Ubuntu-informed counselling

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Lumka Qangule, Van Dyk, Nefale · 2005 · South Africa

What it is

Ubuntu-informed counselling is not one manualised therapy. It is a family of culturally grounded ways of practising, mostly from South Africa. They keep the ethics of mainstream psychotherapy and change the therapy frame (time, place, money, language, touch, gifts, role, self-disclosure) so it fits…

Format

• Qangule (uBuntu-Centred Psychotherapy). The model chapter has these sections: characteristics of the uBuntu-Centred psychotherapist; uBuntu-Centred sessions (establishing rapport; psychoeducation); a model figure (Fig. 6.2); elements to be mindful of (spirituality); and principles. In the findings,…
• Working structure for this guide. None of the sources prescribes a session count. Use your usual format (weekly sessions of about 50 minutes, individual or with family) and adjust it as described in Section 4.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Therapist burnout and over-involvement. Use supervision.
• Disclosure that burdens the client or invites caretaking.
• Repeated lateness linked to avoidance. Explore it gently (see 5.4).
• Conflicting instructions, or a client who feels judged for using multiple systems.
• Psychoeducation that dismisses the client's explanation. It should sit alongside it.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.