Activity 3: I Am A Certified Counselor!

Objectives: This activity allows you to envision yourself to be a professional and competent
counsellor. It aims to assess how well you know each of the stages in counselling by giving you
situations that apply in the process.

Stage I: Establishing the Relationship

Allana resorted to counseling because of her mental and emotional distress due to
loads of academic tasks and school works. Despite her bubbly personality, she couldn't dare to
mask the loneliness residing inside her. She was always viewed as someone who wouldn't have
any worries or problems in life but in fact, she worries about academics more than anything else.
As she approached the counselor, she didn't hesitate to speak her mind for she felt comfortable just
by looking at the warm smile that the counselor gave her. She knew she was ready to listen.
Stage II: Assessment
The counselor raised questions about Allana regarding her academic concerns and
by performing psychological tests such as Perceived Stressed Scale or PSS.
Stage III: Treatment Planning
The counselor suggested Allana to improve her time management skills by setting
up goals and plans for her priorities and to avoid unwanted accumulation of school tasks.
Stage IV: Intervention
The counselor counseled Allana.
Stage V: Evaluation
The counselor and Allana evaluated the counselling sessions.
Stage VI: Termination
Both the counselee and counselor terminated the counselling relationship.

4. Discuss with your group mates the following:

4.1 What are your thoughts about the activity? How do you feel about it?
The activity helped me to have a deeper understanding of my client/friend and
establish a stronger bond between the two of us. The activity made me feel like a counselor
and as I went through the different stages, I was able to put myself in the situation and be
actually interested in other’s concerns and assisting them in solving those issues.
4.2 Do you have any thoughts of becoming a counselor?
Becoming a counselor is one of my preferred profession or choice that I consider when
I take up college. I enjoy listening to people, observing them and interpreting their behaviour.
I get curious about the way they act or why they believe certain life perceptions without the
need to judge them.
4.3 How would you like others to view you as a counselor?
As a counselor, I want others to view me as approachable, open and friendly. I don’t
want others to approach me with the fear of getting criticized or judge but instead I want
them to feel accepted and comfortable when they associate with me. I want them to view me
as someone to talk to, someone whom they can express themselves freely, someone who’s
always ready to listen and be there for them when they feel like the world had turn its back
against them.
 Activity 4: I Speak, You Speak!
Objectives: This activity aims to provide you with a venue of settling an “unfinished business”
for an experience that had no closure in your life. This could also refer to the feeling of “being
left hanging without proper good-byes.” This also aims to enhance your ability to analyse and
reconcile two sides of your story and not only dwell on your own personal explanation of it.

Instructions:
1. Choose your partner
2. Think of an experience wherein you still have things to tell another person but that person
is already absent in your life.
3. Write a letter addressed to that person and write down everything that you think or feel
about that person. Give that letter to your partner.
4. As a partner, read the letter. Compose the letter as if you were that person and give the
letter to your partner.
5. Discuss with your partner the following:
What are your thoughts about the activity? How do you feel about it?
The activity is an effective way of expressing ourselves and venting out unsaid
feelings and emotions. After the activity, I felt a little lighter and satisfied as I was able to
write all my concerns and realizations about the person I never got to say a proper goodbye
with. The activity made me accept and finally cut ties with the person apparently without
any feeling of regret, hatred or bitterness.