November 11^th, 2004

Employment Articles

The Dynamics Of Counselling

by John Gauger and Val Rosenthal

Creative Employment Options is a national employment project of the Neil Squire Foundation designed to maximize economic opportunities and social acceptance for productive and competitive employment by Canadians with severe physical disabilities. We increase public awareness of achievements of these individuals targeting industry, governments and society in general. This is the second in a series of articles about this new project.

Gaining greater confidence in one�s abilities, learning how to assert oneself and understanding and accepting one�s physical disability are some of the issues which are brought forward through the process of counselling and self exploration in Creative Employment Options. Participants gain greater awareness not only through their interactions with staff, other participants, themselves and all the other people whom they meet during the course of a day.

Participants in the project are involved in both individual and group counselling sessions aimed at promoting greater self-awareness and capacity for taking action. Our goal is to provide the environment and the support necessary for participants to learn how to take control over their own lives and realize their own ambitions.

Our approach is radically different from traditional counseling for people with disabilities. Mainstream counselling, where it does exist, is increasingly given over to psycho-educational methods. Briefly, this approach is based upon the assumption that the main tasks facing persons with disabilities are to adjust, to adapt and to cope with their situations. This happens most readily, the theory goes, when the client becomes the "student" and the counsellor acts as an "instructor" who provides information, skill training, and help forming reasonable goals.

This approach can lend itself to perpetuating the problem facing may people with disabilities -namely that solving problems involves reliance on someone else. Learning to take control of one�s own life and make decisions is an important part of gaining greater personal confidence and independence. Dr. George Hohmann states "feelings of lack of control over one�s own behaviour and environment lead to anxiety and depression. If people have the experience of being in control, there is a decrease in anxiety and an increase in positive mood. Our hospitals and rehabilitation centres are filled with fixed routines in which the patient cannot influence his environment and becomes dependent and subordinate, thereby learning to be helpless."

By contrast, in order to support autonomy which leads to a zest for life, the Neil Squire Foundation�s approach to counselling is guided by the following three major ideas:

Self Exploration and Discovery

Our goal of counselling is directed towards liberation, not adaptation, towards spontaneity, not self constraint. Therefore we are much more interested in facilitating self-discovery, rather than trying to shape participants into some approximate notion of what they "should" be. Always, this pursuit of individual truth seems tied somehow to the discovery of self-love and beauty. Learning to love oneself is an important first step towards making any kind of long lasting change in one�s life.

Learning from Experiences

Counselling here is seen as an activity of experience - that is, it involves dynamic encounters with others and with the limits of one�s own awareness. Learning certainly takes place, but not just as an intellectual activity, it also comes "through the skin." By forming and deepening relationships, participants come to stronger convictions about their strengths and emotional resources.

Creating a Positive Supportive Environment

We are promoting the concept of "counseling infusion" which means that our aim is to expand the effect and influence of counselling beyond the two, scheduled group sessions per week into all other facets of the project. We are creating a setting which is shame free, where people are free to experience their lives, to complain about what bothers them and to share successes.

Employers have told us that often people with disabilities have the skills and motivation to do the job, but that they seem to "fail the coffee break". By that they mean that they may lack the self-confidence to bridge the gap between themselves and others on the job. This is consistent with studies that have found that forming meaningful relationships, although highly desirable, is the most problematic issue facing spinal cord injured persons. We have all had the experience of feeling lonely or isolated on a job and know how it limits our opportunity for productivity, initiative and social enrichment.

Since Creative Employment Options began, we have witnessed participants in the project take their new assertiveness lessons to the streets, struggle with the critical questions of what it means to have severe physical disability and find the joy of mutual discovery and support. Participants practise their communication and social skills and receive feedback in a supportive environment.

Counselling sessions have allowed Pat Luker, one of Regina�s participants to discuss his feelings in an atmosphere of Mutual trust and support. "I feel I can be more honest and open and discuss subjects which may have taboos attached to them, such as social interaction between people with disabilities and able-bodied people," he says. Practising communication skills has also given Pat a better understanding of how and why people react to his non-verbal cues and to observe his behaviour in social situations. He now is able to "socialize more easily and with greater confidence."

So counselling at its best occurs well away from the traditional image of a lone counsellor sitting down with a single client, the roles of helper and helped dismally fixed. We look forward to the day when counselling in all of rehabilitation involves less information on how to have a successful eyeball to eyeball relationship, and more experience in having one.