1. Counselling Level Two Week 7
Personal Development for Counselling and other Helping Relationships

2. Session Aims
Explore personal development and its role in counselling and listening skills training.
Prepare to write a Personal Development Statement for homework

3. You will be invited to:
Explain the importance of Personal Development in counselling and other helping relationships
Identify and record some personal values and beliefs; and outline how these values and beliefs could have an effect on helping relationships.
Identify and record your own motivations for helping others
Identify and describe your own blocks to listening and learning
Describe the benefits of giving and receiving feedback for personal development.
List some of your personal skills and qualities which are strengths in a helping relationship (use BACP PMQ’s)
Identify and record some areas for personal development in relation to helping
Plan and record how you might develop these skills and qualities in the future.

4. Personal Development for Counselling
"Personal Development is not an event but a process, life-long and career long: it must and will happen incidentally before and after any training course, through all aspects of life and work... in counselling training it should be purposeful, integrated and at the heart of the learning journey to become a counsellor".
Johns, Hazel. (1993) Personal Development in Counsellor Training. London: Cassell.

5. Importance of Personal Development for counselling
“...an unaware counsellor leading an unexamined life is likely to be a liability rather than an asset"
Dryden and Thorne. 1991; cited in Johns, 1991 p.3

6. How is Personal Development Achieved?
Writing – Keeping a journal
Reading/Radio/TV.
Reflection
Paying attention to critical incidents
Personal Counselling
Supervision
Check-in
Feedback from others
Creative activities
Skills Practise Sessions
Time-Lines or Life-lines
Johari Window
Guided Imagery
Encounter Groups
Tutorials
Peer Groups
Discussions

7. Personal Values and Beliefs
Religion
Parenting
Sexist or racist language
Child abuse
Same sex marriage
Abortion
Education
Immigration
Manners
How could your views on the above have an impact on a counselling/helping relationship?
Remember the exercises: “How conditional is my liking?” and “Personal Philosophies about Helping?”

8. Personal Values and Beliefs
What values and beliefs do you hold which are important to you?
How might they be helpful or unhelpful in a helping relationship?
Make some notes to use later.

11. Personal Skills and Qualities
trust,
honesty,
fairness,
respect for others,
empathy,
congruence,
UPR,
resilience,
humility,
competence,
wisdom,
courage
List some of your personal skills and qualities which are strengths in a helping relationship.

12. Motivations for helping
What are your motivations for helping others?
Why do you want to help others?

13. Blocks to listening, learning and helping
Examples:
Being preoccupied
Being defensive
Being inappropriately sympathetic
Feeling dislike
Identifying with the client/person being helped
Feeling uncomfortable, shocked or embarrassed
The need for reward
Forming theories
From Tony Merry (2002) Learning and Being. 2nd edition Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books

14. Increasing Self Awareness and the Importance of Feedback.
The Johari Window
Increasing Self Awareness and the Importance of Feedback.

15. Looking Ahead Consider what you have discussed and learned today
Identify and record some areas for personal development in relation to helping
Plan and record how you might develop these skills and qualities in the future.

16. Homework
Use the worksheet provided to create a personal development statement.
Hand in your work in week 9 of the course.
See the work-sheet provided.