Preparing Counselors-in-Training to Provide Humanistic Counseling to Children
By Dr. Jonathan R. Ricks
At the beginning of all the classes I teach in our master’s level professional school counseling and clinical mental health counseling programs, I share several definitions and charges for the counseling profession. One very important statement I share is the purpose of the Association of Humanistic Counseling (AHC) to “honor human beings both individually and collectively. We support the cultivation of authentic human relationships that contribute to the actualization of individuals within and across diverse cultures and communities. We foster counseling practice, education, scholarship, advocacy, and mentorship emerging from the humanistic traditions” (Association of Humanistic Counseling, n. d., para. 1). Using this mission, my students and I explore the important components outlined by Carl Rogers (1951) such as congruence, genuineness, and authenticity; unconditional positive regard; and empathic understanding. I like to engage my students in a discussion of this mission to gauge their thoughts and opinions around the importance of relationships in counseling. For the most part, after our discussion, students generally see the importance of the counseling relationship as essential to any success in counseling.
I teach play therapy courses to students who desire to obtain a specialty in counseling children and adolescents. Students often need a longer amount of exploration to feel comfortable about what this relationship looks like when working with children. Luckily, we have a wonderful framework in child-centered play therapy (Landreth, 2012) for which we provide humanistic counseling to children. Virginia Axline (1969), a student of Carl Rogers, translated person-centered theory to develop non-directive play therapy. We know Axline’s work as the basis for much the of child-centered play therapy model. Parallel concepts from Rogers to Axline to Landreth include allowing the child to lead and the counselor’s true belief that children have a natural self-directed propensity for growth (Landreth, 2012).
Child-centered play therapy principles sound quite similar to person-centered or client-centered counseling, but why do students tend to grapple more with this concept when working with children? I have found that gently challenging students and encouraging self-exploration, both in class and during supervision, help with counselor development. Ray (2011) outlines the process of play therapy supervision as a series of stages. After focusing and developing skills of child-centered play therapy, the counselor-in-training is likely to progress to a stage of questioning the child-centered philosophy. Is being non-directive best for children? Do children really know how to grow? Can children improve through such permissiveness from the counselor?
As a person-centered counselor and counselor educator, I show my students respect and compassion while providing them a safe place to learn, explore, and grow. Ultimately, my goal is to support my students in a way that prepares them to show these same humanistic traits to their clients. I have encountered a few experiences in supporting future child-counselors that may be useful to others, including an examination of the origins of students’ difficulty allowing permissiveness in counseling and believing in a child’s ability to experience self-directed growth; how to explore cultural norms relating to children; and methods for addressing potentially restrictive ideas about a child’s ability to achieve self-directed growth.
Potential Reasons for Difficulty. Cultural norms that include an appreciation for rules and boundaries for all children are likely the reason many counseling students initially struggle with a true child-centered counseling approach. I have found that many of my students have learned these concepts from several generations of their families and community members. Many novice counselors believe the way they were treated as children is the best way. I have had numerous students ask questions and make comments in class that demonstrate their hesitance to truly believe in the healing experienced by children while working with a counselor who fully accepts and believes in them. “How does the child grow if we do not make sure they are clear about their counseling goals and their progress? Do children really gain anything from a non-structured, permissive experience? Children need to be taught how to change their behavior.” It is not surprising that this is a natural, initial stumble of many students in their belief in humanistic child counseling.
Exploring cultural norms. As a member of AHC, there is likely no surprise that I naturally prefer a humanistic teaching and clinical supervision approach. I intentionally start the discussion about students’ true beliefs about children and change early for two reasons: (1) so students can start the introspection process and (2) so I can start modeling a person-centered response. I value my students’ opinions and beliefs, even if they are not in line with my own beliefs. I apply our same Rogerian principles (1951) and respond to them with congruence and authenticity. Using broaching (Day-Vines et al., 2007), I engage in discussion including questions that allow students to share their truth. Using authenticity, “the counseling relationship becomes the vehicle for navigating a discussion concerning issues of differences related to race, ethnicity, and culture” (Day-Vines et al., 2007, p. 402). Broaching activities can include class or small group discussion, but I also have utilized sandtray or drawing to allow students to depict their beliefs of how children grow and to explore how they were treated as children.
Addressing Deficit Thoughts of Children. As students share and we unpack their thoughts and the origin of their thoughts, students generally look for concrete skills to use with children. It usually does not take a long period of time before students see that child-centered play therapy skills somehow conflict with the underpinnings of how they view children. We need to address skill development to help students grow and improve their counseling while also understanding why this is a difficult task for various personal reasons. At this point, I generally have students come to me after class or supervision to individually describe some of their doubts about relying on the counseling relationship. This provides me a great opportunity to empathically ask questions and respond to students as they describe concerns and hesitations. I also authentically talk about my own experiences in training, counseling, and supervision and provide examples of children who have made tremendous progress. Around this time, I usually have students in supervision start to notice progress in the children they are working with and this helps hesitant students take pause and really allow themselves to let go of preconceived ideas of what children need. I have also found it helpful to present research that proves the benefits of child-centered play therapy. We compare the similarities of the children in the studies with the children we serve in our community. Many students begin to accept this humanistic child counseling approach, or at least some concepts, and gradually integrate them all. However, I honestly must say that some students do not accept and integrate all concepts of the humanistic child counseling approach. I see this as the fork in the road and I sometimes see students move toward other child counseling modalities that view the counseling relationship differently. Providing respect to these students and their decisions is also humanistic as we must rely on their personal development and ability to select counseling approaches that fit.
Supporting children through a humanistic counseling theory or modality is important because children have a natural drive to grow and heal. Children deserve the same respect as adolescents and adults, and we should not neglect this point in our training of counselors. It can be difficult for some counselors-in-training to believe that children can handle this unconditional respect and authenticity in counseling. As counselor educators and supervisors, we are well positioned to model humanism with our students and, by doing so, we are honoring them and their clients. While establishing authentic human connection, counselors and counselor educators make a positive impact on society, including our amazing children.
References
Association for Humanistic Counseling (n. d). Welcome to AHC. https://www.humanisticcounseling.org/
Axline, V. M. (1969). Play therapy. Random House.
Day-Vines, N. L., Wood, S. M., Grothaus, T., Craigan, L., Holman, A., Dotson-Blake, K., & Douglass, M. J. (2007). Broaching the subjects of race, ethnicity, and culture during the counseling process. Journal of Counseling and Development, 85(4), 401-409. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2007.tb00608.x
Landreth, G. L. (2012). Play therapy: The art of the relationship (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Ray, D. C. (2011) Advanced play therapy: Essential conditions, knowledge, and skills for child practice. Routledge.
Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.