Carkhuff – Core Conditions of counselling

I was steeped in this model of counselling for many years, first I was taught in the early ’80s by my supervisor, John Morrison, and then more formally in Social Work training. Still think it a useful approach.  I like just seeing the list of these core conditions again.

Carkhuff’s integration was achieved by extending the list of core conditions. He eventually arrived at a list of eight factors which were divided into two categories, as follows:

CATEGORIES	FACTORS
Responsive Dimensions	Empathy
	Respect
	Specificity
Initiative Dimensions	Genuineness
	Self-disclosure
	Confrontation
	Immediacy
	Concreteness

Sometimes Carkhuff conceptualises the “responsive” and “initiative” dimensions as complementary aspects of a single seamless process, and sometimes he sees them as phases of a two step process, the first phase involving “inward probing” and the second “emergent directionality”.