Guardian/
Mental Health Professional Consent
Philosophical Counselling Method
The Philosophical Counselling Method uses the rules of reason to apply to both the counsellor and the client, making a fair exchange of ideas possible without appeal to authority. Teaching these reasoning rules are part of the method and responsibility of the counsellor.
Achilles Justice’s model of Philosophical Counselling utilizes the reasoning process of evaluating evidence and making sense of that evidence with a theory. The client and counsellor are then able to make progress in the client’s endeavours relative to the client's current skill set, knowledge base and state of mind. As the client improves on these attributes, they will eventually no longer need the support of the counsellor effectively growing from the client-counsellor relationship. The goal of the method is to train the client to become independent and self-maintaining in terms of their own mental health awareness.
The Philosophical Counsellor will make educated recommendations on how the client can solve specific problems from a general framework. The scientific problem of induction means that not every attempt will work and the counsellor is not to be blamed for unfulfilled expectations. It is the duty of the client to understand that changing one’s life takes training and practice. With training constructive habits, a developed knowledge set and a realistic perspective, the client can easily attain the goals they desire.
The Philosophical Counsellor may offer tools for the client to utilize, however the responsibility on how those tools are used falls on the client. The counsellor will respect the autonomy of the client in terms of the tools offered by insuring that the client is knowledgeable, competent and has the freedom to do otherwise. The counsellor wants to make sure that the client understands the principles and tools they are learning and how to apply them to their lives.
The Philosophical Counsellor has the capacity to help an individual change the course of their life in the direction they intend for it to progress by breaking down assumptions, beliefs, habits, attitudes and behaviours through discussion and observation. The counsellor is effectively giving the client autonomy over their life by helping the client gain control over elements that affect them and have an effect on them.
Achilles Justice Philosophical Counselling assumes that the client is engaged in their own self-therapeutic process for the counsellor does not offer psychotherapy. The Philosophical Counsellor will refer to types of psychotherapy from a philosophical perspective, discussing what the meaning of specific types of therapy, where the therapy originated from, parts of the theory, and an assessment of the philosophy of science regarding the theory. The purpose of discussing the philosophy of psychotherapy is so that the client can utilize wisdom from the various therapeutic practices for their own self-therapeutic healing process.
An assumption within Achilles Justice’s version of Philosophical Counselling is that every person must decide from within to heal themselves, including any relationship from a mental health professional. Achilles Justice Philosophical Counselling assumes that therapy, defined as a treatment to heal or relieve a disorder, is something that the client must do with their own awareness, agency, and actions towards their thoughts, attitudes, perspectives, behaviours, habits, social affiliations and environments. The role of the Philosophical Counsellor is to be an external observer who assists in this self-therapeutic process with the use of an empirical and scientific approach that helps the client make modification in any and all domains that will increase their wellbeing and mental health.
Aside from the use of reason and critical thinking, ancient greek philosophers have a paramount role to assist the Philosophical Counsellor. Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius are some of the predominant philosophers that are drawn upon when determining principles to guide a course of action or decision making process in the pursuit of wellbeing and mental health. There are some other philosopher’s from the history of philosophy that yield insight, like Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher’s of mind like Daniel Dennett, and cognitive scientists is Thomas Metzinger who fill in theoretical gaps to create the comprehensive theory that Achilles Justice Philosophical Counselling practice is founded upon.
Informed Consent
By reading the Explication of Services, the Informed Consent and Legal Disclaimer and the Guardian and Mental Health Professional Consent document, I consent to my client or person under the legal age of consent to undergo the services by Achilles Justice for Philosophical Counselling.
I am also acknowledging that I am of sound mind when I am reading this agreement for I must understand nature and the limitations of counselling and the state of my client or person I am a legal guardian of. I have read the explication of services document which explains what philosophical counselling is and what my client’s responsibilities are.
I believe that Achilles Justice’s Philosophical Counselling is the best decision for my client or person I am a legal guardian of at this time because it will be very helpful for them to help with their personal life issues and problems. I hereby certify that I am of legal age of consent according to federal and provincial laws of Ontario Canada.
I acknowledge, if I am the legal guardian of a person, that I am consenting for them to take these services for I believe it is in their best interest to do so.
I acknowledge, if I am the Mental Health Professional (Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist, or Psychotherapist) for a client who has a serious mental health issue like a mood disorder, psychotic disorder, personality disorder or something similar, that Achilles Justice Philosophical Counselling can aid in my client’s wellbeing and mental health. I have agreed to collaborate and cooperate with Achilles Justice for the wellbeing of my client. With the consent of my client, Achilles Justice will share documentation with me about the client for the clients wellbeing.
I understand that Achilles Justice is not acting as a psychotherapist. I understand that Achilles Justice is a philosopher who discusses the philosophy of science, mental health, psychotherapy, etc. I understand that Achilles Justice does not intend to violate the Psychotherapy Act, 2007 in any way in his scope of practice. If I ever have any questions about Achilles Justice and his services I am welcome to contact him, give him feedback and communicate about the limitations of his services at any time.
Confidentiality
I understand that confidentiality is of the utmost importance to the counsellor and the client. All content which is discussed will be kept confidential, as specified in the explication of services document for philosophical counselling, unless harm will come to my client, another person or the existence of child abuse is determined. If my client is seriously considering suicide, Philosophical Counselling will not necessarily be appropriate for them at that time and my client must contact 911 immediately.
If Achilles Justice is in contact with my client and there is an emergency issue, he will make an effort to contact me and emergency services as soon as possible. I understand that my client must first consent to Achilles Justice sharing documentation regarding the counselling of my client before he is able to do so. It is ultimately up to my client which information is to be disclosed to whom aside from the above mentioned harm to my client, others or existence of child abuse.