Importance Of Trust In Counselling

1841 Words8 Pages
“Why is trust the most important thing in making a breakthrough with your client?... Because…trust is life.” (Bender & van Sant, 1997). These words set the scene for what we can expect to experience from the therapeutic relationship between Sean and Will in the movie “Good Will Hunting”. Carl Rogers, founder of Person Centred Therapy (PCT), maintained that if the therapist accepted the client unconditionally and without suspicion, this would eventually lead to trust, which is paramount in the practice of PCT. (Rogers, 1961). From this we can infer that trust is key in developing a healthy and successful therapeutic relationship. Trust leads to genuineness and realness in the counselling session where both therapist and client can be themselves and express their feelings and experiences without fear of judgement. If trust is the foundation that the counselling relationship is built on, then the core conditions of PCT will be present,…show more content…
“I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.” (Yalom, 2002, p 21). This quote embodies the meaning of empathy for me. Empathy is so much more than just understanding what the other person is feeling. In order to be truly empathetic, the counsellor needs to be aware of the ‘little’ nuances that the client brings to the counselling session – their body language, tone, method of communication and voice inflections, all contribute to listening and understanding with empathy. Tolan describes empathy as exploring another person’s inner world and understanding or having insight into their unspoken feelings and emotions. It involves perception on the part of the counsellor and communication. Empathy is about walking in your client’s shoes and viewing their being using their frame of reference. All of these characteristics are part and parcel of being human, and if we don’t practice empathy, we are not attuned to what it means to be human and be in relationship. (Tolan, 2012 and Yalom,

More about Importance Of Trust In Counselling

Open Document