Unit 1 Section 3

1
Unit 1/ Section 3

• Human Relations Theories as Tools for HELPING
  OTHERS

2
The meaning of helping

• Helping means different things to different
  people it even means different things to the
  same person depending on what role that person is
  playing as the helper. Think about these
  questions
• Does helping need to lead to some level of change
  in the person being helped?
• Are effective helpers nurturing and responsive?
• What is the relationship between helping and
  growth, creativity wholeness?
• What are the appropriate guidelines for helping?

3
The dimension of conflict the helper is
focused upon influences the development of a
theory?

• Intrapersonal or Intrapsychic Conflict
  Concentrating on forces within the person.
• Interpersonal Conflict Concentrating on
  differences between persons.
• Individual v. Social Conflict Concentrating on
  the struggle between self development and social
  norms.
• Beyond Conflict to Growth Fulfillment
  Concentrating on meaning of life and
  self-actualization.

4
What is the optimum kind of Helping Relationship?

• Is the helper-helpee relationship
• Of minimal importance?
• A pre-condition for effective helping?
• The essential component of the helping process?
• A primary source for analysis?
• Q Can you match these 4 kinds of helping
  relationships with the following orientations
  Person-centered therapy, Classic behavior
  therapy, Freudian psychoanalysis, Cognitive
  therapy

5
Theory as a guide to helping

• Helpers need a guiding theory to help them make
  sense of the complex helping process. Of course,
  people can help otherswithout a thought about
  theory, but if they are going to work
  systematically in a helping function, they need
  some hooks on which to hang their experiences
  and some frame of reference for gaining
  perspectives on their work and improving their
  services. The main value of theory, in our
  opinion, is to give direction to the action phase
  of helpingHelpers must have clear assumptions
  about how behavior changes.
• Brammer, L., MacDonald, G. (1999). The
  helping relationship Process and skills.
  Boston Allyn and Bacon, p. 164

6
What makes a counselor a good counselor?

• Study Coreys list of Personal Characteristics
  of Effective Counselors on pp. 16-17.
• Select your 5 most preferred traits and rank
  them in order of importance. Briefly state the
  reasoning behind your rankings and e-mail the
  results to your classmates.
• See how you compare with your colleagues and
  utilize any feedback you receive to help hone
  your own theory on helping.

7
Qualities and attributes of good helpers

• Decades ago, a famous psychologist wrote
• It seems there is nothing esoteric or superhuman
  about the qualities needed by a good therapist!
  They are the attributes of a good parent and a
  decent human being who has a fair degree of
  understanding of himself sic and his sic
  interpersonal relations so that his sic own
  problems do not interfere, who is reasonably warm
  and empathic, not unduly hostile or destructive,
  and who has the talent, dedication, and
  compassion to work cooperatively with others.
  (p. 2)
• Strupp, H. (1973). On the basic ingredients of
  psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
  Psychology, 411-8.

8
Concluding thoughts Unit 1/ Section 3

• A careful review of the ideas presented in
  sections 2 and 3 of Unit 1 suggest a number of
  ways to begin thinking about developing your own
  theoretical approach to Human Relations. Your
  first formal written assignment on helping can
  be brief (only 3 pagessee syllabus) but it
  needs to be conceptualized carefully and written
  precisely. Spend some thoughtful time with this
  assignment it will prove very valuable to you,
  not only in preparing for this course, but for
  further Human Relations work you will do.