Hi Ben,
professionally trained in counseling but have done a lot of "kitchen
table counseling" over the years. It can be better than paying a professionaly trained counselor--a cuppa tea or mug of coffee at the kitchen table may not solve the world's problems but may help you put
yours into a better perspective.
For sure! I read the book Focusing and in it Eugene Gendlin writes
about studying professional counseling on a large scale. The
researchers found equality of outcomes across all modalities. When narrowing down the
factors associated with successful outcomes, the single largest factor
was the attitude that the client brought with them. Focusing is a
process
based on those findings.
Sounds interesting. The client's attitude does have quite the influence
on the outcome. I can see where differing attitudes would produce
different results or lack thereof.
I took a co-counseling course where the instructor said that the
majority of counseling is basically active listening. She said that people are so hungry to be listened to, that if you are a good
listener then strangers will follow you around in the streets.
What is co-counseling? It's a term I'm not familiar with, but then too,
most of my classes were in the early 70s. BTW, Steve (my husband) says
that yes, I am a good listener.
I have read co-counseling books from the 1970's and i think some of
their more experimental stuff was harmful or at least irresponsible. They've cleaned it up a lot since then. All that aside, i see it as a
DIY
approach, which is right up my alley. If we lived in the same part of
the world, i'd love to share a cup of tea with you from time to time.
Where is your part of the world? We do travel, most often in a camper.
We do carry teas, other than my morning British Blend, in the camper as
Steve will sometimes brew up a cuppa non caffienated at night. We also
carry coffee (his morning drink) and hot cocoa mix for some of those
really cold nights we occaisionally encounter. This last trip we had to
pack for mid spring in the northeast (still some chilly days and nights)
to summer in the southwest (hot).
---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28
... If you focus only on the thorns you will miss the beauty of the rose.
--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)