SPECIALIZED SUBJECT - HUMMS

DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE

APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES
_____ Semester, SY _____________
QUARTER 1, MODULE 2
ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF
COUNSELORS
Disciplines and Ideas in the Applied Social Sciences
Self-Learning Module
1st Semester – Module 2: Roles and Functions of Counselors
First Edition, 2021

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Lesson ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
OF COUNSELORS

INTRODUCTION

Hello Senior High! In this lesson you will learn to discuss the roles and
functions of counselors.

Specifically, this module aims to explain the importance of each role of

counselors in different settings and define the functions of counselors in the
society.

Before we proceed, let me ask you.

Are you interested in becoming a
counselor? Counselors are individuals
who are educated and experienced in
learning human behavior. Their primary
task is to assist individuals who need
therapy in achieving an optimum degree of
psychosocial functioning through applying
ideas learned and, over time, learning the
individual's way of life through counseling.
Counselors provide support to clients,
partners, friends, and communities who
are struggling with mental health and well-
being problems. Often counselors take a
holistic approach to their practice, using a
health model (rather than a disease
model) that emphasizes and supports
clients' abilities.

In our present situation, COVID-19 has created public health crisis of

unprecedented proportions. Since the pandemic’s onset, counselors have
witnessed an uptick in patients’ dealing with the loss of normalcy in their daily lives.
Counselors can provide information and support to some stressors associated with
COVID-19, including self-quarantine, social distancing, job loss, and threat of
illness to students, teachers, parents, and other members of the community.

Take a few minutes to reflect on your experience in the role of individuals

as counselors in this time of pandemic. Who helped you in times of depression,
stress, anxiety and some other problems associated in your schooling? Think
about these questions as you go on with the discussion.
LESSON AND PRACTICES

DISCUSSION OF THE LESSON

Roles and Functions of Counselors

A counselor is needed to provide professional

social counseling and guidance services. Its
implementation is both in school education and in the
community, in order to have the ability to understand,
plan for the future, design life rationally, get a role that is
in accordance with the interests and situations,
conditions, abilities, and socio-economic life, which is fair
with a positive value view of attitudes and behavior
theoretically and practically during the Covid-19
pandemic.
“Counseling is a helping profession.” According to Gibson and Mitchell(2003),
a helping profession is composed of members “who are specially trained and licensed
to perform a unique and service for fellow human beings.”
The following are the functions and roles of Counselors:
1. Individual Assessment. Seeks to identify the characteristics and potential of
every client; promotes the client’s self-understanding and assisting counselors to
understand the client better.

Assessment methods which include a wide array of

formal and informal instruments and strategies such as
standardized and non-standardized tests, questionnaires,
inventories, checklists, observations, portfolios, performance
assessments, rating scales, surveys, interviews and
measures.

2. Individual Counseling. Considered as the core activity through which other

activities become meaningful. It is client-centered process that demands
confidentiality. Relationship is established between counselor and client.

Individual counseling can help one deal with many

personal topics in life such as anger, depression, anxiety,
substance abuse, marriage and relationship challenges,
parenting problems, school difficulties, career changes,
etc.
3. Group Counseling and Guidance. Groups are means of
providing organized and planned assistance to individuals for an
array of needs. Counselor provides assistance through group
counseling and group guidance.

The clients can meet other individuals who have gone

through similar events and have felt many of the same things
especially those with mental health concern such as social anxiety
or depression. Some other examples of conditions a group may focus on include:
generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder,
panic disorder, phobias, depression, attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, substance use disorder.
4. Career Assistance. Counselors are called on to provide
career planning and adjustment assistance to clients.

The counselor will help a person explore skills and

strengths, consider education levels and give advice about continuing education,
and determine interest and personality type. Counselors may also administer an
IQ test or an aptitude test.

5. Placement and Follow-up. A service of school counseling programs with

emphasis on educational placements in course and programs.

It is the appraisal of how counselees

who have been counseled, placed or
referred or have graduated are doing to
determine whether further assistance is
necessary.

6. Referral. It is the practice of helping clients find needed expert assistance that the
referring counselor cannot provide.

Referral can be an important tool in ensuring a

continuum of care of clients by helping them to access all
the relevant services available to address their physical,
psychological and social needs. Sometimes clients need
help with other things such as medical issues, debt,
claiming benefits, legal difficulties, and so on. This is where referral is useful.

7. Consultation. It is a process of helping a client through a third party or helping

system improve its services to its clientele
Consultation takes place to evaluate mental health that
occurs when another individual (counselor or other professional
has a question regarding the mental health of the client, to
determine the cause of the behavioral difficulties and form a
solution to the client and organization that seeks the expertise of a
counselor.
 8. Research. It is necessary to advance the profession of counseling; it can provide
empirically based data relevant to the ultimate goal of
implementing effective counseling.

Research matters for clients, practitioners and for

commissioners. It provides evidence for the range of issues
where therapy can be effective and positive outcomes for
clients.

9. Evaluation and Accountability. Evaluation is a means of assessing

the effectiveness of counselor’s activities. Accountability is an
outgrowth of demand that schools and other tax-supported institutions
be held accountable for their actions.

The purpose of evaluation is to determine the value of the

program, its activities, and staff in order to make decisions or to take
actions regarding the future. The evaluation will measure the delivery
of services (the process evaluation) and outcomes (product evaluation). This
ongoing process provides information to ensure continuous improvement of the
guidance program and gives direction to necessary changes.

10. Prevention. This includes promotion of mental health through

primary prevention using a social-psychological perspective.
Preventive counseling aims to prevent anticipated
problems or conflicts. A school-based preventive counseling
program for example, may focus on educating and providing
guidance to adolescents about such issues as bullying and school
violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted
diseases, eating disorders, and suicide, the goal of reducing their vulnerability to
these and similar problems that often occur in this particular age group.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

Situational Analysis
Objective: Determine the roles and functions of a counselor in the given situations.
Directions:
1. identify the roles and functions of a counselor in given situations.
2. Provide explanation.
Situation 1.
Ana, one of Grade 11 students got depressed while answering her module for the Second
Quarter. With this, the Counselor went to her house and helped her overcome depression.
Roles and Functions:
__________________________________________________________________________
 __________________________________________________________________________

Situation 2.
Zion’s mother died after he graduated in senior high school. His mother was a teacher and he
needs to claim his benefits at GSIS. Consequently, he went to a Counselor and seeks for advice
regarding his problem but the Counselor said that she will recommend him to other experts in
the field.
Roles and Function:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for answering the practice exercise. If you answered the practice
exercise correctly, you are now ready to proceed to do the written works. If not, please
try until you arrived at the correct answer.

Instructions: Please write your learnings from what has been discussed. Write your
learning inyour notebook/answer sheet.

Upon reading the lessons, I learned that…

and realized that…

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________.

WRITTEN WORKS

Identify what is being referred to in each of the following sentences below. Write the letter of
your answers on the line before the number.

a. Individual Assessment f. Referral

b. Individual Counseling g. Consultation
c. Group Counseling and Guidance h. Research
d. Career Assistance i. Evaluation and Accountability
 e. Placement and Follow-up j. Prevention

______1. It can help one deal with many personal topics in life such as anger, depression,
anxiety, substance abuse, marriage and relationship challenges, parenting
problems, school difficulties, career changes, etc.
______2. The counselor has clients who can meet other individuals who have gone
through similar events and have felt many of the same things especially those
with mental health concern such as social anxiety or depression.
______3. This a service of school counseling program with emphasis on educational
placements in course and programs.
______4. The counselor will help a person explore skills and strengths, consider education
levels and give advice about continuing education, and determine interest and
personality type. Counselors may also administer an IQ test or an aptitude test.
______5. It is a process of helping a client through a third party or helping system improve
its services to its clientele.
______6. It is the practice of helping clients find needed expert assistance that the referring
counselor cannot provide.
______7. This matters for clients, practitioners and for commissioners which provides
evidence for the range of issues where therapy can be effective and positive
outcomes for clients.
______8. Its purpose is to determine the value of the program, its activities, and staff in
order to make decisions or to take actions regarding the future.
______9. This includes promotion of mental health through primary prevention using a
social-psychological perspective.
______10. It used assessment methods which include a wide array of formal and informal
instruments and strategies such as standardized and non- standardized tests,
questionnaires, inventories, checklists, observations, portfolios, performance
assessments, rating scales, surveys, interviews and measures.

PERFORMANCE TASK
Role-Play – Me as Counselor

Suppose you are a school counselor. Complete the sentences below by supplying the
appropriate role and function as a counselor.
1. Advocates for other sexual orientation such as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer or questioning)
Scenario 1: LGBTQ students experience bullying, discrimination, lack of access to
LGBTQ-related information, and in some cases, physical or sexual assault.
 As a counselor I
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________.
2. Career Development Specialists
Scenario 2: Kristina is already in senior year high school. After attending their
symposium and career choices, Kristina is still confused with her career
plan, whether to take Teaching or Physical Therapy.
As a counselor I
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________.
3. Advocate of students with special needs and students at risk
Scenario 3: A group of students are emotionally disturbed due to the new normal
situation in education.
As a counselor I
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________.
4. Providers of Individual Counseling
Scenario 4: A woman seeks counseling from the agency because she has mixed
feelings about having a first child in her late 30s. She is angry at herself for waiting so
long and angry with her husband for putting pressure on her to have a baby. Now she
feels that she might be too old.
As a counselor I
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________.
5. Advocates of Preventive counseling
Scenario 5: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major effect on our lives. Many of us are
facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in
adults and children.
As a counselor I
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________.
 RUBRICS
Category 4 3 2 1
Understandin Behavior shows Behavior shows Behavior shows Behavior shows
g of in depth satisfactory some little or no
Character understanding of understanding of understanding of understanding of
the character. the character. the character. the character.
Realism Portrayal shows Portrayal shows Portrayal shows Does not
above average satisfactory level some realism. realistically
level of realism. of realism. portray the
character.
Information Provides Provides ample Provides some Provides few or
abundant historical facts. historical facts. no historical
historical facts. facts.
Response to Very thorough Satisfactorily Marginal Poor or no
prompts response to response to response to response to
prompts. prompts. prompts. prompts.
Research or Evidence that role Evidence of Some evidence Little or no
role was thoroughly sufficient research that role was evidence that
researched. of role. researched. role was
researched.

LESSON
SPECIFIC WORK AREAS IN
2 WHICH COUNSELORS WORK

Hello Senior High! In this lesson you will identify specific work areas in which
counselors work.

Specifically, this module aims to determine and explain some important work
areas of counselors in different setting, such as the industrial, educational, and clinical
setting. Moreover, it seeks to value the importance of their work areas as they are
essential agents of development, especially in the aspect of human improvement in
the society.
 Before we proceed, do you know that graduates having a degree in counseling gain
extensive training, knowledge, and experience that allow him or her to help individuals in need
of personal, emotional, behavioral, and/or professional guidance. The kind of treatment and
advice a professional is qualified to provide depends on what type of counseling they
specialize in, which may include rehabilitation, mental health, career, school, substance
abuse, behavioral disorders, marriage, and/ or family issues. There are three main areas of
the counseling profession. These three
areas of counseling have a lot in common.
Each of the three professions is backed by
empirical research. All of these professions
require some type of licensure. The three
types of professionals work in abnormal
psychology, human development,
diagnostics, and different types of therapy
setting are also all in multicultural
competence and held to a high level of
ethical standards.

In our present situation, the pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus brought some panic
to the people in community. It is where we need the support of counselors in helping patients
or clients to cope with the problems in our lives including mental or emotional disorders and
stressful life changes

Take a few minutes to reflect on your experiences with counselors working in the
hospitals, government agencies, private practices or any number of healthcare or other
professional environments

DISCUSSION OF THE LESSON

Counselors work in diverse community settings designed to provide

a variety of counseling, rehabilitation, and support services. Their
duties vary greatly, depending on their specialty, which is determined
by the setting in which they work and the population they serve.
Although the specific setting may have an implied scope of practice,
counselors frequently are challenged with children, adolescents,
adults, or families that have multiple issues, such as mental health
disorders and addiction, disability and employment needs, school
problems or career counseling needs, and trauma. Counselors must
recognize these issues in order to provide their clients with
appropriate counseling and support.
 Counseling and Its Work settings

1. Counselors in Schools – According to Gibson and Mitchell

(2003), counselors are recognized especially in the preventive
interventions and developmental stage. There are
elementary school counselors, secondary school
counselors, counselors in vocational schools, counselors
in higher education, and counselors in community and junior
colleges. The counseling service in the schools is usually
located under the student affairs program. It is under the
supervision of the Dean of Students Affairs.

2. Counselors in the Community Setting – refers to employment in

community, agency, and other non-school professional situations.
Counselors can be found in the community and mental health
agencies, employment and rehabilitation agencies, correctional
settings, and marriage and family practice. (Gibson and Mitchell,
2003)

3. Counselors in the Private Sector – refers to counselors who

decided to do fulltime work as private practitioners or engage in
part-time private practice while employed by community
agencies. This is feasible if the counselors' expertise and
specialization match or relevant to an adequate client population
in the geographic area. (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003)

4. Counselors in the Government – counselors are also present

in various agencies of government or institutions supported by the
government that is into social welfare, health, and education.
Relevant agencies or institutions include public schools, public
social welfare agencies such as that for the youth, children, and
aging.

Practice Exercise 1
Direction. Using the concept map, write the roles of a counselor and the possible clients or
customer in their work settings.
 Roles of Counselors Roles of Counselors
Possible Client/s Possible Client/s

Counselors in
Counselors Community
in School Setting

Counselors in Counselors in
Community the
Setting Government
Possible Client/s Possible Client/s

Roles of Counselors Roles of Counselors

Reflection:
1. How was your experience in filling out the concept map?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

2. Did it help you recognize the roles and clients of a counselor in a specific work setting?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

3. How do these roles change the way you look at counselors in the Philippines?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Please write your learnings from what has been discussed. Write your learnings
in your notebook/answer sheet.

Upon reading the lesson, I learned that…

and realized that

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________.

.
Where Will I Go?

Direction: In Column A are the clients of the Counselors. Match which work settings will the
client go by selecting the letter in Column B. Write the letter of your choice in the blank
space provided.

Column A Column B

______1. A grade 11 student is addicted to Mobile A. Counselors in

Legend, a gaming app installed in his Smart Schools
Phone.
______2. Mrs. Elena Rivera had a trauma caused by B. Counselors in
eruption of Mt. Mayon. the Community
______3. A married couple has an issue on divorce Setting
and separation.
______4. One of the pupils of Grade 6 is always
C. Counselors in
bullied by his schoolmates.
the private
______5. Mr. Dan Castro has a problem in his
sector
spirituality.
______6. Gina and Sheila have same sex
relationships. D. Counselors in
______7. Anthon was diagnosed with AIDS / HIV. the government
______8. A Grade 10 student has pregnancy related
issues.
______9. Post-traumatic stress (PTSD) can be due to
COVID-19.
______10. Richard is confused on his gender identity.

FEATURED ARTICLE
Directions. Interview any of the counselors mentioned above. Create an article featuring
his/her contributions in the human improvement in our society. Do some research on other
issues related to the contribution of counselors in different areas. Make your own title. Use a
short bond paper. It can be handwritten or computerized.
 RUBRICS

FEATURE 5 4 3
ARTICLE
Relevant and Supported point of Supported point of Supported point of view
detailed content view effectively with view with some with some information.
andorganized to appropriately relevant information.
support a point selected and highly
view relevant information.
Control of written Used effective Vocabulary was Occasionally used
language vocabulary, accurate generally effective accurate language.
and expressive and used accurate
language. language.
Structure Details are placed in Details are placed in Some details are not in
a logical order and a logical order, but a logical order and this
the way they are the way in which distracts the reader.
presented effectively they are presented
keeps the interest of /introduced
the reader. sometimes makes
the writing less
interesting.
Conclusion An engaging ending An engaging ending An ending that leaves
that leaves the that leaves the the reader confused or
reader wanted to reader uninterested in the
think and know more understanding the topic.
about the topic. topic.
Book

Dela Cruz et al, Discipline and Ideas in Applied Social Sciences, The Padayon
Series, Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., Copyright 2016
Online Sources

https://quizlet.com/233806095/lesson-32-areas-of-specialization-where-counselors-
work-flash-cards/

https://www.counselingdegree.com/10-most-common-counseling-specialties/
https://wwyurijuyt.firebaseapp.com, Robert L. Gibson, Marianne Mitchell, Introduction
to Counseling and Guidance.

https://www.ct.counseling.org
https://www.bestcounselingdegrees.net
https://www.study.com
https://www.csuci.edu/caps/individualcounseling
https://www.goodtheraphy.org
https://www.counselingtutor.com
https://careersinpsychology.org/online-counseling-degrees/ - Online Counseling Degrees
https://www.academia.edu

https://careersinpsychology.org/start-a-community-counseling-career

https://studentscholarships.org
Photo Credits

https://www.web.wpl.edu

https:/www.support.vecteezy.comp
 Key to Practice Exercises

LESSON 1

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1

Situation 1. Individual Counseling

Situation 2. Referral

WRITTEN WORKS

1. B
2. C
3. E
4. D
5. G
6. F
7. H
8. I
9. J
10. A

PERFORMANCE TASKS

▪ Answers may vary

LESSON 2

PRACTICE EXERCISE1

▪ Answers may vary

WRITTEN WORKS
 1. A
2. B
3. C
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. D
8. B
9. D
10. C

PERFORMANCE TASKS

▪ Answers may vary

-