ABSTRACT
Alongside the contracting process, the initial stages of the person-centred therapeutic relationship will involve some sort of assessment process. The theoretical arguments for and against assessment and diagnosis in the context of person-centred therapy were made earlier (Point 32). While diagnosis is seen as unnecessary, unhelpful and even potentially harmful to the course of person-centred therapy, assessment of the client is viewed similarly. However, in practice many, if not most, person-centred practitioners do make an assessment of the likelihood that they will be able to offer a relationship including Rogers’ six conditions to the particular client, at the particular time, in the particular place even if they call it something else. This is something other than diagnosis and the emphasis is on the (potential) relationship not the client. Under the right circumstances, the client will make constructive personality changes. Any limitation to this prospect is more likely to lie with the therapist and, in a way, part of person-centred assessment is the gauging of the therapist’s ability by the therapist.
