Counselling People Living with Dementia - Bringing Counselling Theory and the Client Together
In Episode 386 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, your hosts Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly take us through this week's three topics:
Firstly, in 'Ethical, Sustainable Practice', they explore cyber security for counsellors — what happens if your counselling practice is hacked, and the practical steps that protect you, your clients, and your reputation.
Then in 'Practice Matters', Rory speaks with Danuta Lipinska about counselling people living with dementia - and how to offer sensitive, ethical, person-centred support.
And finally, in 'Student Services', Rory and Ken discuss how to bring counselling theory and the client together - and why the work happens in reflection, not in the room.
Cyber Security for Counsellors [starts at 03:28 mins]
In this section, Rory and Ken explore cyber security for counsellors — the growing risk of cyberattacks and data breaches, and the practical measures that help protect a practice.
Key points discussed include:
Cyberattacks are now a frequent reality rather than a rare event, with Rory noting recent breaches affecting a nearby airport, a police database, and health records.
The 2020 breach of the Finnish psychotherapy company Vastaamo saw the therapy notes of around 33,000 clients accessed, with the attacker later contacting clients directly, and the BBC reporting that at least one person took their own life in a case linked to it.
Phishing emails, compromised accounts, and simply sending confidential information to the wrong person are common ways that client data is exposed, so the hosts advise a habit of stopping and thinking before clicking any link.
Because counsellors are data controllers under UK GDPR, the liability for a client's data can remain with the practitioner even when a third-party app or service is the one that is breached.
Cyber insurance is separate from professional indemnity insurance, so it is worth checking a policy carefully and asking the insurer to run through what would be covered if a breach occurred.
Sensible safeguards include strong and unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, keeping devices and software up to date, secure cloud storage, and regular backups, and the accompanying handout offers a checklist to take to supervision.
Counselling People Living with Dementia [starts at 33:59 mins]
In this week's 'Practice Matters', Rory speaks with Danuta Lipinska about counselling people living with dementia and how therapists can move beyond fear to offer respectful, meaningful support.
Key points from this conversation include:
A diagnosis of dementia does not mean the curtains close on a person's life, as the condition usually progresses over many years, and Danuta illustrates this with the author Christine Bryden, who received a PhD long after her young onset diagnosis.
Dementia is an umbrella term covering many different types of cognitive change, with Alzheimer's disease the most common form and vascular dementia the second, each affecting the brain in different ways.
The task is to see the person rather than the label, working with what the client brings just as with any other client, and holding to the core conditions of congruence, empathy, and acceptance.
Therapists should expect mental capacity unless told otherwise, remembering that capacity is conditional and that someone may lack it for one task while retaining it for a therapeutic conversation.
Young onset dementia can affect people under 60, which changes the concerns a client brings, such as work, family, and the future they had imagined.
Working sensitively means staying with the emotion when stories are repeated, contracting afresh each session, and being clear with well-meaning relatives that the therapist is not simply a friend.
Person-Centred Counselling for People with Dementia: Making Sense of Self
Danuta Lipinska’s book, Person-Centred Counselling for People with Dementia: Making Sense of Self, shows how the person-centred approach can help clients with dementia hold on to a meaningful sense of who they are. It's a short, practical read for counsellors, healthcare professionals and families. Find it here.
Bringing Counselling Theory and the Client Together [starts at 01:00:51 mins]
In this section, Rory and Ken discuss how students can connect counselling theory with real client work without trying to apply it live in the room.
Key points include:
Theory should not be applied while sitting with a client, because the task in the room is to be a fully present, listening human being rather than a diagnostician.
Counselling theory is not universal in the way gravity is, so it will not fit every client, and awarding bodies often ask for several sessions before a client is used as a case study for this reason.
Rory notes that Rogers himself developed his theory by recording and analysing many client sessions afterwards, not by applying it in the moment.
The place to connect theory and practice is in reflection and in supervision within your own modality, where a good supervisor helps name what happened and puts the mortar between the bricks.
With time this becomes unconscious competence, a way of understanding people that quietly informs the work without being consciously applied.
Mapping theory to practice belongs in a process journal and in assignments, and Ken points listeners to the Counselling Tutor student library for lectures on understanding theory and linking it to practice.
Links and Resources
Counselling Skills Academy
Advanced Certificate in Counselling Supervision
Basic Counselling Skills: A Student Guide
Counsellor CPD
Counselling Study Resource
Counselling Theory in Practice: A Student Guide
Counselling Tutor Training and CPD
Facebook group
Website
Online and Telephone Counselling: A Practitioner’s Guide
Online and Telephone Counselling Course
