Task 52 Unit 1 Describe your understanding of the core counselling conditions as outlined by Carl Rogers of congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard.Person Centred Therapy (PCT) was founded by Carl Rogers in the 1940s, and he highlights that the three core conditions for therapeutic change are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard (UPR). The first condition is called empathy, meaning the therapist is in tune and present with the client; having the ability to think yourself in another person’s shoes without wearing them. The second condition is called congruence, meaning the counsellor is authentic and genuine with the client. The third and final condition is called UPR, this is where the therapist accepts the client with whatever they bring into the room, even if that conflicts with the therapist’s values and beliefs. The therapist provides a non- judgmental attitude. This allows the client to open up further and explore deeper within the session.1.2 Describe the skills of a Person Centred Counsellor. Active listeningis paying attention to what the client is saying. Paraphrasing demonstrates that you are attentively listening and understanding. Providing non-verbal cues for example a nod of the head, leaning forwards and maintaining good eye contact, and brief verbal affirmations like saying ‘a ha’ Instils confidence in the clients and shows you are listening.Mirroring – the counsellor mirrors the client’s non-verbal cues in body language, tone of voice, this establishes rapport and connection. Unconsciously mirroring the client can make them feel more comfortable.Reflecting and paraphrasing – Reflecting shows the client that you have not only listened and understood but have also connected with the feelings and emotions experienced by them during the counselling session. This instils trust and shows them that they are valued. Paraphrasing your understanding of what the client has said in your own words shows you are there with them, picking up the essence of what has been said without imposing your own meaning.2.1 Identify key cognitive distortion which maintain emotional distress.Black and white polarised thinking;All-or-nothing thinking a situation can be viewed in only two categories instead of on a continuum.  Example:  “If I’m not a total success, I’m a failure.”Catastrophizing;A minor incident or indiscretion is inappropriately viewed as a major crises or disaster, for example making a terrible joke at a party, and convincing yourself that everyone thinks you are an idiot.Fortune telling;Here the person believes they know what the outcome will be. In effect this is negative planning. The person will often explain this as disaster planning, or wanting to be prepared. Instead they tend to expect the worst and then create a self-fulfilling prophesy. For example taking an exam and you are certain that you will fail so you are looking to take a job without a qualification.Mind reading;Here the person believes they know what the other person is thinking about them. The person is imagining the thought process that goes on in the other person’s mind. For example if a friend walks straight past you and fails to say hi, you may think that he is ignoring you, and you think this means that he doesn’t like you anymore.Muster bating;Believing that things have to be a certain way, it is always a must, should and ought. The emotional driver is guilt, when directed at others feelings of frustration, anger and resentment are usually displayed.2.2 Outline the importance of the therapeutic alliance in behavioural activation and the setting of client goals. The therapeutic alliance can be described as a bond that develops in the counselling room. Rogers’ (1980) core conditions is the underlying thread to all therapies, it is with the presence of these conditions that allows the client to be comfortable in being open and honest in expressing how they feel. The therapist’s accepting presence and non-judgmental attitude allows the client to feel safe, and within this safety allows the client to connect with their deeper feelings, thus making change easier. As a coach/counsellor we can assist the client to identify the goals they want to achieve and together work towards the necessary step they need to take, to allow them to move towards their goal. Within this process. The client uses his own internal resources, searching deep within himself to find the answers, they are very much engaged and take responsibility of their process of change.3.1 Identify key emotional needs which must be met to promote wellbeing and the innate resources to get those needs met. The key human emotional needs are as follows;SecurityAttentionFun family friendsEmotional intimacyStatusPrivacyAchievementControlEngagement.Maslow (2012) concluded a theory of the motive to self-actualise, his theory of self-actualisation stemmed from the concept of needs, He believed that human needs are organised in a hierarchy, of which there are 5 levels. The lower level needs must be satisfied before feeling motivated to then move up a level, with Self-actualisation being the utmost goal. Whilst our most basic need is physical survival which is number 1. Physical survival is the first thing that will motivate our behaviour and number 2 which is safety needs. Both number 1 and 2 form part of basic needs. Number 3 relates to belongingness and love needs, this is the need for an individual to be a part of a group. If this need is not fulfilled the individual may feel lonely or isolated from their own social group. Number 4 relates to esteem needs. Both numbers 3 and 4 form psychological needs. Number 5, self-actualisation sits at the topRogers (1980) adopted the self-actualisation concept and integrated it into the PCT. Rogers believed that as clients overcome barriers they move towards becoming a more fully functioning person by means of self-actualisation. He stated that “The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualise, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism” (Rogers, 1951). He believed that a fully functioning person is an individual who is already or on the way to becoming self-actualised, this occurs when a person’s ideal self is congruent with their actual behaviour self-image. He believed that everyone could achieve their goals in life and when the person has done so, self – actualization takes place, but in order for this to happen they need to be in an environment that provides the core conditions. Without these relationships they limit the person’s potential to develop.As human beings we are designed to be part of a community, a tribe. Emotional needs develop as a way to connect with others in their community. They also represent internal characteristics that allow you to feel comfortable in your own skin. When your most important emotional needs go unmet, you feel somewhat empty and flat. When those needs are met you feel vibrant and alive. You can survive without your emotional needs being met, but you can’t really thrive.3.2 Describe the concept of emotional intelligence and the mind/body connection in the context of counselling and therapy and how to integrate relaxation, mindfulness and controlled breathing for stress reduction.According to Psychology Today, (2018) Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. It is generally said to include three skills: emotional awareness; the ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving; and the ability to manage emotions, which includes regulating your own emotions and cheering up or calming down other people. Goleman (2004) proposes factors influencing emotions and intelligence as “initiative”, “self-confidence” and “drive for results.” Mayor (2014) states that emotional intelligence is the set of abilities which constitutes the capacity of the person to understand, reason about and how to use emotions to think and act. All have a slightly different twist to emotional intelligence but have a similar theme pattern of positive motivation.Emotions beliefs attitudes and thought patterns can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning and therapies like mindfulness and controlled breathing alongside other tools can be used to re-establish balance and promote health. In other words, if we are constantly thinking negative, self-destructive, thoughts, our bodies will follow the same. Emotional and mental imbalance can start as a headache, back ache, sore shoulders, colds and infections and can ultimately lead to unhealthy weight gain or loss, insomnia, irritability, anxiety and high blood pressure. On the other hand, we can make a conscious effort to think more positively and to develop healthy coping mechanisms for life’s stress and trials. Over time, the state of our emotional and mental health can hurt or help the body’s immune system.Relaxation brings peace and calm to your mind and decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body. Relaxation techniques can help you cope with everyday stress, and with stress related to various health problems, such as heart disease and pain. Practicing relaxation techniques can have many benefits, including lowering blood pressure, increasing blood flow to major muscles, reducing muscle tension and chronic pain, Improving concentration and mood, reducing anger and frustration. Relaxation techniques include taking a walk in nature, listening to music, having a soak in the bath, and having a massage.Research theorises that mindfulness meditation enhances mental health and functioning. Some of the benefits of mindfulness include lowering blood pressure, stress relief, increases awareness, attention, and focus, lowers anxiety levels, increase immune function and can have experiences of being calm and connected.Commitment is the key to having a permanent and lasting effect. Creating the right environment makes it easier to practice mindfulness, for clients that find it difficult to focus at the beginning. They can start with 10 minutes and gradually build up. Mindfulness allows you to be in the present moment rather than focusing on the past or future.Controlled breathing brings attention to the breath, counting the out breath (which should be slightly longer) and counting the in breath (which should be slightly shorter) helps calm down your nervous systems and brings you to the here and now. Studies have found that breathing practices can help reduce anxiety, insomnia and depression.1.1 Strengths and challenges of Person Centred Therapy. The principles of non-directive counselling derive from Rogers (1980) PCT, in which the counsellor does not offer any direction. The challenges of non- directive therapy lie when the counsellor has the knowledge and expertise that would be of value to the client in making a decision, and by holding on rigidly the non-directive approach can prevent the client from self-actualising. There can be benefits of the non-directive approach, where the client has to trust themselves and connect deep within themselves to get the answers. This benefits the client deeply and doesn’t have to depend on the therapist for answers. However, when a client is feeling stuck, fuelled with anxiety and depression, the non-directive approach is likely to fail and possibly leaving the client to feel annoyed and frustrated. This is where coaching techniques becomes useful, to assist the client to engage with his process and to provide practical tools and techniques to release the client from their self-defeating cycle.4.1 Outline how you would integrate reflective practice into a solution focussed brief therapy framework. Reflective practice refers to a practitioner’s ability to observe their behaviour, feelings, thoughts, skills, attitudes, biases and professional conduct from an objective viewpoint. Being reflective allows the practitioner to be exposed to a variety of perspectives, which in turn can lead to different ways of understanding situations or completing a course of action. Reflective practice assists in meeting challenges that might arise from competing positions with confidence. It offers the practitioner a more thorough understanding of ethical dilemmas in their practice and promotes new ways of thinking (Thompson & Thompson, 2008).Building a professional relationship in counselling is one of the fundamentals of a successful counselling relationship. In most cases there’s a danger of the counsellor assuming a state of superiority and the client being subordinate. Whilst a counsellor may be balanced and ready to help, they are also likely to discover things about themselves through the therapeutic relationship.Self-reflection allows you to find out what is working and what you need to improve on, it is important that we practice what we preach and if we are helping our clients towards their goal than we should also be looking at ours. We can work on this further by drawing on the wheel of life, the more we work on our own imbalances and strive to improve them the more effective and congruent we become, thus becoming more Intune and deeply empathetic towards the client.Unit 21.1 How to initiate a therapeutic relationship, identify codes of practice and ethical concerns, address equal opportunities and diversity awareness, set the contract address issues of confidentiality, make referrals and develop empathetic relationships.   The first meeting with engaging in psychological contact with the client is crucial for them to feel comfortable working with you. The first condition specified that a minimum relationship must exist. “I am hypothesising that significant positive personality change does not occur except in a relationship.” Rogers (1957). This is where Rogers’ core conditions come into play, embedding the conditions into the therapy session allows the client to be real in what they bring into the room, creating a therapeutic bond and safe place of trust and immediacy.As a counsellor I work in line with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) (2016) ethical framework and ensure the client is aware of this at the begging of the session, and what modality of counselling I work with, also mentioning that they have a right to complain. Affirming to the client that they will be treated with dignity and respect and that no prejudices and unlawful discrimination will take place, and emphasising that they will be treated equally in regards to age, race, gender, sexuality, or culture differences, instils confidence and trust.A contract is a legal binding document where both parties agree on the terms and conditions of the agreement. It is important to go through the contract with a client so they understand it, especially the confidentiality clause, making them aware that I have an obligation to break confidentiality if they are at risk to harm themselves or others, and this is for their own protection and safety. It is important that the client has a copy of the contract and signs the support agreement of the rights and responsibilities of both parties.The BACP (2016) ethical framework, highlights that we should put clients first, therefore I would not use any techniques beyond my competence, because this could leave me vulnerable for litigation issues, and the client can be exposed to harm. If I feel that the counselling session is above my remit then it is my ethical duty and responsibility to signpost the client to a suitable professional or organisation that can help the client further.Empathy is perhaps the most well-known of Rogers’ (1980) core conditions and is certainly the one which attracted the most attention at the early stages of the approach. Gillon (2007) postulates that the key characteristic of empathy is understanding another person’s subjective reality as they experience it at any given moment. This requires an orientation toward the clients’ frame of reference, a phenomenological term used to describe the particular issues, concerns and values that are relevant to that individual in that moment. It is thus an attitude through which the therapist strives to“Enter the client’s private perceptual world and [become] thoroughly at home within in” (Rogers, 1980, p142). In other words, Empathy is the experience of trying to fully understand another person’s world.1.2 Explain the core counselling skills for establishing rapport, giving attention, use of minimal cues, responding warmly and genuinely, being non-judgemental, paraphrasing and summarising, reflecting content and meaning, connecting thoughts and feelings, scaling, use of questions and outcome measures.It is essential to create rapport at the beginning of a conversation. The Yes Set is valuable to use when meeting the client as it will ensure an established connection and a positive outcome to the session.Giving attention to the client demonstrates that you are with them, you are interested in their wellbeing and want to be of help. This will allow the client to feel confident in your services.The use of minimal questions- a nod of the head and ‘a ahh’ demonstrate that you are with the client and that they are being heard, allowing them to elaborate and explore further.Responding warmly and genuinely creates an environment of trust and safety, allowing the client to be comfortable when opening up about themselves, along with empathy which demonstrates that you are listening and understanding.Being non-judgemental is a must when counselling or coaching a client, the client will then be free to share whatever they want within the room, knowing that they will be accepted. The therapist puts their own values beliefs and judgments aside and accepts whatever the client brings into the room.Paraphrasing and summarising is your own interpretation of essential information expressed by the client but presented in a new form. Summarising captures the main points the client has made relaying them back in your words.Reflecting content and meaning includes picking out the surface feelings as well as the underlying feelings and reflecting this back to the client, also reflecting the content of the message which shows the client you are actively listening and engaged in their process.The hot cross bun is an effective tool to visually show a connection to thoughts feelings and physiological behaviours. Thoughts feelings and behaviour. This can help the client to see patterns and change their way of thinking to a more positive mind set.Scaling represents a 1 to 10 scale, 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest. This can be used to measure anxiety level, stress and so forth. It is a good tool to use at the beginning and end of the sessions to monitor progress.The use of questions and outcome measures through questioning information can be gathered, using open questions which allows the client to elaborate further to narrow down their focus and goal, the emotional needs audit shows you were the client’s needs have not been met. Outcome measures are useful in finding how the client is making progress or struggling, the core 10 is an assessment tool which can highlight the essence of the problem and the essence of the solution.2.1 Use of strategies and therapeutic interventions such as goal setting, the key cognitive distortions, how to identify key unmet emotional needs, and the client innate resources to get those needs met, describe the concept of emotional intelligence and the mind body spirit  A therapeutic intervention helps to improve the well-being of the individual. Thus giving clarity, focus and opportunities for self-development or achieve an acquired goal or state.Setting goals focusses attention, provides direction, purpose and a framework for action, increases motivation, measures progress and increases sense of well-being.The wheel of life is a powerful tool, it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you’d ideally like it to be.SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting.To ensure your goals are clear and reachable, each step should be considered below.SpecificMeasurableAchievableRealisticTimedCognitive distortions are introduced as thinking errors which bias the way in which events are perceived. Cognitive distortions result in positive events being overlooked or their importance minimised. Types of errors are those where negative events are focused on while anything positive is overlooked. Over-generalisation, all or nothing thinking, jumping to conclusions, catastrophizing, emotional reasoning, and unrealistic expectations. The client’s internal dialogue may be similar to ‘nothing ever turn out right for me’ ‘I failed again’ this negative thinking can induce worry and anxiety. If clients are unaware of the biology behind the flight and fight response, this can create greater feelings of fear and panic.The emotional needs audit is ideal to use as a prompt to identify where the client’s needs are not been met. The audit  highlights area of the client’s life that need extra attention, for example why they experience low mood and also what is absent from their lives, this provides a focus of where to start the work in a way that supports the client’s needs.Rogers (1951) theorises that by tuning into our innate resources we can get our emotional needs met, he calls this the actualising tendency. The actualising tendency serves a primary role to motivate the client to overcome his or her current problems and reach their highest potential.2.2 Explain how to integrate in a structured and coherent way, relaxation, mindfulness, controlled breathing for stress reduction.  Relaxation techniques allow you to completely switch off from the stresses and strains of life. Relaxation ‘Me time’ is when you switch off from the world and focus on yourself. An example of relaxation is a guided visualisation which can be guided by a trained therapist or even a CD, /phone app, whichever an individual feels comfortable with. Relaxation with visualisation works on activating the right hemisphere of the brain, this engagement creates an opportunity to enhance learning and make therapeutic changes possible. It is important to connect the client with a place they go to relax, this will allow the client to visualise a relaxing place and further enhance the feeling of relaxation. Encouraging the client to imagine how they would like their future to look like? What is it they want to be doing? How they want be feeling and behaving? These prompts bring the visuals to life and allows the image to be infused into the creative brain, which can assist the imagined future goals to reach fruition.Mindfulness meditation is derived from the Buddhist discipline, allowing you to focus your attention to the present moment. The training has been growing in popularity in recent years, with the NHS recommending it as a way to reduce stress and anxiety. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2004) has approved it for use in the treatment of depression and some schools have put it on their timetable claiming it improves concentration. Regular courses are run throughout the country, and the general public can access apps like Mind Space. Mindfulness can be incorporated into the therapy session by a mediation or simply focusing on the inward and outward counts of your breath.There are many physical, biological and psychological benefits to be gained from using relaxation techniques. These benefits have been widely documented, with immediate effects including lowered heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels. In the long term, relaxation practice can assist you to sleep better and to strengthen your immune system, making you less susceptible to sickness and disease. Pain can also be better controlled with regular specialised relaxation practise. On the psychological side, relaxation can increase your sense of general well-being and improve your capacity to think clearly, focus and sustain your attention, manage stress, regulate emotions and increase awareness. Controlled breathing can form part of session, by focusing on the count of the inhaling and exhaling breath, (which should be a slightly longer breath) calms the nervous system and activates the parasympathetic state.3.1 Describe problem solving and decision making strategies, creative thinking, strategies for action, agreeing a plan, using positive mental rehearsal to focus on goals, setting agreed client tasks.  To solve a problem and make decisions the wheel of life is a reliable tool that can be used in regards to highlighting where or what the problem is and taking the necessary steps to allow a solution and gain clarity, thus feeling empowered and motivated in the process. The 0 to 10 process of each section of the wheel marks the areas of strength and weakness in regards to fulfilment and challenges. It gives an idea of areas in your life that are going well, what isn’t and what needs to improve. However it is the client that decides what is correct for them and which priority goal they would like to work on, they essentially make the commitment to see the goal through.Creative thinking can be achieved by using Reticular Activating System (RAS) which filters out unnecessary information from the brain. RAS takes what you are focusing on and creates a filter for it. Shifting through what is not needed and giving you the information of importance. By setting your intent and mentally rehearsing an imagined future through the art of visualisation, RAS will guide you to information and opportunities that will help you achieve your goal.There can be a wide range of tools used to strategize taking action, SMART goals help identify focus and clarify the high priority goal. Using Visualisation with a goal in mind and connecting to the questions of what will you do? How you will do it? How you will feel? What you will notice, what other people notice? etc., allows the client to future pace before taking the necessary action, and allows the client to engage with their feelings of getting the results. The hot cross bun is another example of an individual can visually map their whole thought process and then focus on what actions they need to take to get what they want.It is important that the client has to agree the plan and commit to follow the SMART goals that they have set for themselves, this allows them to take responsibility and to be accountable for taking the necessary steps to achieve their outcome.Using positive mental rehearsal to focus on goals allows the individual to connect with the goal, a way to get the client to generate the feelings that he would experience when he reaches the goal can be done through guided meditation, and this engages them to the right side of the brain aligning them to RAS.  Before the mental rehearsal it is important through the SMART goal questioning to gather the main points of how the client will feel? What he would be doing? What would others notice? etc. so you can repeat the clients own words whilst taking them through the visualisation, this would allow them to fully emerge with the process setting the seeds for them to take action.Setting agreed client tasks is important as it allows them to commit and take responsibility. Scaling the clients commitment to do the task from 0-10 can show how committed the client is. If they for example they are a 7, I would ask them what’s preventing them from being a 10? It’s possible that they may have Negative Automatic Thought (NATS) or beliefs that are preventing them from reaching their goal. The client may have tried the same goal before and failed. It is important to find out how committed they are then together the goal can be refined, and it’s possible certain things may need to be addressed through other approaches like PCT, Human Givens or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) in order to make this goal affective.3.2 Summarise how to negotiate endings, offer unbiased information, enable and empower clients to use their inner resources to formulate long term strategies plans and goals. Negotiating endings should always be handled in a sensitive manor, the reason being that there is a therapeutic relationship that has been built over time, and it is important that the client leaves the relationship not feeling any loss or grievance. Endings can be done gently over time making the client aware that we are coming to an end of therapy. It is possible the client may become dependent on the relationship, if this is the case a gradual reduction off sessions spaced out over time can be more suited to reach an ending. It is possible the client needs more sessions or needs signposting to other resource. Evidently the results on the core 10 can address this further.In my person- centred practice I cannot offer advice but can signpost the client to other agencies and organisations, as a coach I can offer factual information allowing the client to make choices for themselves, I would never advice or give my opinion on any matter. This may put me in a position of vulnerability and accountability.Rogers (1951) theorises that in order for a client’s condition to improve, therapists should embed the core conditions of empathy congruence and unconditional positive regard. Rogers stated that ‘It is that the individual has within himself or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes and self-directed behaviour – and that these resources can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided.’ Eventually the client moves towards trusting his own innate responsibility and from this place moves towards achieving his own goals and aspirations.4.1 Evaluate own strength and weaknesses, self-evaluate skills, how to improve outcomes, how to improve therapeutic skills, how to improve knowledge to support practice.As part the BACP (2016) ethical framework it is a requirement to keep skills and knowledge updated through regular 30 CPD credits a year, this is a good opportunity of choosing CPD that will build up areas of weakness or interest. Reflective practice is also an important requirement for therapists as this is a way to monitor and review my work, supervision is a requirement and important to professional and personal development and strengthened my practice further.Reflective practice is useful when It comes to  self-evaluated skills, It’s a good base to work from to show what you did well, what you didn’t do well, what you would change if you had to do the session again, and what tools do you feel you would need to expand knowledge and help clients further. Within PCT, I was aware that I needed more tools to expand my skill set which is why I chose to do the fusion coaching course.Outcomes can be improved through regularly reviewing therapy practice and making changes when needed. Taking on board all feedback which will help steer the therapist to be effective and strengthen the way they work. Implementing new ideas and new ways of working when needed.Therapeutic skills are improved through practice and experience, it is important to find your way of working and being flexible with your approach, through continuous learning to update your knowledge and practice.To improve knowledge and support practice, it is important to undertaking a wide range of reading, keeping up to date with journals, regular supervision and reflection.A Describe how to self-supervise skills by personal observation B the importance of continuing professional development and supervise self by having awareness of personal growth insight and mindfulness. Self-supervision can be done by tuning in with yourself and see how you are feelings, if the client triggers something in you, this is something that may have come into your awareness to be addressed. It is important as a therapist to be self-aware as your mood and feelings can impact a session. In between sessions I tend to have 10 minutes of self-care where I switch off and ground myself so I am prepared for the next client. Self-care is highlighted in the BACP (2016) ethical framework as a practitioner’s responsibility.It is important to keep up to date on professional and personal practice, it is a requirement of the BACP (2016) and is essential for good practice, 30 points of CPD is needed to keep membership with the BACP (2016). CPD can be obtained from reading books, workshops, courses, online courses and making journal contributions etc.Mindfulness is a practice that