Goals for counselling, psychotherapy and psychological education: Responsibility as an integrating concept

Responsibility may be viewed as a central integrating concept in counselling, psychotherapy, and psychological education. A distinction is made between responsibility to and responsibility for. The ultimate goal of counselling is to help clients towards taking effective responsibility for their own self-realising. Four mediating goals toward higher levels of self-realising are described: realism, relatedness, rewarding activity, and right-and-wrong (an ongoing process of ethical living). Some central sub-goals are suggested for these four areas, in each of which responsibility may be avoided or assumed.