ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how personal responsibility skills deficits are perpetuated or sustained. A major difference between the acquisition and the perpetuation of responsibility skills deficits through conditioning is that perpetuation is likely to involve internalized as well as external conditioning. Personal responsibility counselling and therapy is an integrative approach in a number of ways. All its interventions are based on the assumption that the object of counselling and therapy is to help clients as much as possible to help themselves. Effective self-therapy involves the capacity to listen to oneself well enough to be able to identify difficulties as they emerge, then the capacity to work through to acceptable solutions. Counsellor skills include assessing and identifying skills resources and deficits, forming an effective counselling relationship, focusing on thinking, facilitating behaviour change, and working with couples and groups. The function of personal responsibility counselling and life skills training is to help people become more effective self-therapists.
