PACFA DRAFT DEFINTIIONS- March 2010 Clarification of Psychotherapy and Counselling terminology:
Psychotherapy and Counselling are talking and relationship-based therapies in which registered professionals use theory, research and practice-based knowledge and supervised training, skills and experience with the goal of reducing unsurety or harmful behaviour and improving relationships, quality of life, social functioning and health, within the context of an interpersonal relationship that is designed to facilitate these changes.
Psychotherapy and Counselling are talking and relationship-based therapies in which registered professionals use theory, research and practice-based knowledge and supervised training, skills and experience with the goal of reducing unsurety or harmful behaviour and improving relationships, quality of life, social functioning and health, within the context of an interpersonal relationship that is designed to facilitate these changes.
Psychotherapy shall be taken to refer to the application of focused inter-personal and/or psychological theory based treatment applications that enable people to develop insight and self understanding and to make changes in their lives within the framework of a contracted professional relationship. A registered professionally qualified Psychotherapist is clinically trained to help clients to develop insight and understandings that mediate personal unsurety, disordered patterns of behaviour, and/or promote positive personality growth and development.
Counselling shall be taken to refer to the development of a professional relationship and activity in which one person endeavours to help another to understand and to solve specific problems or changes in life transitions including situations where specialised knowledge and method are needed. A registered professionally qualified Counsellor is trained to assess and respond holistically to the needs of clients (which can be individuals, families, couples or groups) in their family, social and cultural contexts, and to assist
clients to resolve a wide range of issues affecting their emotional well being and social functioning.
In contrast to treatments utilising mainly chemical or physical measures, Psychotherapy and Counselling seek to utilise the relationship with the client to explore the genesis of experienced difficulties, resources that may not have been utilised and other life situation issues that need to be faced and solved.
At advanced levels of training, Counselling has a greater overlap with Psychotherapy than at foundation levels with the object of (1) promoting positive emotional and social wellbeing and personality development (2) developing insight and understandings that mediate disordered patterns of behaviour and/or (3) helping clients to effectively remove, modify and respond to presenting symptoms.
The interventions used by both Counsellors and Psychotherapists vary according to their theory base and level of supervised training to meet the needs of their clients with the objective of assisting clients to improve life satisfaction when they face relationship and family difficulties, situations involving grief and loss, bereavement, post-trauma conditions occupational health and safety and employment concerns, addictions, chronic illnesses and other sources of unsurety including education, health, migration, legal status and home life changes.