The ingredients of a helping relationship are the skills and information the participants bring with them. The helpees bring with them their history of experience and their current abilities to “process”—both cognitively and affectively. The helpers bring to helping their own experiences and their “processing” skills—both cognitive and affective.

Together, helpers and helpees interact to facilitate their mutual “processing”—exploring, understanding, acting—of the helpees’ problems and goals. This is the essence of helping.