The Cambridge Dictionary defines a counsellor meaning as someone trained to listen to people and give them advice about their problems. At Energetics Institute, we think the title goes further than that.
A counsellor is someone you feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life with; a counsellor’s purpose is to guide you toward realisation, allowing you to challenge your habits and behaviours, ultimately turning you into a better version of yourself.
Let’s examine counsellor’s meaning and see what else counsellors provide their clients.
Who Is a Counsellor?
You can find counsellors across a wide range of fields and expertise thresholds. Sometimes, Perth residents seek the help of social workers for their counselling. Depending on your coverage or budget, you might seek counsellors of various professional levels, many with private offices.
Most trained counsellors have studied counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, or social work for three to six years at a university level. Their training allows them to behave objectively and professionally, allowing you to build a trusting and healing relationship with them. A counsellor’s meaning depends on your goals with counselling and what you want to change in your life.
Services Counsellors Offer
Part of a counsellor’s meaning involves them giving you talk therapy. Counsellors have completed the prerequisite training to use whichever talk-based treatment works best. Sometimes, your counsellor will work with a psychiatrist or other mental health professional to best promote your mental wellbeing and explore integrated care.
A counsellor specialises in helping you as a client, come to realisations. They allow you to address your problems positively, utilising strategies that increase your self-awareness. For many, just the process of talking and being listened to is enough to alleviate some of their issues.
Perhaps most importantly, the counsellor’s meaning lies in confidential support. Counsellors cannot divulge the information you share with them to other parties. The only exception is when the counsellor has a duty of care to report something that threatens the wellbeing of you or another person. In these instances, they reserve the right to tell the appropriate party, something they will inform you of during your first meeting.
Mental Health Help
One primary reason people seek a counsellor’s guidance is for mental health reasons, playing into a counsellor’s meaning as a mental health professional.
While many people think of depression, anxiety, or personality disorders as mental health-related terms, many people, including neurotypical people, seek extra help when events trigger stress in their lives.
Some issues people commonly seek a counsellor’s help for include:
- Navigating grief and loss
- Dealing with relationship and communication issues
- Handling work and career stress
- Coping with stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions
- Figuring out ways to move forward from abuse, trauma, and addiction
- Helping new parents best care for their children
- Tackling self-esteem issues
- Exploring sexuality and gender identity
Professional Qualifications
Not every counsellor has professional qualifications, and you should do some research when looking for a certified counsellor. Due to a counsellor’s meaning, there is no Australian law that requires a person who provides the service to have prerequisite experience or qualifications. For this reason, people without the proper training can refer to themselves or their practice as counselling or psychotherapy.
Trained counsellors will have three or more years studying at university—many times with postgraduate education—or the equivalent amount of years practising at a university or higher education institution.
Pay attention when looking for the proper credentials. The Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) provide the national standards for qualifying counsellors and psychotherapists.
Titles and accolades aside, you must find a counsellor with the appropriate experience and training to suit your specific needs. You want to, above all else, find someone with whom you’re comfortable talking and sharing the intimate details of your life.
Types of Counselling
Depending on the issues you deal with and what type of help you seek, counsellors come prepared to give you different types of therapy. Some of the styles you might encounter include:
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT)
- Psychoanalytic therapy
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
- Solution-focused therapy
- Positive psychology
- Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy
As per counsellor’s meaning, many therapists come prepared to employ several of these methods to help you achieve your goals. For more information on experienced and personalised counselling in Perth, get in touch with Energetics Institute.
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