3 additional frameworks that may be drawn upon to nourish a Person Centered Approach (PCA)
As an answer to those who knock on my door seeking for someone really disposed to listen to them with the intent of helping them solve a problem or better face a life challenge, my invitation is the following:
Come take advantage of a way of listening whose main purpose will be to enable you to embrace in a deeper way the person whom you really are. Come take advantage of a way of listening that is based on the Person Centered Approach (PCA), as developed by Carl Rogers, the famous founder of psychotherapy’s "3rd Way".
Those who knock on my door will first of all be able to take advantage of a way of listening firmly grounded in the aforementioned PCA’s principles and values. They will additionally be able to take advantage of a way of listening that will strive to nourish the Counseling process by drawing upon processes derived from 3 additional frameworks. Thus, the way of listening that I place at the disposal of my client implies that he feel invited to:
Stimulating the actualizing tendency that inhabits him
The PCA is an approach that invites the client to focus his attention foremostly upon on his inner experience, in particular upon the feelings and emotions he experiences and which define "the person he is". Strengthened by the climate of mutual consideration that his Counselor will have succeeded in bringing about, the client will become more able to clearly perceive that which he is truly experiencing. He will thus gradually become more able to own that which his interpersonal relationships shall have developed onto, this with increasingly greater fluidity.
Refining the way he looks at himself and the role that is his to play
As he progresses along his "Person-Centered" path, the client by and by comes to more clearly perceive the constraints with which he cannot avoid having to cope with, as well as the potentialities that he may envisage further developing. In my view, it will behoove the Counselor to be particularly attentive as to when his client may wish to venture onto this ground, and provided he is primed to this effect, to help him more clearly view the existential stakes at play and how best to confront them.
Stopping the attempted solutions into which he sometimes locks himself up
As he advances upon his "Person-Centered" journey, the client by and by comes to more distinctly perceive that some of the difficulties that he faces are actually fueled by "Attempted Solutions" (AS) that he instinctively endeavors to rely upon so as to resolve the said difficulties. In my view, it behooves the Counselor to co-construct with his client strategies that aim to thwart attempted solutions that do not work.
Actualizing the potentialities that are naturally his
The MN tool is a tool whose goal is to help a person better understand his natural capacities. For a person who has never previously undertaken any Counseling, the vocabulary that the MN tool provides him with will enable him, in a simple and practical way, to initiate a preliminary introspection process. Subsequently, to the extent that he finds someone capable of providing him with proper Counseling, he will more easily be able to deepen his introspective explorations.
To know more about one or the other of the 4 "Listening Nuances" mentioned above, please click on one of the 2nd level tabs below :