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 A D P C A

The Association for the Development of the Person Centered Approach.

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Commonly Asked Questions.

What is the ADPCA?

The Association for the Development of the Person-Centered Approach is an international network of individuals who support the development and application of the person-centered approach. ADPCA welcomes the participation of educators, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, health service providers, pastoral counselors, organization development specialists, and all people who are interested in the field of human relations and personal and interpersonal development. In an endeavor to practice the person-centered approach within the Association, members share the responsibilities and privileges of leadership.

The Association sponsors an annual conference, a distinctive feature of which is large community group meetings, and disseminates information about other person-centered activities and organizations throughout the world. It publishes a newsletter, a journal and an annual membership directory. Membership benefits include subscriptions to those publications and participation in a community of individuals who share person-centered values.

What is the Person Centered Approach?

"Individuals have within themselves vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes, and self-directed behavior; these resources can be tapped if a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided.

There are three conditions that must be present in order for a climate to be growth-promoting. These conditions apply whether we are speaking of the relationship between therapist and client, parent and child, leader and group, teacher and student, or administrator and staff. The conditions apply, in fact, in any situation in which the development of the person is a goal. I have described these conditions in previous writings; I present here a brief summary from the point of view of psychotherapy, but the description applies to all of the foregoing relationships."

[ Rogers then goes on to describe the three conditions in three paragraphs. Then in a final paragraph for this section of the chapter he says]

"How does this climate which I have just described bring about change?

Briefly, as persons are accepted and prized, they tend to develop a more caring attitude toward themselves. As persons are empathetically heard, it becomes possible for them to listen more accurately to the flow of inner experiencings. But as a person understands and prizes self, the self becomes more congruent with the experiencings. The person thus becomes more real, more genuine. These tendencies, the reciprocal of the therapist's attitudes, enable the person to be a more effective growth-enhancer for himself or herself. There is a greater freedom to be the true, whole person"

from Carl R. Rogers. Way of Being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980, p.115-117

Site last updated 01 August 2008. Hits since 3 June 2002.

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