BPCE 145

UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY

DEFINING COUNSELLING

Counselling can be described basically as a helping relationship between the counselor and the client which is marked by a professional standard and a therapeutic climate in which both counselor and client mutually decide and work towards goals that leads to solution of problems and client growth and adjustment.

Guidance, Psychotherapy and Counselling

Guidance centers on aiding people choose what they value most; counselling focusses on helping them make changes. Guidance is mostly information giving; Counselling is mostly change-oriented and remedial in nature.

Psychotherapy usually involves a complete change in the personality characteristics followed by a reconstructive process. Thus it emphasizes on the past to understand the aspects to be changed. Psychotherapy in general includes 20 to 40 sessions over the period of 6 months to 2 years.

Counselling is a professional relationship. It addresses concerns at the individual level as well as family and group levels. It aims at achieving educational, career, personal related goals and promoting better mental health and well-being in individuals. Thus Counselling is a relationship between the client and a counsellor that is based on professionalism; it is not a social interaction and must be maintained so for effectiveness of therapy; the process of Counselling strengthens the client and allows for personal growth, fulfillment in mental and physical health, adjustment and coping with challenging situations; counselling deals with individuals, groups, families etc. and , it is a diverse and multicultural process, as it engages with clients from varied social and cultural backgrounds.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF COUNSELLING

The goals of Counselling can also be described as of three types based on their nature and time range: immediate goals which aims at addressing and resolving the immediate concerns and sufferings of the client. Long-term goals refer to the goals going beyond the immediate problems and anxieties of client. It focuses on how the client needs to be ultimately, that is, utilizing all the potentials, being independent and capable. This is preparing the client or developing such competencies in the client so that they can deal with any future problem. Thus the long-term goals aim at achieving self-actualization and making the client a ‘fully functioning person’, a concept given by Rogers. Another important goal is the process goals which refers to achieving a conducive Counselling environment or therapeutic climate that will facilitate obtaining the immediate and long-term goals.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTIC OF EFFECTIVE COUNSELORS

Effective counselors take steps to maintain their mental health and well- being so as to avoid negative impact such as compassion fatigue and burnout. They undertake the following measures to overcome fatigue and burnout:

⦁ Being in contact with healthy people

⦁ Identifying the stressors and relaxers for self

⦁ Engaging in personal therapy

⦁ Be clear about counselling roles and expectations

⦁ Balancing commitment to personal and professional life

⦁ Setting aside some ‘me-time’

⦁ Believing in optimism and hope

⦁ Cultivating an attitude of detached concern

TYPES OF COUNSELLING

Educational Counselling caters to the needs arising from the context of education. Present education system is challenged by diversities in classroom, technological advancement, competitive environment, overemphasis on academic achievement etc. which leaves the child anxious, confused and stressed. Educational Counselling becomes crucial to help the child acquire effective learning strategies, understand the importance of learning to ‘learn’, not learning to compete, and function adequately in a learning environment. It also addresses the issues and concerns of elementary school students, high school students and college level students.

Vocational guidance and career Counselling refers to Counselling related to the choice of a career, and deciding on pursuing a particular career. Career selection depends on understanding of oneself – personality characteristics, skills, interests, aptitudes, the contextual factors, the career itself – nature of job, scope, prospects etc., and matching between the two. Career Counselling is also required related to the work stress, adjustment at workplace, communication issues, interpersonal conflicts, and achieving job satisfaction and happiness at work.

Personal-social Counselling concerns issues related to the growth and development of oneself and functioning in a social context. It helps the person to develop awareness about herself/himself, achieve the potentials within and to develop fully in all aspects. Along with understanding oneself, the individual also needs to be aware about other persons around so that it can result in better interpersonal relationships and communication. Personal- social Counselling helps to develop emotional competence, resilience, good interpersonal relationship etc. which contributes to better mental health and well-being.

Under each of these broader types of Counselling, we can have further areas of concern. Thus based on the approach that is followed in Counselling, we can have four types of Counselling situations: Developmental, Facilitative, Crisis, and Preventive Counselling.

Developmental:

This type of Counselling engages with the individual throughout the entire life span. It helps to deal with the various developmental stage related issues and concerns so that the individual is able to cope with these challenges, function effectively and progress optimally. Developmental Counselling deals with an individual’s strength and aims at fully utilizing one’s capacities. It encourages personalized learning and equips the clients to be responsible for the decisions and choices made by them.

Facilitative:

This kind of Counselling involves facilitating or helping a client clarify the concerns and problems, promotes self-understanding and acceptance, and suggests ways to overcome undesirable behavior or situations. Dilemmas related to jobs, marital adjustment, poor academic performance may benefit from facilitative Counselling process. This is ‘remedial’ or ‘adjustive’ type of Counselling that aids us in progressing from a deficit stage to a functional one thereby facilitating growth.

Crisis:

Crisis Counselling, as the name indicates, requires an immediate support from a counselor. Profound disruption of an individual’s life cycles brings frustration which then requires professional understanding and appropriate help. Inability to cope with life’s stresses, interpersonal dissonance, perceived inadequacies in self may lead to suicidal attempts and therefore necessitate hospitalization as a therapeutic intervention. Irrespective of the nature of crisis, the counselor must accept the situation and remain calm, poised and be self-assured. This helps reduce the level of anxiety in the client.

Preventive

Preventive approach to Counselling focuses on self-awareness related to career preparations and decisions, drug awareness, retirement options, enhancing communicative skills, and so on. Thus it emphasizes on prevention of the problem before it appears by equipping the person to deal with the situation. The preventive counselor interacts with the clients in groups or individually and presents a road map. In preventive Counselling, the counselor gives the information to the client and the process of Counselling is complemented by the involvement of the client in the progress.