with clients will be discussed in supervision regularly and not less than once a year.

70. Supervisors will conscientiously consider the application of the law concerning supervision to their role and responsibilities.

71. Supervisors will keep accurate records of key points discussed in supervision.

72. Supervisees have a responsibility to be open and honest in supervision and to draw attention to any significant difficulties or challenges that they may be facing in their work with clients. Supervisors are responsible for providing opportunities for their supervisees to discuss any of their practice-related difficulties without blame or unjustified criticism and, when appropriate, to support their supervisees in taking positive actions to resolve difficulties.

73. Supervision is recommended to anyone working in roles that require regularly giving or receiving emotionally challenging communications, or engaging in relationally complex and challenging roles.

81. Trainees working with each other will:

a. relate respectfully to others and endeavour to support each others' learning
b. follow good ethical practice when working with each other, for example when practising skills or in personal development

82. In the interests of openness and honesty with clients:

a. trainees on a practitioner-qualifying course working with clients will inform clients (or ensure that clients have been informed) that they are trainees
b. trainees who are undertaking post-qualification CPD or further training will be guided by any applicable training requirements when using their professional and ethical judgement about whether to inform clients that they are in training

83. All trainees will:

a. seek their clients' permission to use any information from work with them for training purposes, for example, in presentations, case studies or as assessed practice. Alternatively, any report of work undertaken will be so thoroughly anonymised that the identity of the person concerned cannot be identified by any means reasonably likely to be used. Consent is required if anonymity cannot be assured or when required by the training provider's instructions or regulations.
b. ensure that they deliver services that satisfy the minimum professional standards when working as practitioners with members of the public. This standard may be achieved with the assistance of appropriate professional support.
c. collaborate with their trainers, placement providers, supervisors and other professional advisers to provide services to their clients that satisfy professional standards by being undertaken with reasonable care and skill
d. be watchful for any incompatibilities between contractual requirements that have implications for work with clients, for example, between agreements with clients, training providers and placements, and seek appropriate support in order to ensure that all contractual requirements are compatible
e. be open and honest with trainers, placement providers and supervisors about all issues relevant to their selection, training, supervision and professional practice

91. We will take responsibility for our own wellbeing as essential to sustaining good practice with our clients by:

a. taking precautions to protect our own physical safety
b. monitoring and maintaining our own psychological and physical health, particularly that we are sufficiently resilient and resourceful to undertake our work in ways that satisfy professional standards
c. seeking professional support and services as the need arises
d. keeping a healthy balance between our work and other aspects of life

92. We recognise that professional and ethical issues, problems and dilemmas will arise from time to time and are an unavoidable part of our practice.

93. We will use our supervision and any other available professional resources to support and challenge how we respond to such situations. We will give careful consideration to the best approaches to ethical problem-solving.

94. We will take responsibility for considering how best to act in such situations and will be ready to explain why we decided to respond in the way we did.

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BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions

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All BACP members have to work in accordance with the Ethical Framework. It helps you provide your clients with a secure base for your work together.

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The Human Rights Act

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The Act has three main effects:

1. You can seek justice in a British court

It incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law. This means that if your human rights have been breached, you can take your case to a British court rather than having to seek justice from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

2. Public bodies must respect your rights

It requires all public bodies (like courts, police, local authorities, hospitals and publicly funded schools) and other bodies carrying out public functions to respect and protect your human rights.

3. New laws are compatible with Convention rights

In practice it means that Parliament will nearly always make sure that new laws are compatible with the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (although ultimately Parliament is sovereign and can pass laws which are incompatible). The courts will also, where possible, interpret laws in a way which is compatible with Convention rights.

Find out more about human rights and how they play a part in our everyday lives: what are human rights?

Download a full copy of the Human Rights Act.

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The Human Rights Act allows you to defend your rights in UK courts and ensures that public organisations respect and protect your human rights.

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The Equality Act 2010

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List of Values

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While most values on this list will have little or no significance to you (and some may even seem negative to you), some values will surely call to you, and you'll feel, "Yes, this value is a part of me."

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Motivation

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Expectancy Theory of Motivation

The expectancy theory of motivation suggests that when we are thinking about the future, we formulate different expectations about what we think will happen. When we predict that there will most likely be a positive outcome, we believe that we are able to make that possible future a reality. This leads people to feel more motivated to pursue those likely outcomes.

The theory proposes that motivations consist of three key elements: valence, instrumentality, and expectancy. Valence refers to the value people place on the potential outcome. Things that seem unlikely to produce personal benefit have a low valence, while those that offer immediate personal rewards have a higher valence.

Instrumentality refers to whether people believe that they have a role to play in the predicted outcome. If the event seems random or outside of the individual's control, people will feel less motivated to pursue that course of action. If the individual plays a major role in the success of the endeavor, however, people will feel more instrumental in the process.

Expectancy is the belief that one has the capabilities to produce the outcome. If people feel like they lack the skills or knowledge to achieve the desired outcome, they will be less motivated to try. People who feel capable, on the other hand, will be more likely to try to reach that goal.

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6 Key Ideas Behind Theories of Motivation

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The expectancy theory of motivation suggests that when we are thinking about the future, we formulate different expectations about what we think will happen. When we predict that there will most likely be a positive outcome, we believe that we are able to make that possible future a reality.

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How to access support - online support

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CounsellingResource.com: Psychology, Therapy & Mental Health Resources

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Learn more about online supervision and online therapy training; this section also includes papers and other professional development materials.

Why Online Supervision?

Practitioners ranging from clinical psychologists to members of the clergy have written to ask me about online supervision services, and as a result I've learned a few things that seem to apply to most practitioners looking for online clinical supervision:

Practitioners are often just getting started with online working and value flexible arrangements that can accommodate their varying case loads,

Practitioners view effective clinical supervision of their online work as an integral part of their overall online practice,

Practitioners are looking for a supervisor with actual first-hand experience offering online counselling or therapy,

Practitioners are eager to gain experience and build their own skills in offering online therapy or online counselling, and

Practitioners appreciate the opportunity to conduct the supervision itself via an online modality.

Although I'm no longer taking new supervisees myself, the background pages about the service are still available here at CounsellingResource.com, including:

A separate page details another service providing online supervision via live chat.

If you're actually looking for broader practice development support, you might find something useful on our page about " Whole Practice Mentoring for the Mental Health Professional ".
Try Online Counseling: Get Personally Matched
Online Training and Professional Development Materials

In addition to our online supervision services, this section also includes resources we hope will be useful for training and professional development materials: " Papers for Online Therapy Training ". These papers and other resources are directly informed by online clinical experience and hopefully will be relevant to mental health professionals who are in actual online practice or who are contemplating adding this modality to their existing practice.

All clinical material on this site is peer reviewed by one or more clinical psychologists or other qualified mental health professionals. This specific article was originally published by on and was last reviewed or updated by on .
https://counsellingresource.com/supervision/development-resources/

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About Online Supervision and Online Therapy Training & Development

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Learn more about online supervision and online therapy training; this section also includes papers and other professional development materials.

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Benefits of self - reflection

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In most professions, reflective practice is the process of reflecting on professional experiences that occur in the job, and learning from them.

It's also about the approach to the job and being able to see where improvements can be made. This applies to counselling, where reflective practice can support the counsellor's continued professional development. It works through an understanding of client behaviours and the counsellor's own behaviour, and how they can apply their reflections to improve their skills.

Why do counsellors need to be reflective practitioners?

To be proficient as a counsellor it's necessary to reflect and identify where working methods can be changed for the better. Counselling can be a stressful and emotional job, and reflection helps to clarify issues and improve the effectiveness of client sessions.

Knowing your own limits

Sometimes a counsellor has to say no, if they are faced with a case they feel they can't deal with, for whatever reason. Saying no is not a sign of weakness, and understanding this as the counsellor is essential. We can't always deal with everything and counsellors are human too. The professional solution is to refer the client to someone else.

Keeping your personal experiences separate

Reflection in this area means the counsellor should never discuss their personal experiences with a client, no matter how similar they may be to a situation being described. The ability to reflect on a client's experiences and remain emotionally detached, is essential. Comparing a client's experiences to their own, could mean that they are biased when they give advice, instead of remaining neutral.

Avoiding burn out

Being able to examine a working environment and identify areas of pressure, is essential. Taking a break is important. A counsellor may hear some shocking things from their clients, and being able to separate work and home life is essential.

Counsellors work in many different situations, each bringing their own challenges. Being self-employed and having the responsibility of running a business, requires a lot of organisation, but working for a practice, as part of a team, brings different kinds of pressure. Finding the right work environment will alleviate some day-to-day stresses.

Client satisfaction

A client wants to see results when they undergo counselling. Of course, they need to understand things may not change immediately and could take months or even years. If not even small changes are observed, the client is likely to feel there is no progress and they are not benefitting from counselling.

A counsellor needs to meet certain professional standards, and being a reflective practitioner helps to ensure that this happens. When standards are not met, problems can occur, resulting in client dissatisfaction.

Reflective practice encourages the growth and development of the counsellor. It assists them with learning from and improving their counselling skills, so they do their job in the best possible way.

How to be a reflective practitioner of counselling

To be a successful reflective practitioner, the counsellor has to be able to identify where changes can or can't be made, based on their experiences working with clients. They need to be able to extract what works well in client sessions and use it to further their skills as a counsellor.

The counsellor also needs to be able to reflect on what hasn't worked (as not every method will be successful with every client). This can be difficult, because accepting that something doesn't work and needs to change, can be demotivating. A successful reflective practitioner will see the positive benefits of change.

Client feedback is also an important factor in counselling reflection. A client is the greatest supplier of information, in terms of how things are working. The skill of obtaining this feedback is very delicate in the counselling sphere, as the counsellor should not show weakness to the client. This feedback can be obtained subconsciously from the client, by questioning how they feel the sessions are going.

Some example questions are:

In what way do you feel you are benefitting from your counselling sessions?

Is there anything you would like to change about the way we chat?

Is there anything you feel uncomfortable talking about?

These questions have to be asked in a sensitive manner, and perhaps only sporadically, so the client does not feel they are under pressure. Once the counsellor has the answers they need, they can use them to analyse what they can do to make beneficial changes to their working methods.

Joint reflective practice

Counselling can be an isolated role and sometimes it's difficult to focus and remain motivated, without regular colleague support. The benefits of meeting with other counsellors to discuss reflective practice methods can be invaluable.

It encourages discussion about how others deal with similar situations and counsellors can learn from each other. Reflective practice also means being open-minded. A counsellor may have many years of experience, but still need the advice of a colleague for a particularly difficult or unique situation.

What are the benefits of being a reflective practitioner?

Reflective practice allows the counsellor to do their job to the highest standards. It ensures that they don't waste time on methods that don't work and that they repeat methods that do.

Another benefit is that the counsellor is able to self-assess their working methods and apply improvements where necessary. This self-evaluation is an essential part of the role, and helps them become a better counsellor. Without reflection, the counsellor could become stagnant and loose motivation.

So, reflection is a positive aspect of the role of a counsellor, and one which they should constantly try and use to expand their skills.

Our Diploma in Counselling Skills QCF Level 3 qualification provides an in-depth evaluation of counselling skills that can be used in everyday life.

Government funding is available for this QCF Counselling course. If you're 19 or older on the first day of your course, then we can offer you a 19+ Advanced Learner Loan to fund it.

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What is a reflective practitioner of counselling?

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It's also about the approach to the job and being able to see where improvements can be made. This applies to counselling, where reflective practice can support the counsellor's continued professional development. It works through an understanding of client behaviours and the counsellor's own behaviour, and how they can apply their reflections to improve their skills.

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Improve Your Counselling Skills in 60 Seconds: Reflecting—Narrated by Dr Andrew Reeves

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Improve Your Counselling Skills in 60 Seconds: Questioning—Narrated by Dr Andrew Reeves

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Improve Your Counselling Skills in 60 Seconds: Challenging—Narrated by Dr Andrew Reeves

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Improve Your Counselling Skills in 60 Seconds: Paraphrasing & Summarizing – Narrated by Dr A. Reeves

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Introduction to Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy (for beginners)

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An introduction to Person Centred Therapy - Carl Rogers

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Person-Centred Counselling - A Brief Introduction

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What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

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An introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - Aaron Beck

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Hello Everyone,

I have added some links onto the Unit 2 Videos around the different theories. I have taken the videos out from Unit 1 that do not work.

Please note that you can find some useful videos on YouTube under the channel CPCAB and the sister channel which is called "The Counselling Channel".

The Feedback form has been updated.

Regards
Lauren