Wellness Calendar: Saturday 28 June

Person-centredness

“If I keep from meddling with people, they take care of themselves.
If I keep from commanding people, they behave themselves.
If I keep from preaching at people, they improve themselves.
If I keep from imposing at people, they become themselves.”
Lao-Tse (601 BC–531 BC)

The person-centred approach believes that everyone has within themselves the ability to get the most out of their lives – that we all have an in-built tendency to thrive, grow, develop and fulfil our potential. So long as the environment we exist in contains favourable conditions, we will blossom. So long as no one else starts dictating how we should live our life, we will continue to bloom.

If, for whatever reason, we face adversity and can no long function healthily, person-centred therapy believes that the way back to wellness is through experiencing favourable conditions. These conditions could be sought through spending time in a person-centred environment, or formally in a counselling room. Here the counsellor will demonstrate certain person-centred attributes, namely: empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. Within this nurturing environment a person will have the time and space to heal themselves and move forward in their life.

While our current society contains pockets of person-centredness – such as in nursing, care, elements of learning and mental health provision – the majority of our interactions occur in an imbalanced, unequal, critical, coercive, controlling, punitive and authoritarian landscape. This is the very type of environment that, according to person-centredness, makes us unwell in the first place.

What do you make of this idea? Is it something you would be interested to know more about? Here are some key words and players to explore further if you wish…

Humanism. Human potential movement. Hierarchy of need. Conditions of worth. Introjected values. Relational depth. Locus of evaluation. Gestalt. Anarchism. Carl Rogers. Natalie Rogers. Abraham Maslow. Rollo May. Virginia Axline.

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