What is Person Centred Therapy?

This is a nondirective therapeutic approach. The client is perceived as having expert knowledge about their situation and abilities. The counsellor is there to facilitate the client to change towards the positive, as people are inherently drawn to behaviour that is best for them. The counsellor is there to facilitate the conditions needed for client change towards what they instinctively know is best for them.
PCT is the basis for building a therapeutic relationship regardless of what mode of therapy the therapist is primarily using. As the relationship between the client and his counsellor is the basis for all subsequent work, PCT is foundational for all counsellors.



What is the history of Person Centred Therapy?

PCT is also known as Rogerian Theory because it is based on the work of Carl Rogers from the mid to late 20th century. Carl Rogers was a psychologist whose research made him turn away from the Sigmund Freud Psycho Analytical approach. Rogers developed a more humanistic approach. Humanism was a reaction against the focus on understanding people’s difficulties as products of unresolved past conflict (Freud), or negative behaviour based on learned experience (B.F. Skinner’s Behavioural theories). PCT aims to have a more holistic and positive view of the person and their ability to self-heal.
PCT has been the historic common denominator for counselling training for decades. To learn more about Carl Rogers, see here for more information




What is Person Centred Therapy used for?

Because PCT is a gentle therapeutic approach, it is suited to acutely vulnerable clients. When a client is dealing with severe trauma, they need to be held in a safe therapeutic space where they can offload their story to a safe, nonjudgmental, neutral observer to feel heard and have their pain validated. 
With less acute presentations, the client who is struggling with an undefined sense of unhappiness will respond well to the nondirective, reflective exploration of their condition.




Person Centred Therapy in Prevail

For me, PCT provides the principles upon which to build my therapeutic relationship with every client. These principles are best summarised by the three core conditions of PCT.
They are:

  • Positive Unconditional Regard:
    This is the nonjudgmental, actively accepting practice of the counsellor towards the client. This is based on the belief that the client is the expert on themselves. I am there only to enable them to access this expertise for their self-healing.

  • Empathy: It is important that I try to understand the client’s condition in the same way that he does. This could be called “Singing from the same hymn sheet”. When the client believes that the therapist truly understands them, a high degree of trust is developed. Now the relationship is very conducive to therapeutic change. I can testify that this change can happen both ways, as I have been changed through my work with clients.

  • Congruence: PCT requires that I be honestly present (congruent) with the client in the session. As much as life allows, I am not to bring thoughts or feelings from my daily life into the session. I believe I have developed this skill as a result of hundreds of hours of 1:1 counselling practice. This enables my empathy and general listening in client work.


The skills of deliberate active listening (ie verbal and nonverbal engagement with the client as they speak), and reflecting back to the client the summary of what they are saying are central aspects of PCT practice.
Reflective summaries help clarify that I have heard the client correctly.

PCT is the primary mode of therapy I use during the assessment phase of the therapy process. This is usually in the first two or three sessions.
To learn more about how PCT works, see here for more information