Introduction to Rogerian Client-Centered Therapy

Social workers are tasked with understanding the nature of our socio-political environment and its impact on our communities and clients. Carl Rogers and his students and colleagues developed client-centered therapy as an approach to therapy which allows us to recognize internal distress not as an aspect of personal disease or failure but as a result of suboptimal or dysfunctional contexts. The discipline of client-centered therapy trains us to approach clients with attention to and respect for their autonomy, perspective, and right to human dignity in a marginalizing, oppressive society which may not honor our persons or freedoms. Through readings, demonstrations and practice, students will gain a basic understanding of the person-centered approach and be encouraged to harness their own creativity in applying this theory. We will explore ways to minimize professional authority, how to critique the diagnostic model of a specific treatment for a specific illness and how to create an environment in which clients can liberate themselves from internalized familial or societally defined “conditions of worth.” This class will give students specific tools to help develop a person-centered orientation and to develop the basics of a client-centered therapy practice. The course is open to all students including clinical, policy and research based students wishing to deepen their understanding of empathic approaches.