A Short Introduction to the Person-Centred Approach

Course starts: 18 May 2023

Week 1: Carl Rogers, and the revolutionary thinking that led to PCA

Week 2: The three 'core' and six 'necessary and sufficient' conditions

Week 3: Rogers' 19 prepositions

Week 4: 'Gloria' and other examples

Week 5: PCA applied beyond therapy

All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.

There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.

Availability of titles on the reading list (below) can be checked on SOLO, the library catalogue.

Preparatory reading

• The Carl Rogers Reader / Kirschenbaum, H and Henderson, VL
• Person-Centred Counselling in Action / Mearns, D and Thorne, B
• On becoming a person / Rogers, Carl

Recommended Reading List

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

To inspire an interest in one of the most profound shifts in therapeutic thinking in the 20th century.

Course objectives:

1. To provide a summary of the context, significance, and key components of the person-centred approach.

2. To enable participants to appreciate the profound philosophical model underlying PCA and how it differs so radically from most other therapeutic traditions.

3. For students to appreciate the wider implications of the humanistic school, and PCA especially, for addressing large scale issues.

The course uses a variety of lectures, small group activities, video content, and individual exercises.

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

1. appreciate the historical context in which the humanistic, and especially the person-centred, approaches evolved;

2. have a clear understanding of the theories of the mind and of human emotional development proposed by Rogers;

3. relate Rogers' approach to modern understanding of emotional communication;

4. consider the relevance of Rogerian theory to larger scale interventions;

5. have experimented with the use of the person-centred approach in counselling, teaching, and large-group problem solving.

At the end of the course, participants will be encouraged to prepare a 750-1000 word summary of those aspects of PCA that have most inspired them.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)