ABSTRACT
Learning about therapeutic work and researching the work are both a way of acquiring knowledge – a knowing about something. In contrast, therapeutic work with another person is essentially a process of experiential knowing. When we begin to work with someone there has to be a sense of curiosity about the person and an impetus to reach out and understand their situation. As we work with them we feel empathy and we become involved in what is happening in the relationship – this constitutes, though often at an implicit level, a form of experiential knowing. Such ethical practice links to the notion of developing the core assumptions of a client-centred relationship based on respect, empathy and acceptance. This constitutes a central belief of all models of relational therapy such as the psychodynamic, the person-centred, analytical psychology, transactional analysis, the phenomenological approach of existential therapy, and most models of integrative counselling and psychotherapy. It also underlies the social work, clinical and educational psychology professions, and is implicit in social care and most forms of nursing.
