Different Approaches To Counselling Psychology (COP)

1. Introduction

Counselling Psychology (CoP) is a relatively new profession. CoP finds its roots in counselling and psychology, two disciplines with different approaches. With its roots in the counselling profession CoP indicates a humanistic basis whilst the psychological aspect of CoP indicates a more scientific approach. Since its creation in 1994, CoP has tried to integrate these two approaches in order to present a more coherent and balanced profession/role. A debate arisen from these attempts to integrate the humanistic and the scientific. As a result, there have been questions about the identity of Counselling Psychologists: Who are they? What are they doing exactly? How different are they from Clinical psychologists? etc. Questions

Initially, CoP was focused on well-being and growth, which involved adopting a non-pathologizing and developmental stance to clients. Counselling psychology is traditionally a discipline concerned with the promotion of fully functioning behaviour and the cultivation of strengths rather than the cure of deficits. This humanistic psychology positions the profession as client-focused in terms of its philosophical underpinnings, research/outcomes and therapeutic

He defined six key characteristics of counselling psychology (CoP) that make it distinct from other psychological professions: 1) an emphasis on subjectivity; 2) an acknowledgement of the uniqueness of the individual; 3) a collaborative and egalitarian understanding of the therapeutic relationship; 4) understanding the client and ourselves as always relationally embedded; 5) an intention of client empowerment; and finally, 6) a focus on wellbeing and the realization of