SAN PEDRO COLLEGE

De Guzman St, Davao City

Theoretical Orientation as a Professional Counselor

Desiree O. Labio

Graduate School PhD Guidance and Counseling

PhD GC 608: Counseling and Psychotherapy II

Dr. Flordeliza C. Posadas,RGC, RPsy

Professor
January 2021

Author Note:
Desiree O. Labio is a teacher and a designated Guidance Counselor in Villarica
High School, Department of Education Region12 Cotabato Division.
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Desiree
Labio,Guidance Office of Villarica High School, 9410 North Cotabato. Email:
vhsguidancecounselorako@hmail.com
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Introduction

Understanding the theoretical approaches is as equally important to the

counselor’s self-knowledge of his or her own values, life philosophies and how he or

she sees the world. As a counselor, being aware of one’s theoretical approaches is

essential to become an effective counselor.

This paper will cover the counselor’s eclectic preference of using the different

counseling approaches. The counselor chooses complementary theories specifically the

Solution-based therapy (SBT), Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), and

Person-centered therapy. These theories are parallel with the counselor’s own

perspectives and beliefs. This will also cover the counselor’s description of her

theoretical orientation at the beginning and at the end of the course and the

developmental processes that contributed to the counselor’s understanding. Further, the

counselor will relate the theoretical perspectives on why people get “stuck” or why

people develop problems, the roles of the counselor in the process of change of the

student or the counselee and the cultural considerations that the counselor must know

to be an effective counselor.

THEORETICAL APPROACHES PREFERENCES

After the course (PhD GC 608), the counselor has discovered that there are

many theories that are good and relevant. Some may be novel techniques but effective

with the right counseling issues. Counselor may want to use it for future counseling

sessions. However, there are some theories more than others that the counselor is

inclined to practice more in her counseling profession as it is close to her counseling

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perspectives. The counselor is more incline to the Solution-based therapy, Rational

Emotive Behavioral Therapy, and Person-centered therapy.

Solution-based therapy, also known as solution-focused therapy or brief therapy

deals with a variety of principles to generate solutions to those who need them. The

source of a client's problems is clearly defined during a solutions-based therapy

session; furthermore, successes are just as emphasized. Solutions-based therapy

centers on the following premise that 1) Change will always happen; it's inevitable.

Clients are asked to embrace change and want it, 2) Clients have the power to create

their own goals and feel more confident, 3) Each client has his or her own strengths and

skills to solve their problems, 4) Focusing on the past is not as relevant. Another thing

the counselor likes in SBT is the scaling technique, where counselee uses numbers to

quantify emotions and feelings. Scaling method is a more logical approach to therapy

that the counselor may utilized.

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy , the main goal of REBT is to get rid of the

client’s current negative philosophies and replace them with ones that are more realistic

and flexible as a means of finding happiness. Doing this allows clients to experience

and enjoy involvement, love, self-actualization, spontaneity, and commitment. It is

based on a few principles: that you are responsible for your emotions as well as your

actions, and your irrational thinking causes you to emotionally and behaviorally respond

negatively. You can overcome these negative responses by thinking in a more realistic

way, from there making those thoughts a part of yourself. This allows clients to fully

accept themselves by changing their perspective to something more reality-grounded.

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Person-Centered Therapy also known as client-centered therapy or Rogerian

therapy. It is a humanistic approach that deals with the ways in which individuals

perceive themselves consciously, rather than how a counselor can interpret their

unconscious thoughts or ideas. The person-centred approach ultimately sees human

beings as having an innate tendency to develop towards their full potential. This

approach facilitates the personal growth and relationships of a client by allowing them to

explore and utilise their own strengths and personal identity. However, this ability can

become blocked or distorted by certain life experiences, particularly those the

experiences which affect our sense of value. The counselor in this approach works to

understand an individual’s experience from their perspective. The counselor must

positively value the client as a person in all aspects of their humanity, while aiming to be

open and genuine. This is vital in helping the client feel accepted, and better able to

understand their own feelings. The approach can help the client to reconnect with their

inner values and sense of self-worth, thus enabling them to find their own way to move

forward and progress.

DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS OF THE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Personally, the counselor has the basic information and knowledge with the three

preferred theoretical perspectives. Nonetheless, the course has refreshed and

reaffirmed the basic tenets that the counselor has known. The counselor has learned

and appreciated new techniques and strategies that will solidify the practice of those

preferred approaches. It was indeed a furthering education or an upgrading of learning

on the counseling profession.

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DEVELOPMENT OF PROBLEMS AND ROLES OF THE COUNSELOR

There are many factors why people got “stuck” or develop problems especially

children. The counselor believes that it is not just one situation in a person’s life that

defines his or her problems. The counselor also believes that multiple factors play a

role, such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, religion, expectations,

and personal appearance. The counselor must view problems not solely based on the

situation but also the person’s history.

Looking into REBT perspective, many people have irrational beliefs that they

follow, which then in turn causes problems. Irrational ideas led to self-defeating

behaviour. An example of irrational idea is that unhappiness results from outside

events, so therefore a person has no control over such despair. Another example is that

running away from difficulties and responsibilities is easier than facing them. People got

stuck when they think they should be something they are not. When they think life

should be different than it is. This is often found in children because too much

expectations from parents and they tried their best to do what their parents and society

dictates them and often than not they found themselves in distress and felt that they are

not good enough if they fail the expectations and lead to poor self-esteem.

Understanding irrational ideas is beneficial as guidance counselor because

many students/children will have these thoughts. My goal as a counselor is to help

students understand their irrational thoughts and assist them in changing self-defeating

behaviors or views. The Solution-based therapy may also be used to complement

REBT in the counseling process by letting the counselee have the power to create their
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own goals and feel more confident and trust the counselee to have his or her own

strengths and skills to solve their problems. By being a Client-centered counselor that is

non-judgemental, empathic, non-directive and with positive regards to the counselee,

the counselor will empower the counselee for a positive change and encourage

congruence in the client’s behaviour and feelings.

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS OF A COUNSELOR

Counselors help people from all walks of life. They must display multicultural

competency and adopt a multicultural worldview. To become an effective multicultural

counselor, a counselor must develop the multicultural competence. Multicultural

competency means that you try to relate to and understand your clients regardless of

their race, ethnicity, religious or political beliefs or socioeconomic background.

Counselor’s multicultural competencies include awareness, knowledge, and skills

for the counselor. SELF-AWARENESS is where self-understanding is a necessary

condition before one begins the process of understanding others. Both intrapersonal

and interpersonal dynamics must be considered as important components in the

projection of beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and values. The examination of one's own

thoughts and feelings allows the counselor a better understanding of the cultural

"baggage" he or she brings to the situation. This may include Awareness of one’s

culture and others’ culture; awareness of racism, sexism and poverty; awareness of

individual differences; awareness of diversity; and proper skills and techniques for

multicultural counseling. The bottomline is the counselor must dispose personal bias

and prejudice to become an effective counselor.