16 common principles of psychological counseling
? Ethics and norms are very important in the practice of psychological counseling. Many times, counseling is not only because of technology, but also because it is not standardized. So in the process of psychological counseling, what common principles need to be adhered to? According to my understanding, it is summarized as 16, and the specific contents are as follows:
General principle: the welfare of tourists comes first!
0 1
Voluntary principle
Welcome, will you go?
Psychological counseling advocates: welcome, go or stay! Don't beg or help!
? Under normal circumstances, if the visitor has no desire to consult, as a psychological counselor, he can't take the initiative to consult with the other party, nor can he keep the other party for consultation!
? If the parties do not have the will to negotiate, even if the consultant takes the initiative, it is difficult to produce good negotiation results! Only when the will and initiative of all parties come out, the consultation will have better results.
? Of course, except for crisis intervention, during crisis intervention, consultants can take the initiative to come to the door, and the time and frequency are not limited until the crisis is lifted!
02
Principle of acquaintance avoidance
Formal psychological counseling can't be done for acquaintances!
? First, it is inevitable that psychological counselors will be emotional in the words of acquaintances, and it is difficult to be objective and neutral, and it is difficult to follow the formal consultation procedure step by step, and the effect will naturally be greatly reduced.
? Secondly, visitors will also have various concerns, and it is easy to get emotional with psychological counselors. In the end, not only may the counseling effect be unsatisfactory, but the acquaintance relationship that could have been ok may also be difficult to maintain.
? Of course, this does not mean that we can't help our acquaintances, nor does it mean that we must refuse their help. After all, we are a human society.
? An acquaintance knows that we are studying or doing psychological counseling. If we refuse directly, it may make the other person feel that he is not kind and can't count on it, thus affecting the original relationship. What should we do?
? For example, if an acquaintance wants us to have a chat with his children, my opinion is this: First, we can have a brief understanding of the children's situation with parents, and then tell parents that they can have a brief talk about the situation if they want (in fact, most children don't want to talk with their parents' acquaintances), but this is not a formal consultation, because according to the rules of consultation, formal consultation must find people they don't know, so that children can better open their hearts and more. Then refer to it!
03
matching principle
Psychological counseling is a two-way choice. It doesn't mean that visitors have to bring it for consultation. We should consider whether it belongs to psychological counseling or not, and whether it belongs to our category.
As a professional worker, one must be very familiar with the knowledge of symptomatology, need to study the contents of psychiatry or abnormal psychology systematically, and must practice in the psychiatric department of a hospital for a period of time if conditions permit. Because only in this way will we be more clear about what belongs to the category of psychological counseling, which can be assisted and which may not even be assisted.
Even if the problems of visitors belong to the category of psychological counseling, they may not necessarily belong to our category. As a psychological counselor, you need to be very clear about where your card points are and what areas you are good at. Do not belong to the scope of consultation, or do not belong to their own scope, in line with the principle of responsibility, we must give referrals.
04
The principle of limiting the consultation place
Can visitors hope to go to his home for consultation? Without a suitable consulting place, can a consultant do consulting in his own home? If the visitor says that the child is unwilling to consult, can we have dinner and chat together as friends? How about walking and consulting with tourists in the park? How about consulting in a cafe?
If you are doing a consultation interview, the above situation is not available!
? The interview must be conducted in the consulting room, and the consultation needs a safe and stable environment. If the consultation is not conducted in a professional consulting room, it may bring all kinds of hidden dangers to the consultation, and the consultation will not last for a long time, so it is difficult to achieve a deeper exploration, which will easily lead to a double relationship and be very unfavorable to the consultation.
05
Charging principle
? Some tourists think that I chat with you, and you still charge? It didn't cost you a penny! Some consultants feel that charging is an embarrassing thing. What if it doesn't work?
? Formal psychological counseling must be charged, except for school psychological counseling, which is generally called psychological counseling. School counseling can not only be charged, but sometimes it also requires counselors to take the initiative.
? Charging is the protection for both consultants and visitors, and also the guarantee of consulting effect. Only when consultation is charged, both parties will pay more attention to and cherish it, and consultation will have better results. No charge, it is difficult for visitors to carry out in-depth consultation!
? If the consultant doesn't even dare to charge for consulting, it means that the consultant may be quite uncertain about his major.
? As a consultant, the fees should be within a relatively reasonable range. According to the current consulting market, if the consultation takes 50 minutes to 1 hour, the consulting fee ranges from several hundred to one or two thousand yuan. Of course, thousands of consultants can at least belong to the top consultants in the province and even the whole country.
? Of course, high fees are not necessarily excellent consultants, and low fees are not necessarily really incompetent. Choosing a consultant sometimes requires feeling and adventure.
06
Informed consent principle
Visitors have the right to know. In order to avoid disputes, psychological counselors need to inform visitors of a series of contents in advance.
? For example, there is a charge for psychological counseling, and how to pay the fee. Psychological counseling requires an appointment at least one day in advance. Psychological counseling has a specific category, and psychological counselors do not give advice. Psychological consultation is a process, and there is no connection between the two psychological consultations. At the same time, if visitors want to know the training background of consultants, consultants are also obliged to tell them.
07
Time limitation principle
Psychological counseling is usually once a week (except for the classic psychoanalytic orientation), which usually lasts for 50 minutes to an hour at a time. Some will stick to it for 50 minutes, some may be slightly more, but generally it will not exceed an hour. The first visit can be slightly extended (especially family therapy), some for one and a half hours, some for two hours, and of course the first visit can also be 50 minutes to one hour.
In principle, consultation should not be overtime. Generally speaking, when it comes to 40 minutes or 45 minutes, the consultant should pay attention to the ending and don't expand on new topics, otherwise it will be endless. It is best to consult regularly once a week for a period of time, because only continuous consultation will have better results. If the consultant always extends the consultation time, do you need to be aware or supervised to see what makes you always delay?
? Visitors can be late, but there is no delay in being late, but consultants must not be late! If visitors can't come, they can ask for leave one day in advance (some 24 hours in advance), and the consultation can be postponed. If they can't come that day, in principle, the fee will be deducted!
? If the consultant can't do the agreed consultation, according to the regulations, he needs to ask for leave at least one day in advance. If he can't do it for the time being, many consultants will not only make up this consultation for the visitors later, but also need to make up another consultation for the visitors.
08
Neutrality principle
Psychological counselors have a very, very critical point when consulting, that is, they must maintain the principle of neutrality, that is, an attitude of not making judgments.
Of course, neutrality does not mean that we cannot have our own values, but our values, and our ideas should not affect this consultation.
If the consultation is not neutral, the consultant's own things will come out easily, causing interference to visitors. Counseling is a process of helping others to help themselves, not a guide! It is very, very difficult for a consultant to be neutral, because the consultant himself may have many card points to be perfected, and those card points are often like hooks, which will be hooked by the affairs or emotions of the visitors, thus leading to non-neutrality.
Once the consultant is not neutral, this kind of consultation will basically fall off, because visitors will feel incomprehensible, stressed, uncomfortable and even angry.
09
Principle of confidentiality
In the process of psychological counseling, safety and relaxation are the prerequisites for opening. In order to make clients feel safe and relaxed, consultants need to remain neutral, not judge, accept and keep secret, of which confidentiality is the most important. Counselors should not only keep secrets within the scope of confidentiality, but also give visitors enough confidence to believe that counselors will keep secrets.
Confidentiality is the professional bottom line of psychological counselors. As a psychological counselor with professional ethics, I will never reveal the privacy of visitors, never write conversations and share them without their consent, never send screenshots of visitors' chat records to friends, and never record them in detail without permission!
The scope of confidentiality includes: the content told by the visitor, the privacy of the visitor, the psychological evaluation results of the visitor, the specific information of the consultation, the consultation records, etc.
? Of course, it doesn't mean that all parts must be kept secret, and there are exceptions to secrecy. The following three situations are exceptions to confidentiality:
The first is what visitors are willing to reveal. Of course, even if they are willing to disclose it, we need to hide all their key information to avoid possible harm to visitors.
Second, it is related to the judiciary and should cooperate with the work of the judiciary;
The third is that tourists may hurt themselves. If they find such a situation, they need to consider breaking the confidentiality restrictions and notify their guardians or family members in time. On the basis of the original consultation agreement, they need to sign a risk notice.
10
Respect principle
In the process of psychological counseling, we must adhere to the principle of respect, respect the wishes of the parties, and more confirm the perception of the parties. What does he think? what do you think? How to understand it? what do you think? How to evaluate? What is his hope? What do you care? What do you value? Which topic does he want to talk about first? What does he think is the biggest trouble for him?
When the consultant and the visitor disagree on the theme and goal, the visitor must be given priority. When the visitor talks over and over again, but fails to take action, the consultant should fully respect the pace of the visitor.
Visitors can cry if they want, smile happily. Talk if you want, and don't talk if you don't want. Visitors can talk about any topic they want. If they don't want to continue counseling, they can stop doing it and give them respect.
1 1
Non-guiding principle
Psychological counseling is a process of helping others and helping themselves. In principle, psychological counseling does not give direct and specific suggestions. First of all, our suggestions may not be suitable for visitors. Second, it violates the spirit of helping others and helping themselves, which is not conducive to the growth of visitors.
Even if we have another answer, even if we think we can see it clearly and understand it again, we should not express it in a hurry, or not at all.
? Growth is the customer's own business. Consultants often play the role of accompanying him to grow up, so that customers can gradually grow up in their own careers and get solutions, and teach people to fish, not to teach people to fish!
12
Principle of goal limitation
The goal of psychological counseling should be confined to the category of psychology, including short-term goals and long-term goals.
Short-term goals are mainly to change cognition, improve mood and adjust behavior.
Long-term goals mainly include promoting the psychological health and development of help seekers, giving full play to people's potential, realizing perfect personality, and finally having a healthy and happy life.
? Psychological counselors can't directly help them solve specific problems. For example, if a visitor says he can't find a girlfriend, the counselor can't introduce him to one. The visitor said that he was short of money and the consultant could not lend him money. However, the counselor can help him solve specific problems by discussing with the visitor, changing his cognition, adjusting his mood and finding feasible solutions.
13
Aid principle
Psychological counseling mainly focuses on visitors, and psychological counselors can only play an auxiliary role. Psychological counselors should never take all the visitors' affairs on themselves, but should be more aware of whether they have a savior plot and whether they are more involved.
? Visitors are in no hurry. Let's not worry about him. Visitors feel that there is nothing serious. We shouldn't think he has any big problems. If the visitor thinks it is more important to talk about which piece, let's talk about it.
Helping others to help themselves is never empty talk, always keep it in mind!
14
Principle of emotional restriction
? Psychological counselors and visitors can't have a dual relationship, that is, in the process of counseling, counselors can't establish relationships other than counseling.
Psychological counselors can't accept guests' dinner invitations and expensive gifts, become real friends with visitors, or even develop a lover relationship with them (unless the counseling has been over for more than three years). Sexual relations with visitors are absolutely forbidden.
? Psychological counselor is a cautious profession, so you should be very strict with yourself, because visitors may not know the rules of counseling, and psychological counselors should be clear, not only clear, but also abide by them.
15
Intermediate unconnected principle
Psychological counseling only happens in the psychological counseling room, and only during counseling. There is no connection between counseling and interview except psychological counseling in principle, unless there is a life-threatening situation. The principle of no contact in the middle should be clearly explained to the visitors in advance, so as to avoid the visitors from feeling that the counselor has a bad attitude and then having feelings for the counselor, which is also a responsible performance for the visitors.
? If a visitor contacts a counselor in pain or confusion, it will be difficult for him to think and explore himself, and it will be difficult for him to really grow up! Just like taking painkillers when a person has a little pain, it may temporarily relieve the pain, but it is not conducive to the recovery of the body in the long run.
16
Principle of responsibility
? Quack kills without a knife!
No matter how much schools of psychology and technology you have learned, no matter how rich the experience of psychological counseling is, the responsibility of psychological counselors will always be the first! Psychological counselors should have enough responsibility for visitors on the premise of abiding by professional ethics.
As a psychological counselor, at the same time, I should be responsible enough for my professional growth, keep learning, have certain consulting experience, improve my card point, expand my container, and pay attention to being supervised from time to time. Confused but unsupervised consultation is hooliganism!
I wrote an article before about what professional knowledge I need to learn and possess as a psychological counselor. If you have seen it, please click on the blue word "Professional Growth Guide for Novice Psychological Counselors" at the back!
2021July 19 Zhengzhou Liu Youlong