Empathy in Counselling - Maternal Mental Health

In Episode 199 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly return with your three favourite segments:

'Counselling Foundations' - where today's focus is enhancing your empathy.

'Focus on Self' - where Rory and Ken introduce how to gain the necessary resilience in your counselling practice to cope with a client's personal struggles.

And once again ending with 'Practice Matters', where today Rory is joined by Emma Chapman to discuss maternal mental health.

Empathy in Counselling (starts at 1:16 mins)

If there's something you will use from beginning to end during your journey through counselling, it's empathy. Naturally possessed by human beings, empathy is a skill that must be enhanced and developed, and during this section, Rory and Ken discuss the key things to think about:

The difference between sympathy and empathy, feeling for vs. feeling with.

Recognising the level of empathy required for your client, and meeting them there.

Building trust with your client to enhance the effectiveness of your empathy.

Acknowledging that empathy takes commitment and investment.

The importance of having a frame of reference.

Practicing empathy among your peers.

Building Resilience in the Counselling Practice (starts at 15:20 mins)

Being able to withstand the waves of emotion thrown at you in the therapy room takes sturdy and refined resilience, but this doesn't mean you're on your own.

In this segment, Rory and Ken take us through the support system needed in order to build up resilience in your counselling practice, and the key aspects of protecting yourself from carrying the weight of your client's problems.

These aspects include:

Remembering these are your clients' problems, not your own.

Reaching out to your supervisor is a part of your own resilience; you're not expected to cope all on your own.

Talking with peers when something is troubling you.

The importance of managed self-care, mindfulness and breaks. Self-maintenance is an important factor in keeping yourself resilient in your counselling practice.

Maternal Mental Health (starts at 27:15 mins)

In an interview with Emma Chapman, Rory discusses maternal mental health, the widespread and shared issue experienced by women daily, and the societal views that serve as its cause.

The key topics of this interview are:

The pressures to be a perfect mum.

Dealing with the feelings of becoming a mum, both positive and negative.

Recognising that you won't have all the answers.

Allowing yourself to be more realistic.

Links and Resources

Counselling Skills Academy

Advanced Certificate in Counselling Supervision

Basic Counselling Skills: A Student Guide

Counsellor CPD

Counselling Study Resource

Counselling Theory in Practice: A Student Guide

Counselling Tutor Training and CPD

Facebook group

Website

Online and Telephone Counselling: A Practitioner’s Guide

Online and Telephone Counselling Course