Clients talk about their experience of seeking counselling

The purpose of this study was to explore the help-seeking behaviour of a sample of counselling clients using a questionnaire and follow-up, semi-structured interviews with 20 counselling clients who were seen at a walk-in, affordable counselling agency located in a mid-sized city in New Zealand. Specifically, clients were asked if they had received counselling previously, what efforts they had made to solve their problems before seeking counselling and with what success, why they chose this particular agency, their initial impression of their relationship with their counsellor, and their reactions to participating in the research. The data were analysed to ascertain themes associated with their decision-making and choices. Findings were discussed in relation to the literature on seeking counselling, how clients determine their need for counselling and the process they go through in deciding when and where to get it. Implications for counsellors are discussed.