COUNSELLING

“Counselling”, like the terms “personality” and

“intelligence”, has acquired different shades of meaning.
Counseling is a learning oriented process, carried on a
simple one to one social environment, in which
the counselor professionally competent in psychological
skills and knowledge seeks to assist the Clint by methods
appropriate to the latter’s needs and within the context of
the total personal programme, to learn how to put such
understanding into effect in relation to more clearly
perceived and realistically defined goals to the end that
the client may become a happier and more productive
number of the society.

· Assistance provided to improve psychological, emotional, social,

intellectual, personal and existential developments.
· One to one, one to many or one to group. (e.g. Family counseling
and group counseling.)
· It is through a helping relationship between the counselor and the
counselee.
· It is through the professional conversation and series of problem
solving interviews
· A process that leads action on the part of the counselee.

The goal of counselling is to help individuals overcome many of their

future problems. Naturally counselling has to minister to a variety of
problems ,such an educational ,vocational ,marital, parental and
personal. The major objective of all counselling is to help individuals
become self-sufficient, self-dependent, self-directed and to adjust
themselves efficiently to the demands of a better and meaningful
life.

The counseling services are preventive developmental

and therapeutic in nature. In order is assist the clients the
counsellor must understand their needs, motives, perceptions,
defenses etc. In this, counselling could be defined an a therapeutic
experience for otherwise reasonably healthy persons faced with
problems.

According to Rogers (1942),” Effective counseling consists of a

definitely structured permissive relationship which allows the client
to gain an understanding of himself to a degree which enables
him to take positive steps in the of his new

Definitions of Counselling

“ Counselling is an interactive process conjoining the counselee who

needs assistance and the counsellor who is trained and educated to
give this assistance” – (Perez 1965)

Smith (1955) defines counseling as “a process in which the

counseller assists the counselee to make interpretations of facts
relating to a choice, plan or adjustments which he needs to make”

“A process which takes place in a one-to – one relationship between

an indlbeset by problems with which he can’t cope alone and a
professional worker whose training and experience have qualified
him to help others reach solutions to various types of personal
difficulties “(Halin and MacLean, 1955)

Patterson (1959) characterizes it as “the process involving

interpersonal relationships between a therapist and one or more
clients by which the former employs Psychological methods based
on systematic knowledge of the human personality in attempting to
improve the mental health of the latter”

Blocher (1966) explains it as “helping an individual become aware

of himself and the ways in which he is reacting to the behavioural
influences of his environment. If partner helps him to establish some
personal meaning for this behaviour and to develop and clarify a set
of goals and values for future behaviour.

Gustard (1953), “Counselling is a learning oriented process, carried

on in a simple one to one social environment in which the counseller
professionally competent in relevant Psychological skills and
knowledge, seeks to assist the client by methods appropriate to the
latter’s needs and within the context of the total personnel program,
to learn how to put such understanding into affect in relation to
more clearly perceived ,realistically defined goals to the end that the
client may become a happier and more productive member of
society.
Webster’s dictionary, “ Counselling is defined as consultation,
mutual interchange of opinion deliberating together”.

Robinson: “ The term counseling covers all types of two persons –

situations in which one person, the client is helped to adjust more
effectively to himself and to his social environment”.
 Elements of counseling
1. Empathetic relationship
2. Adherence to the clients problems
3. Existence of an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence
4. Clearly defined goals and objectives
5. Well maintained rapport

Characteristics of Counselling
1) Professional relationship
2) Emphathetic
3) Growing replationship – Relationship between the counselee as
well as counseller should be a growing one.
a) It is a person to person relationship.
b) It involves 2 indls one seeking help and the other a person who
gives help.
c) There must be a mutual respect co-operation and friendliness
between the counseller and counselee.
d) The objective of counseling is to help the counseller to discover
and solve the counselee’s problems in a scientific manner and also
aims to help the incls to solve the problem independently.
e) In the whole of counseling process the main emphasis is on the
counseller’s direction and acceptance of the problem by the
counselle.
f) Counselling is a democratic process. It allows the counseller to do
freely whatever he likes to solve the problem and also to understand
the problem that he faces in his life and also the counseller and
counselee decision to steps in the counsilling process.

Counselling is not:

a) Giving information though information may be given.

b) Giving advice, making suggestion and recommendation.
c) Influencing the clients values, attitudes, beliefs, interests,
decisions etc. with or without any threat or admonition.
d) Interviewing clients.

GOALS -the expected results and objectives from the counseling

process. General objectives or goals---- Purpose of counseling-To
make the individual fully functioning and productive individual --
solving the immediate problems and concerns to recapitulate the
real existence of the client-- to fulfill the potentials of the individual.
 There are Counselor s’ goals and counselees’ goals --
Varying at different levels and phases ___They merge together at
one stage to form the counseling goals.
Examples of counselor’s goals: -- understanding the
behavior, motivation, feeling ect..
Examples of counselee’s goals: -- relief from tension, solving a
problem, taking a decision ect.--The goals will give a sense of
direction --needed for a useful evaluation and monitoring of the
process.
Immediate goals or Short-term goals --counselee’s problems.
Long-term goals --purpose in general counselor’s goals.
Process goals --for the counselor counselee relationship.
Major goals of counseling
1) Achievement of positive mental health. - Selfactualising-self
realizing-fully functioning.
2) Resolution of problems.
3) Improving personal effectiveness.
4) To aid the change process
5) Improvising decision-making.
6) Preventing the further occurrences of issues
7) Behavior modification

Types of Counselling

According to John J Pictrofesa there are 4 types of

counseling. They are

1) Crisis Counselling
2) Facilitative Counselling
3) Preventive Counsellling
4) Developmental Counselling

Crisis Counselling
It is developed by Belkin in 1975. According to Louis Thomson :
“crisis is a state of disequilibrium or lows of steady state due to
stress and precipitating event in the life of a person who usually has
a satisfactory level of functioning.”

Chambers Dictionary: Crisis is a crucial or decisive moment or a

turning point, emergency period or a time of difficulty or distress.”
(Crisis is a prolonged period of tensions)
Definition of crises_ “An acute, sudden or unexpected crises of a
problem or difficulty e.g. Death of a spouse _loss of employment
 _accident this disturbs and makes the smooth functioning difficult .it
creates single or recurrent traumatic experience--Unresolved crises
create fixations and later serious psycho-emotional problems.
 The application of counseling process to resolve the crises in a
persons or groups life is crises counseling.
 Information giving and awareness creation.
 Giving psychological support and clarifications.
Motivation for activities
Crisis has 5 components

a) Hazardous event
b) Vulnerable event
c) Precipitating factor
d) State of active crisis
e) Re-integration or Resolution Stage or “T” phase.

Two types of crisis:

(a)Developmental crisis (b) Accidental crisis
Techniques
Ego support, Emotional support, Short term psycho therapy

Preventive
To prevent the recurrences of life threatening issues e.g. HIV—Give
informations and makes awareness – Clarifying doubts and
motivating to take pro-active action.
Preventive counseling

(a) Primary Preventive counseling

(b) Secondary preventive counseling
(c) Tertiary prevention counseling

Facilitative
To facilitate the utilisation of potentials for self-actualization and
realization _to facilitate in the functioning of creation activities
Academic improvement_ guidance to make the resources utilised for
the decision-making and implementation.

Developmental
To make positive mental health--to improve the personality and
other qualities development of skills of the people
Methods directive and nondirective
Directive approach is the same as the authoritarian approach.
This is based on the Freudian Psycho analysis which believe that the
problem is deeply imbedded with the Unconscious.---Therefore the
client is helpless and the worker or counselor has to do everything
including the decision ,making. The counselor is directing the
process and is authoritarian in his/ her approach.
On the other side there is the Humanistic approach based on the
Client centered approach of Carl Rogers. This is more close to the
psychological counseling. In this approach the client has more
functional freedom and the counselee directs the process and the
functionalism of the client is given importance. According to this
approach the problem is in the present level of the emotions and
feelings and by solving the present emotional problems the
counselee can be made helped. The approach is non authoritarian
and non directive.
There is another approach followed is the Behaviuoristic
approach. This approach is based on the Behaviuoristic theories
developed on the basis of the learning processes on the conditioning
theories.

The present approach, which is followed, by most of the counselors

is a combination of these two approaches that means there is an
eclectic approach taken today which integrate the concept of these
two
approaches.

Counseling process
A process is a series of planned activities with a definite beginning
and end. ---Counseling is a process of series of continuous changes
in an individual to a desired goal and direction. —This process is a
relationship process.

aim of this process

1. Awareness on the part of the client.
2. Behavioral change in a desired direction to achieve the
goals
3. Understanding the potentialities and limitations
4. Utilisation methods and proceed of them to achieve
the goals and to achieve self-actulisation
Different stages in the process

Different authors and approaches have different processes with the

counseling practices.
(1)Awareness of need for help. (2) Development of relation ship (3)
Expression of feelings and clarification of needs (ventilation) (4)
Clarification of problem identification of the problems (5) Exploration
of deeper feelings (6) Integration process (7) Insight creation.
Contacting—Contracting—Drawing out—Case-history making—
Problem formulation—Analysing and clarifying the problem—
decision-making—Action planning—motivation for action—Ending.

Qualities of a good counselor

Empathy—Warmth—Geniuses—Positive regard—Concreteness—
Sense of humor—Sense of the tragic—experience—openness—
flexibility—Awareness

Counseling Skills
Empathising—Listening—Accepting—Drawing informations—Giving
informations—Clarifying—Analysing—Interpreting—Dealing with
emotions--Making suggestions—Verbalising—Challenging—
Supporting—Motivating (reinforcing)—Decision making—Questioning
—Communicating

Specific Counselling Techniques

The techniques are the specifically developed and used systems and
procedures in the application of a method or process. The
counselling process also uses many specific techniques in its
application. They are….

Observation:- watching closely with the expressions—feelings—

gestures- movements—ect—always participant but in group
counselling—Verbal behavior—Nonverbal behavior—discrepancies in
the behavior—body language

Listening:- Passive listening—active listening—selective listening—

there can be lot of blocks in the process of listening

Attending:- Attending out—attending in—focused—primary functions

of attending process—secondary functions of attending—visual
contact—vocal contact—verbal tracking—attending body language.

Non-Verbal behavior:- SOFTEN—Smile—Open-posture—Forward-lean

—Touch—Eye to Eye contact—nodding—
Observing the non-verbal behaviors of the client—face—gestures-
tone-ect..Expression of the appropriate non-verbal communications
from the counsellor also is needed.

Communication;-both the verbal and nonverbal communication---

language—communications from---communications to appropriate
giving and taking—verbal communication along with the non-verbal
communications need to be analysed.
Questioning:- to elicit or solicit informations from the counselee—
open-ended questions—close-ended—facilitative questions—
challenging or directing questions

Silence:- Therapeutically significant—different from pausing—need

not be frustrated can be used as a technique—pause or silence can
also represent a block and needs facilitation—can be an indication of
the resistance—silence is communicative—the counsellor has to
attribute and analyse the meaning of it with the experience and
knowledge.

Transference:- Direct transference—indirect transference—negative

transference—Positive transference—Therapeutically important—
The counsellor should recognize it accept it and use that. If that
does not work refer the client.
Counter transference also needs to be taken care of.

Counselor-Counselee Relationship.
The core of the counseling process is the relationship. Professional
relationship. This is based on the concept that the problems are
generating from the relationship issues themselves. It is a
hypothetical construct to designate the inferred affective character
of the observable interaction be5tween two individuals.
It is from this relationship from the feelings and problem issues are
identified.
It is a curative agent of itsown.
Each counselor- counselee relationship is unique. It is purposeful.
It depends on the unique factors such as attitudes—beliefs—likes
and dislikes—physical and psychological characteristics—home and
social characteristics ect.
The relationship should be objective.
Transference can be used in the relationship. Counter transference
need to be averted at any situation.--Resistance--Verbal and
nonverbal communications--Degree of lead taken by the counsellor
and counsellee--Sharing of experience --The physical setting is to be
taken care-- There should be privacy and confidentiality along with
the acceptance and attentiveness from each other-- The principle,
which controls the relationship, is the principles of counselling.
Empathy—Warmth—Geniuses—Positive regard—Concreteness—
Sense of humor—Sense of the tragic—experience—openness—
flexibility—Awareness all will make the counseling relationship more
effective.
Factors affecting the relationship are:-
General characteristics of the counsellor—age—sex—experience—
attitude—believes—personality—sensitivity—genuineness
acceptance---understanding---skills---knowledge---etc…
General characteristics of the counselee:- Expectations—readiness—
co-operation—nature of personality—introvert ness / extrovert ness
ect…
The Physical situations and environment:- setting—timing—
distractions---ect.

Professional Ethics
Ethical principles are professions effort to guide and regulate the
practice of members of that profession.
The purposes of the ethical principles are to improve the
Competence and responsibility
Confidentiality
Dual relationship
Respect for the person
Cfr. Ethical standards adopted by the national Vocational
Guidance Association.

Value Crisis
The value base is of great relevance in Indian context because the
clientele group is religious and ethical in basic nature.
There are five pillars of values or sources of values.
Personal values of the Counsellor
Professional values
Personal values of the client
Social Values
Organisational values.

All these values play important roles in the counselling process—

Sometimes complimentary—sometimes contradictory—The
counsellor should respect and follow the values of the client---then
the professional values—then the social values.---The counsellor is
not supposed to impose or insist on the personal values in the
professional process.

Group Counselling.
The process of using group interactions to facilitate deeper self-
understanding and self-actualisation
Structure of a group:-small—homogeneous—having common goal—
age—similar problems—capacity for self-direction
 Process of Group counselling:- The formation of the group—The
involvement stage—The transition stage—The working stage—The
ending stage
To get started—overcoming resistance--ending.
Practical concerns:- formation and size of the group—Frequency and
duration of sessions—duration and setting of group—preparation for
group participation---leadership styles (directive, non-directive)
Gains from Gp. Counselling;- Learn to understand other people and
their view points—Deeper respect for other people—generate social
skills in dealing with peers—share a sense of belonging—clarify
one’s own concerns, problems, values ect..---Help to explore ones
own feelings and relationship.
The primary concern is to create an interpersonal climate, which
helps each individual to develop an insight into him and to achieve
healthier personal adjustment. The empathetic Understanding is the
key to it—the process should focus on the members manners of
relating—focus on members thinking difficulties.
Referral Services
This include the reference to the counsellor by somebody else---
referral by the counsellor to some other counsellor or other
professional like doctors, Psychologists…analyse t he reasons of
reference--- The counsellor should identify the referee appropriate
for the client---should get the consent of the counselee to get
referred---- The when and how of the reference need to be decided.

Counselling practices in different settings

The process of counselling in every setting will be rather same--- The

subject matter in each setting will be different The attitude and
aptitude along with the approaches may very from setting to setting
Knowledge about the fields and the possible problems are the key
area to be noted. The nature of the people, who come in different
settings with problems also vary (children, parents, adolescents,
couples, industrial workers, substance abusers, alcoholics, addicts,
ect..) and consequently the dealings also should vary.
List out all the problems possible in each setting
Select specific techniques and tools to be used and design the
process.

Family counseling
There are two types of family;
(a) Pathogenic(Unhappy family)
(b) Non-Pathogenic

Areas of Family Counseling

 (1) Dynamics of family
(2) Family contents (health ,food.etc)
(3) Family power
(4) Family affect
(5) Family goals
(6) Family roles
(7) Family communication
(8) Family strength
(9) Family rules
(10)Family boundary
(11)Family tension
(12)Family system

Counselling in the De-Addiction Centre

Here the Counsellor has to work with the individual, family of the
Drug Addict and also in the community to remove misconceptions of
drug abuse, dependence and also the use of Alcohol..

Counselling in Educational Setting

Education aims to improve the quality of the students in their
scholastic achievement. This counseling aims to improve the
individual performance at school or college level for that counselor
has to look into :
(a) Family back ground
(b) Personality pattern
(c) Quality of teachers
(d) Environment of the Educational Institution

According to Pepinsky, in the Educational Counselling ,more

importance has to given in the school and school environment.

Objectives of Educational Counselling

(a) To identify the problem of the student in school, environment…….
(b) Assessment of the student in relation to the situation
(c) To help to develop the potentials.
(d) To help to cope with the situations or problem

Industrial Counselling
Industrial Counelling deals with the human problems at the work
situation. This deals with Placement, Crisis management and intake
counseling,therapeutic Counselling, Counselling to tackle the
problem of absenteeism….
Research Counselling
According to BARKLEY : “research is the systematic
collection ,organization and interpretation of observations in order to
answer questions as unambiguously as possible.

Marriage Counselling
Marriage Counselling helps in understanding of marriage
relationship and in putting it in its proper perspective. Marriage
Counselling looked upon as a form of crisis intervention.
Advising
In most problematic situations, individuals seek the assistance of
others. Eg: an individual may face the problem of taking a decision
or making a choice.

This situation has several important features:

 There is an element of voluntariness

 There is a belief (right or otherwise) that the other person has
the necessary experience, wisdom and ability to advise
 The advice is sought for consensual validation..
 The advice given is not binding on the person who seeks it ,
that is , the person may reject it and approach another person for
assistance which in turn may be rejected if found unsuitable.
Guidance
The objective of guidance is essentially to render help. Sometimes it
is used synonymously with the term counseling.

General types of Counselling Situations

Possible
Possible
Type Timeline Counsellor
Concerns
Activities
Crisis Immediate Suicidal ,dr Personal support,
ug, direct
anxiety ,rej interventions,
ection by gather additional
lover support,
individual
counselling or
refer to
appropriate clinic
Facilitative Varies Job Individual
(short or long) placement, counseling,
Academic reflection of
problems, content and
Marriage feeling,
adjustment interpreting,
confronting ,dire
cting activities
Preventive Specific time Sex Information
span(dependin education, giving, referral to
g on the self relevant
program) awareness, programs,
career individual
awareness, counseling
drug regarding
awareness program content
and process
Development Continuous Developing Aiding values,
al positive self clarifications,
concept in reviewing
the decision-making,
elementary individual
school counseling
regarding
personal
development