This week we are looking at limits of proficiency, and my reflections on them. There are many ethical considerations to take into account when considering your own limits of proficiency. The type of client is one, for example, as a child would require a different approach to an adult seeking therapy. Personally, I would like to gain experience with as many different types of client as possible, but I understand the importance of basing my client base, especially initially, around those I have experience with. Working with an experienced team in an agency setting can expose you to different types of client. Your line manager can temper and balance your limitations by assigning you clients with more manageable problems that are comparable to your current experience level.
The type of counselling required by the client is also an important consideration. I am trained primarily in Person Centred Counselling, so it would be unethical and unprofessional of me to try my hand at analysing a client’s dreams or assigning them Cognitive Behavioural Therapy style homework assignments. This also relates to the presenting problem of the client – at the moment, at my current level of training, I honestly I feel like I could deal with a client that feels stuck in a rut and needs space and time to find direction, or a client that just wants someone to listen to them vent their problems; But if someone came to me with deeply repressed childhood issues or an eating disorder, I would feel way out of my depth. This is why continual professional development is so important in the field of counselling.
A counsellor could have limits pertaining to personal reasons. It could be dangerous for counsellors to engage with clients that are likely to bring up issues that cause unease in them. While counsellors are normal people, with normal problems and everyday worries, if they are affected severely by particular issues then they should stay away from clients having problems in those areas until they have worked through their own issues.
For me personally, I had a mid-life/existential crisis a few years ago, and after I finished a course of personal CBT I embarked on this journey to become a counsellor. I don’t think that I was in a good place when I first started the level 2, but the self-awareness aspect of it made it a lot easier for me to analyse and come to terms with some of the things that were still affecting me. Also, having an enforced break last academic year and putting some time and distance between my breakdown and the present day has proved to be beneficial. I feel much stronger mentally now, and am able to confront those issues from my past without them having negative effects on me.
Another aspect is a lack of training or experience. In terms of my own personal limitations, I understand I am still very much a trainee. I have had almost two years of training, but I do lack practical experience. This is why I’m looking forward to September as I intend to start the CPCAB Level 4 in Therapeutic Counselling – in particular I’m excited about getting some real practical experience, and putting the skills I have learned in training into practise.
As I do not have any practical experience of being a counsellor, I am finding it hard to think about how my own limits have held me back from helping some people. I guess I could go back to before I had even started training, and recount those experiences with a present-day lens. When people used to come to me with my problems, I used to panic as I always thought I was supposed to give them advice on how to solve their problems, but they always seemed to go away happy, and come back a month or two later with another dilemma. It was only when I started training that I realised they didn’t necessarily want advice – indeed they never directly asked me for advice – they just wanted to vent and for someone to listen.
In contrast to that, early on in my journey to become a counsellor, my sister-in-law took me to one side and asked me what I would do in a couple of situations that she’s found herself in, with regards to what advice she should give people, and I said that I just didn’t know, that I’d have to talk to the people going through the problems. As I was a little way into my training, I knew that a counsellor’s job isn’t to give out advice or tell people what to do. She didn’t seem very impressed, and then went on to have a nice little gossip about how she felt I would make a rubbish counsellor. So maybe one of the limits here is that clients may come in with a misunderstanding of what counsellors actually do – and it’s important to be upfront and honest about what you can realistically achieve within the remit of using counselling skills.
When it comes to recording our roleplay, I intend to make a note of any issues around noticing my limits of proficiency, and exploring them further.
One thing that I have come to realise about limits of proficiency while I’ve been writing about it is that it’s ok to acknowledge them. In fact, it is of the upmost importance to acknowledge their existence, for professional and ethical reasons. It comes back to self-awareness, in that the more you know about yourself, the more you realise what the limits are on how you can help others.
