Person-Centered Counseling Essay

The authors maintain that the core theoretical constructs of person-centered counseling (e.g., unconditional positive regard, congruence, and empathy) provide a valuable framework in which counselors can connect with clients in ways that facilitate more productive and healthy functioning. Moreover, person-centered counseling is congruent with the relational needs of women that suffered from sexual abuse as children and may represent the optimal intervention for many.

Lemoire, S.J. & Chen, C.P. (2005, Spring). Applying person-centered counseling to sexual minority adolescents. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83(2), 146-151.

The authors are educators and counselors at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto who report that Carl Rogers's (1987) person-centered counseling can be used to good effect in addressing the psychological distresses of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender/sexual (LGBT) adolescents, particularly during their disclosure of their sexual orientation. Authors argue that person-centered counseling approach can help counteract the stigmatization associated with disclosure by facilitating coping with sexual identity issues in a more constructive fashion. The primary aspects of person-centered counseling, namely (e.g., congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy) also provide a conceptual as well as pragmatic rationale for facilitating LGBT client interventions.

Lent, E.B. (2001, September). Welfare-to-work services: A person-centered perspective.

Career Development Quarterly, 50(1), 22-29.The author is a psychologist licensed in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia and an adjunct assistant professor in the Counseling and Student Personnel Services Department at the University of Maryland at College Park who recommends the deliberate inclusion of the genuineness and empathy in a person-centered counseling approach to help women overcome cross-class variables and improve the efficacy of interventions. By employing a person-centered approach, the author argues that it is possible for male and female counselors to empathize with female clients in ways that would not otherwise be possible to facilitate the formulation of optimal interventions.

References

Edwards, N.N. & Lambie, G.W. (2009, Spring). A person-centered counseling approach as a primary therapeutic support for women with a history of childhood sexual abuse.

Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 48(1), 23-29.

Fall, K.A. & Holder, J.M. (2004). Theoretical models of counseling and psychotherapy.

New

York: Brunner-Routledge.

Lemoire, S.J. & Chen, C.P. (2005, Spring). Applying person-centered counseling to sexual minority adolescents. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83(2), 146-151.

Lent, E.B. (2001, September). Welfare-to-work services: A person-centered perspective.

Career

Development

Lewis, T.F. & Osborn, C.J. (2010, Winter). Solution-focused counseling and motivational interviewing: A consideration of….....