What do I mean by humanistic counselling?

My theoretical approach is humanistic and I incorporate three humanistic theories  which are;

Person Centred theory, Gestalt and Existentialism philosophy.

Humanistic counselling is…

Person Centred theory is based on the idea that people are inherently driven towards self-growth. Believing that when the right environment is created, a trusting therapeutic relationship can be developed and this empowers the client to make their own decisions about what changes need to be made.

Gestalt is based on ‘four pillars’. These are;

Phenomenology – the clients experience of the world,

Dialogical – Creating dialogue with the counsellor and themselves,

Field theory –integration and interaction of the elements of a persons life,

Experimentation – moving from talking about something to experiencing.

Existentialism philosophy is about how we exist in and relate to the world, grounded in the belief that ‘human beings should be understood in terms of his or her individual, concrete, actual life’ (Cooper, M. 2020 p11).