" The therapist is ultimately not there to treat the patient but, via a circuitous and well-concealed route, to treat or protect or comfort himself. "
Thomas Maeder.
I was late but slotted into the morning's first activity which was to look at the learning commitment questionnaire and discuss in pairs our similarities and differences. V (for whom English is a second language) was concerned about mistakes in essay writing whilst I was concerned at painful revelations in class causing me to cry. Several people had similar anxieties but actually just expressing it lessened it. Some were anxious that classes would turn into group counselling sessions. Hopefully not.
We were then given four professions and asked to identify helping aspects of that profession which we then presented to the group and they had to guess what the profession was out of Teacher, Doctor, Parent, Friend. we then swapped around and drew up a list of those attributes that could be called counselling skills. Debate ensued about whether Counsellors gave advice (they don't) should have a good sense of humour and be a role of model (debatable!) Though I felt that a good counsellor would have all appointments filled and therefore have a kind of standing because of that.
We then got on to the history of counselling pre- and post- Industrial revolution. Before, people who were mentally ill were taken care of in their own communities but the great migration to the cities meant a fracturing of these old traditions and those unable to work were confined in workhouses. The mentally ill were disruptive and so began the Asylums where such individuals (mostly women) were confined and treated (by men mainly). Very interesting.
2 comments:
i enjoyed reading your blog. interesting, the part about the history of mental asylums:)
Thank you for stopping by LITP
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