Being A Humane Mental Health Professional

Page No. 123-127
Malavika Kapur
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India

This article is an exploratory one that compels counsellors and mental health
professionals to pay special attention to ingredients of effective counselling. These are:
client and counsellor communication, expression of empathy, use of empathy as a tool,
recognizing complaints and compliance as indicators of efficacy of counselling and
‘bedside manners’ along with the embedded soft skills as well. The above strands are
viewed from the perspective of western empirical data and insights from the indigenous
health systems. The article explores the notion of healing through the mind as the core
idea.