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Counselling Connections Across Australia

created and maintained through social the client’s subjective personal world. As
discourse, dialogue, and co-operative counsellors we need to have a respect for
action by people in social relationships. Divine Truth, the factualness of objective
Because the social institutions that truth, and the multi-perspective nature
make up our social worlds are created by of intersubjective and subjective truth to
humans, humans can modify them. We function effectively.
experience these modifications as social
and cultural change. For the counsellor, engaging with the tier
of Divine Truth involves the counsellor’s
The fourth tier is our subjective truth. It own subjection to Divine Truth in his or
is represented by the daughter babushka her professional practice. This involves
doll. This is concerned with our personal the recognition that what God states about
perspectives and viewpoints of our social humans and how they should life matters.
and physical world, and our awareness of Divine Truth regarding humanity is a
our own internal world – its sensations, source of wisdom. It has the status of “the
cognitions, and emotions. We know maker’s instructions.” As with appliances,
subjective truth through objective you ignore the maker’s instructions at
self-awareness and mindfulness. Our your peril. Our own viewpoints regarding
subjective truth is vulnerable to self- what is best for the client needs to be
deception, and subconscious core with reference to the light that Divine
beliefs, emotional memories, and strong Truth sheds on the client’s situation. On
emotions. The choice to represent it by an intellectual level, the way we utilize
the small girl babushka doll reflects our theoretical frameworks and clinical
this vulnerability. Subjective truthfulness interventions need to be integrated into
requires humility and genuine our theological frameworks that are
this common world that is different to uncompromising honesty with oneself. referenced to Divine Truth. This is how
mine. Communication depends upon we bring our psychological theory into
an ongoing correspondence between The only reality that we directly experience subjection to Divine Truth.
my meanings and their meanings in this is the reality of our own perceptions and
world, that we share a common sense consciousness. We can only know the The second tier is concerned with the

about its reality. world from our subjective perspective. “brute facts” of a client’s situation. The
We therefore need to constantly “reality counselling question is how well is the
Our societies made up of institutions check” our perceptions through engaging client facing the “brute facts” of his or her
that are based on social conventions and with the physical world. When our circumstances, which simply constitute
agreements that acquire an external actions consistently have the expected the situation that the client is in. Often
reality of their own that constitute our results, this confirms the accuracy of these “brute facts” represent situations
culturally constructed social worlds. our knowledge of the physical world. that clients either have to adapt to or are

Over time they acquire their own reality Similarly, we rely upon meaningful able to change.
of “that’s how things are done”. They communication that creates a sense
become what Searle (1995:28-29) called of mutual understanding to confirm When we are engaging with the first and
“institutional facts”. We create our own the accuracy of our impressions with second tiers of truth, we are often faced
social worlds that are nested within the respect to other people and our social with one set of facts. Something is either
reality of the physical environment that world. Language provides the means true or real, or untrue. Truth is either
we live in. Our social world is subject to for conveying complex meanings in our acknowledged or not. A person can either
and shaped by the objective reality of communication with others. Language, acknowledge or ignore Divine Truth; there
our physical environment. For example, however, is not enough. We rely upon the are not multiple divine truths or multiple
suppose we see twenty five men running in-good-faith honesty of other people in physical realities. Simply one. This is
around in a field kicking a round leather their communication with us to gain the different when we shift to the second and
object. We may have no idea what they mutual understanding that confirms the third tiers. At this point we move from
are doing. But we view the activity much accuracy of our perceptions of our social one reality to multiple perspectives, each
more meaningfully when we identify that world. with their own validity of truth.
they are playing “soccer” according to the
social agreements and conventions that Because truth on the third tier is
constitute the FIFA rules of soccer. That IMPLICATIONS FOR intersubjective in nature, there is not
is, the institutional fact of “soccer” makes COuNSELLING necessarily one social truth that leaves a
their activity intelligible. Yet, the game of person right or wrong. Rather, there are
soccer is constrained by the law of gravity Effective counselling is a place of truth. multiple perspectives, and the greater

that is not subject to rule modifications by Counselling needs to be a place of truth the disagreement between people, the
FIFA. in order to bring about transformative more divergent their perspectives on
change. In counselling we engage with truth will be. Counselling work on this
Yet, as Greenwood (1994:78-81) pointed our clients with reference to all four tiers tier involves improving communication,
out, unlike the natural phenomena of the of truth. The way we engage with these validating diverse experiences
physical world, our social agreements tiers, however, varies. People often and perspectives, creating mutual
and conventions need to be actively come to counselling when reality “kicks understanding, generating cognitive
maintained and upheld by the people in their doors down”. Most counselling is flexibility and relational movement in
our societies. They remain intersubjective concerned with problems in the client’s order to renegotiate relationships and
in nature, because social institutions are social world and intrapsychic distress in change social patterns of interaction. It

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Edition 12 November 2020