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The PCA – also referred to as client-centered care (CCC) or person-centered care (PCC) – is known as a nondirective method of care. Service users, or those who are accessing mental health supports, are viewed as individuals who have the ability to understand their own suffering, become increasingly aware of themselves and their life experiences and pursue new approaches toward greater fulfilment in life (Rogers, 1956).
The PCA is, at its core, where a service provider embodies qualities of acceptance, compassion, unconditional positive regard, authenticity or a genuine nature, understanding, and encouraging empowerment, where service user autonomy is supported (Rogers, 1949, 1956). Service providers embody and exemplify these qualities and provide a safe space where service users may work through and overcome their unique challenges. A PCA involves developing and maintaining supportive relationships with service users, along with (self-)respect for service users, their strengths, knowledge, experiences and autonomous choice (Hammell, 2013). Compassion may involve the service provider becoming present to the thoughts and feelings of the service user; in other words, getting into the service user’s world in regards to their experience.
It is crucial for service providers to develop themselves both professionally and personally to embody these qualities. The service provider’s attitude is the crux of the PCA and requires demonstrating acceptance, empathy, and genuine understanding in order for the service user to truly feel heard. This requires service providers to embody these characteristics as a way of being (Hyde & Kopp, 2019), which is more easily said than done. The quality of PCC that service providers offer may be very closely linked with their own personal journeys and with their own state of mental health and well-being.