Counselling is a strategy by which a psychologist may help a person work through an area of difficulty that they are experiencing.
Counselling assists people to:
- clarify their area of difficulty
- take ownership of their difficulty
- set goals and develop strategies to resolve their difficulty.
All of PECS’ employees have been trained extensively in a number of counselling techniques including the following:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy provides valuable skills and techniques to identify a client’s negative cognitions (e.g., thoughts, feelings, and perceptions) and behaviours (e.g., breathing, avoidance) and begin the process of replacing these negative thoughts and “bad habits” with more positive thoughts and more constructive behaviours.
Solution-focused therapists implement changes through a focus on solutions, resources and competency, rather than problems, deficits and limitations.
They amplify what is already working for the client and look for instances when the client has used coping skills successfully in the past.
Solution-focussed therapy is time effective with the client usually engaged in the counselling process for a brief period.
Brief Strategic Therapy
Whatever the underlying origin or cause of the problem, it will persist only if it is maintained by the current behaviour of the client and others with whom the client interacts.
If the problem that is maintaining the behaviour is changed or eliminated, the problem will be resolved or vanish regardless of its nature or duration.
Therefore, time is not spent searching for underlying causes or early trauma or building a long-term relationship with the client.