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1. EC1- Illustrate the different processes and methods involved in counseling

Sixteen years old Lara is having problems at home. She does not get along well with her parents and youngers sister. She believe that her parents favor her sister more. This makes her feel unloved and depressed. Even her class performance suffers from her problems with her family. Upon the suggestion of her class advisers, Lara visits their guidance counselor to seek help on how to address her issues.

During the counseling session, Lara started to share her concern about her family. Her counselor kept on interrupting her, however, by asking too many questions. By the end of the session, her simply advised her that all she has to do is keep the communication lines open in the family. Lara left the counseling office more frustrated and confused than before she went in. she feels that she was unable to express what she really thinks and feels. She also felt that her counselor did not listen nor try to understand her. She was dissatisfied with how the counseling session turned out.

Why was the counseling session ineffective? Try to answer this question yourself as you learn about the processes, services, and methods of counseling in this module.

Types of Counseling

Counseling can be classified according to the number of participants and the nature of concerns. (Villar, 2009)

According to the Number of Participants

Villar identified five common types of counseling according to the number of participants. These are individual, group , multiple, couple, and family counseling.

Individual counseling is the best known type of counseling. This involves a one-on-one session between the counselor and the client. This takes place during the following situations:

1. When clients experiencing difficult moments in their lives voluntarily meet with counselors in the belief that these professionals can help them,

2. When clients are referred to counselors by the people close to them after all other efforts in solving their problems have been exhausted;

3. When during a routine interview (mostly done in school), counselors find their clients to have actual concerns that need to be addressed through counseling.

Group counseling, on the other hand, is the type of counseling which involves several clients with common concerns and goals. For instance, clients who have problems with interpersonal skills can group together and work out some strategies. Some clients prefer group counseling because it gives them a feeling that they are not alone and also gives them opportunities to listen and learn from other group members.

Multiple counseling is a rather new type of counseling wherein more than one counselor attend to clients -may it be an individual, couple, or group. The counselors may meet with the client individually, by pairs, or as a group during the counseling sessions. For example, a family in counseling may have two counselors during a session, with one observing and taking notes and the other facilitating the counseling session.

Couple counseling refers to counseling to various types of couples such as male-female, male-male and female-female. This type of counseling focuses on the relationship concerns of the parties involved.

Family counseling is the type of counseling between family members and a trained counseling professional. This may be focused on improving family relationships or for helping the family cope with incident-specific issues, such as a death in the family. Family members may also be invited to participate in the counseling sessions to help its individual member identify and resolve his problems.

In the Philippines, the most common types of counseling are individual and group counseling.

According to the Nature of Concerns

Counseling can be also be categorized according to the nature of concerns of the clients. The nature can be personal/social, academic/educational, and career/vocational/occupational.

Personal/social counseling focuses on personal concerns and concerns relating to the client’s relationship with others. Personal problems include stress, depression, relationship concerns, and identity issues. Social concerns include conflict with friends and bullying. Concerns not covered by academic/educational and career/vocational/occupational categories are also within the scope of personal/social counseling. Aside from helping clients see their problems in a different perspective, clients are helped to develop necessary coping skills.

Academic/educational counseling, also referred to as school counseling, is focused on helping students acquire and use lifelog skills by developing their academic, career, self-awareness and interpersonal communication skills. This type of counseling aims to pro mote and enhance the students’ learning process. School and academic concerns include selecting a school, adjusting in a new school, or surviving in a competitive school environment.

Career/vocational/occupational counseling prepares and assists clients for the world of work. Providing clients with the necessary information for them to plan and make decisions regarding their career is one of the major activities of this type of counseling. Students who are unsure of what path to pursue and employees who are experiencing difficulties at work can benefit from career counseling.

Services in Counseling

Counseling provides a range of services for addressing client needs. Below is a list of some these service. These services are also areas of specialization that counselors venture into.

· Addictions counseling focuses on clients with addiction problems (e.g. alcohol, drugs, gambling). Counselors use behavior modification strategies to help clients minimize and eradicate these problems.

· Career counseling focuses on helping clients make career decisions. Counselors employ assessment tools to help clients arrive at decisions which are best suited to them.

· Child and adolescent counseling focuses on helping child ad adolescents with their developmental needs and concern.

· Community counseling focuses on helping divers populations with different concerns and needs.

· Correctional counseling focuses on helping clients in various law enforcement settings such as juvenile delinquency centers to those who are behind bars serving their sentences.

· Couples and family counseling focuses on assisting couples and families in difficult circumstances.

· Crisis counseling focuses on aiding individuals and groups experiencing crisis situations which hinder them to function in their everyday life.

· Employment counseling focuses on assisting clients on finding a specific job ana also includes the clients’ personal and social concerns.

· Employment counseling focuses on assisting clients on finding a specific job and also includes the clients’ personal and social concern.

· Gerontology counseling focuses on helping the older clients address their various concerns.

· Group counseling focuses on helping clients with similar concerns, needs, and problems through group approach.

· Mental health counseling focuses on assisting clients with emotional and psychological concerns to promote mental health.

· Multisectoral counseling focuses on developing counselor sensitivity to catering to clients coming different ethnolinguistic groups, race, gender and age.

· Pastoral counseling focuses on a diverse population with different needs and concerns. What makes this area unique is the fact that the members of the clergy are the front liners when church or ministry members seek help.

· Rehabilitation counseling focuses on helping clients suffering from physical or emotional disabilities which may affect their family, social and work life.

· School counseling focuses on helping clients with personal-social, academic and career. Concerns. They also collaborate with teachers, administrators and other school personnel.

STAGES OF COUNSELING

Counseling takes several stages. Authors have different descriptions of these stages. Brown and Srebalus (2003) identified three general stages: beginning phase, middle phase and late phase. Gladding (2009), on the other hand, specified in his stages what usually happens in these three general stages: building counseling relationships, working in a counseling relationship, and termination of counseling relationships.

Stage 1: Relationship Building. The quality of a counseling relationship is one factor which can make or break the counseling process. At the onset of counseling, counselors establish an atmosphere where clients feel safe so that clients can share their innermost concerns, feelings and thoughts. Rapport between counselors and clients should be built.

Counselors can do this by manifesting the “core conditions” as proposed by Rogers (1957 as quoted in Nystul 1999). These core conditions are empathy, unconditional, positive regard, and congruence.

Empathy is “the ability to understand the subjective experience of the client – to perceive the world as the client does while retaining one’s own identity.” Counselors are able to understand their clients by actively listening to them and communicating what they have understood back to the clients. It is not enough that counselors know the what, how and why of their clients but also be accurately aware of their clients’ feelings and experiences.

Unconditional positive regard refers to “counselors communicating to clients that they are of value and worth as individuals”. This has been called in various names such as non-possessive warmth, acceptance, prizing and regard. Counselors recognize their clients’ uniqueness and dignity as individual.

Lastly, congruence means “counselors behaving in a manner consistent with low they think and feel” this is also known as genuineness.

Other authors have proposed additional core conditions such as respect, immediacy, confrontation, concreteness and self-disclosure.

a. Respect, which is similar to unconditional positive regard, focuses on edging and accepting individual differences

b. Immediacy refers to counselors and clients focusing on what is happening in the present specifically during the sessions

c. Confrontation refers to counselors pointing out the “discrepancies between what the clients are saying and doing”

d. Concreteness refers to counselors helping clients be clear and specific in communicating their concerns.

e. Self-disclosure refers to counselors sharing information about themselves that are appropriate to the counseling process, not so that they can dominate the interaction but to note that counselors should be able to manifest these core conditions all throughout the counseling process.

Stage 2: Assessment and Diagnosis. During this stage, counselors gain an in-depth understanding of their clients through assessment. This can be done through the use of standardized and non-standardized means. Standardized methods include the use of psychological tests such as IQ, mental ability, personality, and career tests. Non-standardized methods include interviews, observations, anecdotal records, and case studies. Having both types of assessments are for gaining a balanced and more accurate depiction of clients’ behaviors. Diagnosis, on the other hand, is a clinical term and procedure which is best left to clinicians. Counselors use the information gathered from the clients in goal-setting as well as in planning intervention strategies needed in counseling.

Stage 3: Formulation of Goals. Goal setting is a shared task and responsibility of counselors and clients. Counseling goals can be categorized as process and outcome goals. Outcome goals are the intended results of counseling. These are generally what the clients expect to accomplish after counseling. Process goals, on the other hand, refer to the planned events by the counselor for achieving the outcome goals. These may include, for example, how the counselor’s behavior during the counseling process is intended to affect the clients.

Stage 4: Intervention and Problem Solving. Once goals have ben formulated, counselors and clients work on defining intervention strategies to implement. Intervention refers to the deliberate process or method of solving the problem of clients. It is advantageous for clients to be involved in the selection of intervention to be implemented. Counselors explain the possible interventions available, the role of counselor and client for each activity, the possible risks and benefits, and its duration and cost to clients. In some cases, clients are assisted in identifying and listing all possible solutions to their concerns. The consequences of these possible solutions are then explored. When clients have chosen their courses of action, these are then implemented. Counselors will help monitor and evaluate clients’ progress.

Stage 5: Termination and Follow Up. For every beginning, there is an ending. It is said that the end goal of counselors’ assistance as they journey through life. Counseling can be terminated when clients can navigate through their difficulties on their own. Counselors and clients agree on the termination date early into the counseling relationship to help the clients get used to the idea and to give time to address feelings which the process may bring about.

After counseling sessions have been terminated, counselors can arrange follow-up sessions with clients know how they are doing and if necessary, provide additional counseling. Normally, this takes place a week or several weeks after termination.

Stage 6: Research and Evaluation. Research and evaluation are essential aspects of counseling that contribute to the advancement of the profession. Counselors complete research and evaluation throughout the counseling process to determine whether the interventions applied are appropriate and effective and whether the personnel efficiently delivered these services. Doing research and evaluation is a way for counselors to improve the counseling program and to ensure accountability.