A counsellor has been working with a client over a period of 9 months assisting with inner child therapy work. During the period, the client also talks about her relationship issues, sexuality as well as a relationship with another person. The counsellor, who also happens to be in a same sex relationship and going through her own separation issues, advises the client she will help counsel her through separating from her husband if the client decides she is lesbian. When the counsellor discovers the ‘other person’ the client is seeing is a male, the counsellor immediately advises the client to stop seeing him and have her husband and herself, come for marriage counselling.

Do you think the counsellor should have referred the client or continued the extensive progress that had been made during the course of the sessions? If the counsellor decided to refer on, when would have been the most appropriate time to do that? Also please explain your position on counselling couples and each individual partner separately?