Thinking of Becoming a Counselor?

People in their later years sometimes wonder if they could put to good use a lifetime's experience in raising a family, following a career, dealing with mid-life crises or generally coping with fortune's slings and arrows. Becoming a counsellor may well be perceived as an accessible way of offering support and understanding for those trying to cope with difficulties that they themselves may have encountered and worked through. But embarking on counselling training can be very unsettling because of the extensive emotional demands made on the participants and for which they may be poorly prepared. Students are routinely introduced to the theory of unconditional positive regard, genuineness and empathy; the core conditions of Rogerian therapy. But as Rogers made clear, it is not enough for the counsellor to play the role of the therapist. He or she has to be the therapist -- a very different concept. This book explores with the reader the journeys of self-discovery which prompted pioneering practitioners to direct their skills in particular ways and the influence exerted by their backgrounds, ambitions and personal histories. The strategies they evolved and the conflicts they sometimes engendered are investigated, and case studies used to demonstrate how the different modalities are applied, and how clients may benefit from them. The book also reviews how some of these techniques have been modified by later practitioners to accommodate the counselling environment of today. The overall objective is to help would-be therapists arrive at an understanding of the inner resources needed to embark on a counselling career, and to help them determine which approach might best accord with their temperament and lifetime's experience.

Jonathan Ingrams came to counselling following twenty-five years of making medical educational programmes for doctors and general audiences in the United States and Europe. Over the past fourteen years he has practised as a psychotherapist with a broad spectrum of clients from the "worried well" to those suffering a range of mental illnesses of varying severity. His work has included counselling for young offenders and taking referrals from GPs, insurance companies, and employee assistance programmes. He is the author of Counselling ? Me?: A Guide to the Talking Therapies