CTP 013 - 3rd person in the room - 19 Propositions - Metaphor and Simile and Counselling Philosophy

n this weeks episode of the Counselling Tutor podcast Rory and Ken explore the effect of having interpreters or careers in the counselling relationship. Rory digs deep into Carl Rogers' 19 Propositions while Ken speaks about Metaphor and Simile in the therapeutic relationship. We end with a debate about your philosophy of counselling and how this affects your practice going forward.   3rd Person in the Room   How would you work with a client who has an interpreter or carer who needs to be in the room? Having someone other than the client in the counselling relationship poses certain challenges.   We need to be mindful at contracting stage that the contract needs to cover all parties in the therapy room.   Confidentiality is tricky and dependent on the professionalism of the interpreter. As counsellors we train and understand why the clients confidentiality is important however this may not be true of carers or interpreters.   The main consideration is the clients content that the carer or interpreter by present and I feel that the client should be explained the risks as far as confidentiality goes.   Recording clients therapeutic sessions can also be viewed as having a third person in the room.   Carl Rorgers' Nineteen Propositions Part 02   Rory picks up where part 01 left off and examines the remaining of the Nineteen Propositions   Simile and Metaphor in Counselling   In skills with Ken we speak about how powerful metaphor can be in counselling. Ken explains the difference between metaphor and simile where we might see them present within our therapeutic relationship with a client.   Metaphorical language is a cultural understanding between people using pictorial type words or sentences. Metaphor in counselling ties into empathy. The client perceives there is a shared understanding and this can take the therapeutic relationship to a deeper level.   We discuss the dangers of looking at metaphor from our own self constructs and how we should always check our understanding to make sure we are in the clients frame of reference.   Philosophy in Counselling   Your philosophical views are individual and will make you an individual counsellor. Rory and Ken debate how personal philosophy guides practice and how this can change over the years.