– Vincenzo Graziani, speaker at the AssoCounseling national conference held in Rimini on April 5, 2025 

Discover the power of authentic presence in counseling and why, despite our technological age, the dual relationship remains essential to human wellbeing.

Reading time: 6 minutes

The value of the dual relationship according to Mr. Graziani 

As a member of Assocounseling, I attended Vincenzo Graziani’s brilliant presentation at the national conference on April 5, 2025. Counselor, philosopher, philologist, psychologist, and psychotherapist, Mr. Graziani redefined the counseling relationship as a genuine encounter “from person to person”, a concept that I apply daily in my work with my clients. 

I had the honor of personally meeting Mr. Graziani on a train platform the day after the conference. I was struck by his mental youthfulness that contrasts with his chronological age. He demonstrated what he calls a “deep emotional tonality”, which according to him represents the essential quality of an authentic counseling relationship. 

This quality was revealed when, recognizing me as a counselor although he had never met me before, he shared an important detail of his life with me. This gesture of authentic openness, this ability to immediately create a meaningful relational space with a stranger, allowed me to experience firsthand what I had heard in his presentation at the conference.

Carl Rogers’ legacy in Mr. Graziani’s vision 

What makes Mr. Graziani’s perspective particularly valuable is his deep connection with Carl Rogers, American psychologist and psychotherapist, a reference figure in the field of humanistic psychology and the person-centered approach. Mr. Graziani had the privilege of being Rogers’ student for many years, directly absorbing from the source this revolutionary vision that in 1940 gave birth to counseling as we know it today.

“Focusing on my own experience, being there with myself and with the person I meet, in the fullness of the encounter itself” – this Rogerian contribution resonates in Mr. Graziani’s words and nurtures my daily practice.

The essence of dual dialogue 

Mr. Graziani reminds us that “truly personal relationship is dual”. This dimension, similar to the primordial intrauterine relationship, responds to the fundamental human need for connection. As Mr. Graziani states: “We were not born alone, everyone needs duality”.

Beyond technique: the direct relationship 

According to Mr. Graziani, counseling offers this relational space “reduced to the minimum possible” that allows for authentic intimacy. In my professional practice, I apply this principle daily, creating a space where “we learn not from someone but WITH someone”.

The transformative power of authentic encounter 

Mr. Graziani affirms: “Otherness is our nightmare and our beauty” and it is precisely in this tension that the regenerative power of counseling resides. In the accompaniment process, I rely on what Mr. Graziani calls “Trust the process”, an invitation to believe in the transformative potential of the relationship itself. 

When Mr. Graziani states that counseling “remains a profession in historical process”, he reminds us that our practice is in continuous evolution, not crystallized in rigid techniques but alive, dynamic, and responsive to social and cultural changes. As a Transactional Analysis counselor, I find profound inspiration in this vision: it is in the authentic trust in the power of human encounter – with its imperfection, mystery, and potential – that the distinctive strength of our profession lies. Not in techniques or protocols but in the relational exchange that transforms both participants.