Book Review: Person-Centred Facilitation: Process, Theory and Practice

Abstract

This 264-page text deals with the application of person-centred theory to counselling and development work with individuals, groups and communities. This is the third edition of this text published by Oxford University Press Southern Africa. There is a thoughtful forward to the book by Ida van Dyk, who suggests that the subject matter is particularly useful at this historical moment in South Africa with the range of social and political difficulties facing citizens and those involved in the 'helping professions' and the enormous challenges and potential benefits inherent in fully recognizing the diversity of the population. As the title suggests, rather than focusing more narrowly on counselling or psychotherapy, the book is directed towards exploring how 'facilitation' offered in a client-centred manner may lead to personal, group and community insight, growth, cohesion and efficacy. Thus while there is clearly considerable overlap between the counselling domain and facilitation as explored in the text, the text suggests that the kinds of principles that might be applied in group and individual counselling or psychotherapy settings can be employed to work more broadly with groups and communities towards positive change. The term 'facilitation' also captures the kind of attitudinal framework that informs the book, in that the authors remain true to the spirit of Carl Rogers in maintaining that curative or growth-oriented attributes and motivations are inherent to individuals and collectivities of individuals and require uncovering and nourishment (facilitation) rather than more directive or goal oriented kinds of interventions.