Counselling students' views and concerns about weeping with clients: A pilot study

This study examines counselling students' concerns and views about a phenomenon that has received little attention in the counselling literature: the counsellor weeping during a session with a client. Over 20 per cent of the counselling students who were surveyed reported being concerned about weeping in session with clients. However, the majority of students believed, to varying degrees, that weeping with clients could facilitate the therapeutic process. This paper sheds light on this unexplored dimension of countertransference, and has implications for those involved in providing counsellor training.

Key words:

• counselling
• countertransference
• supervision
• survey
• tears
• training
• weeping