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We’ve reached the end of the four-blog series exploring who is an EH therapist and what are the specific values, qualities, and skills of this type of therapy. Through reading the previous three blogs, you now have a better understanding of what EH therapy entails. We have examined the importance of the exploration of being and what unfolds in the moment. We have examined the importance of presence and the importance of the therapist being congruent, empathetic, and able to embody unconditional positive regard. We have examined the importance of an authentic relationship between you and your EH therapist.
I want to describe one more set of values, qualities, and skills that are intrinsic to what an EH therapist will provide.
1. The EH therapist facilitates the client’s search for meaning. This includes exploring the client’s definition of themselves and their world through their verbal messages and nonverbal cues. Their self and world identity may need to be challenged so that a more rewarding identity can be embraced if the client so chooses. I want to acknowledge Viktor Frankl for emphasizing the search for meaning. He drew on his personal experience of being in a concentration camp during World War II. From his experience, he created an existential therapy called Logo Therapy.
2. The EH therapist trusts that each client is capable of self-actualization and that self-actualization is not only good for the client, but it is also good for the world. The EH therapist also recognizes the inherent drive in all human beings to self-actualize. I want to acknowledge Abraham Maslow for his emphasis on the capacity of the human being to create and actualize their dreams and goals, once the obstacles to actualization are peeled away.
3. The EH therapist believes a client’s lived experience supersedes any theory or methodology about how that client should live.
4. The EH therapist emphasizes the qualities of presence, spontaneity, and flexibility in their work with clients. This allows the EH therapist to provide a unique therapeutic course for each client.
I wrote this series of blogs as I am passionate about the EH perspective in psychotherapy. I am also passionate about embracing these values, qualities, and skills as a way of life. I believe that living from the EH perspective has the potential to create a rich and fulfilling life for ourselves and will enable us to better serve the world.
