Image via WikipediaUltimately, counselling is (or should be) about learning and practicing how to HELP YOURSELF. A counsellor's job or task is to help others to help themselves! A misconception among general society about counselling relates to advice giving. A counsellor should only give advice in certain or particular situations or under certain circumstances such as if somebody is pointing a dealy weapon to their own head (the counsellor could rightfully use "shoulds" then in such circumstances). Generally, for a counsellor to give advice is going against the principles of what counselling is about or intended to be (if used correctly) A core idea of counselling as a general rule of thumb is for the client (or person receiving counselling) to grow in him or herself and become self-sufficient as far as handling/managing current and future problems, NOT to become dependent on a counsellor or
ANYBODY else to make decisions for them (such as advice giving) which will only hinder or stalemate personal growth and resolution of problems. The term "therapist" may loosely be used as a broad term covering counsellors and more recognised psychotherapists. Speaking in loose terms, a physiotherapist, a diversional therapist, a pastoral counsellor, an art therapist, a hypnotherapist, a counsellor, a psychologist, a behaviour therapist and many others could all be loosely termed or grouped as therapists. A constable and a sergeant are both police officers but one more highly recognised and a similar comparison could be made between a counsellor and a psychotherapist. An interesting point to note also is that studies have revealed/concluded that paraprofessionals (those with somewhat minimal training such as those who have only had a few hours of training in communication skills such as active listening, using reflective skills, empathy and the like, and others such as college students and those with no formal qualifications in "therapy") can obtain very positive results in working with those presenting for treatment of general life problems. In other words, many people can be aided in a "therapeutic" relationship or atmosphere with non-professionals (non-therapists) as much as certain professional people who are therapists. It's not always the case such as in adults who present with more disturbing issues, but the point is that helpers may not absolutely need to be an "expert therapist" in order for others (generally speaking and in general situations) to reap benefits of personal interaction in dealing with general life issues. Certain types of theories and those used in many forms of counselling state and believe that humans have the capacity for self-healing with general problems or issues in life. But it is ideally suitable to associate with others when we need to whether we are facing depression, anxiety problems, relationship problems, addictions and so-forth and a part of the healing package or the "ingredients" that are required for many of us to overcome various problems is to communicate ( in one way or another) with paraprofessionals, non-professionals AND sometimes professional people in whom may come in the form of a warm, empathic and accepting counsellor.
How might a counsellor help? What benefits are there in seeing a counsellor? How DO they help? What role can they play? Many questions may be asked and these seem to be some common ones. A counsellor may be able to help in various ways and some of this will be the actual approach that they use ("approaches" here meaning an actual school of thought as in different types of psychotherapies). Counsellors are generally trained at least in certain aspects of psychotherapy (such as Person-centred therapy developed by Carl Rogers) and will generally have certain skills not only in areas such as communication skills, conflict resolution, portraying a congruent attitude and demonstrating unconditional positive regard and so-forth, but they generally are able to utilise skills of particular techniques used in various forms of psychotherapy. Counsellors may not be as skilled or have specific expertise skills as somebody such as a psychologist who is trained in helping those with mental health problems, but they still do have a fairly large repertoire of "things up their sleeve" that they can use for helping to work with others ( remembering that counselling is or should be about helping others to help themselves). Most counsellors are renowned or have a reputation of being very warm-hearted people. It may be pleasantly surprising to discover some of the benefits in talking to a non-judgemental, empathic, listening, open-minded, genuine or "real" person as a climate of such an environment in such cases can contribute to personal growth and/or other positive aspects that may be so fruitful in fighting or facing the battle of mental health issues.
A counsellor can help by using certain skills, by actually wanting to listen to you and in other ways such as helping you to become more aware of parts of yourself, using your own inbuilt skills and abilities, practicing certain skills and techniques, right though to simply offering you a non-judgemental attitude and a caring relationship, helping you to find suitable other people who have specialist skills in helping in all sorts of different areas, helping you to vent feelings and thoughts which in itself can be therapeutic, dealing with unresolved issues of the past and becoming more fully-equipped to maximise the value of the present and putting things into place for future problems or challenges, assisting you to challenge negative self-defeating beliefs, reconstruct healthy, rational or adaptive ways of thinking and much, much more. Counsellors may not be psychiatrists or have quite the in-depth knowledge of mental health issues and disorders, but they can offer aspects of healing in oneslf to a lot of people with various mental health problems.
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