Dear Readers
Today I went to Agape Counselling Centre Malaysia at Taman Petaling Utama. There are 3 registered counsellors and they provide one-to-one counselling and/or therapy sessions for public who need help. Per session costs RM60, lasts 45-60min. The preferred medium of communication is Chinese.
Malaysian Psychology Centre at Taman Desa also provides professional consultation sessions for children, adolescences, adults, couples and individual on problems we may face in our daily lives. They conduct regular courses on various types of therapies such as Sandplay, Stress Management etc. Gosh! We can never finish learning, can we?
A month ago I had my first counselling class and here I wish to share with you: My lecturer said to learn counselling is to first learn what is NOT counselling.
Counselling is NOT advising, simply telling people what to do; solving people's problems; analyzing problem and giving interpretations; giving a pep talk; making people dependent on us; just listening; information giving; influencing attitudes, beliefs and behaviours by persuasion, compelling or threatening.
It was really "start from the "Zero" beginning" for me; a time to ponder into deeper thought about counselling. So how much do we actually understand by the word "counselling"?
2 comments:
oh, i went to that place some time ago, due to some personal reason. though i understand chinese, i speak english more often so i was directed somewhat to the so called head of that place. when i sat down with her, only then i realized i was to engage in a therapy, sand therapy, she asked me to feel the sand with my hands, and suddenly, her phone rang.
i was confused for a moment, then after she hung up, i asked for her name and qualifications. as we progress, it seems like, we were not progressing at all. and she was talking more than i am, interrupting at some point, is that how counseling is suppose to be? all the while i thought, they would be the one listening..??
nevertheless, when it came to an end, i said i felt uncomfortable with the 'therapy'. she responded saying she also felt uncomfortable when i asked about her qualifications. thats when i felt something was off. it is only natural for a person to know your counselor, i dont even know the woman's name until i asked her! i was thinking, you feel uncomfortable? think about me on the other side, telling you my personal details to a stranger who is stingy enough to even silence her phone.
so i concluded that she was not friendly. she looked at me in a strange way, i questioned her stare, and she sheepishly answer, yes, it feels weird.
There are many methods and theories in counseling. They can be conducted by questionnaires, talking and assignments or by carrying out therapies. Possibly the session you experienced was more towards a therapy using sand, we call it sandplay therapy. Nevertheless, the relaionship between the counselor and the client is very crucial and subtle. It is the responsibility of the counselor to bring to the attention if he/she feels that he/she cannot be the client's counselor due to any possible reasons, then the session will be discontinued and the counselor will recommend a different approach, a different therapy or even another counselor to the client.
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