The training as a counselor in the Person Centered Approach proposes to go beyond the theoretical concepts developed by Carl Rogers through his experience as a therapist and facilitator.

Definitions of human being, of the qualities of interpersonal relationships, theories about the self-knowledge and display process join in a humanistic-philosophical stance and to a look of the possibilities for change that imply a gradual personal involvement of the counselor beyond an intellectual knowledge.The PCA is an invitation to a permanent self-exploration, the challenge of being affected by the mutual influence in the encounter with the other.

In their training and subsequent development of the profession, counselors go over a long way of expanding consciousness that lead them to rethink their notion of self, to loosen it up to deep contact with being, recognizing their denied or distorted experiences, reaching levels of increasing authenticity.

Thus, the contact with the client is also an encounter with another being that allows both to open to the spiritual dimension and to enrich the experience with freedom and responsibility.

Being trained from the Person-Centered Approach is a more attitudinal than theoretical training and, from that foundation, the practice would bring into play the presence that supports empathy, congruence and unconditional regard and, therefore, facilitate the free experience of the counselor, the client and the relationship between them.

In that way, the identity of the counselor of the PCA proposes a personal and unique way of being, sustained by C.Roger’s theory but which goes beyond concepts and definitions.

For example, the concept of respect for the personal experience is more than the respect for the other in his/her behaviour or way of presenting him/herself. It's a much more complete conception that leads us to consider the magnitude of what respect for diversity and the peculiar manifestation of every human being mean.

The concept of basic trust that supports a non-directive relationship, which gives the client the opportunity to discover or to find his/her own self, has transpersonal connotations; ie trusting carry us beyond what we can humanly know and let us be guided by our wiser, more intuitive and essential being. This way, the counseling consultation develops beyond the counselor's personality and his/her knowledge to open a common area that includes body wisdom and intuition of both persons. From the practice of counseling through the years, it became clear that each person has a lot of ways to connect with his/her inner world, with him/herself and with the higher energy that nourishes him/her, called God, Source, Cosmos, etc., in an attempt to appoint a connection that exceeds words and categories but that it is felt and experienced by humans.

Based on the awareness that PCA proposes us of increasingly knowing ourselves, of freeing ourselves from constructs and biases that distort our experience, we delve into a path that covers several dimensions of our being beyond personality.

In our transpersonal point of view embodied in "A way of being present", we facilitate processes where conflicts, the person and the situations are viewed from a broader perspective. As a result, it leads us to an integration of experience aligned to a deep unfolding of being.

Interpersonal conflicts, frequent reason of consultation, opens to us the possibility to realize the co-creation of bonds that are functional to our evolution as human beings; projections of our own aspects that remain in the shadows, the concept of going beyond the polarities to feel integrated and yet, humble human beings who travel a world full of light and darkness.

The obstacles we face in life, rejected by our personality, can be viewed as opportunities for learning and evolution. The contact with the soul brings the confidence of being beings sustained by a superior energy, a divine will that points us the way. We leave ego challenges, success, power, recognition, to experience the joy of being and feeling thankful.

"A way of being present" takes PCA as its basis and deepens the basic attitudes, the type of relationship and the atmosphere to include all the subtle aspects of human encounter. We work with counselors who want to expand their listening in the interview, leaving mindsets and goals that limit the experience, to hear from the self and to allow the process itself and the consultant’s process to happen.

MargaritaMostany

Belén González