Discuss main elements of counselling.
The following elements about counselling are common to the major theoretical approaches to counselling:
1. Counselling involves responding to the feeling, thoughts and actions of the clients.
2. Counselling involves a basic acceptance of the client's perceptions unconditional the regard and feelings without using any evaluative standards.
3. Confidentiality and privacy constitute essential ingredients — in the counselling setting.
4. Counselling is voluntary. It takes place when the client approaches a counsellor. A counsellor never uses any kind of coercion for obtaining information.
5. Counselling is an interoceptive process. Counsellor and clients both transmit and receive verbal and non-verbal messages during the process. Therefore awareness and sensitivity to the nature of the message is an important prerequisite for the counsellor's effectiveness.
