Can we be of help? Cultural considerations regarding personal growth, relationships, therapy, and life

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the question Rogers asks: ‘How can I be of help?’, which formed the theme of PCE2022. Firstly, the article discusses the context of the question, i.e. as an epigrammatic introduction to Part II of his book On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy, and then, in the spirit of critical enquiry, offers some deconstruction of the question in relation to implicit Western assumptions. Thus, the second part of the article poses a logically prior question ‘Can I be of help?’, doing so with reference to humility, cultural humility and, therefore, the positionality of the therapist – and, by extension, the supervisor, trainer, and researcher. Taking a further, critical step, the third and final part of the article considers the implications of changing the pronoun ‘I’ from first person singular to ‘we’, i.e. first person plural, not least in extending the vision of Rogers’ original view of psychotherapy to ‘Can we be of help?’ – and, moreover, not only to each other but also in life and to our living planet.

KEYWORDS:

• Helping
• power
• culture
• contact
• client incongruence
• therapist congruence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.