Conclusion

Abstract

This book has covered a range of aspects of counselling skills in the health professions. This final chapter offers a summary of the main points. They are offered as a list, perhaps for discussion. Certainly there are few ‘laws’ of counselling and this list must, necessarily, be provisional and open to revision. In the end, it is my contention that the counsellor is functioning best when he or she ‘stays out of the way’ of the client and encourages the client to find his or her own way through. In this respect, the counsellor is a fellow traveller, a supportive friend who, nevertheless, is able to keep a certain detachment and not get drawn, too deeply, into the client’s own distress. The degree to which such detachment is possible is debatable. If the counsellor ‘stands too far back’ then they will be unable to empathize. If the counsellor is too close to the client, then they will be drawn into the client’s life drama and be unable to be of sufficient support for they will become part of that drama. Here is the list of basic issues in counselling in the health care professions.