A HELPING MODEL
Counseling, Coaching and Mentoring
An Integrative Approach to Helping
‘to integrate’ – comes from
the latin word integrare,
meaning to make whole or
to renew.
Integration therefore is act
or process of combining
several parts into a whole,
or completing something
that is not yet complete, by
adding new parts.
Integration – implies a ‘
joining- together’ or ‘
interweaving’ of two or
more elements.
 ‘integration’ – was developed in counseling
An Integrative
Approach to
Helping
profession in the latter half of the 20th century,
and currently many counselors and counselortraining programs describe their counseling
orientation as integrative.
 Prior to the development and growth of
integration, counselors would choose to train in
a single therapeutic approach, whereby they
would identify themselves with a specific
psychological or philosophical perspective.
 Integration offers an alternative perspective to a
purist approach.
An Integrative
Approach to
Helping
 It is important to be clear that integration should
not imply a ‘pick-and-mix” approach to helping,
whereby the helper selects on a whim a
particular theoretical orientation, and skills and
strategies to use with a client, dependent on
whatever approach they feel like working with
on that particular day.
 Integration focuses on providing counselors –
An Integrative
Approach to
Helping
helpers- with a sound understanding of a
number of key approaches, skills and
techniques, and suggests a model which
enables them to integrate these approaches,
skills and techniques as appropriate , based on
an accurate assessment of the needs of each
client.
 Integration also covers a ide range of
perspectives, making it impossible to present a
unified set of theoretical assumptions in a way
that may be possible for purist approaches.
The Core
Conditions of
Helping
relationships
 Carl Rogers believed that every one of us is the ‘expert’ in our
life and it is not the role of the helper, to provide answers and
solutions to their clients’ issues, but rather to enable their
clients to identify the solutions that will work best for them.
Three (3) Core Conditions
EMPATHY
CONGRUENCE
UNCONDITIONAL
POSITIVE REGARD
 It is important to be aware of the distinctions between
empathy and sympathy in the helping context.
 Helpers are never in a position to tell their clients that
they know just how they are feeling , or to make
promises that they will feel better soon.
 We cannot make these kinds of assurance to our
clients, and neither can we possibly know exactly how
another human being – with a unique set of
experiences emotions, physical make-up, values,
socio-cultural background, sexuality, religious beliefs,
faith and so on – might feel and react in any given
situation.
EMPATHY
EMPATHY
One person’s response to an experience will be very different to
another’s
It is important to stay within the ‘frame of reference’ of the client,
to ‘walk in their shoes’, to ‘see the world the way they see it’, and
not to respond on the basis of your own projections, experiences
or to offer advice
is NOT a ‘skill’ that is adopted and used intermittently , rather it
is a way of being, where the helper ‘lays aside her own way of
experiencing and perceiving reality, preferring to sense and
respond to the experiences and perceptions of her client
Working to understand
thoughts, feelings, actions
and consequences from
your client’s frame of
reference
Communicating this
understanding accurately
to clients;
Not rushing to ‘make better’
or ‘fix’ things that are
challenging for clients;
Not offering sympathy to
clients
In Summary, Empathy means:
‘containing’ or ‘ holding’
clients’ challenging and
painful emotional
responses;
Example:
 Empathetic response:
 “I can sense how tough life feels for you right
now.”
 Sympathetic response:
 “Oh you poor thing, I’m so sorry for you. I just
know how you’re feeling, don’t worry you’ll feel
better soon.”
 Is the state of being of the helper hen her outward
responses to her client consistently match her inner
experiencing of her client
 Put simply, it means that the helper who demonstrates
a congruent response is ‘real’ in the relationship,
authentic, genuine and fully aware of their own
thoughts, feelings and responses to their client.
 Making sure that thoughts, feelings and responses are
consistent and are expressed as such by the helper.
CONGRUENCE
CONGRUENCE
A congruent response doesn’t necessarily mean saying what
you feel, but rather reflecting on your own emotional response
and sharing your feelings if, and when, you decide it would be
appropriate and helpful for your client.
Being congruent requires great
reflexivity and high levels of selfawareness on the part of the helper.
Whilst engaging with clients, helpers are consistently
asking themselves important questions:
 ‘why do I feel like this with this client?’
 ‘Is my emotional response to this client about their experience, or
about something in my life that has been triggered?’
 ‘Why am I fining it hard to empathize with this client?’
 ‘ Why do I want to “parent” this client?’
 ‘Why do I want this client to go away?’
 ‘Why do I feel so bored when I’m with this client?’