Authentic Counselling Training

Counselling in Organisations

[Under construction: 20 May 2005]

 

Most counselling takes place within the context of an organisation. Considering the counselling within an organisation, the organisation can be seen to impact on

·          the counsellor

·          the client

·          the counsellor / client relationship

at three levels

·          formal

·          organisational ethos

·          organisational unconscious

Organisational impact at formal level

·          Job description of counsellor (e.g. to counsel clients belonging to the client group of the organisation – in a college/university this may be students but not staff; to maintain administrative records; to draw up service use reports)

·          Contractual obligations for counsellor (e.g. minimum /maximum number of counselling hours per week /month /year; maintaining records; delivery of training events)

·          Code(s) of practice of counsellor (e.g. BACP, UKCP, BPS)

·          Terms and conditions of employment for counsellor (e.g. working hours/flexitime, rate of pay, pension, holiday entitlement, sick pay, sickness certification)

·          Aspects of counselling contract directed by organisation (e.g. any expression of suicidal ideation must be reported to line manager; a substance user’s drink diary will be examined at each counselling session)

Organisational impact at ethos level

·          What overt messages does the organisation give to the following people?

Ø        employees in general (e.g. “We are a caring organisation” – used by ICI and by City of Sunderland)

Ø        employees who become sick (e.g. a manager will conduct a sickness review meeting in order to determine how soon an employee can be back at work)

Ø        the organisation’s counsellors (e.g. in some organisations the counsellors are discouraged from using certain counselling approaches)

Ø        users of the organisation’s services (e.g. in one G.P. practice, counselling clients who fails to attend a booked counselling session are sent a stiff letter warning that any further failure to attend will disqualify them from counselling)

Ø        the outside world in general (e.g. whilst many voluntary sector organisations become widely known as centres of competence, allowing an impression of solidity, in reality their funding may be precarious, and they merely stumble on)

·          How is the organisation structured? For example, is there a rigid hierarchy, and on which rung do counsellors stand? Is the organisation divided up into autonomous departments?

·          What does the organisation appear to consider to be the purpose for its existence? For example, the purpose of Relate is to counsel people experiencing relationship difficulties; the purpose of NECA is to counsel people experiencing substance use problems.

Organisational impact at unconscious level

·          What organisational dynamics are noticeable:

Ø        between management, and counsellors and other service deliverers (e.g. nurses)?

Ø        between counsellors and other service deliverers, and clients and service users (e.g. patients)?

Ø        amongst the counsellors and other service deliverers?

·          Do the counsellors behave towards their clients in ways that may be more to do with how the counsellors feel treated by management? For example, if substance use counsellors are paid poorly compared to management, and are led to believe that, if they step out of line, they can be replaced as easily as a Dymo name label, then it would be surprising were the counsellors’ sense of the low esteem in which they feel held within the organisation not communicated in some way to their clients.

·          Are there ways in which counselling clients typically behave towards the counsellors that may be to do with how the counsellors treat them? For example, if school counsellors view their clients as problematic and a classroom nuisance, then it would be unsurprising were the pupils to live up to that expectation.

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Peter Hughes: introduction

 p.g.h@btinternet.com

This document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction given above. Please feel free to make use of them for solely personal purposes. However, should you wish to use them for teaching, training, commercial or other purposes, you are required to ask me first.