Counselling Relationship: Roles, Rights, Alliance, and Techniques

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the counselling relationship, beginning with its foundational importance in the therapeutic process. It explores the roles and rights of both clients and counsellors, emphasizing the client's entitlement to respectful and confidential care, accurate information, and the right to question advice. The counsellor's role is highlighted as encompassing encouragement, evaluation of various issues like stress and depression, goal setting, and guidance towards psychological services when necessary. The essay also underscores the significance of the therapeutic alliance, which is crucial for effective treatment outcomes, and the application of theoretical frameworks, such as Watson's theory of transpersonal caring, in fostering strong client-counsellor relationships. Recommendations include creating and nurturing therapeutic relationships, understanding client's holistic perspective, and protecting the client's best interests. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of open communication and active participation from both the client and the counsellor to ensure effective therapeutic counselling services.

Running Head: COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP
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Counselling Relationship
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Counselling Relationship
Introduction
Counselling process begins with the establishment of a relationship between a counsellor
and a client. Creating reliable relationships with clients is important to effective treatment results
and the client should have a quality report of the relationship. The initial therapy phase is crucial
in the development of effective therapeutic relationships. The significance of the value of the
therapeutic alliance has been presented across forms of therapy, theoretical orientation and
presenting issue. Training psychotherapist must stress the therapeutic alliance and ways of
detecting relationship signals in the therapeutic process (Judith Green & Claringbull, 2010). The
discussion below narrows down to the counselling relationship between therapists and their
clients, their roles and rights and the therapeutic alliance in the counselling industry. The
techniques used by the counsellors to advise their patients are also highlighted in the discussion.
Roles and rights of a client in the counselling relationship
In a counselling process, clients are entitled to receive care and treatment, which are
humane and which are offered by the counsellor with considerations and respect. Apart from
conditions that threaten the life of a patient, care provided by the counsellor should remain
private and confidential. They have the role of providing accurate information relating to the
illness or condition affecting their life. Reliable data would ensure they have received proper
evaluation and treatment, which is their first right when seeking counselling (Welfel, 2015).
It is the role of the client to ask questions for a proper understanding of the con dition or
problem. Clarification questions would guarantee clients to have a piece of appropriate advice
from the counsellor which is their right. Clients also have a responsibility of informing the

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counsellor in case the condition worsens after applying the prescriptions given to them. At such a
point, the clients have a right to question the practitioner over the advice he or she gave to the
client. Clients have a right to own a copy of their medical or problem record and a written
authorization that can be a proof in case of future problems (Milton, 2010).
It is the right of the patients to access information regarding the service delivery of the
counsellor. The report would help the client to differentiate counsellors who are legally approved
by the government and those who are not primarily in medical services. Patients may need
medical screening in their bodies, which requires legal approval to know the professionalism of
the counsellor. It is also the right of the client to understand the fees charged by the counsellor
which they are mandated to pay after receiving the service (Bhola & Raguram, 2016).
Role of the counsellor and their alliance
Most of the counsellors have a specific technique that they use, whether cognitive
behavior, strength-based, person-centered, solution focused or others. All the approaches have a
similar characteristic of productive potential, which is scheduled unless the counsellor is
successful in ensuring there is a strong therapeutic alliance with a patient. The critical nature of
the alliance is not a new idea. The significant role of a counsellor is to encourage clients while
discussing emotions and experiences (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2012).
They also have a responsibility of examining and doing evaluations of issues related to
relationships, stress and suicide, depression, anger, and substance abuse. It is their responsibility
to help their clients in defining goals, planning actions and regaining insight in their lives. Also,
most of the counsellors, pave the way for the future of clients. They advise the clients on how to
overcome the challenges they are experiencing in life. It is also the role of a counsellor to refer

COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP 4
their clients to psychological services if need be. Psychological experts can only solve some of
the social problems disturbing clients (Paul & Charura, 2015).
Counsellors have a role of ensuring they create confidence to the clients to ensure the
alliance is tight and there is trust. They should present a document of professionalism which is
legally approved by the relevant bodies. Such things ensure there is a strong bond between the
counsellor and the client. They also charge the clients the amount of fee they should pay after
receiving the counselling service. Counsellor’s services determine the continuity of the client’s
life, which indicates that such services may help or destroy the lives of such individuals (Young,
Domene, & Valach, 2015).
Client-counsellor relationship
Establishing a therapeutic relationship is essential to working effectively with clients. The
most successful approach is piloted by a theoretical context to ensure that behaviors and thoughts
can be viewed in a wider, systematic perspective of taking care of the client an inclusive whole.
A theoretical view assists the therapist to comprehend, identify, and manage clinical information
in a systematic method which can aid in bringing order from a chaotic clinical record. A
theoretical view that presents a framework for therapeutic relationships is Watson's theory of
transpersonal caring. This theory is principally concerned on the way nurses takes to care for
their patients and how the caring advances into improved plans to enhance health and wellness,
counteract illness and restore health. Application of this theory in the therapeutic process
promotes good and reliable client-cousellor relationships (Watson, 2012).
Recommendations

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It is important to create and nurture therapeutic relationship which is central to
understanding the clients from a holistic perspective. Also, creating and upholding rapport are
fundamental initial steps in coming to appreciate and understand the client. Appreciating the
client means understanding the client’s emotional, spiritual, cognitive, social and physical sense
of personhood and relating to it as one person to another in the margins of a professional
therapeutic counseling relationship. The counselor should understand that connecting and
knowing the clients protects against troublesome events and fosters early identification of the
client problems. In addition, the cousellor should guard and advocate the best interests of the
client which are established in the therapeutic relationship. Consequently, the client should also
understand the therapeutic rights and listen, interact and be present so as to effectively receive
the therapeutic couselling services. The client should be open so as to help the cousellor in
understanding the problem.

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References
Bhola, P., & Raguram, A. (2016). Ethical issues in counselling and psychotherapy practice: walking the
line. Singapore: Springer Singapore.
Judith Green, D. C., & Claringbull, N. (2010). Creating the therapeutic relationship in counselling and
psychotherapy. London: Learning Matters.
Milton, M. (2010). Therapy and Beyond Counselling Psychology Contributions to Therapeutic and Social
Issues. New York: NY John Wiley & Sons.
Paul, S., & Charura, D. (2015). An introduction to the therapeutic relationship in counselling and
psychotherapy. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2012). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in
context and practice: skills, strategies, and techniques. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Watson, J. (2012). Human caring science: a theory of nursing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Welfel, E. (2015). Ethics in Counseling & Psychotherapy. Pacific Grove, CA: Cengage US.
Young, R. A., Domene, J. F., & Valach, L. (2015). Counseling and action: toward life-enhancing work,
relationships, and identity. New York, NY: Springer.