Psychodynamic Counselling in Confide
This information is intended as a statement for clients, referrers, trainers, potential counsellors and staff.
The following are considered to be the cornerstones of psychodynamic counselling:
1. The relationship between counsellor and client is central to the counselling work. The relationship is
based on respect, concern, empathy, genuineness, and acknowledgment of the client's feelings.
2. Feelings and thoughts which the counsellor experiences are used in the counselling sessions, maybe not
directly, to inform the counselling.
3. Issues arising out of the relationship between counsellor and client may be used to illuminate the client's
patterns of relating.
4. Importance is placed on the client's family history and previous life experiences and relationships, which
therefore need to be acknowledged as invariably having a bearing of some kind on the present situation.
5. Psychodynamic counselling is based on a belief in the existence of the unconscious, and that unconscious
as well as conscious attitudes influence behaviour and relationships.
6. Counselling sessions last 50 minutes and time boundaries are adhered to firmly. Time limits to the end of
counselling are not imposed although time limited counselling can be agreed.
7. Importance is placed on the financial transaction involved in payment for counselling sessions and in the
setting of an appropriate agreed fee.
It is important for counsellors to have theoretical knowledge and experience in personal therapy of the
psychodynamic model. They need a secure theoretical and experiential base from which they can develop
their own counselling style and use their personality to enhance their skills.
As they become more experienced, many counsellors incorporate aspects of other counselling models into
their practice and this is enriching to their work.
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