October 03, 2022

Principles of counseling

1.      Principle of acceptance: The principle of acceptance implies that the counsellor must perceive, acknowledge, receive and establish a healthy relationship with his client as he actually is, not as per our requirements and how we want our client to be. Every individual is different and holds many emotions that counsellor has to understand with core as one misunderstanding of feelings may mislead the counselling. So, acceptance is must and should be the priority of any counsellor. 

2.      Principle of communication: There are certain rules of communication that a counsellor must practice while communicating with client. Communication must be done Communication should be done on appropriate time and with the proper level of impact and urgency, to ensure that messages can be understood and acted upon to achieve their objective. Communication is a very useful tool for any problem solving skills especially for counsellor while they are doing counselling of their clients. 

In order to develop effective communication skills we need to consider the following 5 basic principles: 

·         awareness, 

·         responsibility, 

·         respect, 

·         trust, 

·         and creativity. 

3.      Principle of non-judgmental attitude: The principle of nonjudgmental attitude means that any counsellor should never judge his/her clients as good or bad, worthy of unworthy, dignified or undignified etc. However, they can deliver their messages to their clients in a very non-judgmental way.  

4.      Principle of empathy: Displaying empathy shows that you, as the counselor, are listening, understanding, and experiencing what the client is sharing. As your client will only trust you when he/she will be convinced that you are understanding their feelings and emotions. Empathic response will be considered when therapist understands the reason behind client’s unusual behavior. Empathy does not mean getting emotional, a counsellor should be thinking practically as well while being empathic. 

5.      Principle of confidentiality, : Confidentiality is an important principle of counselling. The moral value of confidential- it is derivative from four underlying values: 

Autonomy, Promise- keeping, Utility or Welfare and Privacy. 

  Trust is the most crucial factor a client keeps on his/her counsellor. The counselor must make sure the conversation must remain between two of them. 

6.      Principle of individuality: Every client is equally valuable to therapist no matter how many clients visits in a day each of them must be treated with equal respect and wellness.  

7.      Principle of non-emotional involvement: This is one of the most important principles as counselor should never involve emotionally with his client and must avoid getting carried away with his feelings.  

8.      Principle of purposeful expression of feelings: Counselor most prior duty is to be heard his client’s need, feelings either negative or positive. And during counselling a client should be very comfortable that they can share their emotions without any barrier.