HIV/Aids

Basic counselling principles
The advent of HIV/Aids in the world has forced all of us to accept a paradigm shift from curing towards caring. Because we have no cure for HIV/Aids, we have to focus our interventions on caring for the physical as well as the psychological welfare of the HIV﷓positive individual and his or her significant others.

Basic communication skills
Since counselling is a conversation or dialogue between the counsellor and client, the counsellor needs certain communication skills in order to facilitate change.

Pre- and post- HIV test counselling
The HIV test is different from all other tests. It has phenomenal emotional, psychological, practical and social implications for the client.

Post-HIV test counselling
Not many things in life could be as stressful as going back for HIV test results. For many clients it feels as if the counsellor holds the key to the future in his or her hands.

Helping the infected person and affected significant others
The main function of the HIV/Aids counsellor is to be supportive of his of her infected and affected clients, to listen to their problems and to empower them to solve their problems and better their lives.

Kübler-Ross’s stages of dying
Kübler-Ross identified the following “stages” of dying...

Counselling principles and procedures
Here are some useful counselling principles and procedures from Nefale (2001).

Qualities of an effective counsellor
To be an effective HIV/Aids counsellor, you need the following qualities or values:

The eight commandments of emotional support
Pierre Brouard's eight commandments of emotional support can be applied by HIV/Aids counsellors.

Pre-HIV test counselling
The purpose of pre-test counselling is to provide you with information on the technical aspects of testing and the possible personal, medical, social, psychological, legal and ethical implications of being diagnosed as either HIV positive or HIV negative.

Impact of HIV infection on affected significant others
The significant others in an HIV positive person's life often need help themselves to come to terms with (1) their own fears and prejudices and (2) the implications and consequences of their loved one's sickness and ultimate death.

Bereavement counselling
The bereavement experienced by a person who has lost a loved one and the bereavement experienced by a terminally ill or dying person are very similar.

The four tasks of mourning
According to Worden (1999) there are four tasks of mourning.

Useful techniques in bereavement counselling
Counselling the loved ones of someone that has died from Aids or any terminal illness for that matter is a very difficult thing. Here are some useful techniques in bereavement counselling.