DIASS Module 2

Discipline and Ideas in Applied Social Sciences
Module 2
Learning Competencies
5  explain the principles of counseling
 discuss roles and functions of counselors
 identify specific work areas in which counselors work
Principles of Counseling
a. Advice. Counseling may involve advice-giving as one of the several functions that counselors perform.
10 b. Reassurance. Reassurance is a valuable principle because it can bring about a sense of relief that may
empower a client to function normally again.
c. Release of emotional tension. Counseling provides clients the opportunity to get emotional release from their
pent-up frustrations and other personal issues.
d. Clarified thinking. Clarified thinking tends to take place while the counselor and counselee are talking and
15 therefore becomes a logical emotional release. Clarified thinking encourages a client to accept responsibility for
problems and to be more realistic in solving them.
e. Reorientation. Reorientation involves a change in the client's emotional self through a change in basic goals
and aspirations. The counselor's job is to recognize those in need of reorientation and facilitate appropriate
interventions.
20 f. Listening skills. Counselors do not make interpretations of the client's problems or offer any premature
suggestions as to how to deal with them, or solve the issues presented. Good listening helps counselors to
understand the concerns being presented.
g. Respect. In all circumstances, clients must be treated with respect, no matter how peculiar, strange, disturbed,
weird, or utterly different from the counselor.
25 h. Empathy and positive regard. Empathy requires the counselor to listen and understand the feelings and
perspective of the client and positive regard is an aspect of respect. For Rogers, clients have to be given both
"unconditional positive regard" and be treated with respect.
i. Clarification, confrontation, and interpretation. Clarification is an attempt by the counselor to restate what the
client is either saying or feeling, so the client may learn something or understand the issue better. Confrontation
30 and interpretation are other more advanced principles used by counselors in their interventions.
j. Transference and countertransference. When clients are helped to understand transference reactions, they are
empowered to gain understanding of important aspects of their emotional life. Countertransference helps both
clients and counselors to understand the emotional and perceptional reactions and how to effectively manage
them.
35
Roles of Guidance Counselors
In the Western world, counseling in schools began in the early twentieth century, focused mainly on
preparing students for the workforce. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, guidance counselors became more
prevalent. In the beginning, many teachers doubled as guidance counselors; however, this is no longer the case.
5 In the 1960s, counseling in public schools was afforded more funding, allowing the vocation to flourish.
The profession expanded beyond the focus on academic and career achievement.
Given that the youth are the future of every nation, the role of providing guidance at critical moments of
growth is a serious nation-building undertaking. Counseling is a process and a relationship between the client(s)
and counselor.
10  The role of the guidance counselor is to assist the person or persons (clients) in realizing change in
behavior or attitude, to assist them to seek achievement of goals, assist them to find help.
 In some cases, the role of counselors includes teaching social skills, effective communication, spiritual
guidance, decision-making and career choices.
 A counselor’s role may sometimes include aiding one in coping with a crisis such as premarital and
15 marital problems, grief and loss (divorce, death or amputation), domestic violence and other types of
abuse. Special counseling may include assistance in situations like terminal illness (death and dying and
counseling of emotionally and mentally disturbed individuals.
 Counseling can be short-term or long-term.
20 Functions of Guidance Counselors

 According to Philippine Republic Act No. 9258 (Section 2 to 3) a guidance counselor is a natural person
who has been professionally registered and licensed by a legitimate state entity and by virtue of
specialized training to perform the functions of guidance and counseling.
 He or she must be a qualified and licensed guidance counselor at master's level. It is a profession, not a
25 field. This is the only profession whose primary purpose is counseling; wellness and strength-based
approach to treatment; wellness model rather than medical model.
The functions of a guidance counselor include:

1. helping a client develop potentials to the fullest;
30 2. helping a client plan to utilize his or her potentials to the fullest;
3. helping a client plan his or her future in accordance with his or her abilities, interests, and needs;
4. sharing and applying knowledge related to counseling such as counseling theories, tools and techniques; and
5. administering a wide range of human development services.
Competencies of Counselors
Seven (7) distinct competence areas of counselors. (McLeod, 2003)
1. Interpersonal Skills – counselors who are competent display ability to listen, communicate; empathize; be
present; aware of nonverbal communication; sensitive to voice quality, responsive to expressions of emotion,
turn taking, structure of time and use of language.
5 2. Personal beliefs and Attitude- counselors have the capacity to accept others, belief in potential of change,
awareness of ethical and moral choices and sensitive to values held by client and self.
3. Conceptual ability – counselors have the ability to understand and assess client’s problem; to anticipate future
problems; make sense of immediate process in terms of wider conceptual scheme to remember information
about the client.
10 4. Personal Soundness – counselors must have no irrational beliefs that are destructive to counseling
relationships, self-confidence ,capacity to tolerate strong of uncomfortable feelings in relation to the clients,
secure personal boundaries, ability to be a client ; must carry no social prejudice, ethnocentrism and
authoritarianism.
5. Mastery of Techniques – counselors must have a knowledge of when and how to carry out specific
15 interventions, ability to assess effectiveness of the interventions, understanding the rationale behind techniques,
possession of wide repertoire of intervention
6. Ability to understand and work within social system – this would be compromise of awareness of family and
work relationships of client the impact of agency on the clients, the capacity to use support networks and
supervision ; sensitivity to client from different gender, ethnicity , sexual orientation, or age group.
20 7. Openness to learning and inquiry – counselors must have the capacity to be curious about client’s
backgrounds and problems; being open to new knowledge
Things to Remember:
The following are the key skills of a counselor:
1. Attending and listening skills – This refers to active listening which means listening with a purpose and
25 responding with awareness that the client feels he or she has been both heard and understood.
2. Reflective skills – The key skills are restating, paraphrasing and summarizing, capturing what the client is
saying and “playing” it back to them.
3. Probing skills – These skills facilitate going deeper, asking more directed or leading questions that they move
the conversation in a particular direction.
30 4. Communication skills – These include the ability to actively listen, demonstrate understanding, ask
appropriate questions and provide information as needed.
5. Motivational skills – This is to influence the client to take action after a helping session or consultation.
6. Problem-solving skills – These include differentiating between the symptoms and the problem itself.
7. Conflict resolution skills – These involve helping the client focus
35
Specific Work of Counselors
Counselors are practically found in all spheres of human development, transitions, and caregiving.
Peterson and Nesenholz (1987) identified 11 major areas:
5 1. Child development and counseling. Child development and counseling as area of specialization includes
parent education, preschool counseling, early childhood education, elementary school counseling, child
counseling in mental health agencies, and counseling with battered and abused children and their families.
2. Adolescent development and counseling. Adolescent development and counseling as area of specialization
covers middle and high school counseling, psychological education, career development specialist, adolescent
10 counseling in mental health agencies, youth work in a residential facility, and youth probation officer.
3. Gerontology (the aged). Gerontological counseling (the aged) as area of specialization is considered the
fastest growing field and essentially involves counseling of older citizens. It includes preretirement counseling,
community centers, counseling, nursing home counseling, and hospice work.
4. Marital relationship counseling. Marital or relationship counseling includes premarital counseling, marriage
15 counseling, family counseling, sex education, sexual dysfunction counseling, and divorce mediation.
5. Health. Health as an area of specialization offers possibility for nutrition counseling, exercise and health
education, nurse-counselor, rehabilitation counseling, stress management counseling, holistic health counseling,
anorexia or bulimia counseling, and genetic counseling.
6. Career/lifestyleCollege and university. College and university as an area of specialization offer the following
20 opportunities: college student counseling, student activities, student personnel work, residential hall or
dormitory counselor, and counselor educator.
7. Drugs. Drugs as area of specialization has several options such as substance abuse counseling, alcohol
counseling, drug counseling, stop smoking program manager, and crisis intervention counseling.
8. Consultation. Consultation as an area of specialization covers agency and corporate consulting,
25 organizational development director, industrial psychology specialist, and training manager.
10. Business and industry. Business and industry areas of specialization include training and development
personnel, quality and work-life or quality circles manager, employee assistance programs manager, employee
career development officer, affirmative action, or equal opportunity specialist.
11. Other specialties. Other specialties may include phobia counseling, agoraphobia, self-management, intra-
30 personal management, interpersonal relationships management, and grief counseling.

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Discipline and Ideas in Applied Social Sciences

20 Functions of Guidance Counselors

The functions of a guidance counselor include:

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