Helpers & counsellor

https://www.cpcab.co.uk/qualifications/the-cpcab-model

Both helpers & counsellor will apply counselling skills when people share their problems & feelings with them. However, there are quite a lot of difference between the two roles. The most important thing is that counsellors have a higher ethical standard, for example, more awareness about the conflicts of interest. In general, a contractual agreement would be mutually agreed before the counselling begin. In contrast, helpers might not have the same level of awareness about the above area because of insufficient training. Moreover, counsellor had more knowledge about how to interfere using appropriate theory and approach, while helpers can only use basic skills to support the others. In some sever case, helpers is not expected to have sufficient training to deal with and thus have to suggest the helpee to seek professional assistance.  

For myself, I noticed that I am quite familiar with basic counselling skills such as empathy, open-ended questions, and active listening. Besides, I read some books about counselling and I have some knowledge about various theories. As a result, I think I am a capable helper when my friends wish to share their issues. However, I think my limitations is that I did not have enough systematic training and I may overestimate my ability that I can help the helpee on my own. Moreover, since helpee that come to me are always my friends, it’s not possible to establish a therapeutic relationships between my friends and me. As a result, what I can always do is to understand their feeling and help them to re-think their standpoint about life problems. But I’m not able to develop any personalised treatment plans like what the counsellor can do.