Challenges:
As psychology and counselling is fairly new in Azerbaijan and it was not known by many citizens of the Republic 15 years ago, many are not really comfortable with going to a counsellor or a psychologist. Though there is a framework given by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan on what is needed to become a psychological counsellor there are not many educational or training institutes. Counselling on its own is not represented in Azerbaijan, it only exists in combination with Psychology. Therefore you need to have studied Psychology to become a psychological counsellor. A simple Bachelor is not enough to become a successful Counsellor, graduated students work in private psychological centres to improve their skills and knowledge (cf. Karimiva 2020).
Trends:
The biggest trend in Azerbaijan is the implementation of psychological counselling and awareness-raising activities, as well as preparation and broadcasting of social advertisements and the organization of hotline.
Mostly counselling is combined with psychological assistance and is frequently practiced in educational and medical institutions (cf. Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan 2020).
A more specific trend is the Rogerian therapy (person-centred communication) (c. Karimova 2020), which is about a multitude of personal development paths towards autonomy, supportive community, empathy, acceptance and congruence. The communication that thus emerges will be explored from the outside regarding its nature and characteristics. This happens with the steady awareness that any attempt at describing a phenomenon that is constantly evolving and thus in motion can only lead to an approximate description of its nature (cf. Motschnig/Nykl 2014: 25f).
Another Trend is the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) (cf. Karimova 2020), which encompasses a wide range of practices that incorporate both cognitive and behavioural conceptualizations and interventions with the goals of cognitive and behavioural change (cf. Iarussi, M. 2020: 34).