Counsellor and client perceptions of the effectiveness of time-limited counselling in an occupational counselling scheme

Counsellors providing brief counselling (6 sessions) in a British Social Services Department completed post intervention questionnaires for 429 clients. These provided information on several measures about the degree to which they felt that their clients had benefitted from the counselling, how far they felt that the number of sessions was adequate, and the nature of the clients' problems. Two hundred and twenty-three of the clients also completed post-intervention questionnaires indicating their degree of satisfaction on a number of measures. There was fair agreement between counsellors and clients that outcomes were satisfactory, and that the number of sessions was adequate, although clients were more satisfied than counsellors. Counsellors identified a range of personal and occupational presenting problems, and around two thirds of problems belonged in the personal domain. Long-tern personal problems received lower satisfaction ratings and were more frequently referred on to other agencies.