In the article, The nondirective attitude in client-centered practice: A few questions, Kathryn Moon and Bert Rice discuss client-centered or person-centered therapy, which was developed by Carl Rogers. They describe the basis of client-centered therapy, along with some issues that can arise with this therapy. They focus on the main issue of influence and power over clients. The article begins by describing a therapist with a nondirective attitude towards their clients. The nondirective attitude allows a therapist to create an open and inviting environment for clients, while preserving the client’s freedoms (Moon & Rice, 2012). In this mindset, which coincides with person-centered therapy, a therapist is allowing the client to choose the path …show more content…
Person-centered therapy is all about empowering and accepting individuals, which is a main goal of social workers. As social workers, we must empower our clients so they can, and will, make their own decisions for their own lives. Social workers must accept their clients for who they are as individuals and not judge them when assisting them. This therapy focuses on a lot of things that are in the NASW’s code of ethics such as valuing the dignity and worth of a person, and promoting self-determination in clients. As social workers we are supposed to be mindful of the differences in people, respect those differences, and not push our beliefs or ideas on them. This article describes how person-centered therapy is applying the same basic principles. We are supposed to be there to support and accept our clients and allow them to make their own decisions without interference. Person-centered therapy focuses greatly on creating an inviting and accepting environment for clients, which is a main focus of social workers as …show more content…
This directly corresponds with a social worker’s job of promoting self-determination in clients. As social workers we are there to assist in helping identifying goals, but not making them for the client. Self-determination is an important theme in both person-centered therapy and social work. In my opinion, empowering someone and enhancing their self-determination is one of the most important aspects of social work. Person-centered therapy was described with a few dilemmas that I feel social workers face as well. For instance, if a client chooses or does not choose to do something that is in their best interest it is not the role of the therapist, in person-centered therapy, to step-in and make that decision for the client. The same goes for social workers. If someone chooses to do or no do something that is in their best interest it is not up to the social worker to step in and override their self-determination. Lastly, I believe, that like in person-centered therapy, social workers should not exert any control or power over their clients. Just like in person-centered therapy, it is not the role of the therapist or social worker to control their client and their lives, but merely to accept them and assist where needed. Both person-centered therapy and social work are focused largely on
The person-in-environment approach views a client’s problems by how they react to the environmental contexts within their environment and how they occur. According to Gordon and Richmond, it has been stated that the person-in-environment approach is the “cornerstone” of social work practice. (as cited in Rogers, 2016, p.24). A clients’ systems are the interrelated aspects of a clients’ lives where all parts come together to function. Social workers utilize and focus on a clients’ systems when applying the person-in-environment. A clients’ system is anything that they interact with and hold roles in their lives. These systems can be on a micro level which is the individual and their biology, personality, and genetics. The individuals’ mezzo level would include their immediate environment, family, school, friends, or work. A macro level would include the larger social aspects of a clients’ life such as government policies, discrimination, oppression, or social class. Social workers incorporate these interactions and how they impact clients’ and their presenting problems. This theory and approach are beneficial as it allows a social worker to find out what resources are available to the client during their time with the worker (Rodgers,
Social workers have many tools at their hand to enabling personal values to remain in check. The general practitioners communication with supervisors and collages can provide guidance on this issue. They can attend professional workshops pertaining to subjects such as ethics, and maintaining professional relationships. Social workers can continually evaluate their own values and beliefs and seek professional help such as therapy when
Social care work is about people’s well being, looking at the whole person and their quality of life. Person centred values should influence all aspects of social care as:
My understanding of the role of the client and the human services worker is that the worker is there to help the client. It used to be that the worker was in a position of power, and dictated what to do to with the client. This is no longer the case, however. The client has their own power to change things, and the goal is to improve the client’s strengths, not “fix” their weaknesses.
Professionalism in the social work field goes beyond licensure and expertise (Cournoyer, 2014). According to Cournoyer (2014), social work professionalism encompasses the concepts of integrity, self-efficacy and knowledge, self-understanding and self-control, and social support (Cournoyer, 2014). Embedded in social work professionalism is the person-environment perspective, which posits that our personal attributes, interactions and relationships with others, and environment influence a social worker’s practice. Cournoyer stresses that it is a social worker’s responsibility to acknowledge and regulate his or her personal biases, ideologies, and beliefs when working with clients in order to prevent them from negatively impacting the therapeutic
Person-Centred Counselling established its origins in the late 1940 during a conference when Carl Rogers gave a talk entitled ‘New Concepts in Psychotherapy’. The summarisation of the talk resulted in the theory that the client in a counselling relationship should be at the center of the relationship and lead the counselling process. The Client, in effect became the expert on their life and/or problems. The fundamental belief is that an individual is capable of change, growth and fulfillment (self-concept). Person-Centred counselling looks at ‘the here and now’ and how to make changes that affect the future. Person-Centred Counselling generated a system known as the ‘Core Conditions Model’ which emphasized three key components: Empathy, Congruence and Acceptance.
Social Workers are very important to everyday life. They are the ones that help people in need when they have nobody else to turn too. Also, they provide resources and better understanding of predicaments that you could be experiencing. I will reflect on how the class has affected me, my own experiences and how some theories have connected to my life experiences, and lastly, if the class helped toward my major. This class is important for someone that wants to become a social worker and wants to learn about the different theories used. Also, learning about me during this process of completing this class is fun and a way to see if the social work profession is right for me. There was many theories explained throughout this class but many will not be said because it wasn’t the main points that I was trying to get across. There are two tools that are used that can help a social worker organize a client’s life: Bubble map and Briefcase exercise. There are so many different ways a social worker can help a client deal with their problems and come up with a solution. It is up to that social worker to identify the client’s problem and see what theory fits.
To explain, the client should not be inferior to the counselor; the environment should be two people discussing an issue and ways to make a difference. A therapist should occasionally share similar experiences; therefore, sessions should make clients feel comfortable. To add, the client should feel safe due to the positive atmosphere the therapist brings to the session. The goal is to finally give the client a chance to be heard, regularly people are muted and feel like they are insignificant to society. Similarly, to Person-centered therapy where communication with the client is unconditionally positive. The therapist needs to genuinely care about the client needs for them to fully express themselves successfully. Furthermore, clients should be encouraging to make their own choices which model how to identify and use power responsibly. Hence, this will help the client feel more confident in everyday life when making a meaningful
His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and his theory contributed to many theories that followed. I want to explore Client/Person Centered Therapy. This is a type of therapy that was pioneered by Carl Rogers. This therapy is different because as the name suggests it solely focuses on the client. ' In focusing on the client, the client’s feelings are deeply explored.
Clinical social workers in the community strive to enhance and maintain psychosocial functioning of individuals, families, and small groups. They also focus on prevention of psychosocial dysfunction or impairment, including emotional and mental disorders. The perspective of person-in-situation (psychosocial context) is fundamental to clinical social work practice (Austin, Barr, & Coombs, 2006).
This semester in procedures of counseling class we discussed a lot of different types of counseling theories. We also did a lot of practicing with each theory with our partners. I found that person-centered therapy best fits my personal attitudes and style of counseling. I think this would be a good style of counseling for me because I can see myself better helping people as a whole than trying to fix an actual problem. I don’t think I could just focus on a client’s problem and problematic behavior, and not try to help better them as a person. This is the type of therapy that is the warm and fuzzy type. I like to think as myself as very empathic person, and always try to put myself in other people’s shoes. I try
Treating the person and the environment equally would be the most beneficial way to advance social work practice and most effective way to treat clients. “The unique contribution of the social work practice is the duality of the professions person and environment mandate: social workers must help society work better for the people and help people function better within society.” (Segal, Gerdes, and Steiner, 2016, p. 3). There is an unequal distribution of indirect and direct social work practice because many professionals are moving towards private practice. Typically, in social work the person precedes the environment.
The primary goal of social work is to increase overall human well-being, however; whether this is done through individual treatment or social reform is up for debate (Haynes, 1998). Some advocates of the profession believe that it should take on a generalist approach that is multidimensional (Abramovitz, 1998). By using this framework, social workers are able to work on social issues and treat the individual.
should be empowering, by so it provides resources, a relationship and sets the tone which people can enhance their own lives. It’s important for clinical social workers to emphasize on the clients strengths, positive reframing, and the use of language of solutions to guide clients in the direction to point out strengths and resources that are necessary for solving their problems and reaching their goals (Greene, Lee, & Hoffpauir, 2005).
Rogers believed that therapy should take place in a supportive egalitarian environment created by a close personal relationship between client and therapist and introduced the term "client" rather than "patient". Rogers, (1951) Non-directive therapy also known as Person Centered Therapy or Client Centered Therapy, places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a non-directive role. The concept of non- directivity can be confusing and does not mean that the therapy has no direction. Rather that the direction of therapy comes from the client. Joseph,