The Counselling Relationship | Assessment

Running Head: THE COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP
The counselling relationship
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THE COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP
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The counselling relationship
Counselling is a therapeutic process, that involves dealing with mental and emotional
issues in the mind of a human being. The process entails direct conversation between a
therapist and a client in need of emotional or mental help. These conversations can take place
on a face-to-face account, in a group or even over the phone. Counselling can help a client
deal with a variety of issues such as depression and anxiety, issues of one’s identity brought
about by transition of one’s life, lack of motivation, low self-esteem, toxic emotions such as
anger, loss of a loved one among others (Walters and Corey, 2017). Counsellors have a
number of roles in ensuring emotional and mental health in their clients. These roles include
but not limited to holding meetings with their patients to talk about their mental and
emotional issues, discussing and setting the client’s desired goals, making referrals of their
clients to other health professionals where appropriate, as well as liaising with them to keep
their progress on check. A client is the individual in need of counselling assistance. He/she
should be willing and strong enough to seek mental and emotional help from a counsellor.
The manner in which a client and his/her counsellor connect and interact is known as
therapeutic alliance or a counselling relationship (Whiston, Rossier and Barón, 2016). Here,
the counsellor and the client agree on goals and steps which they will take, to achieve the
desired result. In this group, a lot has been covered in counselling theory, including the
importance of knowledge in counselling theory. In this paper, more about the counselling
relationship including its importance and effectiveness, factors associated with it, its
limitations and implications will be covered.
For a successful counselling relationship, certain conditions should be met. The first
condition that should be met is empathy (Wubbolding, Casstevens and Fulkerson, 2017).
Here, the counsellor should seek to understand what the client says as well as their perception
on that issue. The second condition is genuineness and congruence (Norcross and Lambert,

THE COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP
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2018). Here, the counsellor should show the client that he/she understands through his/her
actions and words. The third condition is positive regard. Here, the counsellor should see the
best in the client, despite their current situation. This should be depicted in the counsellor’s
behaviour and attitude. Other conditions include respect for clients, being objective, focus on
the immediate needs of clients, ethical consideration, knowledge and competency as well as
good psychological health in the counsellor (McMahon and Patton, 2018).
In the cognitive behavioural theory, therapeutic alliance is important as it allows the
issues facing the therapist and his/her client to be addressed effectively. In psychodynamic
theory of counselling, therapeutic alliance is important as the counsellor and the client can
share beliefs and attitudes towards certain things (Briner and Reynolds, 2017). The counsellor
can get to understand the client more by knowing what motivates him/her to act or think the
way he/she does. In the humanistic approach to counselling, therapeutic alliance is important
in creating warmth, acceptance and trust that the client’s inner motivation will develop and
solve the current issue (Wampold, 2015). The alliance helps the client and the counsellor to
focus on the current issues that encourages the self-growth of the client.
Counselling relationships are vital. They help a client to taste and know how a
relationship with utmost trust feels like. This helps them to relax and feel comfortable to talk
in that environment (Flückiger, Del Re, Wampold and Horvath, 2018). They feel safe and
happier in such relationships. Secondly, the counselling relationship helps a client to be their
real self. The need to pretend or act as a different person is starved. This is because they feel
safe, protected, loved, cared for and not judged (Lewis, 2016). Thirdly, the counselling
relationship gives room for the client to confidently share anything that troubles him/her. It
further allows him/her to confidently talk about his desired process and outcome goals. This
makes the environment clearer for both the counsellor and the client, facilitating quick
healing. Finally, the counselling relationship helps the client to invent and explore new ways