Something to think about...

Andrea’s post about Counselling (Good vs Bad) got me thinking.

Specifically, this definition of Good counselling:

Good counseling (Gc) helps the client to determine problems they are facing, and what they need to solve them, and how they can acquire the tools needed to do so. The counselor works with a person, not for them or to them. It’s about respecting the client, and presuming competency on the client’s part, including the client as the local expert on their self.

In other words, Gc is empowering. The client needs to have their own power to make decisions. They need to have resources and information made available to them so they can make their own choices. Those choices need to be real choices, not dilemmas sold as choices. People need to feel like they are masters of their own fate, and also be able to understand the boundaries of what things they can change.

Clients also need to learn how to be able to reframe how they understand things in a more constructive manner, so they can take the things learned and be able to continue to help themselves later on. A child’s job is to play, learn and grow, and so is an adult’s. We all need to continue to learn new skills and approaches throughout our lives as our situations change, and as our abilities to do things also change. There is no one place in life where one is done learning; it’s an ongoing, lifelong process. To be able to do this the client needs education, not just in the form of information, but also in the process of making thoughtful decisions with this kind of information.

But to do all that the counselor has to be able to figure out – with the client – not just what the problems are, but also what the client thinks is important: the things they need to solve, or skills they need to acquire. If something is important to the client, then it’s important! The counselor should address the subject with them. People need to be able to make decisions about things that are important to them in their lives.

What it’s got me thinking about is the question of Spiritual Direction, and just how different, really, is it from Counselling?

Supposedly, the two are very different from each other. But what Andrea says here about Counselling fits perfectly all I’ve read about Spiritual Direction.

So I wonder, now, if perhaps Counselling really is a good choice for me, after all? I’m not sure. I need to think about this some more.