A question for counsellors!

[Daisychain]

Is there anything you don't feel comfortable talking about with your client? If so, do you talk about it anyway or try and skip the subject? :thanks:

[Jenny]

I'm not a counsellor, but i'd like to think that as a client i could talk about anything in counselling and that my counsellor wouldn't 'skip' the subject or whatever. If they are uncomfortable with a certain subject, e.g. sex, then they'd need to explore that as that's more to do with them than it is me.

Just my initial thoughts but would be interested in hearing others' views, as always :)

[andyhp]

I'm wondering are you meaning 'embarrassed with' rather than 'not comfortable' with? I can think of things that could make me uncomfortable without in any way making me embarrassed.

I've not been either so far if a client has wanted to talk about sex or any other 'subject' although I can see instances when I may feel discomfort, as well as other things, around many subjects e.g. if a client began to talk about sex with a minor.

I'm interested too in hearing other views.

[Daisychain]

I meant both uncomfortable and embarrassed. Sorry I should have given more detail.

Thanks for sharing your opinions xx

[Cherrypie]

This is quite interesting Daisychain as I have felt my counsellor not exactly skip a subject but move along quicker on some topics than others. You know sometimes a counsellor asks you questions to open the subject up further and other times it seems you say something and there is just this silence and I do wonder when this happens would he prefer I hadn't just said that or is he wanting me to expand? This is where silence can be confusing for a client I feel. Not knowning what it means..is the counsellor silent now because I just said something wrong or maybe its a subject he is not comfortable with?

There is one subject in particular that I would like to discuss and have kind of hinted at but it seems to get ignored rather than explored and I do wonder if he is uncomfortable with it. It feels like a subtle signal that he woud prefer not to look at that in depth..but that seem quite unlikely.. so then again it could be completely me making convenient assumptions and my own reluctance to look at it and not him at all.. I really don't know..

In a support group I facilitate recently someone shared their recent suicide attempt and I noticed feeling very uneasy internally.. I am very glad they shared it and it was welcome for discussion as all topics are but I think for me the feeling of unease was probably more feeling beyond my limit of competence to deal with such a serious issue.

I am a trainee of course so my experience is really limited.. I imagine I have still yet to discover whether there are specific topics that make me feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.

I have a feeling that the things that will embarrass me personally the most would not be so much a clients sexual experiences or self harming behaviours etc but more likely to be if someone were expressing their gratitude towards me then I would be really embarrassed!

xcherrypie

[shrinknightmare]

I once had a counsellor say that she would not discuss people's personal hygiene habits. I wanted to show the psychiatrist some photos taken at the scene of my daughters death, and she refused to look at them, if I can't show them to a psychiatrist who can I show them to.