There as some basic fundamentals that need to be in place in order for therapy to be effective, The most important being trust in the relationship. Once they are then in place the work can be start and change can be effective
- The client will be helped to find out and to exercise more of their own personal power with regard to understanding and evaluating their actions, in the past and present and in making decisions for the future
- I as a counsellor am a guest within the client’s world of experience
- The two persons (the client and the counsellor) are in psychological contact
- To experience someone else’s reality, no matter how different from ours, as if it were our own “to see their world through their eyes”
- As material is given by the client it is the therapists function to help the client recognise the emotions which he feels, as if holding a mirror up to the client and showing him what the therapist sees, reflecting
- The recognition of the fundamental worth of every human being, not because of what they have achieved or even of their potential but simply because they are another human entity with needs, drives, hopes and fears
- Warmth and acceptance
- Genuineness on the therapist part
- Constructive honest feedback not criticism refraining from judging attacking or denigrating
- Authenticity is about not forcing our world on others
When all of the above is in place then the therapeutic relationship is formed.