Counselling as an evolving Profession: some observations
David Johnson
MAPS; MSCAPE; MASCOCHA.



Why choose counselling as a profession?

I can still remember the rather wealthy woman who came to see me some 18 or so years ago, who would get her husband to drop her off some blocks away from the clinic, put on her sunglasses, and walk through the back door. She was desperate for help, and the "risk" she took in "being seen" was testament to her high degree of motivation to rid herself of her difficulty, and alleviate her "risk" of exposure and shame in receiving counselling. I didn't need to see her for long, her panic condition seemed to improve very quickly.

I'm sure there will always be people around who will be inclined to feel some sense of reluctance at the prospect of attending a counsellor, but I think that phenomenon has reduced greatly over the past decade or so.

Counselling has become a lot more normal and accepted a part of our personal and professional lives these days.



A shift in attitude towards counselling

Attitudes toward counselling are clearly on the move. In many cases, counselling itself has gone beyond being a good idea, to a requirement. We find courts requiring that people receive counselling as part of their rehabilitation. Organizations are continuing to build counselling into their rehabilitative and disciplinary protocols for employees. An increasing number of organizations are participating in Employee Assistance Programs (E.A.P.'s), where they pay an annual premium so that their workers (and often the families of workers) can seek counselling (at no cost to the employee). Under many of these contracts, the employee can seek assistance in relation to any matter that may be affecting her/his performance at work. E.A.P.'s have become big business - there are many organizations now who are solely and very competitively concerned with the brokering of E.A.P. contracts.

Now, dedicated positions for counsellors can be found in schools, hospitals, private industry, community organizations and government/semi government agencies.

Training in Counselling adds value to many professional roles In addition, the perceived need and demand for training in counselling has become an industry of its own. Counselling and psychology training seem to be finding their way into an increasing number of professional training programs. The clergy, G.P.'s, nurses and police are a few examples of where professional training has begun to reflect an increasing recognition of the importance of interpersonal effectiveness.

At Ampersand Australia , we have found a growing diversity of professional interest evolving in our counselling courses.  

Masseurs, nurses, rehabilitation workers, psychiatric nurses, geriatric workers, teachers, administrators, managers, even psychologists and social workers, seem to be looking for more ways to be more effective, more competent and confident in their counselling roles. Many universities are finding that more incoming students wish to enroll in first year psychology than any other subject.

Counselling roles are being more and more incorporated into existing positions, where many job descriptions have been expanded to envelope a needed counselling function. Most schools will now appoint a teacher to perform "welfare" or "counselling" duties. Where more resources are available, we see many private schools these days employing their own counselling staff. There is a trend among organizations involved in the people professions to appoint or roster staff members to be available for debriefing or support for fellow workers. These examples highlight the increasing need and drive to introduce counselling in new arenas, where delegation and "multi-tasking" are often utilized to compensate for a lack of financial and/or trained resources.



The broadening role of counselling

Terms such as Depression, Stress, Psychological Trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anxiety, Mania, Paranoia, Debriefing, Anxiety and of course Counselling, have become household phrases We hear them on the news, read them in the newspapers, and use them repeatedly now transparently in conversation. We hear that Depression is the illness of the new millennium. Stress is affecting us all, "it's a killer", and we need to take measures to avoid its onset. We were invited recently to provide a "debriefing" service for the agency contracted to do the debriefing for the "victims" and/or "witnesses" of a traumatic incident in our locale last year. Counselling for the counsellors. The professional becomes the client.

People come to counselling to have conversations not available to them outside the consulting room. The feeling of "connecting" with another human being, of sharing intimately, is a fundamental need of us all - a necessary sustenance for our existence.

One wonders whether the technology of our modern society with all its claims to enhance our ability to communicate and connect, has in many ways robbed us of, or at least dampened our opportunity to experience the intimacy we all seek. Technology is allowing that we don't need to see folks face to face any more. We can have a mobile phone, satellite television, the internet, email, and even the internet on our mobile phones, enabling us to email from anywhere in the world with a portable device. I recently sent and received some 15 email transactions at Heathrow airport that involved various places around Australia and the world. These were transactions would not have been possible a few short years ago, and they come with the limitations of the technology. It is difficult to communicate mood via email, but it's a great medium for exchanging data. The possibility for intimacy is grossly reduced however.

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