PT37 Explore the possibility of humanistic therapy with the client

Overview

This standard is about working collaboratively and relationally with the client to explore the suitability of humanistic therapy in relation to their needs. The therapist works with the client pre-clinically to explore whether the therapy can be helpful for them. The shape of therapy tends to emerge spontaneously. There is, however, an initial process in which the therapist reflects on the manifestations of the client’s needs in order to decide whether there is a reasonable likelihood of developing a therapeutic process and relationship. This standard describes therapeutic practice adopted successfully in mental health and wellbeing interventions for adults, based on the philosophical tenets of the humanistic tradition and incorporating a range of approaches from a humanistic value base. (See reference in the additional information section on page 3.) To apply this standard, practitioners also need to take account of the multiple problems and complex co-morbidities that individual clients may bring to therapy. Users of this standard will need to ensure that they are receiving supervision and that their practice reflects up to date information and policies. This standard should be understood in the context of the Digest of National Occupational Standards for Psychological Therapies. Version No 1

Knowledge and Understanding

You will need to know and understand:

Assessment

how to use a range of assessment tools within a humanistic tradition

Conditions for therapeutic change
the rationale for responding empathically to the client and being warm, open, non-judgmental, genuine and transparent
how to employ the specific methodology, key concepts and relevant components of the model being used
how to maintain therapeutic conditions
the psychological conditions that make change more likely

Risk
the assessment of risks to the client in a range of settings and the risks they pose to themselves and others
the assessment of the client’s capacity to engage in humanistic therapy in the context of assessment of risk
current legislation and local guidelines and procedures about vulnerable adult safeguarding

Relational processes in the immediate therapeutic relationship
how the client’s explicit, manifest communications may contain an implicit, latent meaning
ways in which aspects of past events can be re-experienced in the present

The actualising tendency
the role of actualisation in human growth and health
the ways in which internal processes out of the client’s awareness can undermine, distort or block the actualising tendency
how the actualising tendency is expressed in the practice of humanistic therapy
the concept of symptoms as a signal for integrating experience and growth
the concept of symptoms as indicators of the actualisation process

Principles of humanistic therapy
philosophy and principles that inform humanistic therapy
humanistic theories of therapeutic process
approaches to psychological therapy that have grown out of the humanistic psychology movement
experiential methods of learning
non-humanistic approaches that influence humanistic therapy

Mental health and wellbeing
the range and severity of mental health difficulties and their presentation
factors associated with the emergence, development and maintenance of mental health difficulties
humanistic models of mental distress
the ways in which mental health difficulties can impact on personal and interpersonal functioning
models of a fully functioning individual
the therapist’s role within mental health policy
current mental health policy and legislation at local, regional and national level

Human growth and development and the origins of psychological difficulties
models of change, health and wellbeing
the impact of conflicts within the individual
the impact of social context on psychological growth and development
the role that emotional experiencing has in an individual’s awareness of how an action contributes to growth
the role of relationship in the development of self-experience
the mechanisms and effects of internal processes out of the client’s awareness in the development of self-experience
the role of internal processes out of the client’s awareness in difficulties in self-experience
how thinking, feeling and behaviour are determined by an individual’s subjective reality
the impact on psychological development of empathic attunement and acceptance and the extent of its absence during the formative years
the mechanism and effects of internalisation of the values, beliefs and attitudes of others
the development and benefits of the capacity to reflect on inner processes and experiences
the development of the capacity to balance inner and outer realities
the multiple perspectives from which human experience can be viewed

Performance Criteria

You must be able to do the following:

explore with the client how they came to seek therapy
facilitate the client’s exploration of their motivation for, and commitment to, therapy
be mindful of the power differential and actively communicate that the client is an equal participant in their therapy
accommodate the client’s patterns of communication and ways of relating
reflect on your ways of working and limits of competence as a therapist and accommodate this in your exploration with the client about the possibility of establishing a therapeutic relationship
articulate what a therapeutic process and relationship might offer the client
communicate to the client your role in the therapeutic process
explore the client’s needs, expectations and views of therapy and a therapist and views of possible outcomes
agree with the client what the boundaries of disclosure and confidentiality would be in therapy
consider the possible limitations of setting and resources that may apply to the therapy
be sensitive to and accommodate the client’s responses to the relationship that you are offering as a therapist
know when and how to explore referral to other practitioners:

if you cannot offer the required therapy
if you or the client is unable to engage in the therapeutic relationship
if other forms of therapy may be preferable to the client

where there is a service provider, manage the tension between the therapy that you consider should be offered and the service provider’s constraints
ensure that the client freely enters therapy on an informed and voluntary basis

Additional Information

This National Occupational Standard was developed by Skills for Health. This standard is derived from research reported in Roth A D, Hill A and Pilling S (2009) The competences required to deliver effective Humanistic Psychological Therapies. Centre for Outcomes Research & Effectiveness (CORE) University College London. This standard has indicative links with the following dimension within the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (October 2004): Dimension: Core 1 Communication