This is a humanistic approach which ultimately looks at ways in which individuals consciously can perceive themselves as opposed to how a counsellor perceives the client. It is a non-directive approach allowing client to lead the session by what they wish to bring to therapy to talk through. The process is facilitated by the counsellor, listening closely and being present in an impartial manner without judgment. Acknowledging and respecting the client’s direction without steering the conversation to another path, void of personal agenda from the counsellor. The session is facilitated to help you remove layers that may be clouding the root cause of the issue and guide the therapeutic process without interference in your process of self-discovery. There are core conditions the counsellor adopts that a client perceives during their process, these are Empathy, Unconditional Positive Regard and Congruence.

This approach is designed to explore the client’s personality and how past, present and childhood experiences can influence and shape an individual’s being. Overall this approach can help aid personal growth and change, in short the theory behind this model is based on ‘three ego states’; parent, adult and child. The approach helps to analyse how a client identifies themselves within the ego states. This is something a client may not be aware they are doing. In session working through recognising patterns of behaviour ultimately aims to ensure you regain autonomy in your path to better wellbeing.

CBT focuses on how thoughts, beliefs and attitudes can affect feelings and behaviours. This model looks at coping skills and how you can apply them to issues you may be experiencing. A client may be triggered by thoughts and feelings and quite possibly the inability to take action. By applying the CBT model during the therapy process it is not uncommon for client to be provided ‘homework’ to reflect upon outside of the session to help them move forward or manage and overcome the presenting issue. This could be in the form of reflection notes about their process or identifying pro’s and con’s about the issue.

This form of counselling is existential/experiential that emphasises focusing on immediate thoughts, behaviours and feelings to better try and understand the way individuals relate to one another. Once this awareness is mastered, clients can often find new perspectives and start to see the effect of the changes. A level of ‘self-awareness’ increases and understanding of imminent thoughts and behaviours and ‘patterns of relating’ can bring forth positive change and new perspectives.