Welcome to Counselling Skills – Level Three

Week Two

Personal Development for Counselling

Session Objectives Check in with yourself and the group. Discuss and record your understanding and thoughts

about personal development. Consider some views and dimensions of personal

development for counselling Identify and discuss a range of personal development

activities. Read and discuss an extract from a PD journal. Share ideas about how you may record your PD

experiences throughout the course. Collect course work from last year. Homework Create a Personal Coat of Arms reflecting

your Values and beliefs, greatest achievements people you admire favourite things

Check-in• Spend a few moments on your own, in silence.• Remember the first session.• Recall something which you learned during or as a

result of that session. • You may wish to share that learning with the group.

Personal Development.

In small groups discuss and record your understanding and thoughts about personal development for counselling.

What is it? Why is it important? How can it be achieved?

Training to be a counsellor – what does it involve?

• Professional Issues• Counselling theories • Counselling environment • Ethical practise• Skills practise – peer and tutor evaluation• Work placements• Personal therapy• Personal development

Personal Development for Counselling

• "Personal Development is not an event but a process, life-long and career long: it must and will happen incidentally before and after any training course, through all aspects of life and work... in counselling training it should be purposeful, integrated and at the heart of the learning journey to become a counsellor". (Johns 1993).

• Johns, Hazel. (1993:preface) Personal Development in Counsellor Training. London: Cassell.

Importance of Personal Development for counselling

“...an unaware counsellor leading an unexamined life is likely to be a liability rather than an asset"

Dryden and Thorne. 1991; cited in Johns, 1991 p.3

Carl Rogers on Personal Development

• "The degree to which I can create relationships which facilitate the growth of others as separate persons is a measure of the growth I have achieved myself"

• Rogers, Carl (1961) On becoming a person London: Constable

Goals of Personal Development for Counselling

Connor identifies three domains for PD:

• Intrapersonal (relating to yourself)• Interpersonal (concerning relationships with

others)• Attitudes and Values

• Adapted from Connor 1994 in Johns 1996, p58-9

Intrapersonal Development -

Objectives:• To develop an understanding and appreciation of self• To become aware f and utilise personal strengths and

assets.• To become aware of blind spots, bl;ocks and

vulnerabilities• To identify areas to work on in personal counselling• To appreciate experientially the significance of

developmental stages in PD.

Interpersonal Development -

• Objectives:• To understand areas of strength and areas for development in

a range of interractions• To gain confidence in appropriate self sharing• To develop skills in giving and receiving feedback• To facilitate growth in self and others• To develop helping relationships with clients• To continuously reflect upon successes and setbacks and to

use it as a basis for setting realistic objectives for development.

• To develop an internal supervisor.

Attitudes and Values -

• Objectives:• To become aware of personal assumptions

and beliefs• To explore and clarify attitudes and values• To develop core therapeutic qualities• To be aware of ethical and professional issues

and expectations in counselling• To develop a personal code of professional

ethics.

How is Personal Development Achieved?

• Writing• Reading• Reflection• Paying attention to

critical incidents• Personal Counselling• Supervision• Tutorials• Peer Groups• Encounter Groups

• Creative activities• Creative writing or

journaling• Skills Practise Sessions• Interpersonal Process

Recall (IPR)• Time-Lines or Life-lines• Johari Window• Guided Imagery• Mindfulness/meditation

A Journal Extract

• Read and discuss an extract form a PD journal.

Source: Sanders, Pete (2011) First Steps in Counselling. 4th Edition Ross-

on Wye: PCCS Books

Homework

Design Your Personal Coat of Arms including:

• Values and beliefs• Greatest achievements• People you admire• Favourite things

Information.

• If you have received your certificate, then you may collect your portfolio from the Haven.

• Please sign a slip confirming collection.

• N.B. The course is 33 weeks long with 4 Saturday workshops.

• The final date of the course is 20th June, 2013