Today is the birthday of Dr. Carl Rodgers (1902 – 1987), he is known for developing the Person Centred Approach to Counselling which at the time was considered extremely radical if not revolutionary. Today it is widely used by therapists in their day to day approach as a set of guiding principles of being genuine, empathetic and non-judgemental.

Effectively, Person Centred Counselling does what it says on the tin. The counsellor’s approach is centred around the person coming for counselling, and it acknowledges that the client is the authority on themselves.

It falls under the Humanistic School of counselling which focuses on the more positive aspects of our potential for growth and development, and it is based on premise that human personality is positive and has the potential for growth no matter what the circumstance.

The benefits to this approach are that the client as the person having the experience knows what is going on for them, and this stops the therapist making assumptions and it focuses on a genuine ‘equal’ relationship between therapist and client.

There are many different forms of counselling from Psychotherapy to CBT however the Person-Centred Approach is the golden thread which is weaved throughout the different schools of counselling.