Person Centred Therapy, also known as Person Centred Counselling, uses a non-authoritative approach that allows clients to take more of a lead in discussions so that, in the process, they will discover their own solutions. The therapist acts as a compassionate facilitator, listening without judgement and acknowledging the client’s experience without moving the conversation in another direction. The therapist is there to encourage and support the client and to guide the therapeutic process without interrupting or interfering with the client’s process of self-discovery.

Person Centred Counselling emerged from humanism and starts from the premise that we all have the ability to move towards a more fulfilling and satisfying way of being and living our lives.

In the Person Centred Approach the counsellor trusts the client to find their own answers and direction. The counsellor is a fellow traveller on the client's journey, helping the client to understand how they interact with the world and helping them to develop a greater sense of self-awareness in a (physically and psychologically) safe environment.

The essential qualities needed to create this environment are empathy, acceptance and congruence. These core conditions, are at the heart of the Person Centred Approach.

Person centred therapy, also known as Rogerian therapy, originated in the work of the American psychologist, Carl Rogers, who believed that everyone is different and, therefore, everyone’s view of his or her own world, and ability to manage it, should be trusted. Rogers believed that all of us have the power to find the best solutions for ourselves and make appropriate changes in our lives. Person-centred therapy was a movement away from the therapist’s traditional role—as an expert and leader—toward a process that allows clients to use their own understanding of their experiences as a platform for healing. The success of person centred therapy relies on three conditions: