Islamic Counselling: An Integrated Approach in Promoting Psychological Well-Being

The aim of this paper is to highlight the role of Islamic Counselling in promoting the psychological well-being in the society. Its integrated approach being applied in the counselling session involving the Muslim clients allows the counsellor to play a better role and perform more effective as compared to the conventional counselling. The three main elements in counselling adopted from Carl Rogers which is widely accepted to be practised during the counselling session are empathy, congruence and unconditional acceptance. Accommodation of the psycho-spiritual elements in Islamic Psychology which is Ibadah (Motivation), Amanah (Self-Concept) and Ilm (Intellect) are important in developing the Islamic personality of the counsellors. These elements will be able to strengthen their capability in handling the psychological issues faced by the Muslim clients. The development of a strong Islamic personality in a Muslim counsellor would certainly contribute to the positive character building of the clients which finally enable them to independently achieve their psychological well-being. Finally, this paper concludes the discussion by presenting the newly developed model namely, Integrated Approach of Islamic Counselling Model (IAICM). Keywords: Islamic Counselling, Integrated Approach Model, Islamic Psychology, Psychological Wellbeing, Psycho-spiritual Introduction Counselling refers to an interpersonal relationship which involved a form of interpersonal interaction between a congruent, knowledgeable as well as skillful individual (counsellor) to understand and assisting another individual (client) in solving his personal issues. Counselling will take place if an individual seeks psychological help from a qualified and registered person to handle a counselling session in order to discuss certain issues involving conflict or dilemma which prevent him from enjoying his life. Normally, an individual will only seek for help when they could not solve their own issues and this situation prevents him from performing his normal functions in life. As a counsellor, there are certain important and significant characteristics which are expected from him International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 3, March, 2019, E-ISSN: 2 22 2 -6990 © 2019 HRMARS 580 or her. Among them is unconditional positive regard of the client, congruent, empathy and honesty (Rogers, 1980). These characteristics form a basis for personality development among the counsellors. Generally, counselling is primarily concerned with the well-being of the mental health. The goals of counselling as stated by Corey (2013) are to change an individual’s thought, feelings and behaviour. A Muslim counsellor who works and performs only to seek the blessing of Allah throughout his whole life will always strive his best to help and assist his clients in the best possible manner, using his best to gain more knowledge, to master the counselling techniques and upgrading his skills to suit the needs of his clients. To be effective, counsellors should exhibit generic characteristics such as good psychological health, self-awareness, open-mindedness, having empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness and congruence, non-judgemental, cultural sensitivity and competence (Rassool, 2016). These characteristics, when couples with the Islamic spiritual elements would certainly bring better outcome to the counselling sessions. As concluded by Rassool (2016), Islamic counselling is a consciousness awareness of God in the counselling process in which it is based on the implicit understanding of a mutual belief system (Islam) shared by both the client and counsellor, which creates a trusting relationship between them. Thus, the practice of Islamic spirituality in the counsellor self, heart, mind and soul will develop a counsellor with Islamic personality and become the role model to his or her clients. Role of a Counsellor The counsellors play a very important role in helping their clients to overcome or manage their symptoms with the guidance. They could also help in developing strategies and skills such as coping mechanism in order to minimize as well as manage the psychological effects of the issues. Other than becoming an active listener, the counsellor should be able to help the clients in managing their stress by turning it from a disturbance into a motivation. The ability to develop resilience and inner strength among those affected by the mental health issues would certainly enable them to prevent themselves from further self-destruction. In general, counsellor serves as a helping hand to those who face psychological issues and they need somebody else to assist them in trying to overcome or even solving their issues. They need someone who has counselling knowledge, acquire related skills and techniques and the most important of all is a counsellor with good personality. Counsellor with good personality will keep the trust and will try his best to be the helping hand. Thus, Islam urges the Muslim to develop good personality to be the role model to his fellow beings. As a counsellor, there are several principles which are widely practiced by the counsellors all over the world. The main three as promoted by Rogers are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regards. Empathy involves the ability to emotionally understand what another person is experiencing. Essentially, it is putting you in someone else's position and feeling what they must be feeling. Congruence also refers to genuineness. Being congruent is being in touch with and genuine about own experience with ourselves and with our client. Being congruent means staying connected with self, client, space and time and to share a persistent thought or feeling. The counsellor who practices unconditional positive regard towards his client has deep and genuine caring for the client. He may not approve of some of the client's actions, but he does approve of the client. In short, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 3, March, 2019, E-ISSN: 2 22 2 -6990 © 2019 HRMARS 581 the counsellor needs an attitude of "I'll accept you as you are. " The person-centered counsellor is thus careful to always maintain a positive attitude to the client, even when disgusted by the client's actions. Role of an Islamic Counsellor Counseling in Islam emphasizes the biological, social, and spiritual aspect of individuals (AlThani, 2012). It emphasizes religious and cultural values. It also emphasizes the importance and beneficial effects of the family and social bonds against all-out individualism and selfish concerns. The functions of the Muslim counsellors are closely related to their goal in life, personality and characters. Nobody could deny that their responsibility to help their clients in achieving the psychological balanced and well-being is a big contribution to the client’s current and future life. It is already Islamic in nature. Not only his own life but also his family, the society as a whole and the most important is his aqidah. There are several writings (Al-Thani, 2012; Hamjah & Mat Akhir, 2013; Zayed, 2014) discussing about Islamic Counselling in their own ways. The present author has her own stand and understanding in relation to the role of an Islamic counsellor. Being Muslims, our approach is always to practise Amar Ma’aruf Nahi Munkar (ordering right, prohibiting wrong) (Surah Al-Imran, verse 104). As an Islamic counsellor, the role of helping clients who are facing the psychological issues is considered as the curative action. By applying the concept of Amar Ma’aruf Nahi Munkar, we are doing the preventive measure in assisting the client to develop the inner strength and capability to prevent them from doing harm to their deen, nafs, aqal, mal and nasab (Al-maqasid As-Shariah). Having to be tested by Allah (both the counsellor and the client), the concept of Muhasabah plays such an important role as a method of self-introspection as well as self-reflection to our past and current practice in our life. Non-judgemental attitude in assessing our client and us will make the counselling process to be a therapeutic and valuable one. Another important aspect is Islah. Having to identify and reflect his or her own deeds, it is vital for the counsellor to help the client to get back to the fitrah of a human (man is not born evil, he is vulnerable to evil stimuli or external sources of misguidance). Thus, self-improvement would be one of the best methods to correct the wrong doings. The goal of Islamic counselling is finally to gain the blessing of Allah through the Islamic practice of the counsellors in assisting their clients to be a blessing to themselves (psychological wellbeing), their family (healthy relationship) and their environment (Rahmatan lil ‘Alamin). Integrated Approach in Islamic Counselling The present author believes that counselling is already Islamic in nature. The acts of helping, assisting and relieving someone from the psychological issues that they are facing is part of amal ma’aruf which is under the obligations of all Muslims. As long as the techniques applied in conducting the session do not contradict with the syariah laws and regulations, there is no harm being done. To ensure that the elements or the principles of the Islamic counselling can be internalised, focus should be given to the development of Islamic personality of the counsellor. The author proposed an integrated approach in Islamic counselling through the combination of psycho-spiritual aspects of Islamic personality namely, Ibadah, Amanah and Ilm (Othman, 2011; 2016) and the counselling principles, which is, unconditional positive regard, congruence and International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 3, March, 2019, E-ISSN: 2 22 2 -6990 © 2019 HRMARS 582 empathy. These combinations would produce spiritual compe