Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Region I
PANGASINAN DIVISION II
Binalonan

MODULE IN DISCIPLINE AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED

SOCIAL SCIENCE
1ST QUARTER, WEEK 2

MELC: 1. Discuss the roles and functions of a counselor.

2. Identify specific work areas in which a counselor works.

Prepared by:

PEDIMOR DOLOR CABANSAG

SHS Teacher III

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 What you are expected to learn!
After going through this module, you are expected to:
1) Know the roles and functions of a counselor.
2) Identify specific area of specialization of counselors and career opportunities for counselor.

How to learn from this module

The topics in this module have been broken down into learning series. The given activities are
important because they are programmed to help you learn more efficiently and effectively.

Some topics present new information, while others are review materials that maybe added to your prior
knowledge. Every learning series require some responses from you.

When you have written or marked your answer, you will want to find out whether your answers were
right. The module provides you with important feedback by giving you easy access to the answers. Do not
look at the correct answer until after you have marked your own answers. If you look before answering, you
will only impair your own learning process.

If your answer is wrong, reread the lesson until you understand your error. Then go on. Good luck and
have fun!

Take the pre-assessment before proceeding to the different learning episodes. Check your answers
against the answer key at the end of the module.

What to do before
Pre-Assessment

Directions: Encircle the letter of the best answer.

1. One of the roles is to help students identify barrier to academic success life peer pressure, family
problems, relationship issues and others. What function of a counselor is this?
a. School and community collaboration specialist
b. Leaders and advocates of academic success
c. Development classroom specialist
d. Career development specialist
2. This role, filled by school guidance counselor, helps to protect the rights of students.
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 a. Leadership
b. Advocacy
c. Support
d. Academic planning
3. The core of the activity in counseling is the confidentiality of the client wherein relationship is
established between the counselor and the client.
a. Career assistance
b. Individual counseling
c. Referral
d. Individual assessment
4. Among the distinct competencies of a counselor is to be curious about the client’s backgrounds and
problems.
a. Interpersonal skills
b. Conceptual ability
c. Personal beliefs and attitude
d. Openness to learning and inquiry
5. Counselor have the capacity to accept others, belief in potential of change, awareness of ethical and
moral choices and sensitive to voice quality.
a. Interpersonal skills
b. Conceptual ability
c. Personal beliefs and attitude
d. Openness to learning and inquiry
6. Refers to the effort to establish an encouraging relationship with the couple or family and appreciate
the complications in the family system.
a. Marriage and Family Counseling
b. Child and Adolescent counseling
c. Group counseling
d. Career Counseling
7. Refers to the process of reaching out students with the concerns on drugs, peers and family problems.
a. Career counseling
b. School counseling
c. Mental health counseling
d. Group counseling
8. It offers opportunities to members to learn from observing and to learn from the other group
members regarding their personal problems.

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 a. Career counseling
b. School counseling
c. Mental health counseling
d. Group counseling
9. It aids individual on decisions and planning concerning their plan profession in the future.
a. Career counseling
b. School counseling
c. Mental health counseling
d. Group counseling
10. This job of a counselor requires patience, humility, kindness and compassion specially in dealing with
the client’s problems such as depression, schizophrenia and substance abuse.
a. Career counseling
b. School counseling
c. Mental health counseling
d. Group counseling

LESSON 1 Roles and functions of Counselors

Counseling is the heart of the Guidance Program. It is the Counseling Service that integrates all the

data gathered about the individual and his or her environment, in order for them to enlighten for possible

solution to problems encountered. Hatch and Mitchell (1981) consider counselling as the core activity through

which all the other activities become meaningful. The counselor interprets the data gathered about the

individual and relates them to the information about the world outside the client in order to facilitate growth

and adjustment, problem solving and decision making.

Counseling is an intimate form of learning, it demands a practitioner who is willing to be an authentic

person in the counseling/therapeutic relationship (Corey, 2015). It involves the person to be immersed in

someone else life, and be able to give an authentic support and understanding, especially in the school and

clinical setting.

The following are roles and functions of counseling as stated below (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Roles / Functions Description

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Individual Assessment
Individual Counseling
Group Counseling and Guidance
Career Assistance
Placements and Follow –Up
Referral
Consultation
Research
Evaluation and Accountability
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Seeks to identify the characteristics and potential of
every client; promotes the client’s self-
understanding and assisting counselors to
understand the client better
Considers as the core activity through which other
activities become meaningful. It is a client –
centered process that demand confidentiality.
Relationship is established between counselor and
client.
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.
Counselors are called on to provide career planning
and adjustment assistance to clients.
A service of school counseling programs with
emphasis on educational placements in course and
programs.
It is the practice of helping the clients find needed
expert assistance that the referring counselor cannot
provide.
It is the process of helping a client through a third
party or helping system improve its service to its
clientele.
It is necessary to advance the profession of
counseling; it can provide empirically based data
relevant to the ultimate goal of implementing
effective counseling.
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.
 Prevention This includes promotion of mental health through
primary prevention using a social – psychological
perspective.

Here in the Philippines, Counseling is a profession (R.A. 9258 also known as the Guidance and

Counseling Act of 2004) that allows you to help others manage their responses to life’s challenges (Cleofe et

al.,2015). It is more just listening, its “active listening”; its more emphatic, it’s caring; the relationship of client

and therapist/counselor are guided by rules and regulations (Code of Ethics, R.A. 9258) so as to protect not

only the Counselors, but also the rights of clients.

Activity 1: Simple Recall

Choose one role/function of a counselor and identify the competencies expected of him/her to perform.
WRITE YOUR ANSWER ON THE NOTEBOX BELOW.
Scoring rubrics:

Ideas: 40%
Organization: 30%
Presentation: 30%

Open Notes
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Competencies of Counselors

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Seven distinct competence areas of counselors. There might be other areas but we will focus on the input of
McLeod (2003).
1. Interpersonal Skills –counselors who are competent display ability to listen, communicate ; empathize ; be
present ; aware of nonverbal communication; sensitive to voice quality , responsive to expressions of emotion,
turn taking, structure of time and use of language .
2. Personal beliefs and Attitude- counselors have the capacity to accept others, belief in potential of change,
awareness of ethical and moral choices and sensitive to values held by client and self.
3. Conceptual ability – counselors have the ability to understand and assess client’s problem; to anticipate
future problems; make sense of immediate process in terms of wider conceptual scheme to remember
information about the client.
4. Personal Soundness – counselors must have no irrational beliefs that are destructive to counseling
relationships, self-confidence, capacity to tolerate strong of uncomfortable feelings in relation to the clients,
secure personal boundaries, ability to be a client ; must carry no social prejudice, ethnocentrism and
authoritarianism.
5. Mastery of Techniques – counselors must have a knowledge of when and how to carry out specific
interventions, ability to assess effectiveness of the interventions, understanding the rationale behind
techniques, possession of wide repertoire of intervention
6. Ability to understand and work within social system – this would be compromise of awareness of family
and work relationships of client the impact of agency on the clients, the capacity to use support networks and
supervision ; sensitivity to client from different gender, ethnicity , sexual orientation, or age group.
7. Openness to learning and inquiry – counselors must have the capacity to be curious about client’s
backgrounds and problems; being open to new knowledge.

Activity 2: I-guhit mo!-

Draw one (1) competency of a school guidance counselor based on your observation.
Scoring Rubrics:
Content: 45%
Artistic presentation – 30%
Neatness – 25%

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Follow-up questions:
1. What do you think is the most and least challenging role and function of a counselor and why?
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2. As a Filipino youth, what practices or values can you learn from your guidance counselor? How will
you promote these values and practices?
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LESSON 2 Specific work areas in which Counselors work

The scale of counselors in discharging their duties and responsibilities is sometimes limited on the
work areas that they focus. Mostly sometimes these overlapped with other mental health practitioners and
educators, especially when dealing with the student’s welfare. Nonetheless, their scope work covers a broad
area, and sometimes caters a lot of individual and groups so as to reach more and people may avail to their
services.
Areas of Specialization of Counselors (Gnoyagub, 2018)
The scope of work a professional counselor covers a broad area. Some of the role’s functions require
specialization because counselors cater to the various needs of an individual. Appropriate counseling services
are provided given an identified need. Among the following are some work areas which counselors delves and
specializes:
1. School Counseling. School counselors help students at all levels to understand and cope with
social, behavioral, and personal problems. School or education counselors emphasize preventive
and developmental counseling to enhance students’ personal, social, and academic growth and to
provide students with the life skills needed to deal with problems before they worsen. School
counselors often provide special services, including alcohol and drug prevention programs, conflict
resolution classes, vocational counseling, and also try to identify cases of domestic abuse and other
family problems that can affect a student’s development. Counselors consult and collaborate with
parents, teachers, school administrators, school psychologists, medical professionals, and social
workers to develop and implement strategies to help students succeed. School counselors help
students evaluate their abilities, interests, talents, and personalities to develop realistic academic

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 and career goals. Often, counselors work with students who have academic and social development
problems or other special needs.
2. Mental Health or Clinical Counseling. Mental health counselors work with individuals, families,
and groups to address and treat mental and emotional disorders and to promote mental health. They
are trained in a variety of therapeutic techniques used to address issues such as depression, anxiety,
addiction and substance abuse, suicidal impulses, stress, trauma, low self-esteem, and grief. They
also help with job and career concerns, educational decisions, mental and emotional health issues,
and relationship problems. In addition, they may be involved in community outreach, advocacy,
and mediation activities. Some specialize in delivering mental health services for the elderly.
Mental health counselors often work closely with other mental health specialists, such as
psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors.
3. Career Counseling. counselors help individuals and groups with career, personal goals, social and
educational counseling. Many times, counselors in this field work with individuals who feel
unsatisfied with their career choices, but who are afraid to make changes because of emotional
issues or family or financial constraints. This type of counselor can work with people of all ages,
from adolescents who want to explore career options to professionals who want to make career
changes. Career counselors typically have a background in vocational, industrial, or organizational
psychology.
4. Marriage and Family Counseling – refers to the efforts to establish an encouraging relationship
with couple or family and appreciate the complications in the family system.
5. Child and Adolescent Counseling – is a developing area of expertise in counseling profession.
The counseling strategies focus on helping children and adolescents acquire coping skills through
promotion of resiliency, positive attachment relationship, emotional and intellectual intelligence,
and other qualities that promote optional development.
6. Group Counseling – is the dynamic field in the counseling profession. Group counseling as a
practice can be located in most counseling programs and became the essential part of counselor’s
system.
Career Opportunities for Professional Counselors (Alliant International University)
Every area of specialization of counselors equates to a particular service targeting a particular section
of the society. The following are the different types of counseling careers and opportunities:
1. Elementary and High School Counselors. Counselors can choose to be inside of the educational
system spending their in improving student’s academic and holistic performance, up until their
graduation of the developmental years, given that in the
public school system, there is a shortage of counselors (Tan, 2009). Counselors working in the
elementary and high school levels usually deal with preschool pupils to grades 1 to 12 students. They
provide individual and group counseling as well as homeroom guidance sessions to support the
academic, social-emotional and personal development of the learners.
They also provide career tests and psychological tests to assess the students’ strengths and
weaknesses. Results of psychological tests and other gathered data (those from interview with students,
for instance) are utilized as bases for improving the guidance program and services.
2. College Counselors. These counselors are focus on the different psychological and problem needs
of students in the tertiary level. Students taking the tertiary level, also undergo a lot of stress, brought
by the demands and requirements of college life; not to mention that the degree of stress varies from
course to course.
3. Teaching profession. Counselors also have the chance to teach in the academe. They have the
opportunity to share their experiences, as well as, their expertise in the field of counseling and
psychology. Usually the people are also practicing counselors.

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 4. Workshop Facilitator. Guidance counselors are equipped with competencies that address the needs
of diverse groups through facilitation of seminars and workshops. They can provide activities to
address issues such as mental health, career development, adolescents’ risky behaviors, resiliency, soft
skills, or any other topic concerning psychological conditions of individuals.
5. Career Counselors. Through career counseling and career coaching, counselors provide
opportunities and skills seminar for college students to be more adept, flexible and ready to face the
world of profession.
6. Substance Abuse Counselors. These counselors usually work hand in hand with social workers
and the like. Usually in rehabilitation facilities and centers, they trained people and provide mental
health seminars, life seminars and health substance seminars, to understand how these drugs and other
substance abuse affect their way of life and how they can overcome and prevent the same problem.
7. Researcher. They are also researchers, conducting experimental based-outcomes, problem based
research, etc. They also identify the most effective activities that will improve the conditions of certain
individuals.
Activity 3: Anong connect?

Identify what area of specialization is referred to from the following counselor’s focus area.

Write your answer on the space provided.

FOCUS AREA AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

1. Substance abused by Juan
Tamad.
2. Maria has a dilemma as to what
college course she will enroll.
3. Pedro mourn for the loss of his
grandfather due to COVID.
4. David constantly witness the
fighting of his parents.
5. Ana was sexually harass by his
stepfather.
6. Inquiry on the addiction to
Mobile legends by selected
Grade 12 Humss.
7. Due to personal problems, Alan
is experiencing suicidal thoughts.

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• The roles and functions of counselors have an impact not only in the developing and enriching policies
in the institution, but extends its reach to the community (barangays) and the society.
• Their important roles extend not only on the learner’s realm of academic achievement, but also tackles
the emotional boundaries of the learner, as this also affect the holistic development of the learner
• Counselors are also allied with mental health practitioners such as clinical psychologists and
psychiatrists in assessing the needs and problems of the learner.

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 • Areas of Specialization for counselors differ in terms of their focus and needs of the society. It may
depend on what the services is needed or it may vary on what people are being served.
• Most school counselors tend to the community within educational institutions. The needs of each grade
level are specific for the learner to ascend at each level.
• Clinical and Rehabilitation counselors are more likely similar to psychologists and psychiatrists work,
but more in-depth with counseling the individual. The tasks ranges from emotional to cognitive
problems.
• Marriage and Family counselors must always adhere to the laws of the constitution in conducting
counseling marriage and family. Their jobs mostly include resolving issues, empowering the
coordination and acceptance of both different parties and bringing back vows for the sake of the family
and their children.
• Career Opportunities ranges from educational, clinical and industrial setting. They can practice at the
same time teach in the academe. Their practice may range from corporate world or hospitals and
rehabilitation centers.

POST TEST

Name: _____________________________________________ Score: _______________

Multiple Choice: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. A service of school counseling programs with emphasis on educational placements in course and
programs.
a. Placements and follow-up c. Evaluation and Accountability
b. Research d. Individual Assessment
2. This includes promotion of mental health through primary prevention using social and psychological
perspective.
a. Referral c. Research
b. Consultation d. Prevention
3. The legal basis that professionalize the counseling as a profession is;
a. R.A. 9255 c. R.A. 9257
b. R.A. 9256 d. R.A. 9258
4. Counselors has the ability to listen, communicate and empathize with their client.
a. Personal beliefs and attitude c. Interpersonal skills
b. Mastery of Techniques d. Personal soundness
5. A counselor must be knowledgeable about the techniques essential in dealing with the problems of his
clients.
a. Personal beliefs and attitude c. Interpersonal skills
b. Mastery of Techniques d. Personal soundness

6. Career development specialist is a function of a counselor in the setting of__________.

a. Clinical c. Industrial
b. Hospital d. Educational
7. Which is not true about counseling?
a. It is a helping profession
b. It caters mostly people with mental disabilities
c. It is most provided in the clinical setting
d. It is given to groups of people
8. Which of the following does not belong to the group?
a. Counselors must always determine first their population and problem before providing services
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 b. Counselor do not use psychometrics in determining problems of individuals.
c. Counselors are dual-relational counselors
d. Counselors are pre-med students
9. Refers to the efforts to establish an encouraging relationship with couple or family and appreciate the
complications in the family system.
a. School counseling c. Family counseling
b. Mental counseling d. Industrial counseling
10. Counselors take an active role in counseling groups and individuals to address developmental task and
issues confronting them in the 21st century.
a. True c. Maybe
b. False d. Cannot determine

REFERENCES:

Books:
Corey, Gerald. (2015) Counseling and Psychotherapy. Theory and Practice.
Gibson , Robert L. and Mitchell ,Marriane H. Introduction to Counseling and guidance. (Sixth edition).
NJ: Merill Prentice Hall, 2003.
Gibson , Robert L. and Mitchell ,Marriane H. Introduction to Counseling and guidance. (Sixth edition).
NJ: Merill Prentice Hall, 2003.
Tan, Christine Joy College Choice in the Philippines. University of Texas 2009
Online references
https://www.counselingdegree.com/10-most-common-counseling-specialties/
https://www.slideshare.net/angievibar/goals-and-scope-of-social
https://www.alliant.edu/blog/considering-career-clinical-counseling

ANSWER KEY:

PRETEST:

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

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