The Use of Person Centred Counselling in Guidance

and Counselling Practice in Schools

I think that it is accurate to say that the 'first wave' of guidance
counsellors who received their counselling training in Ireland did so
based largely on the theory and philosophy of counselling formulated by
Carl Ransom Rogers (1902 - 1987), considered, by many, to be the most
influential psychologist in American history. A leader in the humanistic
psychology movement of the 1960's through the 1980's: more than any
other individual he was responsible for the spread of professional
counselling and psychotherapy beyond psychiatry and psychoanalysis to
all the helping professions.

He was one of the helping professions most prolific writers, authoring

sixteen books and more than two hundred professional articles and
research studies on the major new approach to psychotherapy which he
pioneered, known successively as 'non-directive', 'client centred' and
'person centred' counselling. Nowadays pre-service and in-service
counsellor training offers a much more varied approach to theory and
practice. Nonetheless, it is timely to re-evaluate this theory which
formed many of us as counsellors and to look with new eyes at what
Rogers still has to offer us through his work.

Origins / Brief History critical examination, and applying

Born in Oak Ridge, a small village on
the outskirts of Chicago in 1902,
Rogers had a very strict up-bringing
which affected his initial choice of
college study. At university, his
interests and academic major
changed from Agriculture to History,
then to Religion and finally to Clinical
Psychology when he enrolled for a
degree in that area in Teachers
College, Columbia University.
Rogers received his doctorate in
1931, and in 1937 he published his
first major book: The Clinical
Treatment of the Problem Child. His
second, Counselling and
Psychotherapy was published in
1942. Apart from its innovative ideas,
what is most striking about this book
is that over one third of it consisted
of a transcript of electronically
recorded sessions with a client called
Herbert Byran. These recordings
provided Rogers and his students
with a unique opportunity to study
therapeutic processes in detail. This
willingness to lay bare the processes
involved in counselling is a
significant legacy of Rogers' who can
be considered a pioneer in his
insistence on subjecting the
transcripts of therapy sessions to
research technology to counsellor -
client dialogue.
Rogers became an influential figure
in psychotherapeutic circles, gaining
respect as a therapist, theorist,
researcher and author. In 1956, he
received the Distinguished Scientific
Contribution Award; the American
Psychology Association's highest
honour.
He was also elected as the first
President of the American Academy
of Psychotherapy and was invited to
be a visiting professor at a number of
prestigious universities.
Up to 1957 Rogers had used his
approach with mildly disturbed or
'neurotic' individuals. At the
University of Wisconsin, where he
was now Professor of Psychology and
Psychiatry, Roger's pioneering spirit
made him explore the possibilities of
using the client-centred approach, as
it was then called, with more
disturbed people including
schizophrenics.
In 1961, his book On Becoming a
Person was published. At a time
when interest was stirring in the
rights of women, ethnic minorities
and civil rights, the views expressed

NCGE 04/08 Section 1 1.4.25

in his book, with its emphasis on
helping individuals reach their full
potential, meshed with those
developments. By the Summer of
1963, Rogers had moved to La Jolla,
California to become Resident Fellow
of the Western Behavioural Sciences
Institute. In 1968, with others, he
formed the Centre for the Studies of
the Person. During the last 15 years
of his life he applied the person-
centred approach to politics by
training policy-makers, leaders and
groups in conflict.
Influences
Rogers' formative training in
psychology was based on Behaviour
Theory with a strong emphasis on
psychological testing as a way to
study and understand people. Later
at the Institute for Child Guidance he
was exposed to a very different
school of thought.
Here he was exposed to a dynamic
psychoanalytic view but, most
notably, Rogers was influenced by
the views of Otho Rank. From him he
took the emphasis on the therapeutic
relationship and the idea of the
therapist as 'supporter' rather than
director.
A pivotal case with a boy and his
mother, when he left the direction of
the session to the mother without
attempting to interrupt, confirmed
him in this new methodology; an
approach which placed more
emphasis on the feelings of the
client; on the present rather than the
past, and a greater reliance on the
individual’s own will towards health.
Above all he stressed the therapeutic
relationship as the experience where
growth can take place.
Brief Description of
Therapy
Person-centred therapy is one of the
Humanistic approaches. Focusing on
the 'here and now' and not on the
childhood origins of the client's
problems, Rogers’ theory
emphasised the counsellor's creation
of a permissive and non-
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interventionist climate in which the
client is free to move at his own pace
and in his own direction. Rogers'
basic assumptions were that people
were essentially trustworthy; that
they have a vast potential for
understanding themselves and
resolving their own problem without
direct intervention on their
therapist's part: and that they are
capable of self-directed growth if
they are involved in a therapeutic
relationship. From the beginning
Rogers emphasised that the attitude,
personal characteristics and quality
of the therapist were the prime
determinants of the successful
outcomes of the therapeutic process.
He consistently relegated to a
secondary position matters such as
the therapist's knowledge of theory
and techniques.
KEY CONCEPTS
1. The Actualising
Tendency
Just as plants have an innate
tendency to grow from a seed
towards their full potential Rogers
believed the same to be true of
people. This he called the 'actualising
tendency'. For human beings,
however, it means more than just
growth and survival: rather it is the
creative fulfillment of the personality
and the reduction in, or satisfaction
of, physical and psychological needs.
This strong drive continues
throughout life as we move towards
the fulfillment of all that it is possible
for us to achieve and become. None
of us ever lives long enough to know
our full potential.
We are always in a state of 'being
and becoming'. Rogers believed that
the 'actualising tendency' is the only
motive needed to account for all our
behaviour, whether to fill an empty
stomach, to produce children or to
become independent and happy.
2. The Organismic Valuing
Process
In order to satisfy the actualising
tendency, we need to know what is
Section 1 1.4.26
of value to that growth. This ability to the therapist are more important
weigh up and to value experiences than degrees or qualifications. It
positively/negatively is the regards as essential that individuals
'organismic valuing process'. All realise that they can trust their own
humanistic psychologists tend to experiencing and the validity of their
focus on the whole person rather own perceptions. Rogers asserted
than isolating different processes that if certain necessary conditions
such as behaviour, thoughts or are present then changes will occur
feelings. If we listen to our in the client and the process of
'organismic valuing process' we will growth can take place. Rogers listed
know what will help us move towards what he regarded as 'the necessary
our potential. and sufficient conditions of
therapeutic personality change'
Difficulties can occur in both our (Rogers, 1957: 95):
abilities to weigh up and to value
experiences and also in our efforts to 1. Two persons are in
fulfill our creative potential. If a psychological contact.
persons overwhelming need for 2. The first, whom we shall term
positive regard from others is not the client, is in a state of
met or is conditional upon 'good incongruence, being
behaviour' then the person may vulnerable and anxious.
internalise the values and beliefs 3. The second person, whom we
proffered by others. Cut off from shall term the therapist, is
their own sense of worth and value congruent or integrated in the
individuals continuously strive for the relationship.
unconditional positive regard they 4. The therapist experiences
feel they need. They fail and a unconditional positive regard
vicious cycle begins. They begin to for the client.
behave as others perceive them. 5. The therapist experiences an
Thus the person ceases to trust their empathic understanding of
organismic valuing process and their the client's internal frame of
personal growth is stunted. reference and endeavours to
communicate this experience
to the client.
3. Internal Frame of 6. The communication to the
Reference client of the therapist's
empathic understanding and
A person's subjective world, unconditional positive regard
consisting of all memories, is to a minimal degree
sensations, perceptions and achieved.
meanings that are available to
consciousness is sometimes referred Goals of Therapy
to as the 'internal frame of
reference'. In order to understand Since the person-centred counsellor
the behaviour of another person it is believes that psychological
necessary to get as close as possible difficulties are caused in the main by
to an understanding of their world or blockages of the actualising
to see the world through their eyes. tendency, the main goal of
Striving to 'walk in the client's shoes' counselling is to release the
and moving away from an 'external individual from any constraints or
frame of reference' of judging, restrictions. If successful, the client is
advising, preaching or moralising is enabled to explore in safety their
an important task for the person- inner experiences, long denied or
centred counsellor. distorted, which are inconsistent with
their self-concept. There is no final
4. Distinctive Features of result or end state; rather, a
Therapy continuing process of change which
will hopefully continue after
The person-centered approach counselling has ended. Such
claims that the personal qualities of progress towards becoming 'a fully

NCGE 04/08 Section 1 1.4.27

functioning person' would manifest
itself in the person being open to
experience, having a clear idea of
the path to their own fulfillment;
being able to trust their ability to
know what is good and bad for their
own development; accepting
themselves for who and what they
are and not only on the opinion of
others; and accepting responsibility
for their own behaviour.
Counsellor Attitudes in
Counselling
Counsellor attitudes are considered
to be of paramount importance in
facilitating the relationship.
Throughout his professional life,
Rogers maintained that there are
three counsellor attributes which
release a growth - promoting climate
in which individuals could move
forward and become what they are
capable of becoming. These are
congruence, empathy and
unconditional positive regard.
1. Congruence
Congruence means that the
counsellor's outward responses
match their inner awareness and
feelings; that they are genuine, real,
open, authentic and transparent.
Rogers stressed that congruence is
not a question of the counsellor
blurting out compulsively every
passing feeling; rather it is a state of
being. Feelings only are to be
expressed when they are persistent
and of great strength and when
communication of them assists the
therapeutic process.
Result: Endeavouring to be so open
the counsellor acts as a role model
sending the message that it’s ok to
feel and communicate feelings. In
order to develop and maintain
congruence counsellors need to
constantly work at being aware of
their underlying feelings and also to
realise the importance of having
supervision and working on their own
personal growth.
2. Empathy
NCGE 04/08
Empathy is the process of
understanding another person 'as if
you were that person but without
ever losing the 'as if' quality'. Rogers
described it as a way of 'laying aside
our own views and values in order to
enter another's world without
prejudice. A Way of Being (Rogers
'43). If the 'as if' quality is lost then
the process can become one of
identification whereby the counsellor
is no longer understanding the event
from the client's frame of reference
but rather from their own experience
of a similar event.
Result: Research has shown clearly
that when clients' experience their
counsellors as deeply empathic they
are helped to explore their inner
selves more profoundly and change
is more likely to occur; alienated
clients also feel more connected and
less isolated.
3. Unconditional Positive Regard
Unconditional positive regard on the
part of the counsellor means that the
counsellor offers the person respect,
acceptance (it does not have to be
approval) caring and appreciation
regardless of the client's attitude or
behaviour. Rogers often used the
word 'prizing' to convey the meaning
of this condition.
Result: This condition is important
because it undermines the clients'
beliefs that they are only valued if
they behave as required by
significant others. There is no longer
any need for the client to shy away
from aspects of his inner self which
may be painful or shameful because
he learns that it is possible to be
truly himself and still be accepted.
O'Leary '82 in the only Irish and
international longitudinal study of
adolescents who received person-
centred counselling from guidance
counsellors lasting one year
indicated that empathy was the most
significant condition offered.
Advantages Of Person-
Centred Counselling
Section 1 1.4.28
 Personal and Practical Guide. Essex:
• Person-centred counselling deals Gale Centre Publications, 1993.
with the here and now.
• It recognises and values the O’Leary, E. The Psychology of
whole person. Counselling. Cork: Cork University
• It encourages people to believe Press (1982) in second printing.
that they have potential, which
with the counsellors help may be O’Leary, E. and Keane N. Person-
recognised and developed. Centered Therapy in P. Hawkins and
• It fosters greater self-reliance I. Nesteros Perspectives in
within the person. Psychology (1997) Athens: Ellinka
Grammata.
• It is a particularly safe model of
counselling because it
Rogers, C.R. Measuring Personality
emphasises staying with clients
Adjustment in Children Nine to
as opposed to getting ahead of
Thirteen Years of Age. New York:
them with interpretations, advice
Teachers College, 1931.
or judgements.
• It encourages the self-
Rogers, C.R. The Clinical Treatment
development of the counsellor.
of the Problem Child. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1939.
Disadvantages Of Person-
Centred Counselling Rogers, C.R. Counselling and
Psychotherapy: New Concepts in
• The process of counselling may Practice. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
be quite lengthy. 1942.
• It may place too much emphasis
on the person of the counsellor Rogers, C.R. Counselling with
and on their ability to provide the Returned Servicemen. Washington,
necessary conditions for change DC: United Services Organisations,
and growth. 1945.
• It may not place enough
emphasis on problem solving Rogers, C.R. Client-Centered
techniques. Therapy: Its Current Practice,
• It has been described as 'too Implications and Theory. Constable,
simple'. 1965.
• Some critics say that person-
centred counselling uses a limited Rogers, C.R. On Becoming a Person.
repertoire of techniques, such as Constable, 1974.
attending, listening and reflecting
are used. Rogers, C.R. Client-Centered
Therapy, Film No.1 in E. Shostrom
(Ed.). Three Approaches to
References
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motion pictures. Orange, CA:
Axline, Virginia, DBS, In Search of
Psychological Films, Inc., 1965.
Self, Victor Gallarez, 1966.
Rogers, C.R. Freedom to Learn: A
View of What Education Might
Dryden, Windy & Mytton, Jill, Four
Become. Columbus. OH: Charles
Approaches to Counselling &
Merrill, 1969.
Psychotherapy. London & New York:
Routledge, 1999.
Rogers, C.R. Carl Rogers on
Encounter Groups. New York: Harper
Kirschenbaum, H and Henderson, V.L
and Row, 1970.
(Eds.) (1990) The Carl Rogers
Reader. London: Constable.
Rogers, C.R. Becoming Partners:
Marriage and Its Alternatives.
Merry, Tony and Lusty, Bob, What is
Constable, 1973.
Person-Centered Counselling? A

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Rogers, C.R. Carl Rogers on Personal BACP House, 35-37 Albert Street,
Power: Inner Strength and Its Rugby, Warkwickshire, CV212SG
Revolutionary Impact. Constable, Web: www.bacp.co.uk
1978.
The Association for Humanistic
Rogers, C.R. A Way of Being. Boston: Psychology
Houghton Mifflin, 1980. Box BCM AHPP, London WC1N 3XX
Web: http://www.ahpp.org/index.htm
Rogers, C.R. Freedom to Learn in the
80s. Columbus, OH: Charles Merrill, The Facilitator Development Institute
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Student Counselling Centre
Rogers, C.R. and Dymond. R. (Eds.). University of St. Andrews
Psychotherapy and Personality College gate, St. Andrews
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1954.
The Person-Centered Approach
Rogers, C.R., Gendlin, E.T., Kiesler, Network
D.J., and Truax, C.B. (Eds.). The 109 Rupert St.
Therapeutic Relationship and Its Norwich, NR2 2AU
Impact: A Study of Psychotherapy Web: http://www.pcan.info/
with Schizophrenics. Madison:
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Therapy in Scotland
Rogers, C.R. and Skinner, B.F. Some 40 Kelvingrove St.
issues concerning the control of Glasgow, G3 7RZ
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Association for the Development of Self and Society

the Person-Centered Approach 18 Lower St.
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CA 94070-6881 USA Gloucestershire
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Counselling (Journal of the ABS+C)
British Association for Counselling 1 Regents Place
and Psychotherapy Rugby

NCGE 04/08 Section 1 1.4.30

Warwickshire
CV21 2PJ

The Journal of Humanistic Psychology

(Subscriptions)
Sage Publications
6 Bonhill St.
London
EC2A 4PU

Training Courses In Ireland

All general counselling training
courses include person-centred
theory and training as part of their
course content. However, the
Department of Applied Psychology of
NUI, Cork offers courses from the
Humanistic perspective of Person-
Centred and Gestalt counselling
psychology.

These are:

1. M.A. Degree in Counselling

Psychology
2. Postgraduate Diploma in
Guidance and Counselling

The Author
Breeda Coyle B.A. M.Ed is a guidance
counsellor in Mount Temple
Comprehensive, Dublin. A former
President and now Fellow of the
Institute of Guidance Counsellors,
she trained as a Reality Therapist
and holds a Diploma in Individual
Psychology from the Irish Institute of
Adlerian Counselling and Psychology.
She also works as a counselling
supervisor and tutor on the NUI
Certificate Foundation in Counselling
Skills.

NCGE 04/08 Section 1 1.4.31