Guidance and Counselling for Junior High Schools

The history of school counselling formally started at the turn of the twentieth century, although a case can be made for tracing the foundations of counselling and guidance principles to ancient Greece and Rome with the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle. There is also evidence to argue that some of the techniques and skills of modern-day guidance counsellors were practiced by Catholic priests in the Middle Ages, as can be seen by the dedication to the concept of confidentiality within the confessional. Near the end of the sixteenth century, one of the first texts about career options appeared: The Universal Plaza of All the Professions of the World, (1626) written by Tomaso Garzoni. Nevertheless, formal guidance programs using specialized textbooks did not start until the turn of the twentieth century.

The factors leading to the development of guidance and counselling in the United States began in the 1890s with the social reform movement. The difficulties of people living in urban slums and the widespread use of child labor outraged many. One of the consequences was the compulsory education movement and shortly thereafter the vocational guidance movement, which, in its early days, was concerned with guiding people into the workforce to become productive members of society. The social and political reformer Frank Parsons is often credited with being the father of the vocational guidance movement. His work with the Civic Service House led to the development of the Boston Vocation Bureau. In 1909 the Boston Vocation Bureau helped outline a system of vocational guidance in the Boston public schools. The work of the bureau influenced the need for and the use of vocational guidance both in the United States and other countries. By 1918 there were documented accounts of the bureau's influence as far away as Uruguay and China. Guidance and counselling in these early years were considered to be mostly vocational in nature, but as the profession advanced other personal concerns became part of the school counsellor's agenda.

The United States' entry into World War I brought the need for assessment of large groups of draftees, in large part to select appropriate people for leadership positions. These early psychological assessments performed on large groups of people were quickly identified as being valuable tools to be used in the educational system, thus beginning the standardized testing movement that in the early twenty-first century is still a strong aspect of U.S. public education. At the same time, vocational guidance was spreading throughout the country, so that by 1918 more than 900 high schools had some type of vocational guidance system. In 1913 the National Vocational Guidance Association was formed and helped legitimize and increase the number of guidance counsellors. Early vocational guidance counsellors were often teachers appointed to assume the extra duties of the position in addition to their regular teaching responsibilities.

The 1920s and 1930s saw an expansion of counselling roles beyond working only with vocational concerns. Social, personal, and educational aspects of a student's life also needed attention. The Great Depression of the 1930s led to the restriction of funds for counselling programs. Not until 1938, after a recommendation from a presidential committee and the passage of the George Dean Act, which provided funds directly for the purposes of vocational guidance counselling, did guidance counsellors start to see an increase in support for their work.

After World War II a strong trend away from testing appeared. One of the main persons indirectly responsible for this shift was the American psychologist Carl Rogers. Many in the counselling field adopted his emphasis on "nondirective" (later called "client-centered") counselling. Rogers published Counselling and Psychotherapy in 1942 and Client-Centered Therapy in 1951. These two works defined a new counselling theory in complete contrast to previous theories in psychology and counselling. This new theory minimized counsellor advice-giving and stressed the creation of conditions that left the client more in control of the counselling content.

In 1958 the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was enacted, providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. Instituted primarily to stimulate the advancement of education in science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages, NDEA also provided aid in other areas, including technical education, area studies, geography, English as a second language, counselling and guidance, school libraries, and educational media centers. Further support for school counselling was spurred by the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik and fears that other countries were outperforming the United States in the fields of mathematics and science. Hence, by providing appropriate funding for education, including guidance and counselling, it was thought that more students would find their way into the sciences. Additionally, in the 1950s the American School Counsellor Association (ASCA) was formed, furthering the professional identity of the school counsellor.

The work of C. Gilbert Wrenn, including his 1962 book The Counsellor in a Changing World, brought to light the need for more cultural sensitivity on the part of school counsellors. The 1960s also brought many more counselling theories to the field, including Frederick Perl's gestalt therapy, William Glasser's reality therapy, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May's existential approach, and John Krumboltz's behavioural counselling approach. It was during this time that legislative support and an amendment to the NDEA provided funds for training and hiring school counsellors with an elementary emphasis.

In the 1970s the school counsellor was beginning to be defined as part of a larger program, as opposed to being the entire program. There was an emphasis on accountability of services provided by school counsellors and the benefits that could be obtained with structured evaluations. This decade also gave rise to the special education movement. The educational and counselling needs of students with disabilities was addressed with the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975.

The 1980s saw the development of training standards and criteria for school counselling. This was also a time of more intense evaluation of education as a whole and counselling programs in particular. In order for schools to provide adequate educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities, school counsellors were trained to adapt the educational environment to student needs. The duties and roles of many counsellors began to change considerably. Counsellors started finding themselves as gatekeepers to Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and Student Study Teams (SST) as well as consultants to special education teachers, especially after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

The development of national educational standards and the school reform movement of the 1990s ignored school counselling as an integral part of a student's educational development. The ASCA compensated partially with the development of national standards for school counselling programs. These standards clearly defined the roles and responsibilities of school counselling programs and showed the necessity of school counselling for the overall educational development of every student.

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GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING.

Guidance and Counselling is a support service that is aimed at helping individuals discover and develop their educational, vocational and psychological potentials and thereby achieve an optimal level of personal happiness and social usefulness.

GUIDANCE

Guidance is a kind of advice or help given to the individual’s especially students, on matters like choosing a course of study or career, work or preparing for vocation, from a person who is superior in the respective field or an expert. It is the process of guiding, supervising or directing a person for a particular course of action.

The process aims at making students or individuals aware of the rightness or wrongness of their choices and importance of their decision, on which their future depends. It is a service that assists students in selecting the most appropriate course for them, to discover and develop their psychological and educational abilities and ambitions. Guidance results in self-development and helps a person to plan his present and future wisely.

COUNSELLING

The term counselling is defined as a talking therapy, in which a person (client) discusses freely his/her problems and share feelings, with the counsellor, who advises or helps the client in dealing with the problems. It aims at discussing those problems which are related to personal or socio- psychological issues, causing emotional pain or mental instability that makes you feel uneasy. The counsellor listens the problems of the client with empathy and discusses it, in a confidential environment. It is not a one day process, but there are many sessions.

Counselling is not just giving advice or making a judgement, but helping the client to see clearly the root of problems and identify the potential solutions to the issues. The counsellor also changes the viewpoint of the client, to help him take the right decision or choose a course of action. It will also help the client to remain intuitive and positive in the future.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

While in guidance the focus is made on listening to the problem, on which ready-made solution is given by the expert. Counselling aims at discussing and understanding the problem, advising and empowering him to take a decision concerning his/her career or life goals in one-to-one sessions.

Psychology is a discipline that studies human behaviour and mind. It attempts to ask questions about the reason behind an individual’s behaviour and thinking. Two important concepts of psychology, which people do not easily discern are guidance and counselling because both seek to find out the solutions for problems and works for human development. Learning the differences between guidance and counselling might help you in choosing the right method for you.

Key Differences Between Guidance and Counselling

The significant differences between guidance and counselling are given in the following points:

Advice or a relevant piece of information given by a superior, to resolve a problem or overcome from difficulty, is known as guidance. Counselling refers to a professional advice given by a counsellor to an individual to help him in overcoming from personal or psychological problems.

Guidance is preventive in nature, whereas counselling tends to be healing, curative or remedial.

Guidance assists the person in choosing the best alternative. But counselling, tends to change the perspective, to help him get the solution by himself or herself.

Guidance is a comprehensive process; that has an external approach. On the other hand, counselling focuses on the in-depth and inward analysis of the problem, until client understands and overcome it completely.

Guidance is taken on education and career related issues whereas counselling is taken when the problem is related to personal and socio-psychological issues.

Guidance is given by a guide who can be any person superior or an expert in a particular field. As opposed to counselling, which is provided by counsellors, who possess a high level of skill and undergone through professional training.

Guidance can be open and so the level of privacy is less. Unlike counselling, wherein complete secrecy is maintained.

Guidance can be given to an individual or group of individuals at a time. On the contrary, counselling is always one to one.

In the guidance, the guide takes the decision for the client. In contrast to counselling, where the counsellor empowers the client to take decisions on his own.

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	GUIDANCE	COUNSELLING
Meaning	Guidance refers to an advice or a relevant piece of information provided by a superior, to resolve a problem or overcome from difficulty.	Counselling refers to a professional advice given by a counsellor to an individual to help him in overcoming from personal or psychological problems.
Nature	Preventive	Remedial and Curative
Approach	Comprehensive and Extroverted	In-depth and Introverted
What it does?	It assists the person in choosing the best alternative.	It tends to change the perspective, to help him get the solution by himself or herself.
Deals with	Education and career related issues.	Personal and socio-psychoological issues.
Provided by	Any person superior or expert	A person who possesses high level of skill and professional training.
Privacy	Open and less private.	Confidential
Mode	One to one or one to many	One to one
Decision making	By guide.	By the client.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

· Similarities between Guidance and Counselling in terms of “Goal”

The main similarity would be the goal – to help the client in solving a problem or making a decision. This would mean helping the client make the right career choice, in the case of guidance, or solve a psychological problem, in the case of counselling.

In short, the main similarity between guidance and counselling would be that they are designed to help the client.

· Similarities between Guidance and Counselling in terms of “psychological Process”

As both guidance and counselling are psychological processes, and the main focus of psychology is human behaviour, another goal of both guidance and counselling would be to improve the behaviour of the client.

· Similarities between Guidance and Counselling in terms of “Information Sharing”

Furthermore, both processes involve information sharing – in the previously mentioned examples, either the teacher would have a lot of information about his students, or the psychologist would get to know his client. In both cases, there is some form of information sharing.

Summary of Similarities:

· Both guidance and counselling will help the client improve his/her behaviour

· Both involve some form of information sharing

· Both processes aim at the same goal – to help the client solve a problem or make a decision

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT COUNSELLING

· If I am called down to the Counsellor, it means I am in trouble.

Truth: Your Counsellor might want to see you to talk about a particular issue that may have been brought up by a teacher, your parent, or another student. You don’t need to be nervous; Counsellors see kids to help fix problems, not because they are “in trouble.”

· The Counsellor is going to blab what I say to my teachers and parents.

Truth: Pretty much everything you say to a Counsellor is confidential, which means that we will keep it private. There are a few exceptions: when someone is getting hurt, is in danger, or involved with something illegal. In these cases, we are required to share the information with the appropriate people. Of course, there may be issues that come up that we might encourage you to share with teachers or parents, but the decision is up to you.

· The Counsellor is going to boss me around and tell me what to do.

Truth: Actually, the best Counsellors help kids solve their own problems. We might make suggestions, but teaching problem-solving skills is one of our main goals. One of the benefits of talking to a Counsellor is that we’ve been around awhile, so chances are good that we’ve seen a problem like yours before. That means that we probably have some good ideas for you to try, and we will help you pick the one that seems right for you.

· If I talk to a Counsellor, it means I am crazy or that I have something wrong with me.

Truth: If you talk to a Counsellor, it means you are smart enough to realize that you might need some help in solving a problem. Lots of people have seen a Counsellor at some point in their lives, and most of them have found it helpful. Sure, Counsellors see people with serious problems, but most of their “clients” are just regular people going through tough times.

· There’s no reason for my child to see a counsellor. They are fine!"

Truth: No matter how “fine” individuals appear, everyone has emotions and thoughts weighing on their minds. Having someone listen to thoughts and emotions can work wonders! Here are some common topics we discuss with individuals and small groups: conflict resolution, emotional awareness, life events,

· My child does not need to see a mental health professional outside of school since the school has a counsellor."

Truth: While one role of a school counsellor is to meet with students individually, there is definitely not enough time or resources to adequately fulfill all of the needs that some students may have. Our general thought regarding individual counselling is that we will visit with a student a few times regarding the same issue before we call their guardian. Once contact with a guardian has been made, it is then up to the guardian to decide whether or not they would like their child to work with our School-Based Clinician.

BARRIERS TO COUNSELLING

1. Inadequate Time

The results in Table 2 reveal that majority of the teacher counsellors were of the view that inadequate time was the greatest challenge to the implementation of guidance and counselling in schools. This finding supports those of Oye, Obi, Mohd and Bernice (2012) who observed that most schools have no regard for guidance and counselling activities. School time-table do not make provisions for guidance and counselling activities. They found out that terms were designed without giving specific period of time for students to have any form of formal guidance and counselling encounters with professional counsellor’s or selected teachers. Lack of suitable space and time to do counselling was also key challenges across the sample. A study done by Low (2009) showed that lack of counselling in the school timetable, topped the list among others as the major challenge to counselling practice in primary schools. The findings are in line with the studies of Anagbogu and Nwokolo (2010) and Oraegbunam (2008) who listed similar challenges in their works.

2. Non-Cooperative Clients

The teacher counsellors identified non-cooperative clients (39.1%) as another challenge that militates against the implementing guidance and counselling programmes. They stated that it was not possible to provide clients with quality services without their cooperation.

They observed that learners were not willing to disclose their problems and be counseled by the teacher counsellors as they did not trust the services providers. The non cooperation of clients may perhaps be due to negative attitudes towards guidance and counselling. Nyamwange et al (2012) established that secondary school head teachers and students generally had a negative attitude towards guidance and counselling. Such an attitude does not auger well for provision of quality guidance and counselling services in secondary schools and may explain their non-cooperation.

3. Lack of Parental Support

According to Low (2009), guidance and counselling teachers need to be supported in carrying out innovative activities towards provision of those services. Out of the 23 teachers who participated in the study, 8.7% pointed out lack of parental support as a challenge to implementation of guidance and counselling programme in schools.

The issue raised by the counsellors is similar to one of the findings of Nyaga’s (2013) study which identified uncooperative parents as an obstacle to provision of guidance and counselling services in schools. A study by Oye et al (2012) noted that parents tend to avoid forums where their children private and domestic issues are discussed with outsiders (teacher counsellors included) due to cultural reasons. It further noted that organizations that provide such forums like the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) are none existent in some schools and in places where the associations are established, parents avoid such meetings whenever they are invited. Rutondoki (2000) noted that parents in Uganda tend to resist provision of G&C services to their children because they claim that their cultural practices do not allow such services. Ogonya (2007) observed that parents in Kenya generally had negative attitudes towards G&C services.

It is important that teacher counsellors are provided with the necessary support not only from the school administration but also from parents. Kimathi (2002) observed that no matter how committed and competent

teacher counsellors may be; he/she cannot provide effective G&C services without the cooperation of all the stakeholders. The support of parents and society at large is crucial for the success of G&C programmes because it is only through their participation will they understand the psycho-social problems of their children and participate in formulation of solutions (Nyaga, 2011).

4. Inadequate Facilities

The quality guidance and counselling services require facilities such as office space, bookshelves, drawers, files, finance, time, reference books, guidance and counselling manuals and psychological test materials. Data in revealed that majority (52.2%) of the teachers who took part in the study considered it as a challenge. Several studies have identified inadequate facilities as a challenge to implementation of guidance and counselling programme in schools. Ngumi (2003) noted that most learning institutions lacked trained counsellors, time, facilities and reference materials for use by counsellors. A study done by Anagbogu and Nwokolo (2010) revealed that necessities like computers, training the counsellors in ICT, counselling clinics, radios, televisions, one-way mirrors, generators and furniture were lacking in many schools in Nigeria.

5. Lack of Funding

Scholars and educators have underscored the importance of adequate funding for guidance and counselling programmes (Songok, Yungugnu & Mulinge, 2013). The programmes need adequate funding as this enables them to put up infrastructure and purchase the required facilities. Kafwa (2005) pointed out that a counsellor who has adequate and relevant materials and facilities tend to be more confident, effective and productive. Lack of finance was highlighted by the teacher counsellors (34.8%) as one of the challenges faced by their schools when implementing guidance and counselling programmes in school.

Various scholars have highlighted inadequacy of funds as a challenge faced by guidance and counselling programmes in developing countries. Okere (2005) observed that most counselling programmes in schools are not properly funded. Owino and Odero (2014) observed that financial constrain is a major challenge

to guidance and counselling programmes in primary schools in Kisumu West Sub county. Mushaandja et al (2013) also noted that lack funds, office space and time were key challenges across the sample they used in their study.

Guidance and counselling comprises a very important and vital part of educational activities in a school system. It provides help to students such that they are not tormented by their internal conflicts and do not resort to self-destructive behaviours (Songok, Yungungu & Mulinge, 2013). It is thus important that teachers who provide such services are adequately funded. Teacher counsellors who are not adequately funded are forced to perform their duties without basic facilities. This demotivates them from perform their roles and any duties allocated to them (Faislat & Rasheed, 2013).

6. Shortage of Qualified Personnel

The success of a guidance and counselling programme depends on the knowledge and attitudes of the service providers (Kimathi, 2002). Training is therefore central for the success of G&C programme as knowledge and positive attitudes are acquired through it. However, there is an acute shortage of trained teacher counsellors in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Mapfumo & Nkoma, 2013). Shortage of trained personnel was one of the challenges highlighted by the teacher counsellors (39.1%). The issue of shortage of qualified personnel has been raised by a number of scholars (Nyamwange et al, 2013).

Data generated by this study also revealed that majority of the teacher counsellors who participated in the study were holders of certificate in G&C and were thus considered as not adequately trained. Ngumi (2003) is of the view that teachers who undergo certificate courses do not cover sufficient guidance and counselling content in their training programmes to enable them effectively render the guidance and counselling service The data further revealed that the number of professionally trained teachers offering the counselling service was small.

Mapfumo and Nkoma (2013) assessed the preparedness and experience of personnel involved in guidance and counselling in high schools. They found that only one head teacher had the required qualification in guidance and counselling (a certificate in systemic counselling not intended solely for counsellors). They found out that teachers mandated to offer guidance and counselling in schools have teaching qualifications but no specialized training in guidance and counselling and hence lack the capacity to satisfy their guidance and counselling roles (Mapfumo, 2001). This is very different from developed countries where school counsellors hold masters degrees and are licensed before being permitted to offer guidance and counselling services (Nyamwaka et al, 2013).

7. Heavy Workload

The teacher counsellors cited heavy workload (13.0%) as an impediment to effective implementation of guidance and counselling programmes. This is supported by findings of a study by Mghweno et al (2014) which revealed that teacher counsellors handled the normal workload (more than 18 lessons) per week in addition to their counselling duties and any other responsibilities assigned by the school administration. This means that teacher counsellors have little time to dedicate to provision of guidance and counselling services and this compromises the quality of the counselling services. All the teacher counsellors who were involved in a study by Nyamwange et al (2013) also cited heavy workloads as one of the impediments to the smooth running and implementation of guidance and counselling in schools. In the light of this challenge, there is need for schools to appoint fulltime teacher counsellors or reduce the workload of the teacher counsellors to enable them focus on the provision of guidance and counselling.

8. Support from School Administration

Inadequate support from school administration was the last item that the teacher counsellors’ checked in the list of challenges of implementing guidance and counselling in schools. The results in Table 2 revealed that 8.7% of the respondents who participated in the study considered it as a challenge. Mushaandja et al (2013) noted that school counsellors were not given adequate support by the school administrators and teachers. They attributed this to lack of sufficient information on counselling on the part of the teachers and school administrators. A study by Nyamwange et al (2013) also revealed that support given to teachers’ counsellors by their school heads is minimal. This state of affairs is unfortunate because it is hard for teacher counsellors to render services without support of the school administration.

Guidance and counselling services are offered in schools because counsellors attends to learners’ educational, vocational, emotional, social and personal development (Yuksel-Sahin, 2009) In addition, the counsellors provide information on counselling to parents and school authorities to facilitate informed planning and policy making. Majority of teachers are supportive of counselling services, because they see it as a means of ensuring an orderly school community, where the role of the counsellor is to smooth out any emotional or behavioural disruptions (Cooper, Hough, & Loynd, 2005)), and to help learners overcome difficult and challenging life circumstances and risk factors (Sun & Stewart, 2007). According to Mullan (1990) the successful implementation of guidance and counselling programme depends on support from the stakeholders.

Its success thus, requires the support of all stakeholders; the administration, staff, students, head teachers and the community.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF COUNSELLING

Counselling aims at helping the clients understand and accept themselves “as they are”, And counselling is to help the student to help himself.
The main objective of counselling is to bring about a voluntary change in the client. For this purpose the counsellor provides facilities to help achieve the desird change or make the suitable choice.

According to Dunsmoor and miller, the purpose of student counselling are:-

To give the student information on matters important to success.

To get information about student this will be of help in solving his problems.

To establish a feeling of mutual understanding between student and teacher.

To help the student work out a plan for solving his difficulties.

To help the student know himself better-his interests, abilities, aptitudes, and opportunities.

To encourage and develop special abilities and right attitudes.

To inspire successful endeavour toward attainment.

To assist the student in planning for educational and vocational choices.

Some of the major goals of counselling generally accepted by the counsellors are given below:-

1. Achievement of positive mental health

It is identified as an important goal of counselling by some individuals who claim that when one reaches positive mental health one learns to adjust and response more positively to people and situations. Kell and Mueller (1962) hold that the “promotion and development of feelings of being liked, sharing with, and receiving and giving interaction rewards from other human beings is the legitimate goal of counselling”

2. Resolution of Problems

Another goal of counselling is the resolving of the problem brought to the counsellor. This, in essence, is an outcome of the former goal and implies positive mental health. In behavioural terms three categories of behavioural goals can be identified, namely, altering maladaptive behaviour, learning the decision – making process and preventing problems (Krumboltz, 1966).

3. Improving Personal Effectiveness

Yet another goal of counselling is that of improving personal effectiveness. This is closely related to the preservation of good mental health and securing desirable behavioural change(s).

4. Counselling to Help Change

Blocher (1966) adds two other goals. The first, according to him, is that counselling should maximize individual freedom to choose and act within the conditions imposed by the environment. The other goal is that counselling should increase the effectiveness of the individual responses evolved by the environment. Tiedeman (1964) holds that the goal of counselling is to focus on the mechanism of change and that the counselee should be helped in the process of ‘becoming’ – the change which pervades the period of adolescence through early adulthood during which the individual is assisted to actualize his potential. Shoben (1965) also views the goal of counselling as personal development.

5. Decision – Making as a Goal of Counselling

Some counsellors hold the view that counselling should enable the counselee to make decisions. It is through the process of making critical decisions that personal growth is fostered. Reaves and Reaves (1965) point out that “the primary objective of counselling is that of stimulating the individuals to evaluate, make, accept and act upon his choice”.
Sometimes the counselees have goals which are vague and their implications are not fully appreciated. It is perhaps one of the primary functions of a counsellor to help clarify a counselee’s goal.

6. Modification of Behaviour as a Goal

Behaviourally-oriented counsellors stress the need for modification of behaviour, for example, removal of undesirable behaviour or action or reduction of an irritating symptom such that the individual attains satisfaction and effectiveness. Growth-oriented counsellors stress on the development of potentialities within the individual. Existentially-oriented counsellors stress self-enhancement and self-fulfilment. Obviously the latter cannot be realize without first securing the former, namely, symptom removal or reduction as a necessary pre-condition for personal effectiveness.

PRINCIPLES OF GUIDANCE

Need for guidance, and the nature and aims of guidance are based on certain principles and assumptions. The principles of guidance generally accepted are the ones given by Crow and Crow. They are:

1. Principle of all-round development of the individual. Guidance must take into account the all-round development of the individual when bringing about desirable adjustment in any particular area of his personality.

2. The principle of human uniqueness. No two individuals are alike. Individuals differ in their physical, mental, social and emotional development. Guidance service must recognise these differences and guide each individual according to their specific need.

3. Principle of holistic development. Guidance has to be imparted in the context of total development of personality. The child grows as a whole and even if one aspect of personality is in focus, the other areas of development which are indirectly influencing the personality have also to be kept in mind.

4. The principle of cooperation. No individual can be forced into guidance. The consent and cooperation of the individual is a pre-requisite for providing guidance.

5. The principle of continuity. Guidance should be regarded as a continuous process of service to an individual in different stages of his life.

6. The principle of extension. Guidance service should not be limited to a few persons, who give observable evidence of its need, but it should be extended to all persons of all ages, who can benefit from it directly or indirectly.

7. The principle of elaboration. Curriculum materials and teaching procedures should be elaborated according to the view point of guidance.

8. The principle of adjustment. While it is true that guidance touches every aspect of an individual’s life, it is chiefly concerned with an individual’s physical or mental health, with his adjustment at home, school, society and vocation.

9. Principle of individual needs. The individual and his needs are of utmost significance. Recognition of individual freedom, worth, respect and dignity is the hallmark of guidance. Freedom to make a choice and take a decision needs to be respected and encouraged.

10. The principle of expert opinion. Specific and serious guidance problems should be referred to persons who are trained to deal with particular area of adjustment for their expert opinion.

11. The principle of evaluation. The guidance programme should be evaluated in terms of its effectiveness and improvement. Evaluation is essential for the formulation of new goals or re-drafting the existing goals.

12. The principle of responsibility. Parents and teachers have great responsibility in the execution of the work of guidance. The responsibility for guidance should be centred on a qualified and trained person, who is the head the guidance centre.

13. The principle of periodic appraisal. Periodic appraisal should be made of the existing guidance programme so that requisite changes, if any can be carried out for its improvement.

TYPES OF GUIDANCE

Guidance mainly divides into 3 types. And these 3 types of guidance are the main tools that guide a teacher or student in its working. Besides, in this topic, we are going to discuss the type of guidance that is most important.

Educational Guidance

It refers to that guidance that a child or students need during his school life. Also, it helps them to solve the problem that they face in school. In addition, it gives all the required details that children need related to the school they find most suitable. Most noteworthy, education is the process that guides and directs children for her/his proper development.

Every aspect of school education is strongly related to educational guidance. Moreover, it includes the aim, objectives, discipline, syllabus, the role of teachers, methods of teaching, and co-curricular activity.

In addition, these guidelines help in the adjustment of the course of study according to the ability and skill of the student. This process helps a student to make wise choices in relation to his education life ahead. Most noteworthy, this process assists a person to plan her/his education plan and carry it forward without any problem.

Education guidance concerns every related aspect of student education. Also, it provides assistance to students to choose the school, course, study habit, and several others. Besides, it helps in the growth and development of children.

Vocational Guidance

It refers to that type of guidance in which ordinary information is provided regarding choosing the occupation. Also, it prepares them for the occupation and helps in entering and progressing. Besides, it is also known as vocational development. Most noteworthy, in modern education it’s perspective is much wider.

This type of guidance helps a person to know her/his strength and weaknesses. Moreover, it helps them to choose a vocation for better adjustment with every situation. In other words, vocational guidance helps a person choose his career and other aspects related to it.

It is an assistance that helps students and children to know the world of vocation by getting in the school. Most noteworthy, it is an early exposure to students about the variety of job choices they would have later in life. It is a motivation for hard work in school or college studies.

Vocational Guidance help children to know what they are capable of and what they can become in life. And this ultimately depends on what they are capable to do in their school life. In addition, they need to be on the right track to prepare them for life.

In short, we can say that it is a universally accepted process that assists an individual to know her/himself better.

Personal Guidance

It refers to that type of guidance where a person or individual overcome their problem on their own. Also, it is the assistance that is provided to an individual to solve their social, mental, morals, health, and ethical problems. Besides, it helps in solving those problems, which we cannot solve with just vocational and educational guidance.

Personal assistance is of two types written and oral. They help to make an adjustment in our life. Moreover, it is the guidance they let us know what we are now and what we can become later in life. Besides, it helps children and student to help them and look at them from the right point of view.

In the case of personal guidance, we observe that it is not an easy task. And the total development of an individual’s personality depends on the development of personal habits and attitudes. That’s why most of the individual face this problem in life.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING

There is a number of counselling which take place these days. They are mainly divided as per the various fields. This allows people to choose the counsellor as per their specific problem. Moreover, this assures the counsellor doing the work is a specialist in their respective field. The following are the most common types of counselling:

· Marriage and Family Counselling

· Educational Counselling

· Rehabilitation Counselling

· Mental Health Counselling

· Substance Abuse Counselling

Marriage and Family Counselling

People often face a lot of problems in their marriage and family life. Sometimes, these troubled people find it hard to cope up with their life. This results in constant fights with their partners or family members. Marriage and family counselling comes in here. In other words, it helps people with these problems. They take them into confidence and prescribe solutions that will help them overcome their problems.

Educational Counselling

A student who is fresh out of school or college is often clueless as to which career to choose. This is completely normal for kids of that age to feel like that. Furthermore, sometimes even working individuals feel like that in the midst of their careers. This is nothing to worry about. Educational counselling helps these people in choosing their career path. They conduct seminars and orientations or private sessions where they discuss the interest of their client and offer solutions accordingly.

Rehabilitation Counselling

This type of counselling refers to a practice where the counsellor helps people with their emotional and physical disabilities. Furthermore, these counsellors teach these people ways to live independently and maintain gainful employment. It evaluates the strength and limitations of their patients. In short, they help people in guiding them and assisting them to lead independent lives.

Mental Health Counselling

Mental illnesses have become very common these days. Awareness has helped people identify the symptoms of it and visit mental health counsellors. Mental health counselling helps people deal with issues that impact their mental health and well-being. Some of the mental illnesses are depression, PTSD, ADHD, Bipolar disorder, and more. This counselling focuses on these issues and helps in resolving them for a healthier life.

Substance Abuse Counselling

Substance abuse counselling is a form of counselling which helps people in treating them and supporting them from breaking free from their drug and alcohol addiction. It helps people discuss the cause of this addiction and reach to the root of it. The counsellor thereby suggests coping strategies which make a positive impact on their lives. Moreover, they also provide them with practicing skills and behaviours which helps in their recovery.

In conclusion, all types of counselling carry equal importance. They allow people to work through their problems and lead a happier and healthier life. There is no shame in taking counselling sessions as it only helps in the growth of an individual. In addition, counselling also helps save lives.

ROLES OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING IN SCHOOLS

Guidance and counselling is a very important program in a school. It is a process through which students are given on how to deal with emotional and personal conflicts and problems in both school and the society. There are people who are responsible for guidance and counselling of a learner for example; teachers, parents, matron, cateress, security personnel, supportive staff and many others. The following are some of the roles they play in guiding and counselling students

PARENTS:

To help the school in teaching their children proper attitudes like self-discipline, self-control, honesty, dignity among other good moral values.

1. To advise and encourage their children to make good use of school guidance and counselling services.

2. To provide information necessary in helping their children get proper guidance and counselling , for example if a parent realises that his or her child has a problem in a certain subject he or she can let the subject teacher know so that the teacher can know how to identify the weakness of the student .

3. To examine the students at home to know whether they benefit from the guidance services offered at school. A parent can know this by seen change in the learner’s behaviour from the previous behaviour he or she had.

4. A parent has the right to use the school guidance and counselling services at school to ensure that their children are offered the right guidance. By may be reading the materials provided to the learners by their school counsellors.

5. To sometimes engage in the reviewing of the content and curriculum of guidance and counselling. In case the school wants to revise the school curriculum, they can involve the parents.

6. To provide materials needed for guidance and counselling in the school for example magazines, books among others.

7. To avail themselves when needed at the school may be to discuss problems caused by their children and take them positive if they are .They should not show favouritism towards their children.

8. To pray for their children while at school and at home and try to tell them the good morals they should be having.

9. To be role models to the children by living an exemplary life which the children can emulate and be better people both in the school and in the society.

10. To encourage their children to follow the school rules and regulations so as to avoid punishments.

11. To always reward their children for their good behaviour. This will make them feel appreciated and wish to improve on their behaviours positively.

TEACHERS:

1. To develop in students an awareness of opportunities in the society through relevant and useful information.

2. To help students develop the skills of self-study, self-analysis and self-understanding.

3. To help students in making appropriate and satisfactory personal and educational choices.

4. To help student develop positive attitudes to self, to others, to work and to learning.

5. To help students acquire the skills of collecting and using information.

6. To help students who are underachieving use their potentials to the maximum.

7. To help children relate behaviour meaningfully to cognitive achievement and the chances of success in life.

8. To help student acquire as early as possible in their lives a positive image of self through self-understanding and self-direction.

9. To assist students in the process of developing and acquiring skills in problem solving and decision making.

10. To help build up/or sharpen the child’s perception of reality, development of a sense of autonomy and to whip up the motivation for creativity and productivity.

11. To work with significant others in the life of the child, helping them to understand the needs and problems of the child with the purpose of creating, arousing and sustaining their interest in and their understanding of the child’s needs, problems and goals so that the child could be optimally helped to attain those goals, handle those problems and meet those needs.

12. To help route the nations human resources into appropriate useful and beneficial channels thus preventing unnecessary economic bottlenecks.

13. To help identify and nurture human potentialities in various fields of study endeavours, thus ensuring adequate manpower in the various sectors of the nation’s economy.

14. To help build up in individual Cameroonians positive attitudes to fellow Cameroonians and a sense of commitment to the unity of Cameroon.

15. To help the child as early as possible to learn to appreciate Cameroonian cultural values

UNIT 2

GUIDANCE SERVICES

ORIENTATION SERVICE

The orientation service is provided to the students those who are new comers and those who go to new class or new course in the school set up. It is a well-known fact that the students those who join first time. In the school or get promotion for higher classes are heterogeneous in nature as they are from different family backgrounds, from different socio-economic status, from different areas, and from different abilities, interests, aptitudes and skills.

So that the orientation service is normally meant for students to enable them to know school courses, rules, regulations, different facilities given to the students by school and to know the clear image of the school. On the same line school also keeps record of the students about their bio-data including identification, socio- economic background, capacities and abilities, interest for courses etc.

Really the orientation service gives scope to make the students familiar with the unfamiliar situation of the school. The orientation service is also meant to develop student’s abilities and scholarships, a sense of responsibility and integrity, abilities for citizenship, social and vocational skills etc. The orientation service is such a service which develops relationship between school and students and vice versa and it is organised systematically in the beginning of the new sessions.

THE ORIENTATION SERVICE IS HIGHLY NEEDED DUE TO FOLLOWING REASONS

1. It assists new students to know the information’s about school, its history and traditions, its rules and regulations, its strength and weaknesses, facilities available for them etc.

2. It helps students to adjust with school situations and enables students to develop academic standard, personal qualities, high moral values as well as ethical standards from rich experiences of the school.

3. It assists students to achieve success in academic life by learning to study carefully, developing interest in study, taking examinations and notes sincerely and utilizing time properly.

4. It helps students to know the almost all useful information’s regarding physical plant, library, hostels, class-rooms, laboratories, workshops, gardens, play grounds, different teaching aids and other facilities.

5. It assists students to provide remedial reading, language programme, projects and clubs and different financial help by schools.

6. It assists students to develop social adjustment abilities, citizenship education, well adjustment in different school activities and facilities, with different members of school and finally it assists to develop an idea and feeling among students that is a self-directed, intellectually oriented experience.

The orientation courses may be offered systematically to students through certain activities such as issuing printed material and hand book of information, conducting orientation day, welcoming desk and entrance, arranging community tea and games, celebrating social evening through plays, exhibitions, showing films, talks by guest speaker and so on. However, the orientation service should be offered systematically and organised well as a result of which new comers would be able to have good start in school sphere.

PLACEMENT SERVICE

Like other guidance services, placement service is a kind of guidance service which is especially carried on by teachers on guidance workers to assist students to find out his own place in the educational setting on occupational world considering his abilities, interests, skills, aptitudes and attitudes.

It is obvious that the individual goes to the temple of education with certain occupational and vocational goals. Thus educational and vocational guidance enable student to have a right choice in case of educational courses, vocational courses and trainings. Both type of guidance assist student in the placement of good job and meant to provide maximum satisfaction out of his placement.

According to H.B. English and A.C. English the term placement refers to “the assigning of a worker to the job for which he is judged best fitted.” Further same has been stressed that in terms of placement “fitness includes the individual’s satisfaction as well as his ability in relation to the job.”

From this opinion it has been derived that two things are most important to remember in the placement service such as:

· Fitness for the job which implies the ability, skills, interests, aptitude and capacity of the individual on student in the context of his job placement.

· Satisfaction of the individual which implies the student’s placement in a job should be better selected and meant for the purpose of deriving maximum satisfaction out of the job.

AIMS OF THE PLACEMENT SERVICE

The placement service is a process which is meant to help the individual or student to place him in the occupational world to survive on the basis of his abilities, skills, interests and innate talents.

The placement service is meant for the student which helps him to adjust better in the job sphere and achieve progress in the job for his development and welfare.

TYPES OF PLACEMENT SERVICE

The placement service mainly is of two types namely:

· Educational Placement

· Vocational Placement

1. EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT

Educational placement is meant to aim at placing the student in educational situations or institutions with suitable courses which best suits him according to his own abilities, skills, interests, aptitudes. Thus the educational goals regarding student’s achievement and progress become easier to achieve.

Educational placement also not limited to some of regular courses, rather it includes varieties of curricular and co-curricular activity which goes inside school. Thus it is pertinent to say that educational placement service is not limited to few and it should be offered to all the students of all grades those who are in the school settings.

PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT SERVICE

1. Help the student in selection of school subjects and courses.

2. Help the student for his preparation in next new course.

3. Help the student in his transfer from one grade to another grade or from one school to another new school.

4. Help the student for participation in various curricular and co-curricular activities.

5. Help the student to co-operate in community service.

6. Help the student to find part time employment.

7. Help the student to utilize leisure hour properly.

8. Help the student to enter into various vocational schools or trainings.

9. Help the student to enter into college for higher studies.

10. Help the student in getting employment after completion of educational courses.

2. Vocational Placement Service:

Vocational placement service is meant for the students to enable them for the suitable placement in a liking job taking abilities, interests, attitudes, skills into consideration. Therefore the students should be guided properly by teachers and guidance workers to locate and secure employment after completion of the educational career. The vocational placement is meant to provide optimum satisfaction and occupational satisfaction to the students out of full time appointment or part time employment.

PURPOSES OF VOCATIONAL PLACEMENT SERVICE

1. Help the student to get suitable job so far various occupational choices are concerned.

2. Help the student to adjust him to the new occupational setting and environment.

3. Help the student informing necessary information about the vacancies available in both public and private sectors.

4. Help student as it collects necessary information about him in the context of occupation.

5. Help employers-as it gives information about trained and qualified personnel according to their requirement and demands.

6. Help students’ providing different occupational information’s from several mass media such as newspaper, hand book containing job information, audio visual-aids, special bulletin and publications.

PHASES OF PLACEMENT SERVICE

1. In the first phase of placement service, the general character of occupational life is explained to the student and he is provided necessary education for the same purpose.

2. Then student is oriented towards some occupational field for which he has pre-requisite qualification, experience and interest.

3. In the third phase of placement service the student is enabled to understand and study his own abilities, interests, aptitudes in the context his favourite occupation for which he is interested.

4. The fourth phase of placement service is an important phase of placement service. The student needs skilful guidance and counselling in choosing a job for himself according to his abilities, interests, aptitudes and skills. The guidance workers or teachers employ different guidance techniques and tests to know all about the student at this stage.

5. The student takes up the job and begins his work for the purpose of his job.

6. The sixth and final phase of placement service includes the follow-up of the job for which the placement service is accepted.

APPRAISAL SERVICE

Appraisal service is an important type of guidance service which may be recognized often as “pupil’s” appraisal service. It is very much essential for student as it assists to know the student “himself” at the time of taking any decisions so far his educational courses and careers are concerned. Really the student proceeds in his educational set-up as he has made proper choice regarding concerned subject or courses according to his own abilities, interests, aptitudes, attitudes and skills. The adequate and accurate data are collected for the same purpose.

PURPOSES APPRAISAL SERVICE

1. The individual or student’s information is needed to assist the student to know the clear picture of his abilities, interests, aptitudes, skills, personality characteristics, achievement standard, level of aspiration and his physical health status as well as his mental capacities.

2. It assists student to know himself from various point of view such as socio-economic-status, family background, educational status of family, will of parents and students etc.

3. It helps student to provide a record of the academic standard and status and his progress in this regard.

4. It enables guidance worker, and teacher to know about student adequately as a result of which they would be able to suggest for further progress of the students.

STEPS OF APPRAISAL SERVICE

1. DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is the first and foremost step to be followed for good appraisal service. Here necessary and adequate data regarding student’s ability, interests, aptitudes, skills, habit patterns, family background, socio- economic-status, health, habits and conditions, vocational interest, educational standard, interest for different curricular and co-curricular activities, parental aspirations etc. should be collected by guidance personnel with utmost care.

For the purpose of data collection about the students, the guidance worker should take the help of different tools and techniques such as interviews, observations, case study, incidental records, cumulative record cards, questionnaires, rating scales, standardized test, and inventories meant for measuring intelligence, creativity, adjustment abilities and other psychological traits.

AREAS OF DATA COLLECTION

General data

Pupil’s name, his father’s name, age, date of birth, place of birth, permanent address, present address, name of the class in which he reads,

Family data

Home and school environment, number of the family members, number of the brothers and sisters, relation with family members, parental educational status, parental occupational status, socio-economic-status of the family, home situation (Rural/Urban) and health status of family members.

Physical data

Pupil’s height, weight, body structure, complexion, eye sight, hearing condition, heart and lung condition, chronic disease, health status of the student etc.

Academic data

Present achievement records, past achievement records, progress of studies in different subjects, marks or grades obtained the position of student in the class-room so far his academic achievement is concerned.

Social data

Manners of the student, his customs, values, social skills, participation in various social institutions, co-operation, fellow feeling, dealings with other members of society etc.

Data about co-curricular activities

Interest in games, sports, interest in participating different competitions such as drama competition, music competition, debate competition, essay competition, school exhibition, group discussion and spiritual discussion etc.

Psychological data

Mental ability, emotional maturity, power of reasoning and thinking, aptitudes, interests, attitudes, vocational interest, self-concepts and other personality traits etc.

Data regarding entertainment

Leisure time activities, sources and means of refreshment, other liking hobbies and other engagements.

2. MAINTENANCE OF DATA

The useful data about students should be organised and recorded properly in a cumulative record after collection of data. The cumulative record should be based on up-to-date, adequate and appropriate data about the student which must be carefully examined and looked by the teachers, counsellors and psychologists previously. Because cumulative record gives a clear picture of the student’s achievement and progress which presents all data about student at a glance. The cumulative record is sent with the student to new school secretly when the student leaves the school.

3. USE OF DATA

In the school proper guidance is given to the student after analysing and interpreting the data collected previously by the guidance personnel. Due to this step taken by guidance worker, student becomes able to find out a better choice in regards to education, vocation and career planning.

4. SELF-APPRAISAL SERVICE

The purpose of know thyself can be fulfilled by self-appraisal service which helps students to develop awareness and self-confidence within them. At the same time students become more conscious of their strength and limitations as a result of which they become able to carry on academic work and vocational work perfectly.

The data of self-appraisal is collected by self-analysis, questionnaire, self-ranking chart, self-evaluation chart for the purpose of self-appraisal and the same data becomes helpful in supplementing other sources of information about the student.

INFORMATION SERVICE

Information actually plays a vital role in each and every guidance programme. Because it assists students to take suitable decisions in case of educational planning and career and vocational career. At the same time, it is helpful to students to adjust well in different social situations including school situation and occupational situation.

The essential information for planning the educational and vocational career is collected from various sources such as:

(1) Teachers

(2) Parents

(3) School guidance personnel or Counsellor

(4) Intimate friends and mates

(5) Newspapers and different useful journals and

(6) Other mass media such as Radio and T.V.

The information which students get from different sources should be authentic and free from all business and errors as a result of which student would be able to take right decision in regards to his educational and vocational careers.

NEED OF INFORMATION SERVICE

In the present world, information service is highly needed by the students to have a better planning for future in the context of educational and vocational career and to adjust well in different social situations.

1. Information service helps students to take right decisions when they face multifarious problems in the context of educational life and vocational life.

2. The well designed and up-to-date information service motivates and stimulates the students to appraise their idea and ideologies, critically for the purpose of deriving maximum satisfaction and achieving self-realization.

3. Information service assists students to be self-dependent, self-cautious and self-regulatory with full confidence and satisfaction in this competitive and complex world in taking matured decisions in different spheres of life.

4. Information service enables students to correlate and compare his decisions with his abilities, interests, aptitudes, strength and limitations as a result of which the correctness of the decisions can be smoothly known by the students.

5. Information service assists students to explore new possible areas to place themselves well by which they would be free from all tensions and frustrations.

In this context, Norris and Others have pointed out the following needs and objectives of information service:

· To identify the choice available among the multifarious vocations opened to them.

· To evaluate their self-perception of activities and interests against actual occupational needs.

· To develop self-awareness and self-confidence in individual about various occupations.

TYPES OF INFORMATION

There are three categories of information’s which are very much essential for good guidance service such as:

· Educational information

· Occupational information

· Personal-Social information.

EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE

Educational information service plays a significant role in the process of educational guidance. It is highly needed by students in taking right decision in case of planning educational career and to provide information regarding educational opportunities which are to be available by the students.

According to Norris and others “Educational information is valid and usable data about all types of probable future educational or training opportunities and requirements, including curricular and co-curricular offerings, requirements for entrance and condition and problem of student life. Educational information service is not only useful for students but also it is essential for teachers, parents and counsellors to guide the students in this regard properly.

EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE PROVIDES:

a. Rules and regulations of school, college and university in regards to admission procedure, duration of the course, terms and conditions for option and selection of a particular subject or course.

b. Content of subjects and courses of studies for a particular course or class.

c. Study habits, skills and other capacities.

d. Scholarships, stipends, loans meant for students and its procedure to get it.

e. Information’s regarding different educational and learning oriented programmes.

f. Examination methods, procedures and other rules regarding it.

g. Student’s social life and cultural opportunities meant for the progress and pleasure of the students.

SOURCES OF EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION’S

1. Prospectuses of different schools, colleges, universities and special technical and professional institutions.

2. Directories of different educational institutions.

3. Books, pamphlets, leaflets, brochures which are designed to develop study skills, to prepare for examinations, to prepare notes published by different guidance bureaux and other organizations.

4. Prospectuses and brochures written for the purpose of scholarships, loans, stipends offered by ministry of education, Government of India, Department of Education of State and other social agencies.

5. Various illustrative material such as film strips, posters and charts based on different educational opportunities and arrangement.

One thing should be kept in the mind that the educational information should be collected and compiled by the adequate trained teacher and guidance oriented personnel as a result of which the goal of educational information service would be achieved.

(i) To demonstrate their competence in skills basic to the chosen occupations.

(ii) To develop an appreciation for all occupations and importance they have in the society.

(iii) To develop in the individuals the recognition of the relationship between personal values and the influence of others on the choice of their occupations.

(iv) To learn to reduce the discrepancy between where they are and where they want to be.

(v) To learn to apply decision-making process in their personal and vocational lives.

(vi) To develop means for helping them to study intensively a few selected occupations or educational or training facilities.

(vii) To become fully aware of and acquainted with all kinds of occupational and vocational opportunities.

(viii) To develop tentative educational and occupational plan based on through self-study.

(ix) To present specific techniques to meet the immediate needs and employment facilities.

USES OF EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE

Bear and Rocher have given the following uses of information service on the basis of a study:

Assurance use:

Information can be used to assure the students of the appropriateness of his decisions.

Evaluative use:

Information can be used to check accuracy and adequacy of student’s knowledge and understanding.

Exploratory use:

Information can be used to help students to explore and study all alternatives of possible choices.

Re-adjective use:

Information can be used for helping then to re-orient themselves to different levels of goals.

Synthesis use:

Data can be used to relate the with personal needs and conditions which they can promote a synthesis of a behavior patterns.

Awareness use:

Data can be used to add to student’s knowledge of occupation choices, changing needs and so on.

Verification use:

Information can be used students to verify and clarify choices, opportunities and decisions.

OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE

One of the important aims of education as well as life of man is to earn bread and butter to survive in the world. To satisfy the same aim one has to find out a suitable place in the world of work. So that to have a better choice in occupational world one needs several information’s regarding job, nature of job, emoluments and other financial benefits, working condition, promotion facilities, qualifications and other aspects etc.

After getting all the available related information’s about job, a student thinks to choose better one for his own sake. Otherwise the entire efforts will go in vain if a student does not get relevant and up-to-date information’s regarding various occupations.

Due to reliable and relevant up-to-date information about different jobs at least a student gets privilege to select a suitable occupation, according to his own abilities, interests, skills, aptitudes, attitudes including present family conditions and social situations.

According to Norris and her colleagues “Occupational information is valid and usable data about positions of jobs and occupations including duties, requirements for entrance, conditions of work, rewards offered, advancement pattern, existing and predicted supply of and demand for workers and sources for further information.”

Really the importance of occupational information service is highly felt in the present complex and competitive world for the youngsters of the nation.

NEED/ REASONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE

· Occupational information service makes vocational guidance more informative:

For successful vocational guidance, occupational information service is highly needed. Because occupational information service provides various useful information’s regarding name or title of job, nature of work and information about training, financial benefits and future prospectus and so on. It is not possible to find out a better choice in the context of job without the knowledge of various adequate information’s of different occupations of the world.

· Occupational information service enables students to know clear picture of occupational world in the context of dynamic society:

In course of time occupational pattern is changing rapidly in both private and public sector. In past, agriculture was only major occupation of the majority of the people. Then occupational pattern became industrially dominated and it is giving much emphasis on white collared job. The same occupational pattern may not exist in future.

So that occupational information service provides information’s regarding previous pattern and status of occupations and present status and pattern of the occupations which are helpful in predicting future occupational pattern of the country or world. According to the situations, the occupational choice can be made properly by the students which are generally possible due to the occupational information service.

· Occupational information service helps students in educational and vocational planning:

The guidance worker or teacher gets much scope to suggest students properly about his educational career and as well as his occupational career. The students are provided maximum opportunity to plan well for their educational and vocational career. In this way occupational information service helps students and guidance worker for the betterment of the student in concerning fields.

· Occupational information service helps students in changing the old courses and in accepting new one:

To challenge with rapidly changing world of work one has to decide subjects, courses in relation to future occupation. Otherwise he will not adjust properly in the present occupational world. Keeping this in the mind a student should change the old courses and accept new one if situation compels to change so far his occupational choice is concerned.

· Occupational information service provides maximum benefits to the student in case of occupational career:

A student easily comes to know about different aspects of job and its prospects through occupational information service within a short span of time. Here student avails opportunity to choose a suitable occupation for life spending less time as information’s regarding vocations are previously collected. At the time a better choice of student for his job gives utmost satisfaction to him and it also becomes more beneficial for student.

· Occupational information service provides information on the basis of following facts which should be collected before-hand sincerely with proper care:

1. Name of various vocational courses and higher vocational trainings.

2. Name of the various available institutions of higher training.

3. Scholarships, any financial assistance or stipends available for undergoing trainings.

4. Various job title and available job opportunities.

5. Descriptions of the job and its requirements such as age, sex, qualifications, training, experience, fitness, nature of work, hours of work, other equipment and materials used etc.

6. Emoluments and other financial benefits of job.

7. Working conditions, incentives and hazards involved in job.

8. Promotion prospects and transfer possibilities, appointment places.

9. Methods of recruitments, qualification either general or professional and cues for interviews and number of posts and so on.

10. Any special information about the job.

SOURCES OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION

Useful and up-to-date occupational information is to be collected by the teachers, the counsellors the administrators, and the libertarian from the following sources such as:

· Different occupational abstracts, briefs, guides, monographs, paper cutting and pamphlets published by CIRTES, Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations of Education, State Guidance Bureaux;

· Occupational files and dictionaries & career information manuals.

· Employment news, employment exchange, magazines, government notifications and bulletins etc.

· Various illustrative materials like films, filmstrips, posters and charts pertaining to various jobs and occupational processes.

To make more effective occupational information service certain, activities like career talk, career conferences, career corner, industrial visit, simulated interview and vocational counselling should be organised systematically by teachers and counsellors.

Career corner is a display centre which helps students to go through different career books, pamphlets, posters and notices concerning career information’s. In career talk, an expert in any vocation or career is invited to school to offer a talk on the specific job to the students so far his mastery is concerned.

In career conference, several experts of their concerned fields are invited and they discuss about different jobs and its other aspects before students. In industrial visit, students get privileges, to visit industry to know different required information’s ‘about their job career and so’ on.

In simulated interview, students are provided an artificial interview situation to prepare them for real interview for a particular job. In vocational counselling, students are provided training by vocational counsellors to solve problems regarding selection of vocation, preparing for an occupation and progress in vocation as a result of which student can be able to adjust better in the world of work.

PERSONAL-SOCIAL INFORMATION

Personal-social information service is highly needed by the students as it is meant to improve personal and social relations of an individual in the society. According to Norris and her other colleagues “personal-social information is valid and usable data about the opportunities and influences of the human and physical environment which bear on personal and inter-personal relations.”

Personal-social information service enables students to understand himself better and his place in the home, school and community so far social and personal relations are concerned. It also helps students or individuals to improve his relation with other members of the society.

Personal social information service includes several personal-social information’s of individual or student such as dealings with other social members, manners and customs, relationship with siblings, peers and other boy and girl friends, personal appearance, social skills, participation in different social organisations, adjustment capacities in different social situations, family relations, leisure time activities, financial planning and arrangement and successful and sound living.

The teachers and guidance workers should provide booklets, mental health material, personal hygiene material and different illustrative materials such as films, film strips, poster charts regarding personal-social adjustment to the students to make them a successful member of family as well as society for leading a happy life.

CONSULTATION SERVICE

Consultation service is the aspect of guidance in which the counsellor works together with teacher, parents and other agencies to resolve the problems of students. It means seeking the help of an individual or a small group to gather useful information and suggestions to aid decision making.

PURPOSE OF CONSULTATIONS

Consultation has the purpose of:

1. Resolving problems of students

2. Ensuring the effectiveness of the guidance programme.

3. Helping teachers and parents to understand the development of the pupils

4. Offering the counsellor, the opportunity to collect useful information and suggestions from parents, teachers, peers and other significant members of the student’s community to enable him/her to adopt strategies in helping the pupils in their development processes.

IMPORTANCE OF CONSULTATION SERVICE

1. The consultation offers teachers the opportunity to use counsellors as resource persons while maintaining the leadership role in the instructional programme.

2. Consultation creates a good atmosphere in which pupils can learn. Teachers are helped to identify pupils’ learning problems and needs. This helps teachers to give better service.

3. Consultation helps the school to know and deal with such delinquent problems as absenteeism, lateness, truancy and other school-related maladjustive problems.

4. It establishes a cordial, understanding and effective relationship between the counsellor, teachers, parents and the school nurse.

5. The counsellor gains more understanding of the process and characteristics of the individual and provides counselling regarding the special needs of the individuals and group of pupils.

6. Consultation assists parents in coping with or modifying pupils’ behavior. Parents are also put in a position to help in the academic planning and progress of their children.

7. Counsellors are in the position to give assessment and evaluation that may necessitate curriculum review.

8. A consultation allows the counsellor to have contact with other community agencies for referral or assistance for pupils. Also, other several responsibilities and alternatives are identified in referral consultations.

9. In consultation, students’ career interests and concerns provide a basis for expanded and relevant curriculum offerings.

COUNSELLOR’S ROLE IN CONSULTATION

The counsellor in his consultation role has to:

1. Elicit staff co-operation

2. Communicate with parents

3. Communicate with other agencies.

MODE OF STAFF CO-OPERATION

1. Counsellor should establish a cordial and effective relationship with teachers in the school.

2. Counsellor should look up to teachers as people competent in their field and capable of taking and implementing decision. There should therefore be respect for the personal dignity of teachers.

3. He/she should set up a well-demarcated procedure in working with the teacher in the event of referral cases.

4. Counsellor should readily provide vital information from the cumulative record needed by the teachers in taking certain decisions on students’ special needs and problems.

5. Counsellor should be cautious in exposing certain information and discussions held with him/her by other teachers.

6. Counsellor should work closely with teachers in taking decisions about students by making available his/her knowledge, skills, and experiences.

7. He/she should arrange regular contact with teachers to attend to immediate problems.

8. Counsellor must make available to teachers, information on current issues, trends and development of his/her profession.

9. Working alongside staff members the counsellor should be able to create for certain basic issues affecting the students’ welfare.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS

· Personal contacts (visits) where possible

· Open days and speech days

· Group conferences

· Family group consultation

· Letter-writing. The letters should be of simple wording and straight to the point. The students should be aware that you are writing to the parent.

· Terminal report cards on which other aspects of life (apart from academic performance) can be indicated.

· Parents-Teachers Association (P.T.A.) where counsellor gets the opportunity to address parents on certain pertinent issues related to life and welfare of students.

· Telephone, especially in emergency cases.

RESPONSIBILITY OF COUNSELLOR TO PARENTS

1. The counsellor is expected to alert the parents as to his/her role in the school. This is to remove any prejudice and fears which may be as a result of inadequate information.

2. The counsellor guides and advises parents on major areas that affect the lives of students.

3. He/she should create an environment that will enable parents to exchange ideas with the school on certain issues that affect their children.

4. The counsellor has the responsibility to make available to parents information on educational and occupational opportunities available to the students.

5. He/she acts as a link person between the school and the parents so that he/she would explain to parents certain policies and activities which are being carried out in the school.

PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN CONSULTATION

1. Lack of co-operation on the part of the school, that is, head teacher, members of the teaching and non-teaching staff, with the counsellor.

2. Lack of co-operation from parents

3. Lack of office accommodation and equipment for the operation of the consultation service in the school.

4. Student’s reluctance to reveal certain vital information to counsellor for lack of confidence in him/her, especially when the counsellor is a member of the school disciplinary committee.

5. Ignorance of parents about what counselling service entails. This is largely due to illiteracy.

6. Others may also hold the counsellor in suspicion and would feel reluctant to open up.

COUNSELLING SERVICE

As an integral part of guidance program, counselling service is not a recent idea and service having wide applications in different social set up such as family, school, medical, other counselling centres etc. counselling service may be provided by parents to children in the family, by teachers to students in school, by doctors to patients in medical and so on to overcome the problems what generally occur in their lives. In day to day life thousands of problems create hindrances in the development and prosperity of I lie individual as these are educational, occupational and personal-social in nature.

In the ever changing society, as an professional activity, the need of counselling service is highly felt to find out the solutions towards innumerable problems such as change of disliking subjects, problem of study habits, preparing for examination, inadequate participation in school curricular and co-curricular activities, free studentship, and scholarship and stipend, planning for future vocation, making and keeping relation with friends, co-operating with teachers and mates, adjusting with family members and parents, dealing love affairs, developing inferiority complex, behavioural problems, health problems, economic problems, problem of dealings, manners and morals, problems in the context of utilization of leisure hours, problems relating to under achievement, absence and dropping out of school college and other related educational or training centre, material problems etc.

To attain this goal counselling service is initiated by counsellor for the purpose solving the problems of counselee. Thus counselling service is basically meant for the betterment and welfare of the students so called counselee and the service is offered by the counsellor which cites a picture of their better relationship between them. In other words counselling service is considered as the relationship between two individuals in which one helps the other to help himself.

ELEMENTS OF COUNSELLING WHICH MAKE MEANING OF COUNSELLING MORE CLEAR.

· Counselling service is a process which establishes one-to-one relationship between two individuals.

· One person needs counselling as he has worries, problems, anxieties, tensions and difficulties where he is unable to co-op with alone.

· The other person helps former solving his problems on the basis of his previous experience, knowledge of training and experience of counselling.

· The person who seeks assistance feeling its need is recognized as the counselee and the person who offers assistance to counselee is identified as the counsellor.

· The relationship between the two persons namely counselee and counsellor is based and strengthened on mutual trust, acceptance, sharing safety and co-operation and friendly relation.

· Counselling is a self-active process which means the counselee has to take the help from counsellor to solve his own problems. But in counselling service the counsellor is not subject to solve the problems of the counselee. In counselling service, the counsellor enables counselee to develop insight in to his own problems and to encourage self-confidence within the counselee to overcome his difficulties and to be free from tensions, anxieties and etc.

· Counselling is the most useful and vital technique which can be designed to work with pupils either individually or pupils in group.

· Counselling is meant to develop capacities of counselee for self-understanding, self-acceptance and self- realization.

· Counselling is meant to bring about a voluntary change in the counselee where there is no room for compulsion.

· Counselling is a job to help counselee not influencing his values, attitudes, beliefs, faiths, interests or decisions in the process of counselling.

OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES OF COUNSELLING SERVICE

Certain viewpoints may be quoted here for the purpose of knowing main objectives and purposes of counselling to have a clear-cut idea about the concept of counselling.

1. To give the student information on matters important to his success.

2. To get information about student which will be of help in solving his problems.

3. To establish a feeling of mutual understanding between student and teacher.

4. To help student work out a plan for solving his difficulties.

5. To help the student know himself better-his interests, abilities, aptitudes and opportunities.

6. To encourage and develop special abilities and right attitudes.

7. To inspire successful endeavour towards attainment.

8. To assist the student in planning for educational and vocational choices.

STEPS OF COUNSELLING SERVICE

1. Counselling is not a half-hazard business which is carried on all on sudden. It needs a systematic procedure to get a fruitful ending.

2. At the outset the problem is felt by the counselee and his mind goes on blinking about the possible solution.

3. Then difficulty is defined and analysed. After that intellectualization of difficulty takes place to solve the problem.

4. Various possible solutions come to mind. Out of different suggestions one suggestion after another is invited as a leading idea so called hypothesis or intellectual guess or tentative suggestion.

5. The hypothesis taken for counselling is explored through mental supposition.

6. Finally, the hypothesis is verified and tested by overt or covert actions.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING SERVICE

Counselling is of mainly three types on the basis of its approaches such as:

· Directive Counselling

· Non-directive Counselling

· Eclectic Counselling

DIRECTIVE COUNSELLING

Directive counselling is a process where counsellor plays a major role as the leader of the counselling situation. Due to this cause directive counselling is considered and recognized as counsellor centred counselling. The credit goes to Williamson and Darley as they coined new terminology namely clinical counselling in the place of counsellor centred counselling. In this counselling service counsellor conducts the interview with the counselee to know the problem of the student.

Much emphasis is paid on problem not on the individual. Both counsellor and counselee should proceed in the counselling work with full co-operation and friendly relation. The counsellor assists counselee the take suitable, decision for the problem. Besides this the counsellor helps counselee to think and to solve the problem providing valuable information and necessary interpretation.

NON-DIRECTIVE COUNSELLING

Non-directive counselling is based on the Carl R. Rogerian self- theory throughout the interview which is otherwise known as counselee centred counselling. Because in this type of counselling the counselee occupies an important place and plays significant role in the process. Of course counselee develops insight for the solution of problem with the help of the counsellor whose role is passive.

Due to this reason counselee gets a lot of privilege and freedom to help himself. In this counselling service both the sides such as counsellor and counselee should be co-operative to handle the counselling work in a familial setting. In this friendly situation counselee expresses his feelings freely and counsellor accepts the idea and feeling of counselee with sympathy.

In this free sphere the counsellor provides chance to the counselee to explore his feelings and then counsellor starts clarifying and interpretation these feelings. After that the counsellor enables counselee to develop self-insight to solve the problems smoothly. Before entering in to this kind of counselling service the counsellor should assume that every individual does possess capacity to be adjective, matured, grown up through self-direction and self-insight.

ECLECTIC COUNSELLING

Eclectic counselling is not extreme form of counselling like directing counselling and non-directive counselling. In directive counselling counsellor plays a dominant role and contrary to this in non-directive counselling counselee commands precious place being more active than counsellor. But eclectic counselling is based on principles taken from both the aforesaid counselling.

In this type of counselling counsellor is neither too active and nor too passive and the same principle is true to counselee also. The counsellor tries to adopt his methods according to needs of the counselee and motivates the counselee to solve his own problems after careful observation and analysis of personality and needs of the individual.

The counsellor should provide permissive and accepting atmosphere to counselee to make him free to express his feelings towards problem. Then he adopts different techniques to change the students’ environment with full enthusiasm and he also makes good use of collected available data about the individual to find out the tentative steps to overcome problems.

Here the counsellor and the counselee extend their hands of co-operation to arrive at a suitable decision or solution to a problem. In this counselling the main assumption is to develop philosophy among counselee that the goal of solving the problem is their responsibility and it is not the business of counsellor or teacher. Thorne is the supporter of this type of counselling and initiated it with full stress.

In counselling service, the counsellor or teacher should adopt the following techniques to make the service more effective and fruitful:

1. Attempt for establishing good rapport with the counselee.

2. Much emphasis for developing a healthy, trusting, accepting, relationship with counselee.

3. Providing chance to counselee to enable them to express freely without any fear his worries, anxieties, tensions, goals or plan to proceed.

4. Assistance for helping counselee to develop insight into his original and factual problems and to enable him to understand himself and the environment which surrounds him.

5. Thinking and discussing a plan to overcome the difficulties.

6. Encouraging counselee to develop self-confidence and self- concept to challenge the faced problems.

7. Selection and adoption of a particular approach such as directive, or non-directive or eclectic approach depends upon the situation including type of problem, testing condition, possible collected data etc.

8. For the purpose of counselling the techniques like correspondence, discussion on telephone, interview and group discussion may be adopted.

9. Creating climate to change the attitude and behaviour of parents, teachers and friends towards the counselee.

10. Engaging counselee in such a way that he would not feel lazy and uneasy.

REFERRAL SERVICE

The referral service is meant for the students those who are not subject to be guided and counselled by the teachers or guidance workers in a normal group. This referral service is arranged for the purpose of specialized help. In this special cases student is advised by teachers and counsellors to go for taking special help from specialized person or agency. Because the student needs specialized help and much care to overcome the problems.

The teacher and guidance worker recommend and refer the student to go for better guidance service through specialized person or agency taking student’s development into account. But it is not only business of teacher or guidance worker to refer student but also to follow-up him to know about his progress and prosperity so far the purpose of referring is concerned.

Therefore, it is natural that the teacher or guidance worker keeps good relationship with the referral student and referral agencies as a’ result of which the main aim of referring service can be fulfilled.

FOLLOW-UP SERVICE

Follow-up service is considered as an important guidance service which is intended to evaluate and ascertain the student’s progress and performance in the context of educational career and activities and progress in the job placement. It is not only the main task of teacher and guidance worker to provide educational placement and job placement through placement service but also it is most important concern is to evaluate the performance and success in the respective field.

The following questions may be answered by follow-up service in order to know progress and performance of student and employee in their respective field of work:

· Whether guidance in general satisfies needs and demands of students.

· To what extent the students have been able to achieve the goal in relation to their abilities, interests and aptitudes.

· Whether curricular and co-curricular choices have been wise for concerned student.

· To what extent the students have been co-operative in taking part in curricular activities and co-curricular activities to derive maximum gain.

· Whether job choices of student have been wise after completion of the educational ladder or training courses.

· To what extent the students have been able to adjust in his part time or full time job.

· Whether provided guidance service meant for students have been sufficient so far their success and activities are concerned.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLLOW-UP SERVICE

1. Follow-up service is a welfare attempt and a continuous process.

2. Follow-up service needs careful evaluation by the expert teachers and guidance workers.

3. During schooling each class is follow-up for at least five years.

4. Follow-up service is helpful and meant for all students of the school.

5. Follow-up service serves the goals and purposes of students and school in, a systematic way.

6. Follow-up service assists guidance workers to know how far a particular educational institution has been successful and systematic in offering educational experiences to its pupils.

7. Follow-up service is helpful for the students to know how far they made right choices in educational and vocational placement.

8. Follow-up service is helpful for the student to know how far he is able to get benefit from the educational and vocational opportunities.

9. Follow-up service gives hints whether the student needs further guidance service or not.

10. Follow-up service even if is conducted for former students for the purpose of interaction and collection of information.

OBJECTIVES OF FOLLOW-UP SERVICES

1. It helps the institutions or personnel or agencies those who are engaged in educational and vocational placement services in achieving educational, vocational or personal adjustment of the students.

2. It helps the school to keep relationship with its students for the collection of needed information’s.

3. It helps the students and teachers in realizing the aims and objectives of education as well as guidance in education and occupation.

4. It helps teachers and guidance workers in inviting required changes in the school programme on the basis of information’s collected from former students so far their present educational and vocational career is concerned.

5. It helps teachers and guidance workers to study the number of causes of drop outs in different classes.

6. It helps the teachers and guidance workers to take essential steps to check the wastage and stagnation in the field of education.

7. It helps the teachers and guidance worker to bring certain changes in curriculum as the student and present society needs.

8. It helps the students to know their correctness in selecting certain educational career and occupational career.

9. It helps students to know about available educational and vocational opportunities and to proceed accordingly.

10. It helps teachers and guidance workers to evaluate the success and achievement in educational career and vocational career of the student.

11. It helps students in providing occupational statistics as a result of which they are able to adjust in the occupational placement.

12. It helps students in providing encouragement and giving inspiration to them as they are not benefited and encouraged by placement.

PLANNING THE FOLLOW-UP SERVICE

It is quite well known that no purposeful activity and goal oriented service can be successful and fruitful without proper planning and organisation. That is why the purpose and aims of follow-up service should be kept in the mind before planning the follow-up service.

The teacher and guidance worker should proceed to plan for the follow-up service keeping following major points in the mind:

· The school guidance personnel should collect useful and desirable information’s from former students to know about educational and vocational opportunities available to them.

· The school guidance personnel should carry systematic evaluation to study the effectiveness of the offered follow-up service meant for students.

· The school guidance personnel should utilize the information collected by follow-up service for developmental purpose of the student of school.

ORGANISATION OF FOLLOW-UP SERVICE

For the purpose of organizing follow-up service, the teacher or guidance worker should keep close content with the former students by certain techniques like questionnaire method, telephone communication, organisation of old boy’s association, interview or post card survey to study about the educational and occupational opportunities.

In-spite of certain limitations in the aforesaid techniques like validity of information, time consuming and money consuming aspect of information collection, the guidance personnel should use any advantageous technique for purpose of collecting information from former students.

With this task a plan should be chalked out with certain aims and objectives before entering into follow-up services meant for the school students. Then the assessment work is started on the basis of previous collected information’s. It is important to remember that the data collected from the former student should be reliable and satisfactory. Otherwise no benefit of follow-up service can lie available and entire efforts will go without any effective result.

Thus in order to remove this difficulty certain training should be offered to the former students for the same while they are in the school. At the same time the co-operation of parents, teachers and former students is required to continue the follow-up service in the school. The follow-up service is meant for all those who need it.

With these precautions the guidance personnel should be active in starting follow up service in the school. Besides this the guidance personnel should take all the concerned initiatives with due emphasis and proper care as a result of which the follow-up service can be made effective and successful.

EVALUATION SERVICE

The evaluation process is an essential part of the process of guidance which is continuous in nature and done from time to time. Because it completes the entire process of guidance provided in the school.

It is needed to evaluate following considerations such as:

· Use and application of collected information’s to continue activities to find its effectiveness.

· How far guidance services satisfy the needs and the student’s efficiency.

· To what extent the time consumed for guidance service is right.

· To what extent the money spent for guidance service is right.

· How far guidance personnel involved in the guidance programme have done their work.

To answer above concerned questions, the evaluation service should be employed to find out the following consideration such as:

· The number and proportion of students with educational and vocational plans.

· To know the degree of relationship between educational and vocational achievements and the student’s capacity.

· Degree of harmony between subjects or coursers preferred by students and the requirements of the college or university in this regard.

· Extent of succession in work of college or university and its examination.

· To observe the number and proportion of students ‘with vocational choices and to study the number of students those who are shifting in vocational choices.

· Observing the amount of maladjustment among students and success in provided treatment to the student in this regard.

· Information’s about the degree of accuracy of student’s self-ratings.

· Extent of interest and participation in co-curricular activities which is carried on inside school.

· How far students have used various information’s given by guidance service for the purpose of educational and vocational choice.

· How far students are satisfied and benefited by the guidance program sponsored by school.

Much and close attention should be paid by guidance personnel to manage and organize the school guidance service as a result of which the goals of the guidance service can be achieved without any obstacles. A successful evaluation process helps students as well as teachers and society to facilitate good teaching and learning, to develop academic achievement, to check wastage and stagnation, to improve student performance, to improve class attendance, to create favorable faculty opinion, to check indiscipline and unrest in school campus and outside and to create familiar and open organizational climate in the school.

Owing to the above facilities, merits and gains of evaluation service, necessary attempts and activities concerning it should be taken carefully and cautiously by the school teacher and guidance personnel in the school by which the aims and objectives of guidance service as well as evaluation service can be availed and achieved without any obstruction.

UNIT 3

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN COUNSELLING

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is the process of conveying information between two or more people. Communication is a two-way process wherein the message in the form of ideas, thoughts, feelings, opinions is transmitted between two or more persons with the intent of creating a shared understanding.

Simply, an act of conveying intended information and understanding from one person to another is called as communication. The term communication is derived from the Latin word “Communis” which means to share. Effective communication is when the message conveyed by the sender is understood by the receiver in exactly the same way as it was intended.

Communication Process

The communication process is the steps we take in order to achieve a successful communication.

The communication is a dynamic process that begins with the conceptualizing of ideas by the sender who then transmits the message through a channel to the receiver, who in turn gives the feedback in the form of some message or signal within the given time frame. Thus, there are Seven major elements of communication process:

1. Sender: The sender or the communicator is the person who initiates the conversation and has conceptualized the idea that he intends to convey it to others.

2. Encoding: The sender begins with the encoding process wherein he uses certain words or non-verbal methods such as symbols, signs, body gestures, etc. to translate the information into a message. The sender’s knowledge, skills, perception, background, competencies, etc. has a great impact on the success of the message.

3. Message: Once the encoding is finished, the sender gets the message that he intends to convey. The message can be written, oral, symbolic or non-verbal such as body gestures, silence, sights, sounds, etc. or any other signal that triggers the response of a receiver.

4. Communication Channel: The Sender chooses the medium through which he wants to convey his message to the recipient. It must be selected carefully in order to make the message effective and correctly interpreted by the recipient. The choice of medium depends on the interpersonal relationships between the sender and the receiver and also on the urgency of the message being sent. Oral, virtual, written, sound, gesture, etc. are some of the commonly used communication mediums.

5. Receiver: The receiver is the person for whom the message is intended or targeted. He tries to comprehend it in the best possible manner such that the communication objective is attained. The degree to which the receiver decodes the message depends on his knowledge of the subject matter, experience, trust and relationship with the sender.

6. Decoding: Here, the receiver interprets the sender’s message and tries to understand it in the best possible manner. An effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the message in exactly the same way as it was intended by the sender.

7. Feedback: The Feedback is the final step of the process that ensures the receiver has received the message and interpreted it correctly as it was intended by the sender. It increases the effectiveness of the communication as it permits the sender to know the efficacy of his message. The response of the receiver can be verbal or non-verbal.

PHASES OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Step 1: Idea Formation – The communication process begins when the sender has an idea to be communicated. The idea will be influenced by complex factors surrounding the sender. The sender must begin by clarifying the idea and purpose. What exactly does the sender want to achieve? How is the message likely to be perceived? Knowing this information provides a higher chance of successful communication

Step 2: Message Encoding – The idea must be encoded into words, symbols, and gestures that will convey meaning. Because no two people interpret information in the exact same way, the sender must be careful to choose words, symbols and gestures that are commonly understood to reduce the chances of misunderstanding. Therefore, a sender must be aware of the receiver’s communication skills, attitudes, skills, experiences, and culture to ensure clear communication.

Step 3: Message Transmission: Choosing the medium to transmit the message is the next step in the communication process. Messages can be transmitted in a verbal, written, or visual manner (see Table 1). For clear communication to occur, the medium and message must match

Table 2.1: Message Transmission Mediums

Verbal	Written	Visual
In-person speech	Email	Drawings, paintings
Phone conversation	Text, instant message	Photos, graphic designs
Voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP)	Report, article, essay	Body language (e.g., eye contact, hand gestures)
Radio	Letter	Graphs
Podcast	Memo	Font types
Voicemail message	Blog	Semaphore
Intercom	Tweet	Architecture

Step 4: Decoding – When the message reaches the receiver, the message must be decoded into its intended meaning. Therefore, the receiver must translate the words, symbols, and gestures as the sender intended. Because no two people interpret information in the exact same way, incorrectly decoding a message can lead to misunderstanding. Successful decoding is more likely when the receiver creates a receptive environment and ignores distractions. Alert receivers strive to understand both verbal and nonverbal cues, avoid prejudging the message, and expect to learn from the communication.

Step 5: Feedback – A vital part of the communication process is feedback. Feedback occurs the sender and receiver check to ensure the message was understood as intended. Feedback is a shared responsibility between the sender and the receiver and can be verbal or non-verbal. For example, the sender can elicit feedback by asking, “Do you have any questions?” The sender can also improve the feedback process by only providing as much information as the receiver can handle. Receivers can encourage clear communication by providing clear, timely, descriptive, and non-judgmental feedback. For example, the receiver can shake his/her head up and down to confirm “yes” I have a question.

As you can see, this whole process is easier done than said because you encode incredible masses of data to transmit to others all day long in multiple channels, often at once, and are likewise bombarded with a constant multi-channel stream of information in each of the five senses that you decode without being even consciously aware of this complex process. You just do it. Even when you merely talk to someone in person, you’re communicating not just the words you’re voicing, but also through your tone of voice, volume, speed, facial expressions, eye contact, posture, hand movements, style of dress, etc. All such channels convey information besides the words themselves, which, if they were extracted into a transcript of words on a page or screen, communicate relatively little.

In professional situations, especially in important ones such as job interviews or meetings with clients where your success depends entirely on how well you communicate across the verb

and the nonverbal channels, it’s extremely important that you be in complete control of the communication process in order to present yourself as a detail-oriented pro—one that can be trusted to get the job done perfectly.

LISTENING AND GIVING FEEDBACK

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

If there is one communication skill you should aim to master, then listening is it.

THE PURPOSE OF LISTENING

1. To specifically focus on the messages being communicated, avoiding distractions and preconceptions.

2. To gain a full and accurate understanding into the speaker’s point of view and ideas.

3. To critically assess what is being said. (See our page on Critical Thinking for more).

4. To observe the non-verbal signals accompanying what is being said to enhance understanding.

5. To show interest, concern and concentration.

6. To encourage the speaker to communicate fully, openly and honestly.

7. To develop a selflessness approach, putting the speaker first.

8. To arrive at a shared and agreed understanding and acceptance of both sides views.

Often our main concern while listening is to formulate ways to respond. This is not a function of listening. We should try to focus fully on what is being said and how it's being said in order to more fully understand the speaker.

BARRIERS TO LISTENING

Excessive Talking

Good conversational skills are an asset, and a person with these skills are more likely to achieve professional success. However, talking more than necessary is a barrier to effective communication. People hesitate to interact with a person who talks excessively without listening to them. They may also get bored, and excessive talking may be perceived as aggression.

Try these tips to overcome this habit:

§ Think before you speak, and don’t speak if you have nothing important to contribute.

§ Practice self-control. Allow the other person to speak.

§ Avoid interrupting when the other person is speaking.

§ Be aware of indulging in useless talk for the sake of talking.

§ Be brief while conveying your thoughts.

§ Observe your listener’s reactions while speaking.

Prejudice

Prejudice is a preconceived opinion of feeling, which is usually irrational. Prejudice is very dangerous and has the potential to bring animosity into the team and to break team spirit. The reason for a prejudice may be the speaker’s race, religion, age or appearance. A prejudiced person will not make any effort to listen and understand.

Overcoming prejudice while listening:

§ Respect the other person for his or her knowledge and skills, irrespective of the person’s background.

§ Make conscious efforts to take charge of your thoughts.

§ Consciously avoid taking an “I know what he or she is going to say” attitude while the other person is speaking.

Distractions

The four main types of distractions are physical, mental, auditory and visual. Here’s how to avoid this common barrier:

§ Face the person who is speaking.

§ Maintain eye contact while the other person is speaking.

§ Ensure that you are comfortable.

§ Switch off the cell phone.

Expecting Others to Share Your Personal Beliefs and Values

Everybody has their own personal beliefs and value systems, and it’s natural to want to apply them to others around us. Learn to appreciate that others don’t have to share your beliefs. In fact, their unique perspectives may shine light on problems and issues that you haven’t been able to deal with before!

Misunderstanding

The inability to hear correctly is one of the many reasons for misunderstanding what a speaker is trying to communicate. You may think that it’s impolite to ask the speaker to clarify his words or intentions, but that’s not the case at all. Most people will appreciate the fact that you are making a focused effort to really understand what they are trying to say.

Interrupting

Interrupting a conversation with improper body language or inappropriate words will have a negative impact in effective communication. Here’s some tips to help you avoid this barrier to effective listening:

§ Listen without interrupting while the other person is speaking.

§ If you seek to clarify something, use appropriate body language such as raising your hand or ask politely for more details (like “I am sorry to interrupt you…").

Faking Attention

The person who is faking attention is just “hearing” but not “listening.” There may be some eye contact and the person may even be nodding, but the mind is elsewhere. The person may be thinking about what to have for lunch or what to wear for the party that evening. Faking attention is a habit for some people, but it conveys lack of respect and dishonesty.

Try these tips:

§ Make it a habit to listen attentively. It is advisable to assume that the other person knows something that you may not know.

§ Avoid thinking about how to reply when the other person is speaking.

§ This habit can be overcome by taking notes while the other person is speaking.

Bringing in Emotions

Emotions erect barriers to effective communication. A listener’s senses are not likely to be functioning at their optimum level when he or she is angry. Likewise, it is not possible to understand or appreciate what the speaker is saying if the listener is excessively sad.

Tip: It is better to avoid conversations when you are angry or excessively sad.

Noise

Noise is any unwanted sound. It is a great impediment to clear communication. It is impossible to listen in a noisy environment – it becomes a frustrating experience for both the speaker and the listener.

§ Try to avoid conversations in noisy surroundings.

§ Eliminate the source of noise whenever possible. Turn off cell phones, radios and television sets.

Fear

Fear is a great barrier to listening. People who are afraid during a conversation are not likely to listen. They become defensive and tend to argue.

Tips to overcome fear:

§ Be aware that fear can only worsen the situation. Listen to what the other person is about to say without fear.

§ Keeping calm will give you mental strength to face any situation.

§ Taking a deep breath helps in overcoming fear.

Great leaders are good listeners. Effective listening is a valuable skill that helps teaAm members achieve their goals efficiently and improves productivity. This skill is necessary to stay competitive in the current global scenario. Implementing the above mentioned tips will definitely help in improving listening skills. It is possible with self-examination and self-discipline.

FEEDBACK

Feedback is a process in which the output of an action is returned, it can be said “fed-back”. Basically, feedback is the observation of receiver’s response in other words we can say that what receiver has understood from the message or the information delivered to him and this message is in turn is send back to the sender.

If you think that feedback is not so important than this context will change your mind about the image you had about the feedback as when you will not tell or reply about thing which was told to by the speaker or the sender he will not be able to get the correct idea of your understanding and he will demand something else and you will do something else, thus it will lead you towards miscommunication which will just make the things much worse for the further proceeding.

Feedback is not just replying about what you understand from the context but it is also giving new ideas about it to the sender. It also helps to get the things correct if they go in the wrong way.

So, feedback can see as the basic chain of command, without a proper feedback the communication is incomplete and cannot move forward because both sender and receiver will be thinking something else.

So, feedback helps us know the demand, problems, ideas, thoughts and views regarding any topic and it gives the communication a way in which it can perform better.

Providing effective feedback is critical to maintaining a capable workforce. A main component of feedback process is acquiring accurate information to fuel the feedback decisions. Obtaining relevant data and feedback from credible sources as well as enhancing the validity of the feedback by gathering information from multiple sources is critical to this process

Types of feedback

1. Negative feedback: negative feedback is those feedbacks which point out toward the mistake in the context of the message or the work which is being done it tells about the improvements which can be made in the work. Negative feedback tells the sender about the main areas where the receiver is not able to understand it and where things should be changed. Negative feedbacks bring out the change what is needed to become easy for everyone.

2. Positive feedback: positive feedbacks are those feedbacks which are given after the receiver understands what they need to do and after doing that it is shown in their results. These feedbacks are easy positive because the receiver understand the message easily that what work is required from them because of which the results are always good and they are done in the limited time and also their results are also up to the mark.

3. Negative feedforward: negative feedforward is that type of feedback in which the feedback which is given is for the future conduct of the work, it tells about the changes that are required for better results, employees are able to give their views for the future changes that they require for there working.

4. Positive feedforward: these feedbacks are the affirming feedbacks given for the future events. These feedbacks are the ones that tell us that the receiver does not require any change he is working fine and is able understand the things.

IMPORTANCE OF FEEDBACK

1. Feedback is always there:

If you ask someone in your organisations when feedback occurs, they will typically mention an employee survey, performance appraisal, or training evaluation. In actuality, feedback is around us all the time. every time we speak to a person, employee, customer, vendor, etc, we communicate feedback. In actuality it is impossible not to give feedback.

2. Feedback is effective listening:

Whether the feedback is done verbally or via a feedback survey, the person providing the feedback needs to know they have been understood (or received) and they need to know that their feedback provides some value. When conducting a survey, always explain why respondents’ feedback is important and how their feedback will be used.

3. Feedback can motivate. By asking for feedback, it can actually motivate employees to perform better. Employees like to feel valued and appreciate being asked to provide feedback that can help formulate business decisions. And feedback from client, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders can be used to motivate to build better working relations.

4. Feedback can improve performance. Feedback is often mistaken for criticism. In fact, what is viewed as negative criticism is actually constructive criticism and is the best find of feedback that can help to formulate better decisions to improve and increase performance.

5. Feedback is a tool for continued learning. Invest time in asking and learning about how others experience working with your organization. Continued feedback is important across the entire organization in order to remain aligned to goals, create strategies, develop products and services improvements, improve relationships, and much more. Continued learning is the key to improving.

NECESSITY OF FEEDBACK IN COMMUNICATION

1. It completes the communication as two-way communication requires feedback from the receiver. Through the feedback, sender can understand the thought of the reliever as what his needs is,

2. Helps in measuring the effectiveness of communication, feedback ensures the sender regarding the effectiveness of his communication. By means of feedback sender can be sure that the receiver was able to understand the message in a proper way. Sender needs feedback in order to determine the success or failure of the communication.

3. Feedback helps to understand the receiver’s view and opinion about the sender’s message. With this understanding sender can determine the next course of action which will be necessary.

4. Feedback also helps in making correct decisions as it communicates the thoughts of receiver to the sender, as a result this communication leads to taking a proper and correct decisions. Through feedback the receiver is able to share the information that he has relating the topic which going on.

5. Feedback also helps in making a proper coordination between different departments, so that the op level management knows that the things are going on properly in the organisation.

6. It also helps in improving the relationship between the employs, CEO, managers, top level officials working together in organisation and with help of feedback the are able to the problems of each other and share views regarding the change that they want.

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS

Face the speaker and maintain eye contact.

Talking to someone while they scan the room, study a computer screen, or gaze out the window is like trying to hit a moving target. How much of the person's divided attention you are actually getting? Fifty percent? Five percent? If the person were your child you might demand, "Look at me when I'm talking to you," but that's not the sort of thing we say to a lover, friend or colleague.

In most Western cultures, eye contact is considered a basic ingredient of effective communication. When we talk, we look each other in the eye. That doesn't mean that you can't carry on a conversation from across the room, or from another room, but if the conversation continues for any length of time, you (or the other person) will get up and move. The desire for better communication pulls you together.

Do your conversational partners the courtesy of turning to face them. Put aside papers, books, the phone and other distractions. Look at them, even if they don't look at you. Shyness, uncertainty, shame, guilt, or other emotions, along with cultural taboos, can inhibit eye contact in some people under some circumstances. Excuse the other guy, but stay focused yourself.

Be attentive, but relaxed.

Now that you've made eye contact, relax. You don't have to stare fixedly at the other person. You can look away now and then and carry on like a normal person. The important thing is to be attentive. The dictionary says that to "attend" another person means to:

· be present

· give attention

· apply or direct yourself

· pay attention

· remain ready to serve

Mentally screen out distractions, like background activity and noise. In addition, try not to focus on the speaker's accent or speech mannerisms to the point where they become distractions. Finally, don't be distracted by your own thoughts, feelings, or biases.

Keep an open mind.

Listen without judging the other person or mentally criticizing the things she tells you. If what she says alarms you, go ahead and feel alarmed, but don't say to yourself, "Well, that was a stupid move." As soon as you indulge in judgmental bemusements, you've compromised your effectiveness as a listener.

Listen without jumping to conclusions. Remember that the speaker is using language to represent the thoughts and feelings inside her brain. You don't know what those thoughts and feelings are and the only way you'll find out is by listening.

Don't be a sentence-grabber. Occasionally my partner can't slow his mental pace enough to listen effectively, so he tries to speed up mine by interrupting and finishing my sentences. This usually lands him way off base, because he is following his own train of thought and doesn't learn where my thoughts are headed. After a couple of rounds of this, I usually ask, "Do you want to have this conversation by yourself, or do you want to hear what I have to say?" I wouldn't do that with everyone, but it works with him.

Listen to the words and try to picture what the speaker is saying.

Allow your mind to create a mental model of the information being communicated. Whether a literal picture, or an arrangement of abstract concepts, your brain will do the necessary work if you stay focused, with senses fully alert. When listening for long stretches, concentrate on, and remember, key words and phrases.

When it's your turn to listen, don’t spend the time planning what to say next. You can't rehearse and listen at the same time. Think only about what the other person is saying.

Finally, concentrate on what is being said, even if it bores you. If your thoughts start to wander, immediately force yourself to refocus.

Don't interrupt and don't impose your "solutions."

Children used to be taught that it's rude to interrupt. I'm not sure that message is getting across anymore. Certainly the opposite is being modeled on the majority of talk shows and reality programs, where loud, aggressive, in-your-face behavior is condoned, if not encouraged.

Interrupting sends a variety of messages. It says:

· "I'm more important than you are."

· "What I have to say is more interesting, accurate or relevant."

· "I don't really care what you think."

· "I don't have time for your opinion."

· "This isn't a conversation, it's a contest, and I'm going to win."

We all think and speak at different rates. If you are a quick thinker and an agile talker, the burden is onyouto relax your pace for the slower, more thoughtful communicator—or for the guy who has trouble expressing himself.

When listening to someone talk about a problem, refrain from suggesting solutions. Most of us don't want your advice anyway. If we do, we'll ask for it. Most of us prefer to figure out our own solutions. We need you to listen and help us do that. Somewhere way down the line, if you are absolutely bursting with a brilliant solution, at least get the speaker's permission. Ask, "Would you like to hear my ideas?"

Wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions.

When you don't understand something, of course you should ask the speaker to explain it to you. But rather than interrupt, wait until the speaker pauses. Then say something like, "Back up a second. I didn't understand what you just said about…"

Ask questions only to ensure understanding.

At lunch, a colleague is excitedly telling you about her trip to Vermont and all the wonderful things she did and saw. In the course of this chronicle, she mentions that she spent some time with a mutual friend. You jump in with, "Oh, I haven't heard from Alice in ages. How is she?" and, just like that, discussion shifts to Alice and her divorce, and the poor kids, which leads to a comparison of custody laws, and before you know it an hour is gone and Vermont is a distant memory.

This particular conversational affront happens all the time. Our questions lead people in directions that have nothing to do with where they thought they were going. Sometimes we work our way back to the original topic, but very often we don't.

When you notice that your question has led the speaker astray, take responsibility for getting the conversation back on track by saying something like, "It was great to hear about Alice, but tell me more about your adventure in Vermont."

Try to feel what the speaker is feeling.

If you feel sad when the person with whom you are talking expresses sadness, joyful when she expresses joy, fearful when she describes her fears—and convey those feelings through your facial expressions and words—then your effectiveness as a listener is assured. Empathy is the heart and soul of good listening.

To experience empathy, you have to put yourself in the other person's place and allow yourself to feel what it is like to be her at that moment. This is not an easy thing to do. It takes energy and concentration. But it is a generous and helpful thing to do, and it facilitates communication like nothing else does.

Give the speaker regular feedback.

Show that you understand where the speaker is coming from by reflecting the speaker's feelings. "You must be thrilled!" "What a terrible ordeal for you." "I can see that you are confused." If the speaker's feelings are hidden or unclear, then occasionally paraphrase the content of the message. Or just nod and show your understanding through appropriate facial expressions and an occasional well-timed "hmmm" or "uh huh."

The idea is to give the speaker some proof that you are listening, and that you are following her train of thought—not off indulging in your own fantasies while she talks to the ether.

In task situations, regardless of whether at work or home, always restate instructions and messages to be sure you understand correctly.

Pay attention to what isn't said—to nonverbal cues.

If you exclude email, the majority of direct communication is probably nonverbal. We glean a great deal of information about each other without saying a word. Even over the telephone, you can learn almost as much about a person from the tone and cadence of her voice than from anything she says. When I talk to my best friend, it doesn't matter what we chat about, if I hear a lilt and laughter in her voice, I feel reassured that she's doing well.

Face to face with a person, you can detect enthusiasm, boredom, or irritation very quickly in the expression around the eyes, the set of the mouth, the slope of the shoulders. These are clues you can't ignore. When listening, remember that words convey only a fraction of the message.

DEVELOPING RESPONDING (CONTINUATION RESPONSES AND QUESTIONING)

Questioning

Questions in counselling is classed as one of the advanced counselling skills.

Counselling questions may be open-ended, probing, or clarifying.

Leading questions should be avoided as they may introduce an agenda outside of the client's frame of reference.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING QUESTIONS

a. Open Questions

Open questions are questions that do not have a "yes" or "no" answer.

The counsellor uses open questions to clarify his or her understanding of what the client is feeling.

Open questions:

· may begin with how, what or who

· require an answer other than 'yes' or 'no'

· may be used to gain information (what happened as a result?); explore thoughts, feelings, attitudes and opinions (what were you hoping to achieve?); or consider hypothetical situations (how might you deal with. ..?)

When thinking about asking a client a question, first ask yourself whether the question is necessary.

A basic rule here is to ask a question only if you feel it will:

· clarify your understanding

· help the speaker to explore their own process

For example:

Tutor: "Tom, when you were in the role of speaker, what did Nafiza do as a listener that helped you share your story?"

Open questions, if used respectfully, will help build a trusting relationship where the speaker feels safe to explore what is going on for them.

One final observation: Be very careful with the 'why' question, as sometimes this can feel very judgmental and might make you sound like a teacher questioning a child.

Try swapping the word 'why' for 'what'. So instead of saying, 'Why did you do that?', ask, 'What made you do that?'

You will be surprised how much better the conversation flows, and how much more you will both find out!

b. Closed Questions

Closed questions are questions that lead to "yes” or "no" answers.

For example:

"Do you feel sad?" No.

"Do you feel happy?" No.

Such interactions could go on forever and feel to the listener like some sort of bizarre parlour game – or, even worse, a police interview.

Hence, closed questions may be unhelpful in terms of the replies given.

Many people also believe they are asking 'open questions' when in fact they are asking complicated 'closed questions'.

Repeated use of 'closed questions' may result in the client saying less and less and the counsellor feeling pressured to ask more and more questions to keep the relationship going.

But closed questions can be used in counselling. However the therapist must recognise when a closed question is appropriate.

For example:

Counsellor: "Welcome. Are you ready for us to start?"

Client: "Yes."

c. Clarifying Questions

Clarifying questions are open questions used by the counsellor to make sure they fully understand what the client means.

Clarification is used so the counsellor does not misunderstand the client's frame of reference.

When a clarifying question is asked, the client has the opportunity to either correct the counsellor or reinforce that the counsellor does understand.

Being in the client's frame of reference is an important component of empathy which is a requirement in a therapeutic relationship.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have been asked one question after another? It can feel like you are being interrogated, rather than listened to!

Someone who is skilled in the ‘art of listening’ will use open questions sparingly, to help clarify what the client has said so that they can reflect and paraphrase it more accurately.

"If we ask the right question, the client is suddenly going to see this massive mound of opportunity for them to grow. But this is not our journey; it’s the client’s journey. It’s for them to find the mound of opportunity, and it may well not be the same one that we see."

Empathic Questioning

In the term ‘appropriate questioning’, the word ‘appropriate’ is really important.

That’s because so often, questions are inappropriate – and this can derail the empathy within the counselling relationship.

Appropriate questioning, meanwhile, can deepen relational depth with the client.

The use of questions is usually covered quite early in counselling training – I do so with my Level 2 learners (in the introduction to counselling, Counselling Concepts).

Aside from introducing the counselling theory that I cover in this blog post, I warn them that questioning is to be used only when 100% necessary. And very often, questions are not necessary.

Makes sure that you only use questions to clarify your understanding, do not be intrusive, and remember that when a client is answering a question they are not accessing the part of the brain which deals with emotions.

DEVELOPING SKILLS IN FEEDBACK (PARAPHRASING, REFLECTION OF FEELINGS AND CONFRONTATION)

REFLECTION

Reflecting is showing the client that you have ‘heard’ not only what is being said, but also what feelings and emotions the client is experiencing when sharing their story with you.

Reflection in counselling is like holding up a mirror: repeating the client’s words back to them exactly as they said them.

You might reflect back the whole sentence, or you might select a few words – or even one single word – from what the client has brought.

I often refer to reflection as ‘the lost skill’ because when I watch counselling students doing simulated skill sessions, or listen to their recordings from placement (where clients have consented to this), I seldom see reflection being used as a skill. This is a pity, as reflection can be very powerful.

When we use the skill of reflection, we are looking to match the tone, the feeling of the words, and the client’s facial expression or body language as they spoke.

For example, they might have hunched their shoulders as they said, ‘I was so scared; I didn’t know what to do.’

We might reflect that back by hunching our own shoulders, mirroring their body language while also saying ‘I felt so scared; I didn’t know what to do.’

Using Reflection to Clarify Our Understanding

We can also use reflection to clarify our understanding, instead of using a question.

For example, suppose the client says:

‘My husband and my father are fighting. I’m really angry with him.’

For me to be in the client’s frame of reference, I need to know whether ‘him’ refers to the husband or the father. So I might reflect back the word ‘him’ with a quizzical look.

The client might then respond:

‘Yeah, my dad. He really gets to me when he is non-accepting.’

So you can get clarification in this way. You can adjust where you are to make sure that the empathic bond is strong and that you are truly within the client’s frame of reference.

"When we use the skill of reflection, we are looking to match the tone, the feeling of the words, and the client’s facial expression or body language as they spoke".

PARAPHRASING

Paraphrasing is repeating back your understanding of the material that has been brought by the client, using your own words.

A paraphrase reflects the essence of what has been said.

Part of the ‘art of listening’ is making sure that the client knows their story is being listened to.

This is achieved by the helper/counsellor repeating back to the client parts of their story. This known as paraphrasing.

We all use paraphrasing in our everyday lives. If you look at your studies to become a counsellor or psychotherapist, you paraphrase in class.

Maybe your lecturer brings a body of work, and you listen and make notes: you’re paraphrasing as you distill this down to what you feel is important.

How Paraphrasing Builds Empathy

How does paraphrasing affect the client-counsellor relationship?

First of all, it helps the client to feel both heard and understood. The client brings their material, daring to share that with you.

And you show that you’re listening by giving them a little portion of that back – the part that feels the most important. You paraphrase it down.

And if you do that accurately and correctly, and it matches where the client is, the client is going to recognise that and to feel heard: ‘Finally, somebody is there really listening, really understanding what it is that I am bringing.’

This keys right into empathy, because it’s about building that empathic relationship with the client. And empathy is not a one-way transaction.

..."Empathy [is] the ability to ‘perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the 'as if' conditions."

In other words, we walk in somebody’s shoes as if their reality is our reality – but of course it’s not our reality, and that’s where the ‘as if’ comes in.

I’ve heard this rather aptly described as ‘walking in the client’s shoes, but keeping our socks on’!

Empathy is a two-way transaction – that is, it’s not enough for us to be 100% in the client’s frame of reference, understanding their true feelings; the client must also perceive that we understand.

When the client feels at some level that they have been understood, then the empathy circle is complete.

CONFRONTATION

Generally speaking, the term confrontation means challenging another person over a discrepancy or disagreement. However, confrontation as a counselling skill is an attempt by the counsellor to gently bring about awareness in the client of something that they may have overlooked or avoided.

There are three steps to confrontation in counselling. The first step involves the identification of mixed or incongruent messages (expressed through the client’s words or non-verbals). The second step requires the counsellor to bring about awareness of these incongruities and assist the client to work through these. Finally, step three involves evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention evidenced by the client’s change and growth.

During the counselling process there are four (4) discrepancies which the client could display. The discrepancy can be between:

1. Thoughts and feelings

2. Thoughts and actions

3. Feelings and actions or

4. A combination of thoughts, feelings and actions.

Having identified a discrepancy, the counsellor highlights this to the client, using a confrontation statements.

Purpose

Confrontation is a skill that can assist clients to increase their self-awareness. It can be used to highlight discrepancies that clients have previously been unaware of.

When is it Used?

Confrontation is often used when the counsellor observes mixed messages or incongruities in the client’s words, behaviours, feelings or thoughts. Confrontation should only be used after rapport has been developed between client and counsellor.

Examples

“You say you would like to do further study but you haven’t contacted the training institution.”

“Your words say you would like to spend more time with your sister, but your actions say that it’s not a priority for you.”

DEVELOPING SKILLS IN FEEDBACK (FOCUSSING AND SUMMARISING)

FOCUSING

Focusing is a counselling skill that involves actively listening to what the client is bringing, and then choosing an area to focus down on.

Focusing is like zooming into a detail in a photograph. The counsellor zooms in on the emotions behind the story, or narrative, that the client is bringing.

FOCUSING IN PERSON CENTRED THERAPY

Carl Rogers, the founder of Person Centred Therapy, took the idea of focusing from Eugene Gendlin who worked with Rogers in the early 1950's.

Gendlin recognised that focusing helps the client to explore, in more depth, the emotions that lie behind the story.

Focusing is sometimes misunderstood as a term, quite understandably.

When we think about the word ‘focusing’, we may be drawn to thinking that it’s about us paying more attention and really focusing our concentration on something that the client is bringing. But it’s not this at all.

Focusing involves making decisions about what issues the client wants to deal with.

The client may have mentioned a range of issues and problems, and focusing allows the counsellor and client together to clear away some of the less important surrounding material and concentrate on the central issues of concern.

Focusing may involve prioritising issues and making decisions about the urgency of the issues the client has brought.

CHOOSING WHERE TO FOCUS

So where do we focus the client's attention?

First, the counsellor aims to maintain the focus on the client's agenda and needs in the counselling session.

One of the places we might choose to focus on is if the client brings up a feeling word.

For example, the client may say:

"When I left I felt devastated, realising I could never return again."

The feeling word in this example is devastated and the counsellor may reflect back:

"I hear you were completely devastated."

The above example shows an invite to the client to dive deeper on the feeling word "devastated".

It often happens in counselling that the client will come in with a story. Although they bring in the weight of this material, there is also an element of safety in staying in the story, because there’s a distance between this and the feelings that underlie this.

Some of these feelings may be really painful. And that’s our work as counsellors - to be there in those painful feelings with people.

"Focusing can encourage a client – if they wish – to go and explore a feeling or movement more deeply. This deepens the bond, taking the therapeutic connection to a new relational depth."

HOW TO FOCUS

When we have decided where to focus on, how do we then focus down on that? Do we stop the client and say, "Hold on; let’s talk about that"?

My approach to counselling is person-centred – which is, by nature, non-directive.

There are different approaches where the counsellor may be more directive and more solution-based – but in person-centred counselling, we would need to invite the client to explore something.

How might we do this?

First of all, we need to be in their frame of reference. The client is bringing their story. Maybe they will touch on a feeling word as they’re going through that story.

And as a person-centred counsellor, I might just use a really simple reflection of the feeling word that they brought.

That would be me acknowledging that that feeling is there – and inviting the client (if they choose and feel ready to do so) to go to that feeling and to focus on it, drilling down to bring more of themselves.

THERAPEUTIC FOCUSING EXAMPLE

Counsellor: "But when it comes to making that choice of doing something for yourself, you use the word ‘selfish’."

Client:"Very much so. It feels – when it is for my own gain, want or pleasure – I guess, it really feels selfish."

In this example, the focus word is ‘selfish’.

That’s because when the story was brought, the word ‘selfish’ didn’t seem to fit for the client; she didn’t seem to resonate with it; it seemed to be a pain area.

So I purposely reflected that word back. It was her word that she brought, and it was an invitation to focus down on what ‘selfish’ meant to her, allowing the client to explore that.

So look out, among all the material that the client brings, for when a client uses a ‘feeling’ word. That’s a great place to go back and focus down on.

It’s like the client is taking a flag, bashing it into the material that they’re bringing, and saying, ‘Look, there’s a feeling that lived under here!’

It may well be that the client chooses not to take up that invitation and so not to look at that feeling right now, and that’s OK.

At least you have acknowledged that by focusing, and that in itself lets the client know that they’ve been understood.

PRIORITISING ISSUES AND GOAL-SETTING

Focusing involves thinking through the implications of prioritising. If one issue is dealt with first, how will this affect the other issues? What will this mean for the client?

Questions the counsellor may consider are:

· Which issues may need swift action?

· Which may be left until later?

Focusing also involves an estimate of the length of time the counselling is likely to take, and discussion of this with the client.

Aside from this, the counsellor also needs to look at his/her own level of experience as a counsellor.

Are there concerns around coping and competence regarding the client's issue? Do you need to refer on?

Focusing may involve goal-setting, and/or contracting with the client.

It involves a realistic assessment of what is possible.

Moments of Movements

Another place where we can use focusing is if there has been a moment of movement within the counselling session.

If the client has experienced some development or growth – no matter how small that is – that may be a massive win for the client and so it is a good place to focus.

Counsellors are not there just to dig and find pain, and take the clients to places that are uncomfortable for them.

Counsellors can also focus on something that the client feels is a win or a small moment of movement.

We can acknowledge these moments and say, "Yes. Wow, look at that!"

"If the client has experienced some development or growth – no matter how small that is – that may be a massive win for the client and so it is a good place to focus."

Example

Client: "Not to assume what the other person would like, need or want from that, but to allow them maybe to express that, to bring what it is that I would do and maybe not be so sensitive if it’s not taken up or accepted, and to allow for whatever the situation is that occurs, that it’s not a rejection of me. It’s just ..."

Counsellor: It’s not a rejection of me.

Client: "Yeah, it’s just a choice or a decision or a like or a want or whatever, but it’s not ultimately rejecting me."

Counsellor: "Wow."

Client: "Just the thought or the ..."

Counsellor: "That feels massive. That really feels massive when you say, ‘Not a rejection of me,’ because mere moments ago, you were talking about that as being a rejection.

It feels like, looking at it and examining it, you may be able to see that slightly different now. You’re acknowledging that not as a rejection of you and, I guess, as maybe their opinion, want or need.

But at the same time, I recognize how fragile that want and need of self is, feeling that it does take second place.

So I guess it’s about maybe that courage to bring your wants and needs out, measured against the idea that ‘it’s not a rejection of me’."

Client: "Yeah. It doesn’t feel as make or break, or life and death anymore.

The idea of me purely expressing something that I’d prefer is not the ultimate ‘this is going to be you liking me or not liking me’. It’s purely a thought or an idea."

Just hearing those words that it’s not so ‘life and death’ anymore really warms me.

It’s just amazing, and it’s what counselling is all about. It’s a massive moment of movement.

Only moments before, the client was speaking about how she felt judged and evaluated by other people when she was making decisions for herself.

And now, thanks to a little focus on that moment of movement, it doesn’t feel like that anymore for her. She’s able to see that there is a change.

Next Steps

Focusing is a very useful and necessary skill in what we do as counsellors.

I challenge you to practise focusing. You can use various different techniques to focus, for example a one-word reflection or a paraphrase.

Why not try sharing with peers what it feels like for you to invite somebody to focus down on something?

Focusing can encourage a client – if they wish – to go and explore a feeling or movement more deeply.

This deepens the bond, taking the therapeutic connection to a new relational depth.

SUMMARISING

Feltham and Dryden (1993: 186) define ‘summarising’ as ‘accurately and succinctly reflecting back to the client, from time to time within and across sessions, the substance of what she has expressed’.

Summarising is therefore a counselling skill used to condense or crystallise the main points of what the client is saying and feeling.

PURPOSE OF SUMMARISING IN COUNSELLING

When summarising, the counsellor is ‘reflecting back’ the main points of the session so that the client has the opportunity to recap, and to ‘correct’ the counsellor if any parts of the summary feel inaccurate.

Summaries are therefore useful for:

· clarifying emotions for both the counsellor and the client

· reviewing the work done so far, and taking stock

· bringing a session to a close, by drawing together the main threads of the discussion

· beginning a subsequent session, if appropriate

· starting the process of focusing and prioritising ‘scattered’ thoughts and feelings

· moving the counselling process forward.

While the above uses are all in keeping with a person-centred approach to counselling, other uses may also be more relevant in more directive modalities. For example, in CBT, summarising may be useful for:

· enabling ‘the client to hear what she has expressed from a slightly different perspective’

· offering ‘an opportunity for structuring counselling, especially with clients who have difficulty in focusing on specific topics and goals’

· providing ‘a useful orientation towards homework and future sessions’ (Feltham & Dryden, 1993: 186).

UNIT 4

COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES FOR BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT IN EARLY ADOLESCENTS

CONDITIONS THAT FACILITATE COUNSELLING

In the 1957 paper, Rogers identified 6 conditions that he viewed as necessary and sufficient to facilitate change within a client.

Rogers hypothesised that if the client experienced these 'conditions' from the counsellor, a therapeutic relationship would develop and the process of therapeutic change start to begin.
The first three conditions are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. These first three conditions are called the core conditions, sometimes referred to as the ‘facilitative conditions’ or the ‘client’s conditions’.

In other words, they are the conditions that the client needs for the therapy to work.

These conditions need to be transmitted from the therapist to the client.

This enables the client to look at self and to be able to make appropriate changes.

The remaining three conditions are sometimes known as the ‘hidden conditions’ or the ‘therapist’s conditions'. These three other conditions are described below.

THE 3 CORE CONDITIONS

1. EMPATHY

The first condition is called empathy, sometimes referred to as a frame of reference.

The counsellor tries to understand the thoughts and the feelings as the client experiences them, sometimes referred to as ‘walking in someone else’s shoes’.

Try this experiment: with a friend, look at the same object or the view out of the window.

Do you see the same thing?

Probably not.

The reason is that we all have our own perception of the world.

2. CONGRUENCE

The second condition is known as congruence. This means the counsellor is genuine and real.

This condition is important as it allows the client to build a trusting relationship with the counsellor.

The counsellor’s congruence can also help defeat negative attitudes or conditions of worth that others may have placed on the client.

The counsellor’s warm and genuine approach allows the client to feel valued. This in turn builds self-esteem and trust in their own judgement.

Let’s face it, would you want to talk your problems over with someone acting falsely?

No. I thought not.

3. Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)

The third condition is known as unconditional positive regard or UPR for short.

Unconditional positive regard allows the client to open up and speak about their difficulties without fear of being criticised or judged.

For a client, it can be a relief to talk about their problems without someone saying, ‘Why did you do this?' or 'Do you think that was a good idea?'

All counsellors – even those who don’t practice person-centred therapy –use the ‘core conditions’ as the base for their practice.

THE 3 HIDDEN CONDITIONS

4. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTACT

Psychological contact refers to the therapist and client being "on the same page" psychologically.

If a client is going through a very difficult psychotic episode or is under the influence of medication, street drugs or alcohol, this might make it very difficult for the therapist and client to be in psychological contact.

5. THE CLIENT'S PERCEPTION OF THE THERAPIST

As well as the therapist transmitting unconditional positive regard and empathy, the client also needs to understand and accept that the therapist is there as a genuine person trying to help them.

The client must accept and feel, at some level, the unconditional positive regard and empathy the therapist is displaying toward them.

6. CLIENT INCONGRUENCE

Finally, there needs to be client incongruence (i.e. the client has an issue to bring to therapy).

In other words, the client needs to be in some kind of psychological distress.

Rogers pointed out the obvious.

If a client did not have any issues, then therapy would be unlikely to be effective.

For this reason, no one can successfully be sent for therapy. It has to be the client's own choice driven by a difficulty or issue they want to resolve.

STAGES IN THE COUNSELLING PROCESS

The counselling process is a planned, structured dialogue between a counsellor and a client. It is a cooperative process in which a trained professional helps a person called the client to identify sources of difficulties or concerns that he or she is experiencing. Together they develop ways to deal with and overcome these problems so that person has new skills and increased understanding of themselves and others. For example, students in a college university may be anxious about how to study in university, lack of clarity on educational or career direction, have difficulty living with a room-mate of another race or religion, have concerns with self-esteem, feelings with being “stressed out”, difficulties in romantic relationships and so forth. The fact that counselling i s described as a process, there is the implicit meaning of a progressive movement toward an ultimate conclusion. Hackney and Cormier (1987) describes the counselling process as a series of steps through which the counsellor and client move.

STAGES IN COUNSELLING PROCESS (INDIVIDUAL)

It has to be restated that, counselling is a helping situation that takes place in an intimate manner. The process of counselling goes through several stages. These include;

Relationship building: this is the entry-stage where the client meets the counsellor for the first time.counsellor. At this stage, the parties introduce themselves and get to know each other. A good rapport/cordial harmonious relationship is established between the counsellor and the counselee.

Assessment and definition of the problem: Here, the client/ counsellor reveals his/her problems to the counsellor and the counsellor takes a critical note of the problems.

Goal setting: Here, the counsellor and the counselee agree on certain things or ground rules or guide likes they would like to follow in counselling process. For example, a number of times to meet in a week, time of the meeting, etc.

Initiating intervention and problem-solving: Here, the counsellor, having listened carefully to the problems of the counselee/client, suggest alternative solutions to his/her problem and asks the client to select one that he/she feels is best for him/ her. The counsellor should not impose any decision on the client

under any circumstances.

• Termination and follows up: At this stage, the counselling session comes to an end. Before termination occurs, both the counsellor and the counselee summarize all that has been discussed during the counselling session. The client must confirm to the counsellor that, he/she is satisfied with the discussion before they part company.

STAGES OF COUNSELLING (GROUP)

Group counselling is the type of counselling that is organized for people with similar or the same, aspirations, and purposes and are ready to share their needs or problems with each other. People with common needs share their concerns on a common platform for possible solutions to be offered.

Group counselling is a contact between a counsellor and a group of clients. It is a relationship entered into by a counsellor and a group of people (counselees) who need help or assistance in a problem that is common to the members of that group. Group counselling is a relationship involving mutual trust and respect for one another where members can explore various feelings with their common problems.

In group counselling, the clients each of whom are in a state of discomfort, or have a problem, wish to ease that discomfort or solve that problem. Each client is willing to do that in the social setting of a group. The number in a group may vary from four (4) to ten (10). The individual members of the group co-operate to solve their problem. They may initially come together ostensibly to solve a common problem but it would be useful to discover that the problem may have different causes for the individuals. For example, the clients may have a common problem of “poor academic performance” but the cause of that may differ from person to person in the group. At the end of the counselling session, individuals would have received help as to how to control their peculiar causes of poor academic performance.

Group counselling stages include:

Forming / Dependency stage: It is the stage where all individuals with a common problem meet for the first time and see each other face to face. It is a stage normally characterized by general fear of the unknown of the facilitator, group members, the physical environment and what will happen in the group. Members may want to have a feeling of belonging. There is little sharing of information at the stage.

• The storming/the conflict stage: This is the stage normally characterized by tension, confusion, anxiety, etc due to struggle for power. Members become uncertain about several things at this stage such as how the group will progress. At this stage, there could be problems such as lateness to a group meeting, some members dropping out of the group, verbal exchanges among group members.

• Norming/the Cohesion stage: This is the stage where group members get to know each other, get acquainted and turn to socialize with others. Strong social cohesion and networking are strongly built among group members. Members now have trusted each other and become committed to the group. Group norms set become internalized. Group tension and confusion at this stage disappear and there is corporation and collaboration on executing group tasks.

• The performing stage/interdependence stage: This is the state at which group members stand to take responsibility, individually and collectively for the group and it’s tasks. The group at this stage is largely self-sufficient and focuses on group goals and tasks.

• Adjourning and Termination stage: It is the last stage of group counselling. It is the stage where group members prepare to bring deliberations to an end. It is the stage of’ group dissolution at this stage, group members could become worried due to the fact that they are about to part company.

TECHNIQUES OF COUNSELLING

COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING

Cognitive restructuring is a group of therapeutic techniques that help people notice and change their negative thinking patterns.

When thought patterns become destructive and self-defeating, it’s a good idea to explore ways to interrupt and redirect them. That’s what cognitive restructuring can do.

How does cognitive restructuring work?

Cognitive restructuring is at the heart of cognitive behavioral therapy, a well-studied talk therapy approach that can be effective at treating many mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders.

In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a patient and therapist work together to identify faulty thought patterns that are contributing to a problem and practice techniques to help reshape negative thought patterns.

It can be tricky to recognize inaccuracies in your own thought patterns. For that reason, most professionals recommend that you work with a therapist when you begin cognitive restructuring.

As the name suggests, cognitive restructuring techniques deconstruct unhelpful thoughts and rebuild them in a more balanced and accurate way.

People sometimes experience cognitive distortions — thought patterns that create a distorted, unhealthy view of reality. Cognitive distortions often lead to depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and self-defeating behaviors.

Some examples of cognitive distortions include:

· Black-and-white thinking

· Catastrophizing

· Overgeneralizing

· Personalizing

Cognitive restructuring offers an opportunity to notice these maladaptive thoughts as they’re occurring. You can then practice reframing these thoughts in more accurate and helpful ways.

The theory is that if you can change how you look at certain events or circumstances, you may be able to change the feelings you have and the actions you take.

So how exactly do you restructure a negative thought?

COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING TECHNIQUES

Although anyone can use cognitive restructuring techniques to improve their thinking habits, many people find it helpful to collaborate with a therapist.

A therapist can help you learn which cognitive distortions are affecting you. They can also explain how and why a thought is irrational or inaccurate.

A therapist can also help you learn how to “question” faulty thought patterns and redesign them so they’re more positive.

Here’s a brief guide to some of the strategies involved in cognitive restructuring:

Self-monitoring

To change an unproductive thought pattern, you have to be able to identify the error you’re making. Cognitive restructuring depends on your ability to notice the thoughts that spark negative feelings and states of mind.

It’s also useful to notice when and where the thoughts come up. It may be that you’re more vulnerable to cognitive distortions in certain situations. Knowing what those situations are may help you prepare in advance.

For example, if you’re a student who has trouble with anxiety, you might notice a pattern of catastrophizing in testing environments. Maybe your pattern goes something like this: I am absolutely going to fail this test, and fail the course, and not be able to graduate with everybody else. Everyone is going to know I’ve failed.

Knowing that vulnerability exists can help you catch your negative thought and change it before it gets the better of you.

Some people find it helpful to journal as part of the process. Even if you aren’t sure at first what’s caused your anxiety or sadness, writing down your thoughts may help you recognize a cognitive distortion or pattern.

As you practice self-monitoring, you’ll likely start noticing distorted thought patterns more quickly.

Questioning your assumptions

Another essential part of cognitive restructuring is learning how to question your thoughts and assumptions, especially those that seem to get in the way of living a productive life.

A therapist can teach you how to use a Socratic questioning method to find out where and how your automatic thoughts are biased or illogical.

Some questions you might ask include:

· Is this thought based on emotion or facts?

· What evidence is there that this thought is accurate?

· What evidence is there that this thought isn’t accurate?

· How could I test this belief?

· What’s the worst that could happen? How could I respond if the worst happens?

· What other ways could this information be interpreted?

· Is this really a black-and-white situation or are there shades of grey here?

If you’re experiencing the cognitive distortion called catastrophizing, for example, you might tend to assume the worst possible outcome in a stressful situation. In questioning this thought pattern, you could ask yourself to list all possible outcomes. You could ask yourself how likely each possible outcome is.

Questioning allows you to consider new possibilities that aren’t as drastic as the catastrophic ones you may fear.

Gathering evidence

A key element of cognitive restructuring is gathering evidence.

You may decide to keep track of the events that trigger a response, including who you were with and what you were doing. You may want to record how strong each response is and what memories came up as a result.

You might also gather evidence for or against your thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs. Cognitive distortions are biased and inaccurate, but they can also be deeply embedded. Dislodging and replacing them requires evidence about how rational they are.

You may need to list facts that show a belief is accurate, and compare the list to facts that show the belief is distorted or just plain incorrect.

For example, if you personalize other people’s actions, you may often blame yourself for things that aren’t your fault. You might benefit from looking at evidence that indicates an action has nothing to do with you at all.

Performing a cost-benefit analysis

Using this strategy, you would consider the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining a certain cognitive distortion.

You could ask yourself:

· What do you get out of calling yourself a complete idiot, for example?

· What does this thought pattern cost you emotionally and practically speaking?

· What are the long-term effects?

· How does this thought pattern affect the people around you?

· How does it advance or limit your job performance?

Seeing the pros and cons side by side can help you decide whether it’s worth changing the pattern.

Here’s a recent celebrity example of how a cost-benefit analysis works:

In her show “Nanette,” comedian Hannah Gadsby talked about how she built a career on self-deprecating humor. But at a certain point, the harm she was doing to her sense of self outweighed the benefits to her career. So she decided to stop tearing herself down as a means of making jokes.

“Nanette” was wildly successful, in part because so many people recognize the harmful trade-offs they make every day.

Generating alternatives

Cognitive restructuring helps people find new ways of looking at the things that happen to them. Part of the practice involves coming up with alternative explanations that are rational and positive to replace the distortions that have been adopted over time.

For example, if you didn’t score as well on a test, instead of generalizing that you’re terrible at math, you might explore ways you could change your study habits. Or, you could explore some relaxation techniques you could try before your next test.

Here’s another example: If a group of colleagues stop talking when you walk into a room, instead of jumping to the conclusion that they were talking about you, you might want to consider other explanations for their actions. By doing so, you may realize that the situation had nothing to do with you, or that you misinterpreted what was going on.

Generating alternatives can also include creating positive affirmations to replace inaccurate or unhelpful thought patterns.

You might want to repeat to yourself that you make valuable, positive contributions at work, and that your colleagues always include you in what’s going on. You can base these affirmations on a list of contributions you’ve actually made, and the positive relationships you’ve built.

BENEFITS

Although it’s helpful to work with a therapist at first, cognitive restructuring is a method you can learn to do on your own once you know how it works.

Being able to identify and change your negative thought patterns has many benefits. For instance, it may help to:

· Lower your stress and alleviate anxiety

· Strengthen your communication skills and build healthier relationships

· Replace unhealthy coping mechanisms like substance use

· Rebuild self-confidence and self-esteem

What types of issues can cognitive restructuring help with?

The American Psychological Association recommends CBT to help with:

· Eating disorders

· Depression

· Anxiety

· PTSD

· Substance use disorder

· Mental illness

· Marital problems

It can also help you navigate difficult transitions like divorce, a serious illness, or the loss of a loved one.

In any life situation where negative thought patterns develop, cognitive restructuring can help you challenge and change unhelpful thoughts

ASSERTIVE TRAINING

Have you ever been to a party and found yourself avoiding someone because you didn’t know what to say? Have you ever realized, after the fact, that you had been unfairly criticized or taken advantage of? Are you hesitant to express your thoughts or opinions? Do you find dealing with authority figures difficult?

These are examples of situations that involve assertive behavior. Assertiveness can be defined as communication in which one expresses oneself in a direct and honest manner in interpersonal situations, while simultaneously respecting the rights and dignity of others.

Assertiveness training can be an effective treatment for certain conditions, such as depression, social anxiety, and problems resulting from unexpressed anger. Assertiveness training can also be useful for those who wish to improve their interpersonal skills and sense of self-respect.

REASONS FOR ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING

Assertiveness training is based on the principle that we all have a right to express our thoughts, feelings, and needs to others, as long as we do so in a respectful way. When we don’t feel like we can express ourselves openly, we may become depressed, anxious, or angry, and our sense of self-worth may suffer. Our relationships with other people are also likely to suffer because we may become resentful when they don’t read our minds for what we are not assertive enough to be telling them. There are no hard-and-fast rules of what assertive behavior is; rather, it is specific to the particular time and situation. In other words, behavior that is appropriately assertive for one person in one situation may be either excessively passive or too aggressive for someone else in a different situation. Finally, assertiveness training is based on the idea that assertiveness is not inborn, but is a learned behavior. Although some people may seem to be more naturally assertive than others, anyone can learn to be more assertive.

Although these ideas may sound simple and straightforward, behaving assertively can sometimes be difficult for almost anyone, and is often impossible for some people. For this reason, assertiveness training focuses not only on talking about the importance of assertiveness, but also on learning assertive behaviors and practicing these behaviors with the help of a professional therapist.

The benefits of being assertive

Being assertive is usually viewed as a healthier communication style. Assertiveness offers many benefits. It helps you keep people from taking advantage of you. It can also help you from acting like a bully to others.

Behaving assertively can help you:

· Gain self-confidence and self-esteem

· Understand and recognize your feelings

· Earn respect from others

· Improve communication

· Create win-win situations

· Improve your decision-making skills

· Create honest relationships

· Gain more job satisfaction

Learning to be more assertive can also help you effectively express your feelings when communicating with others about issues.

Learning to be more assertive

People develop different styles of communication based on their life experiences. Your style may be so ingrained that you're not even aware of what it is. People tend to stick to the same communication style over time. But if you want to change your communication style, you can learn to communicate in healthier and more effective ways.

Here are some tips to help you become more assertive:

· Assess your style. Do you voice your opinions or remain silent? Do you say yes to additional work even when your plate is full? Are you quick to judge or blame? Do people seem to dread or fear talking to you? Understand your style before you begin making changes.

· Use 'I' statements. Using "I" statements lets others know what you're thinking or feeling without sounding accusatory. For instance, say, "I disagree," rather than, "You're wrong." If you have a request, say, "I would like you to help with this" rather than, "You need to do this." Keep your requests simple and specific.

· Practice saying no. If you have a hard time turning down requests, try saying, "No, I can't do that now." Don't hesitate — be direct. If an explanation is appropriate, keep it brief.

· Rehearse what you want to say. If it's challenging to say what you want or think, practice general scenarios you encounter. Say what you want to say out loud. It may help to write it out first, too, so you can practice from a script. Consider role-playing with a friend or colleague and ask for clear feedback.

· Use body language. Communication isn't just verbal. Act confident even if you aren't feeling it. Keep an upright posture, but lean forward a bit. Make regular eye contact. Maintain a neutral or positive facial expression. Don't cross your arms or legs. Practice assertive body language in front of a mirror or with a friend or colleague.

· Keep emotions in check. Conflict is hard for most people. Maybe you get angry or frustrated, or maybe you feel like crying. Although these feelings are normal, they can get in the way of resolving conflict. If you feel too emotional going into a situation, wait a bit if possible. Then work on remaining calm. Breathe slowly. Keep your voice even and firm.

· Start small. At first, practice your new skills in situations that are low risk. For instance, try out your assertiveness on a partner or friend before tackling a difficult situation at work. Evaluate yourself afterward and tweak your approach as necessary.

MODELLING

Modelling is a method used in certain cognitive-behavioral techniques of psychotherapy whereby the client learns by imitation alone, without any specific verbal direction by the therapist, and

Modelling is a general process in which persons serve as models for others, exhibiting the behavior to be imitated by the others This process is most commonly discussed with respect to children in developmental psychology.

The word modeling refers both to the behavior of the learner and the teacher.

The concept of behavioral modeling was most memorably introduced by Albert Bandura in his famous 1961 Bobo doll experiment. In this study, 72 children from ages three to five were divided into groups to watch an adult confederate interact with an assortment of toys in the experiment room, including an inflated Bobo doll. For children assigned the non-aggressive condition, the confederate ignored the doll. For children assigned the aggressive condition, the confederate spent the majority of the time physically aggressing the doll and shouting at it.

After the confederate left the room, the children were given the opportunity to individually interact with similar toys. Children who observed the non-aggressive confederate's behavior played quietly with the toys and rarely initiated violence toward the Bobo doll. Children who watched the aggressive confederate were more likely to imitate the confederate's behavior by hitting, kicking, and shouting at the Bobo doll.

FACTORS INFLUENCING BEHAVIORAL MODELING

Psychological factors

Bandura proposed that four components contribute to behavioral modeling.

1. Attention: The observer must watch and pay attention the behavior being modeled.

2. Retention: The observer must remember the behavior well enough to recreate it.

3. Reproduction: The observer must physically recreate the actions they observed in step 1.

4. Reinforcement: The observer's modeled behavior must be rewarded

Neurological factors

The mirror neuron system, located in the frontal lobe of the brain, is a network of neurons that become active when an animal either performs a behavior or observes that behavior being performed by another. For example, the same mirror neurons will become active when a monkey grasps an object as when it watches another monkey do so. While the significance of mirror neurons is still up for debate in the scientific community, there are many who believe them to be the primary biological component in imitative learning.

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION AND RELAXATION

Systematic desensitization is an evidence-based therapy approach that combines relaxation techniques with gradual exposure to help you slowly overcome a phobia.

During systematic desensitization, also called graduated exposure therapy, you work your way up through levels of fear, starting with the least fearful exposure. This approach also involves the use of relaxation techniques.

Both of these features make it different from other desensitization techniques, such as flooding.

HOW IS IT DONE?

Systemic desensitization involves three main steps. First, you’ll learn muscle relaxation techniques. Then, you’ll create a list of your fears, ranking them in terms of intensity. Finally, you’ll begin exposing yourself to what you fear.

Classical conditioning, sometimes associative learning principles, is the underlying theory behind this process. The goal is to overcome a phobia by replacing feelings of fear and anxiety with a state of calm.

As you work your way through your list of fears, you’ll continue to focus on relaxation when facing each new situation until it no longer causes discomfort.

Learning relaxation skills

You might learn a few different relaxation exercises in systematic desensitization. These exercises could be used on their own or in combination with each other.

Techniques you might learn include:

· Diaphragmatic breathing. With this technique, you’ll learn to regulate your breathing by breathing slowly and deeply through your nose, holding the breath for one to two seconds, then breathing out through your mouth.

· Visualization. You’ll focus on a relaxing scene, picturing it in your mind and concentrating on sensory details, such as sights or smells. This includes guided imagery, which involves someone describing a scene to you.

· Progressive muscle relaxation. You’ll learn to tense up and release muscles throughout your body. This technique can reduce muscle tension and help you recognize the difference between tense and relaxed muscles. That way, you’ll be able to better recognize when your muscles start tensing up in response to anxiety or fear.

· Meditation and mindfulness techniques. Learning meditation may help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings as you face a fearful situation. Mindfulness helps you notice what you’re experiencing in the present moment, which can reduce anxious thoughts.

Creating a hierarchy of fears

After learning relaxation techniques, you’ll develop a fear hierarchy for the phobia or feared situation. This hierarchy typically involves 10 levels of fear.

You’ll likely go through the following steps to do this:

1. First, you’ll identify the most frightening level of your fear, or the “level 10” fear.

2. Next, you’ll identify the least frightening level of your fear, or the “level 1” fear.

3. Then, you’ll list the levels in between and rank them by the amount of fear they trigger. For example, seeing a photo of what you fear might be a level 3, but actually touching the thing you fear could be a level 8 or 9.

4. Next, you’ll develop ways to expose yourself to each level of fear. This is usually done with the help of a therapist.

5. Finally, you’ll begin exposing yourself to your fear, starting with the least frightening items on your list.

Slowly exposing yourself to fears

Once you have relaxation techniques and a hierarchy of fears, you can start gradually exposing yourself to your fears.

A typical first step is thinking about the thing you fear. Once you begin feeling afraid or anxious, use relaxation techniques to regain a sense of calm. Repeat the process until you no longer feel anxious.

When you can comfortably address a particular level of fear, move on to the next level.

You can work through your fear hierarchy in therapy, but you can also do it on your own.

EXAMPLES OF SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION

The process of systematic desensitization differs for each person.

Some people move through low levels quickly and have a hard time overcoming higher levels. Others may take a long time to work through lower levels, but they find the fear easier to face once they’ve succeeded at the lower levels.

The most helpful relaxation technique can also vary. You might find visualization helps you relax the most, for example.

Regardless of your fear or the length of time you spend working through each level, the principles remain the same.

Here’s how systematic desensitization might look for different conditions.

Social anxiety

You’re a college student with social anxiety. When you think about giving the wrong answer in class or having to ask to use the restroom, you feel sick and your heart races. You avoid speaking in class or participating in college activities to avoid embarrassing situations.

When you decide to try systematic desensitization, you determine that talking to someone you don’t know is a level 1 fear. You begin imagining yourself vocally greeting people, practicing deep breathing when you feel anxious, until you can remain calm.

Next, you move on to greeting strangers in real life. After a week of doing this daily, you start to feel more at ease.

Then, you start working on the next fear — making eye contact during conversation. You work your way through the hierarchy, eventually introducing yourself and nodding along in class. You continue to use deep breathing and muscle relaxation to get through periods of discomfort.

The final level of your fear hierarchy involves sharing in class. It takes a few tries, but eventually you’re able to answer questions in class, though your heart still begins to race once you put your hand up. You take a deep breath, release the tension in your muscles, and begin to speak.

Dog phobia

When you see a dog coming toward you in the distance, your palms sweat, your heart races, and you have trouble breathing. Your phobia relates specifically to being bitten, but being around dogs also makes you feel afraid and anxious.

To get started on your hierarchy of fears, you begin by imagining you’re near a dog on a leash in a passing car. The next day, you drive by a dog park several times. It doesn’t seem to affect you much, so you park somewhere where you have a full view of the park.

You feel yourself tense up every time a dog starts barking. To combat this, you concentrate on relaxing your muscles and imagining yourself on a beautiful beach — one without dogs. You open your eyes and repeat this process for the next 30 minutes.

Next, you spend time with a friend who keeps her dog in a different room of her home while you’re visiting. You practice relaxation exercises each time you think about the dog getting out.

As you prepare to conquer your level 10 fear — walking through a dog park — you decide to spend some time in the puppy area of your local animal shelter.

Puppies are less frightening to you, but the thought of them being so close still makes you feel anxious. You have to step outside a few times to do some deep breathing and visualization exercises.

Finally, after months of work, you head back to the dog park. This time, you park your car and walk through the gates. You sit on a bench and practice deep breathing as you watch the dogs playing.

Even though you still feel somewhat frightened, you focus on the fact that you’re facing your fear.

TECHNIQUES FOR ONLINE COUNSELLING

UNIT 5

COUNSELLING LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

IDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT

Idiographic assessment is the measurement of variables and functional relations that have been individually selected, or derived from assessment stimuli or contexts that have been individually tailored, to maximize their relevance for the particular individual. This article first reviews various definitions and clinical applications of idiographic assessment. Several properties of behavior problems and causal relations provide the conceptual basis for idiographic assessment: (a) differences across persons in the attributes, response systems, and dimensions of a behavior problem, and (b) differences across persons in the causal relations relevant to a particular behavior problem. Because of these individual differences, nomothetic measures often reflect variance that is irrelevant to the targeted construct for the individual. We present a psychometric framework for idiographic assessment by first summarizing why the psychometric principles used to develop standardized measures of nomothetic constructs can create incongruity between the nomothetic measure and the characteristics of the targeted construct for an individual. We then develop a psychometric framework for idiographic assessment that combines components of multilevel modeling (random effects) and confirmatory factor analyses applied to repeated measurements of each individual. We also provide a step-by-step guide for the development and evaluation of an idiographic assessment instrument.

UNIQUE COUNSELLOR CHARACTERISTICS

Ever wonder what makes for a competent career-ready Counsellor? Is it what the Counsellor knows? What qualification they have studied? Where they have studied? What supervised practice the Counsellor has had? Each one of these factors is part of what makes for an effective Counsellor. But in addition to the theoretical and practical knowledge taught, here are ten important attributes of a counsellor, which Ikon trainers instill into their student’s so they can become career-ready graduates.

1. Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. As a Counsellor, you need to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your client and understand the situation from their point of view. Even if you don’t agree with their perspective, you still need the ability to understand how it feels to them in order to address their issue effectively.

2. Discretion
Confidentiality is of upmost importance when you are a Counsellor. You must be able to maintain confidentiality so the client can trust you and so that an effective rapport can be built with your client.

3. Patience
As a Counsellor you need to have patience with your clients as they process the discussion. It may take them time to accept certain things and to move towards positive changes. It may also take time for you to see large changes.

4. Compassion
It is very important that your clients sense you truly care about them. You may not be able to relate to every issue that is shared with you, but you need to be able to have compassion for how it feels to be in their shoes.

5. Encouragement
The ability to encourage and instil hope in the client, is important attribute of a Counsellor.

6. Self-Awareness
A Counsellor who is aware of their own feelings and does not react defensively to what a client shares, will be more effective in the therapeutic relationship.

7. Open Mindedness
Counsellors hear all kinds of private information and encounter all types of people. It is important that the client understands that you are not personally judging them but working on improving the outcomes of their behaviours.

8. Flexibility
The competent Counsellor understands the need to remain flexible in their approach often using a variety of conversational responses depending on the needs of the client. Sometimes we ask questions. Other times we are silent.

9. Good Listener
Counsellors spend a significant amount of time listening to their clients. You will need to be intuitive in discerning what the client is really saying and “read between the lines” to translate their dialogue into goals that the client can work towards, in order to reach resolution.

10. Ability to care for self.
Finally, the competent Counsellor recognises personal limits, boundaries and actively seeks to sustain a life of personal care.

PARENT COUNSELLING AND GUIDANCE SERVICES FOR LEARNERS WITH SEN

CONFIDENTIALITY/ ETHICAL ISSUES IN COUNSELLING LEARNERS WITH SEN

CREATING A COUNSELLING LEARNERS WITH SEN ENVIRONMENT

KEY COUNSELLING APPROACHES FOR LEARNERS WITH SEN

UNIT 6

ETHICAL STANDARDS AND LEGAL CONCERNS IN COUNSELLING EARLY ADOLESCENTS

AREAS OF ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONCERN

Definitions Ethics Morality Law

“Making decisions of a moral nature about people and their interactions with society” “A philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduct and moral decision making” Professional behavior Morality “Judgment or evaluation of action” Right and wrong behavior Law “The precise codification of governing standards that are established to ensure legal and moral justice” Government behavior Ethics is a philosophical discipline concerned with human conduct and decision-making. It governs relationships between counselors and clients.

Common Unethical Behaviors of Counselors

Violation of confidentiality Exceeding one’s level of professional competence Negligent practice Claiming expertise one does not possess Imposing one’s values on a client Violation of confidentiality – the counselor releases the client’s information without the client’s prior consent Exceeding one’s level of professional competence – the counselor applies an intervention (e.g., hypnosis) that the counselor has not been trained on that intervention before Negligent practice – the counselor fails to protect third parties of a dangerous client Claiming expertise one does not possess Imposing one’s values on a client – e.g., a 14-year-old female client tells the counselor that she has sexual relations with her boyfriend and she has opposed to use any birth-control devices. She assures the counselor that she will not be the one to get pregnant. Should the counselor respond to the client’s decision not to use birth-control measures?

Creating dependency in a client Sexual activity with a client Dual relationships Questionable financial arrangements (i.e., charging excessive fees) Improper advertising Creating dependence in a client – e.g., the counselor encourages the client to talk about the problems to the counselor instead of sharing with someone whom the client can trust.

Ethical or Unethical

1.) You are a successful counselor. One of your clients tells you that you have been very, very helpful to him, and in order to show his appreciation to you, he gives you a $10,000 diamond ring as a gift. You accept the ring.

2.) A client cannot afford to pay for one of her counseling sessions with you. In lieu of payment, you ask her to babysit your 2-year-old son at your home a few times.

3.) One of your clients feels sexually attracted to you, and tells you this. Immediately following the termination of counseling, you and the client mutually agree to start a dating relationship.

4.) You and your friends have a dinner at your home. One of your friends tells you that he is emotionally disturbed by some conflict in his marriage. You take your friend into the next room and provide him with a brief counseling session there.

5.) You go to lunch with another counselor. In the restaurant, you each talk about some of your cases to learn from each other. Neither of you mentions the names of any of your clients.

Professional Codes of Ethics and Standards

Why should counseling professionals abide by ethical codes and standards? Good for clients? Good for counselors?

Reasons to Abide by Ethical Codes

To protect client’s rights while identifying expectations of practitioners. To professionalize organization. To allow a profession to regulate itself and function autonomously.

To control internal disagreements and thus promote stability of a profession. To protect practitioners from the public (i.e., malpractice lawsuits). To promote public trust toward the profession. If Clinicians behave in accordance with ethics code, behavior judged to be in compliance with acceptance standards.

Making Ethical Decisions

Ethical Principles: Beneficence Non maleficence Autonomy Justice Fidelity Beneficence – doing good and preventing harm Non maleficence – not inflicting harm Autonomy – respecting freedom of choice and self-determination Justice—fairness Fidelity—faithfulness or honoring commitments in making ethical decisions, counselors should take actions that they think are right professionally often based on these principles

Other Guidelines for Acting Ethically

Act with personal and professional honesty Act in the best interest of clients Act without malice or personal gain Justify an action “as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession” (Swanson, 1983, p. 59) Codes Difficult to differentiate ethical dilemmas with other dilemmas.

Limitations of Ethical Codes

Do not address every possible situation Conflicts within ethical codes Applicability of the code in today’s society? Insensitivity to cultural diversity Some conflicts between ethical and legal

Dual Relationships: Having sexual or romantic relations with a client during therapy Having sexual or romantic relations with a member of the client’s immediate family during therapy Having sexual or romantic relations with a client or a member of the client’s immediate family after the termination of therapy Buying goods or services from a client, or entering into a business agreement with a client (in addition to counseling)Employing a client, or providing therapy to an employee Providing therapy to a friend or relative Going out to eat with a client after a session Inviting clients to a personal party or social event Providing counseling to a supervisee or student Being a part of the same organization as a client, or going to the same church/temple.

Ethical Decision-Making Models

Use Corey, Corey, & Callanan’s model to solve the problem
1. Identify the problem

2. Identify potential issues involved

3. Review relevant ethical guidelines

4. Review law

5. Obtain consultation

6. Consider possible course of action

7. Enumerate consequences of various decisions

8. Decide on best course of action

Case study: A client with a previous history of child abuse reported that she recently went through a great deal of stress from work. She revealed that she felt she was losing control and got angry easily with her 10-year-old daughter at home. She indicated that on those occasions, she was on the verge of exploding on her daughter.

Case Study: An elderly male client with a history of chronic pain reports feeling down and no friends or family to talk to. He discussed feeling as though life isn’t worth living with his constant pain and that no one would miss him anyway. He stated that he has a full bottle of prescription pain medication at home, which would be the easiest way to commit suicide.

Working with Counselors who may act unethically
Prevention:

1. Identify the problem

2. Apply ACA/APA ethical code to problem

3. Approach informally

4. File an ethical complaint in these situations, counselor must take action in order to avoid the Slippery Slope Effect—ignoring situations that call for ethical warnings will lead future ethical breaches.

ETHICAL STANDARDS IN COUNSELLING

Counselors play a key role in developing individuals and shaping communities. In their role, counselors are often responsible for cultivating and maintaining relationships, monitoring clients’ well-being, and working with different cultural values and confidential information. The American Counseling Association (ACA) understands this and has a code of ethics, updated every 10 years, to help counselors navigate the challenging and sensitive aspects of their roles. Below we have compiled a basic summary of the 2014 ACA code of ethics, so counselors have the foundational knowledge to work in the field confidently and ethically.

What Is the Purpose for the ACA Code of Ethics?

Ethics codes provide professional standards for counselors with the purpose of protecting the dignity and well-being of clients. The main reasons for the code of ethics include informing professional counselors and counselors-in-training of their ethical guidelines, professional obligations, and responsibilities to their clients. This helps counselors decide an appropriate plan of action for their clients and provides the ethical standards by which complaints and inquiries can be made regarding ACA members.

The five core professional values of the Counseling@Northwestern program include:

1. Enhancing human development throughout the life span.

2. Honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of people within their social and cultural contexts.

3. Promoting social justice.

4. Safeguarding the integrity of the counselor-client relationship.

5. Practicing in a competent and ethical manner.

Major Sections of the ACA 2014 Code of Ethics

The Counseling Relationship (Section A)

The purpose of Section A is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on the counseling relationship such as client welfare, informed consent, and managing multiple relationships.

Counselors must:

· Work hard to create and sustain a relationship with their clients based on trust.

· Obtain informed consent from clients entering a counseling relationship.

· Respect a client’s confidentiality and privacy.

· Explain to clients what the counseling relationship entails (which could include fees, group work, and termination).

· Be cognizant of client’s culture, values, and beliefs.

Confidentiality and Privacy (Section B)

The purpose of Section B is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on the importance of trust, boundaries, and confidential interactions.

Counselors must:

· Communicate the concept of confidentiality with their clients on an ongoing basis and do so in a culturally sensitive way.

· Inform clients about the limitations of confidentiality regarding what situations information must be disclosed (e.g., to protect clients or others from harm).

· Discuss if and how information may be shared with others.

· Understand legal and ethical issues involved in working with clients who cannot provide informed consent (such as minors or clients with impairment).

· Maintain and store records in an approved way.

Professional Responsibility (Section C)

The purpose of Section C is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on respecting the practice of counseling.

Counselors must:

· Adhere to the ACA Code of Ethics.

· Practice within one’s boundaries of competence.

· Participate in associations that help improve the profession.

· Practice counseling based on scientific foundations.

· Be mindful when advertising and talking with the media.

· Engage in self-care activities so they can work at their highest capacity.

Relationships with Colleagues, Employees, and Employers (Section D)

The purpose of Section D is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on developing working relationships with those within and outside of the counseling field.

Counselors must:

· Develop relationships with colleagues from other disciplines and be respectful of those who have different theoretical approaches.

· Provide consultation services within areas of competence.

· Provide appropriate consultation referrals when requested or necessary.

Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation (Section E)

The purpose of Section E is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on how to ethically use formal and informal assessments to guide treatment plans and intervention selection.

Counselors must:

· Understand the use of assessments as an important part of information gathering and to assist in conducting clients’ treatment and evaluation.

· Use educational, mental health, forensic, and career assessments (among others) on which they are trained and have had comprehensive supervised experience administering and interpreting.

· Diagnose clients and interpret assessments accurately and in a culturally sensitive manner.

Supervision, Training, and Teaching (Section F)

The purpose of Section F is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on how to develop relationships with supervisees, students, and trainees in ways that support ethical boundaries in a learning environment.

Counseling supervisors must:

· Be trained in supervision methods and techniques before they offer supervision services.

· Be responsible for monitoring supervisees’ clients’ welfare and supervisees’ performance and development through a variety of supervision modalities, such as regular meetings and live supervision.

· Inform supervisees of their clients’ rights and inform clients with information regarding the supervision process and its limitation on confidentiality.

· Be aware of and address the role of multiculturalism and diversity in the supervisory relationship.

· Endorse supervisees that they deem qualified and sufficiently able to perform duties in the areas of certification, licensure, employment, or completion of an academic of training program.

Counselor educators must:

· Be knowledgeable regarding the ethical, legal, and everyday aspects of the profession including how diversity impacts groups and individuals.

· Inform students of their ethical responsibilities and standards as professionals and as students.

· Provide ongoing feedback, evaluation, and act as gatekeepers to the profession.

· Promote the use of techniques, procedures, and modalities that are grounded in theory and have scientific foundations.

· Develop clear policies and provide direct assistance regarding field placement.

Counseling students must:

· Be aware of their responsibility to follow the ACA Code of Ethics and applicable laws.

· Understand the implications of taking a break from counseling others when impaired.

· Disclose their status as supervisees before beginning counseling others.

Research and Publication (Section G)

The purpose of Section G is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on how to ethically conduct human subjects research and publish and/or present results.

Counselors must:

· Conduct research that is aligned with ethical principles, federal and state laws, host institutional regulations, and scientific standards of governing research.

· Adhere to confidentiality in their research.

· Be responsible for participants’ welfare throughout the research process.

· Inform individuals of their rights as a research participant through informed consent.

· Plan, conduct, and report research accurately.

Distance Counseling, Technology, and Social Media (Section H)

The purpose of Section H is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on how to ethically use technology and social media within the field of counseling.

Counselors must:

· Be knowledgeable about the laws governing distance counseling and social media.

· Only utilize distance counseling after gaining competence through training and supervised experience in this specialty area.

· Inform clients about the limits of confidentiality and potential Internet interruptions due to the nature of technology.

· Understand the benefits and drawbacks related to distance counseling

· Utilize a professional presence if they choose to use social media platforms

· Avoid disclosing confidential information through social media.

· Utilize informed consent to explain the boundaries of social media.

Resolving Ethical Issues (Section I)

The purpose of Section I is to provide ethical guidelines that focus on how to address and resolve ethical issues with other counselors.

Counselors must:

· Behave in an ethical and legal manner and recognize when there is a conflict between ethics codes and laws.

· Utilize and document an ethical decision-making process when faced with an ethical dilemma.

· Hold other counselors to similar standards of professional conduct.

· Resolve ethical dilemmas with direct and open communication to all parties involved.

· Seek consultation when necessary.

· Become familiar with the ACA Policy of Procedures for Processing Complains of Ethical Violations and use it as a reference.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY

Confidentiality is the legal and ethical duty of therapists not to reveal information about their clients to unauthorized individuals. Legally and ethically, therapists are bound by statute and by the profession’s code of professional conduct not to reveal information about their clients to unauthorized individuals. Legally and ethically, clients have the right to prevent their therapist from disclosing information shared by them in counseling without their consent.

In counseling, two types of confidentiality are commonly recognized: content confidentiality and contact confidentiality. Content confidentiality requires that the substance or content of the client’s discussion with a counselor not be revealed by the professional. Disclosures of confidential client information to individuals with no right to that information are called content breaches. Such breaches of confidentiality may result in civil liability to the therapist or licensure revocation. Contact confidentiality requires that the professional not reveal the fact that the client is being seen by the professional. Disclosures to an unauthorized party that the client is seeing the therapist are referred to as contact breaches. Although therapists often make strenuous efforts to avoid disclosures of the identities of their clients, the law generally does not address matters of contact confidentiality.

The ethics codes of both the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) provide a set of standards and code of conduct to guide the professional activities of their members, including the provision of counseling and psychological services. In both codes, the duty of counselors and therapists to protect and uphold their clients’ right to privacy is fundamental, and both generally are interpreted as including the protection of contact confidentiality. Nevertheless, it is important that counselors and their clients understand the distinction between content and contact confidentiality, as most laws governing the confidentiality of counselor-client communications do not protect contact confidentiality.

Therapists’ obligations to protect their clients’ confidentiality derives from the client’s right to privacy, which itself derives from the more general, but central, ethical value of personal autonomy—a person’s right to “self-determination.” In this case, it is the right to determine with whom personal information may be shared. Confidentiality in this sense can be understood as the counselors’ duty or obligation to support clients’ right to privacy by not repeating to or sharing with others information shared privately with them by their clients. What clients consider to be private must stay private, and it is the duty of therapists to assure that this is the case with respect to disclosures made by clients in counseling. If a client’s private information is to be shared with another, it should be shared by the client— or at least with the consent or authorization of the client. In this regard, a client’s right to privacy and a client’s right to confidentiality in relation to communications shared in counseling are one and the same.

Because confidentiality and privacy are a client’s right, the client may waive that right if he or she chooses. In making such a waiver, it must be demonstrated that such waiver is undertaken knowingly and voluntarily. That is, counselors may ethically and legally reveal a client’s confidences with the informed consent of the client.

It is often suggested that the protection of another’s privacy through the maintenance of confidentially is a way to build trust within the counseling relationship— trust necessary for clients to share productively and personally with their counselors and therapists. In this regard, it is not uncommon to find it argued that an assurance of confidentiality is indispensable for effective therapy. In keeping with this view, counselors and the counseling profession generally assume that an assurance of confidentiality is essential for effective therapy and that most clients would not feel safe discussing personal and intimate aspects of their lives with a counselor without such assurance. Even the courts have embraced this assumption, with the U.S. Supreme Court writing in Jaffee v. Redmond (1996),

Effective psychotherapy depends upon an atmosphere of confidence and trust in which the patient is willing to make a frank and complete disclosure of facts, emotions, memories and fears . . . For this reason, the mere possibility of disclosure may impede development of the confidential relationship necessary for successful treatment.

This may be the case for some clients; however, both experience and research demonstrate that many clients are quite willing to talk personally and intimately with their counselor or therapist without assurances of confidentiality. While some studies suggest that assurances of confidentiality are essential to productive counseling, overall the results of research on this topic are mixed, with other studies indicating that such assurances have little effect on encouraging disclosures, or that assurances of confidentiality matter only to some clients in some circumstances.

For this reason, the protection of client privacy and the maintenance of confidentiality cannot rest on their necessity to the effectiveness of therapy or as critical therapeutic tools or strategies. Rather, privacy protection and confidentially must be justified on ethical and legal grounds. Both the APA and the ACA include the therapist’s duty to protect the confidentiality of client disclosures made in counseling as a fundamental ethical principle and duty in their respective ethics codes. With regard to law, state and federal law also protect the (content) confidentiality of communications between clients and their therapists. Importantly, state and federal laws also address how such confidential communications are stored (e.g., the maintenance and management of case records) and how that information can be released—specifically, the restricted circumstances under which such information may or must be shared, and the mechanism by which that information is shared. Thus, under the law, clients’ rights to privacy and therapists’ obligations to protect that privacy through their maintenance of confidentiality are enforceable. However, those rights and obligations are not without limits. Exceptions to confidentiality will be discussed momentarily.

HOW TO MAINTAIN CONFIDENTIALITY IN COUNSELLING?

Confidentiality is an essential part of the counseling relationship. A client must be able to trust that the personal information he or she shares with you will not be revealed to other people. To protect their professional relationships, a counselor must explain the benefits and problems inherent in counseling services and clarify the limits of confidentiality to the client. Importantly, counselors have their own set of professional obligations which vary slightly from those of other mental health providers and which will vary from state to state

Method 1

Explaining Confidentiality

Provide informed consent. To give informed consent, the counselor must explain the benefits and risks of counseling as well as its alternatives. They must also explain state laws regarding when they may be required to break confidentiality and describe how they might be required to do so. The counselor must request permission to record counseling sessions in writing or via video and audio. Counselors have a wide range of issues they should raise during a discussion of informed consent.

· These include the purposes, goals, techniques, and limitations of counseling.

· The counselors should discuss their qualifications, their credentials, their relevant experience, their approach to counseling and provisions for continuation of service should the counselor become unavailable to continue treatment.

· You should also explain fees, billing, and procedures in case of nonpayment.

· If any supervisors or peers will review records, this should be noted in the informed consent procedure.

Explain protection procedures. To obtain informed consent you need to explain how you will protect confidentiality. This includes detailing how records will be stored. It also includes explaining cases in which the client’s comments are not confidential.

· This applies to electronic communications as well, including after hour phone calls, text messages, email, and skype sessions. You should discuss how confidentiality shall be maintained in such circumstances, and what risks to client confidentiality emerge when you are contacted after hours.

Give the patient a form to sign. You should provide a written form for the patient to sign, authorizing informed consent. This should remain in your patient’s file. The language of the form is subject to change, but it should be inviting and easy to read. It should also cover most of the aforementioned points.

· It is advisable that you keep a copy of the form in the lobby so that patients can read it before speaking to you.

Get parental permission for minors. When counseling those under 18, informed consent must come from a parent. You should have two separate forms, one informed consent form that the minor signs and another consent for treatment of minors form that the parent signs.

Describe research. If the sessions will be the basis for published research, this should be disclosed to the patient. Whether or not they will be anonymous and how their anonymity will be protected must be discussed.

Method2

Protecting Client Records

Store records safely. To maintain confidentiality, it is the counselor's responsibility to keep the client's records safe and appropriately secured. Records should be locked away where only the counselor can reach them.

Protect records at home. It is important that you lock away documents at home as well as at the office. However, you might need to step away from your desk or take an emergency phone call with others around. You should ensure that anyone you reside with is aware of confidentiality procedures.

· You should inform anyone with whom you reside what areas are off limits.

· You should also make it clear to anyone around when a phone call is confidential. Close the door and inform them that they should leave you alone.

Provide records to client. A client may request his or her own records in most situations. The counselor however can refuse to provide access to portions of the records if it will cause harm to the client. The counselor must document the request of the client and the reason for withholding the information.

· When there are multiple clients, such as with family counselling, then the counselor should only provide records relevant to the individual client, not other clients in the group.

Do not release records to any third parties. A client's records are only to be released to a third party if the client has provided written consent. This includes third parties who pay for treatment.

· With minors it is important to also obtain consent from parents before releasing information to a third party.

Be aware of exceptions. There are some exceptions when confidentiality should not be preserved. These vary somewhat with state law. You should make both yourself and your clients aware of these exceptions. Generally, there are a few standards for the lapse of confidentiality:

· Confidentiality is waived when the client makes threats of suicide or homicide.

· It is also waived when information is disclosed relevant to the abuse of children or the elderly.

· Depending on the state in which you operate, you might be required to reveal to a third party when your client has a life-threatening disease that could be communicated to said third party.

· If a court subpoenas your records you should ask for written consent from your client. If that is not forthcoming, it is your responsibility to try to limit or prevent the disclosure of records.

Stay current with counseling ethics and regulations. Counseling associations such as the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), the American Counseling Association (ACA )and the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) all provide their members with a set of ethics for conducting counseling which include how to maintain confidentiality in a therapeutic relationship. You should also familiarize yourself with state regulations.

· When a counselor finds him or herself in a situation where maintaining a client's confidentiality becomes a problem, consulting with colleagues and/or a direct supervisor can help the counselor with appropriate decision-making.

· A counselor may also discuss confidentiality concerns with his or her own therapist, so long as they don’t reveal information that may identify the client being discussed.

Method3

Protecting Against Lapses in Conversations

Avoid confidential details in discussions with peers. When a counselor seeks advice from a fellow professional about a client, they should not disclose confidential information. Information that is provided should not allow for the identification of the client. Furthermore, it should be limited to what is necessary to obtain relevant suggestions.

Change details. When engaged in conversation with friends or family, change important information about clients. Alter facts so that the client will be in no way identifiable.

Do not engage in conversations in public. All conversations about clients should be in a private setting. If you receive an urgent phone call from a client, try to find a private place from which to return the call.

Do not acknowledge clients in public. Clients might not want their association with you to be public knowledge. Do not acknowledge them, unless they acknowledge you first.

PRIVILEGED INFORMATION

Privileged Information means information with respect to which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Statutes that accord protection to clients from therapists’ sharing with others information that was shared privately in therapy also may include provisions exempting counselors and therapists from the requirement to reveal privileged information about a client and client disclosures in court. These laws are called privileged communication laws.

Privileged communication refers to the statutory or judicial protection extended to certain “special relationships” whose existence is considered important to the community and to be dependent on assurance of the confidentiality of communications. More specifically, in the case of therapy, it is a right, granted by statute to the client, that confidences originating in the therapeutic relationship will be safeguarded (i.e., not be revealed) during certain court proceedings. In other words, when a client invokes privilege, the therapist is legally and ethically bound to not reveal in court information obtained during the professional relationship.

Privileged communication is understood to be rooted in early Elizabethan law, where certain individuals had the right or privilege to refuse to testify about embarrassing matters. In time, this individual privilege conferred to attorney-client relationships prohibited an attorney from testifying against his or her client. Under U.S. law, the privileged nature of communications shared by clients with their attorneys can be understood within the context of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution—the right to avoid self-incrimination.

Over time, legislatures cautiously have passed laws extending privileged status to communications originating in other, special, socially important relationships. Such relationships include those between physicians and their patients, husbands and wives, priests and penitents or confessors. In order for legislatures to pass such laws they must be convinced that making an exception to the rule of evidence is vital to the well-being of society and that an individual citizen’s need to privacy outweighs the need for evidence in a court case.

In 1961, jurist John Wigmore proposed four criteria to be used as guides to decision making regarding the according of privileged communication: (1) the communications must originate in confidence that they will not be disclosed, (2) confidentiality must be essential to the full and satisfactory maintenance of the relationship, (3) the relationship must be one that is strongly supported and fostered by the community, and (4) the harm to the relationship as a result of disclosure of the communications must be greater than the benefit from the proper disposal of the litigation.

Extension of the privilege to communications originating in therapy relationships (i.e., those occurring between psychologists or counselors and their clients) is a relatively recent development. Although it is now almost universal that psychologist-client communications are treated as privileged, the extension of privileged status to the communications occurring within the counselor-client relationship remains limited.

Even where such privileged communication is recognized, it is important for counselors to be aware that there are exceptions to this privilege that may require otherwise protected or privileged information to be revealed. Common exceptions include requirements to testify regarding client threats to the health and safety of the client or others; a client’s intent to commit a crime; knowledge of child abuse, elder abuse, or disabled adult abuse committed by the client; and a client’s mental condition or state in an involuntary commitment proceeding or if the client has raised an issue of her or his mental state in a legal proceeding.

Qualified Privilege

When invoked and accepted by the court, the doctrine of qualified privilege provides protection against charges of defamation. Defamation is an act of communication that causes someone to be shamed, ridiculed, held in contempt, lowered in the estimation of the community, or to lose employment status or earnings or otherwise suffer a damaged reputation. More specifically, defamation is the making of false statements about a person that injure his or her reputation or that deter others from associating with him or her. Libel and slander are the legal subcategories of defamation. Libel is defamation in print, pictures, or any other visual symbols. Slander is defamation by oral communication.

Of relevance to issues of confidentiality and legal privilege, defamation involves instances in which a counselor or therapist shares with another information about a client that may be or is damaging to that client’s reputation. An example of this would be when therapists break confidentiality to share with the appropriate authorities (e.g., local child-protection services) their suspicion that a client is being (or has been) sexually abused or molested by an adult or, if the client is an adult, is molesting a child. Both are instances in which counselors may be required by law to break confidentiality to report their suspicions to protect a child. It is important to note that counselors are not required to be certain that abuse has taken place; rather, they are required to report their suspicions—leaving determination of facts of the matter to the appropriate authorities. Regardless of the truth or falsity of such a communication to the authorities, such a communication or revelation can be understood to be damaging to the reputation the suspected abuser, and it is understandable that such person might take legal action against the therapist for breach of confidentiality and for defamation and damage to the person’s reputation and standing in the community.

In legal proceedings, the general avenues of defense in defamation suits are (1) that the communication or revelation is true, and (2) that the person gave consent to the release of the information. Qualified privilege is a third avenue of defense. The notion of there being a privilege that qualifies some communications as exemptions from defamatory characterization rests on the notion of an overarching social duty to share or release information, even if that information may be false. There are four conditions that must be met under the doctrine of qualified privilege: (1) the information must be presented in good faith—not in malice, (2) there must be a legitimate social duty to release the information, (3) the disclosure must be limited in scope to what is necessary to discharge the duty, and (4) the disclosure must be made only to the appropriate parties with a right to know. Most states with mandatory abuse-reporting laws include a qualified privilege provision in their reporting statute, thereby protecting counselors from defamation suits so long as their report of suspected abuse was made out of sincere concern for the protection and welfare of the child, the information shared related only to the suspicions of abuse, and the information was shared only with the appropriate authorities.

Limits and Exceptions to Confidentiality and Privilege

As noted earlier, a client’s right to privacy and confidentiality, is not without limits. There are exceptions to rules of privacy and confidentiality; neither is absolute. Specific exceptions to privacy and confidentiality vary by jurisdiction, and counselors are well advised to become familiar with the exceptions that are relevant to their practice jurisdiction and professional practice setting.

In addition to previously noted client waivers of confidentiality with their informed consent, other circumstances may permit and require disclosures by counselors of otherwise confidential disclosures to supervisors and others involved in the treatment of the client. Disclosures to the parent or guardian of a minor client and disclosures to share in the interest of the operation of the system in special settings (e.g., the penal system) are additional instances when confidentiality is limited.

Even where privileged communication is recognized, counselors need to be aware of statutory exceptions to this privilege that may require them to reveal otherwise confidential and privileged information. Such exceptions may include requirements to testify regarding client threats to the health and safety of the client or others (including when a client has a fatal, communicable disease and the client’s behavior is putting others at risk), a client’s intent to commit a crime, reporting of suspected abuse or neglect of a child or other persons presumed to have limited ability to care for themselves (e.g., the elderly or a disabled adult), and a client’s mental condition or state in an involuntary commitment proceeding or if the client has raised an issue of her or his mental state in a legal proceeding.

Other exceptions include death of the client, sharing information with subordinate and fellow professionals in coordinating client care (e.g., within-agency or within-institution sharing of information), working under supervision, the use of clerical staff and other assistants who handle confidential information, and clinical and legal consultation with colleagues or experts. Additionally, privilege and confidentiality are waived when clients bring law suits claiming emotional damage, when clients raise issues of their mental health in legal proceedings (e.g., in custody suits), when counselors provide services to multiple clients (e.g., when a third party is present during the communication, such as in couples, family, or group counseling), and to permit counselors or therapists the ability to defend themselves against charges of negligence or malpractice charges raised by their clients.

LEGAL ISSUES IN COUNSELLING

The Law and Counseling Iowa Law Review Note (1971)
Counselors are legally-recognized professionals Weldon v. Virginia State Board of Psychologists Examiners (1974)Counseling is a distinct profession from psychology Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California (1976)Counselors have a duty to warn if an identifiable person is in dangerRamona trial (1993)Counselors have a duty to care – a legal obligation not to act negligentlyJaffee v. Redmond (1996)Communications between licensed psychotherapists and their clients are privileged and do not have to be disclosed in cases held in federal court

Civil and Criminal Liability
1. Civil liability “Acting wrongly toward another or…failing to act when there [is] a recognized duty to do so”

2. Criminal liability Acting “in a way the law does not allow ”state à person Liability involves issues concerned with whether counselors have caused harm to clients.

1. Civil liability – one can be sued for acting wrongly toward another or for failing to act when there is a recognized duty to do so.

2. Criminal liability – involves a counselor working with a client in a way that the law does not allow. Counselors are most likely to face civil liability suits for malpractice in the following situations: (1) malpractice in particular situations (birth control, abortion, prescribing and administering drugs, treatment), (2) illegal search, (3) defamation, (4) invasion of privacy, and (5) breach of contact. Three situations in which counselors risk criminal liability are (1) accessory to a crime, (2) civil disobedience, and (3) contribution to the delinquency of a minor.

Civil and criminal liability
Negligence the departure from acceptable professional standards malpractice the harm to a client resulting from negligence.

The Law and Counseling Confidentiality Privacy
is the ethical duty to fulfill a contract or promise to clients that the information revealed during therapy will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. Privacy is a legal concept that recognizes individuals’ rights to choose the time, circumstances, and extent to which they wish to share or withhold personal information. Privileged communication regulates privacy protection and confidentiality by protecting clients from having their confidential communications disclosed in court without permission.

Exceptions to Confidentiality
When a client is a danger to self or others In cases of child abuse or neglect When vulnerable adults are being abused When a client is considering committing a crime When a client has been a victim of a crime During court-ordered psychological evaluations For the purposes of involuntary hospitalization When a client raises the issue of mental condition in legal proceedings In client-counselor disputes

Guidelines for Implementing Duty to Warn Requirements
Get informed consent Plan ahead through consultation Develop contingency plans Obtain professional liability insurance Involve the client Obtain a detailed history Document in writing Implement procedures to warn

Legal Issues involved when counseling minors
Parental consent Limitation of confidentiality Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)Allows parents access to their children’s records Allows children access to their own records

Codes of Ethics ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (1995)
APA (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct ASCA (2004) Ethical Standards for School Counselors A counselor can assist a judge or jury with specialized knowledge, skills, information in reaching an appropriate legal decision. e.g., the ability to stand trial, the psychological effects of abuse

PROFESSIONALISM

UNIT 7

ASSESSMENT INVENTORIES FOR COUNSELLING AND PRACTICUM.

Meaning and Types of assessment inventories for counselling and practicum

• Factors to consider to develop an assessment inventory

• Factors/Criteria to consider in selecting assessment inventories for specific counselling situations

• Uses of assessment inventories for Counselling and practicum

Guidance and Counselling for Junior High Schools

COURSE OUTLINE

UNIT 1

HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

UNIT 2

GUIDANCE SERVICES

UNIT 3

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN COUNSELLING

UNIT 4

COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES FOR BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT IN EARLY ADOLESCENTS

UNIT 5

COUNSELLING LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

UNIT 6

ETHICAL STANDARDS AND LEGAL CONCERNS IN COUNSELLING EARLY ADOLESCENTS

UNIT 7

ASSESSMENT INVENTORIES FOR COUNSELLING AND PRACTICUM.

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