Person Centred Therapy on Ghafoor's Personal Blog

Active Listening

noreply@example.com (AG Sayyed) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 03:14:06 +0000

This document explores active listening as an essential core counselling skill that extends beyond ordinary hearing. It introduces the S.O.L.E.R. framework developed by Dr Gerard Egan for maintaining non-verbal attention and examines the linguistic, para-linguistic, and non-verbal dimensions of listening that enable counsellors to truly understand their clients' complete messages.

Understanding Active Listening

Active listening represents another important core counselling skill that can be practised in ordinary situations to enhance communication skills. Unlike passive hearing, active listening involves deliberately focusing attention and energy on understanding the complete message being communicated.

Recognising Sympathy

noreply@example.com (AG Sayyed) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:15:46 +0000

This document focuses on recognizing sympathy in counselling practice and distinguishing it from empathy. By learning to identify when sympathetic responses occur, counsellors can shift toward empathetic understanding that accurately reflects clients' feelings while maintaining appropriate therapeutic boundaries and focus.

The Importance of Recognising Sympathy

Learning to recognize when sympathy is being felt rather than empathy is essential for effective counselling practice. This self-awareness allows counsellors to distinguish between responses that keep the focus on the client’s experience and those that inadvertently shift attention to the counsellor’s own feelings or imagined experiences.

Empathetic Understanding

noreply@example.com (AG Sayyed) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 02:57:57 +0000

This document examines empathetic understanding as a fundamental counselling skill, exploring how it differs from sympathy and why this distinction is crucial for effective therapeutic practice. It demonstrates the importance of empathy through the lens of bereavement counselling, where the counsellor's focus must remain on the client's experience rather than their own feelings.

Defining Empathetic Understanding

Empathy is the ability to try to understand what the client is feeling. This refers to the counsellor’s capacity to understand the client’s experience and feelings sensitively and accurately in the here and now. Empathetic understanding represents one of the core conditions necessary for effective therapeutic relationships.

Congruence

noreply@example.com (AG Sayyed) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 15:11:55 +0000

This document examines congruence, also known as genuineness, as one of the core conditions in person-centred counselling. It covers the definition, historical origins, the difference between incongruence in clients and congruence in counsellors, and provides practical guidance for developing this essential therapeutic attitude.

Understanding Congruence

Congruence, also referred to as genuineness, represents an essential attitude that counsellors must develop and demonstrate throughout the therapeutic relationship. Feltham and Dryden (1993) define congruence as genuineness, honesty exhibited by the counsellor as an essential part of her person and her work; likewise, the genuineness of the client.