PART 1: HISTORICAL AND PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF

COUNSELING
In this part, students will gain knowledge of:
• The history of counseling in the world, important events and personalities that have
shaped the profession during different decades
• Trends in the helping Profession
• Personal and Professional aspects of Counseling
• How ethics, morality and the law are defined and how counseling incorporates ethics.
• Counseling in Multicultural society and Diverse Population

CHAPTER 1: COUNSELING : ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The history of counseling field, though relatively new, is rich. It is important to note the influence
of the broad field of psychology, and though much of the history of each is unique, counseling
and psychology are branches of the same mental health tree. The counseling field developed
from the guidance movement in response to recognition of a need for mental health and
guidance counseling for individuals facing developmental milestones. This article provides a
historical context for the development of the counseling profession, the key contributors to the
profession, and the development of organizations providing professional context and
accountability. An overview focuses on three threads: societal changes that influenced the
profession in response to human need, changes in psychological theory, and educational
reform.
Counselors vs. Counseling Psychology
Both are mental health practitioners, who, by virtue of education, credentials, and experience, is
licensed (if required by law) and permitted to evaluate and care for patients within the scope of
his or her professional practice. They can also provide psychotherapy. It is the treatment of
mental disorder through psychological means. These professions may specialize in a particular
area, such as working with children, adults, or couples. They also help clients improve well-
being. Lastly, they work in diverse areas including hospitals, government offices, mental health
clinics, academic settings, and private practice
Although they have some striking similarities, some of the major differences are in educational
levels, the scope of practice, and work settings. Counselors usually have a master's degree.
They often tackle emotional and relationship issues. This kind of profession usually take place in
school or career settings. Counselors have limited ways of treatment as they are not trained to
provide psychological testing, but they can be helpful in the diagnosis and detection of
troublesome behavior by providing talk therapy.
A doctorate degree is required for someone who desires to be a counseling psychologist. Unlike
typical counselors, this profession specifies in treating serious mental illnesses as they are
found in medical and mental health clinics. Counseling psychologists must undergo extensive
training to provide diagnosis and psychological testing to patients.
Counseling Psychology
Counseling psychology is a general practice and health service provider specialty in
professional psychology. It focuses on how people function both personally and in their
relationships at all ages. Counseling psychology addresses the emotional, social, work, school
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and physical health concerns people may have at different stages in their lives, focusing on
typical life stresses and more severe issues with which people may struggle as individuals and
as a part of families, groups and organizations. Counseling psychologists help people with
physical, emotional and mental health issues improve their sense of well‐being, alleviate
feelings of distress and resolve crises. They also provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment
of more severe psychological symptoms.
Counseling in Early 20th Century
The history of faculty counseling formally started on the turn of the 20 the century, even though
a case may be made for tracing the rules of counseling and steering concepts to historical
Greece and Rome with the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle. There is likewise
evidence to argue that several the techniques and competencies of modern-day steerage
counselors were practiced by means of Catholic priests inside the center ages, as can be visible
by the dedication to the concept of confidentiality within the confessional. Near the give up of
the sixteenth century, one of the first texts about profession options seemed: The Universal
Plaza of All the Professions of the World, (1626) written by means of Tomaso Garzoni quoted in
Guez, W. & Allen, J. (2000). Nevertheless, formal steerage packages the usage of specialized
textbooks did now not start till the turn of the twentieth century.
Humanistic Reform
The counseling profession propagated to handle individuals having concerns with their
development and mental conditions. In the early 1900’s, counseling progressed as a response
to the changes happening in the society. During this period, humanistic reform was introduced
to address problems that involve human actions and interventions. Since the focus was to
support individuals, it paved the way to strengthen the need to emphasize the importance of
having a healthy and functioning mental state.
Industrial Reform
Various events like industrial revolution also catalyze the emergence of counseling as it
negatively impacted the public during that time. Industrialization, although dubbed as the age of
machines wouldn’t entirely mean that it won’t be needing manpower but in fact it is the other
way around. The shift on human needs prompted those who live in the farm to try their luck on
cities leaving their family behind. As a result, disorganization in the family became rampant and
cities were too crowded for comfort.
Progressive Education
Progressive Era was a time where the public rose up in reaction to the living conditions of the
U.S and demanded reform. This time period was the start of the development of progressive
education led by John Dewey along with another key figure, Horace Mann. Progressive
Education is a movement that focuses on child learning through real-world experience and that
gives emphasis on schools reflecting the overall life of society.
It was in this time period that the Guidance Movement also came. The Guidance Movement
wanted to help prepare the young generation that was growing into a new world so they would
not be victims of the wronged system. They focused on reforming the educational system to
provide mandatory education for all children and also to help prepare students to enter the
workforce. The movement implemented a curriculum that will allow children to develop personal
interest. This curriculum includes agricultural education, industrial education, and social
education that emphasize the acculturation of immigrants. This is where the foundation of
vocational guidance started to rise.

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Compulsory Education
Compulsory education imposed an education for all based on the fundamental principle that
education is a basic human right. It required by law that children must receive education and
that government must provide education to all. Educating children decreased the number of
children in the labor force and was a primary force in the change of society. Under this period,
four prominent figures arose and made major contributions in the progress of counseling; Alfred
Binet, Jesse Davis, Frank Parsons, and Clifford Beers.
Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, devised the first modern intelligence which was called
Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale (1905) in response with the changes within the educational
system caused by educational reform in response to urbanization and industrialization. By this
test, he aimed to determine which students had difficulties in learning and coping from regular
classroom instruction so they could be given special help.
Jesse B. Davis was a principal and considered the first school counselor in the United States.
He was the first person to develop public school counseling and guidance programs. He
advocated for the infusion of vocational development into traditional curriculum. He required his
students to write about their vocational interests on a weekly basis. He believed that character
development treats behavioral problems and can help establish good relationships with other
students. Davis was influenced by Mann and Dewey. He also believed if children were given
proper guidance, the challenges of an increasingly industrialized society could be met.
Frank Parsons, also known as the Father of Guidance, believed how understanding oneself's
interests, aptitudes, resources and knowing what career choices are available to them, can help
their own effectiveness and success. In 1909, Parsons wrote “Choosing A Vocation”, which
proved to be massively influential with the generation of educationalists as it pushed the ideas
of "Talent-Matching approach". The book called for the designation of school teachers as
vocational counselers which inspired the schools to implement their own vocational guidance
programs.
In 1900, Clifford Beers was confined to mental institutions for several times due to his
depression and paranoia. During these pediods, he experienced and witnessed serious
maltreatment in the hands of the staff. After discovering the condition of these facilities and
finding the treatment of mental illness ineffective, he published A Mind that Found Itself (1908).
The book contained his experience with institutionalization and his suicide attempt. It exposed
the conditions of mental health facilities and called for national reform in treatment of persons
with mental illness. His work became the forerunner of mental health counseling.
EVENTS FROM 1900’S THAT IMPACTED COUNSELING
Development of the profession of counseling from 1900s to 2012
1900s – Frank Parsons wrote “Choosing a Vocation”; Clifford Beers established emphasis on
Mental health; Jesse B. Davis set up systematic school guidance
1910s – Founding of National Vocational Guidance Association; Smith-Hughes Act; World War I
and beginning of psychometrics
1920s – First certiification of counselors in New York and Boston; publication of Strong
Vocational Interest Inventory
1930s – E.G. Williamson directive trait and factor counseling; John Brewer wrote Education as
Guidance; Established U.S. Employment Service; vocational education was enhanced
through George-Dean act

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1940s – Carl Rogers advocated a non-directive counseling approach; World War II – many
women work outside the home, question traditional sex roles; VA and GI Bill shape
counseling
1950s – Founding of APGA, ASCA and Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) within APA;
passage of National Defense Education Act with titels V-A and V-B that strengthened
counseling especially in schools, new theories created by Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck, Eric
Berne, Donald Super, and B.F. Skinner
1960s – Gilbert Wrenn wrote “The Counselor in a Changing world”; Vietnam War, Civil Rights,
Women’s Rights movements impact counseling; humanistic theories established;
Community Mental Health Act passed; learning emphasized as basis of change by John
Krumboltz; ERIC/CAPS created; first publication of “The Counseling Psychologist”
1970s – Diversification of counseling; community counselors first employed, American Mental
Health Counseling Association and four other new divisions of APGA formed; first
counseling licensure law passed in Virginia, helping skills programs established;
standards for Masters in Counseling was proposed
1980 – CACREP and NBCC established; counseling develops as a distinct profession; APGA
becomes AACD; Chi Sigma Iota was established by Tom Sweeney; AASCB founded by
Ted Remley; AADA and IAMFC chartered; development and multicultural counseling
emphasized
1990s – AACD becomes American Counseling Association; multicultural competencies and
standards written; managed care increases; growth in CACREP, NBCC certifications,
state licensure laws, CSI, and counseling publications.
2000s – ACA celebrates 50 years as an entitty in 2002; California becomes 50th state to
establish counselor licensure; 20/20: The Future of Counseling helps unify the
profession; 9/11 sparks increase in focus on trauma and crisis counseling; wellness
advocacy, and social justice highlighted; managed care, technology in counseling, and
managerial leadership for counselors emphasized

Activities:
1.1 Given the history of how Counseling Psychology emerged, research on the current
trends in the 21st Century. Make a summary of the following topics listed below and
how does the Counseling field have recognized the need for special focus on them.
Give your own reflection at the case examples given at the readings reference.
(Readings from: Glading, Counseling:A Comprehensive Profession; 7th Edition. 2013.
pp.21-27)
• Dealing with violence, trauma and crises
• The challenge of managed care
• Promoting wellness
• Concerns for social justice and advocacy
• Greater emphasis on technology
• Leadership
• Identity
1.2 Research on the establishment of Counseling profession in the Philippines and make
a timeline on its development.

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CHAPTER 2: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ASPECTS OF COUNSELING

Counseling is a helping profession and it is considered as an altruistic and nobel profession
where one is seen as caring, friendly and sensitive to other people’s feelings. (Myrick, 1997,
p.4)
Individuals who enter in this kind of profession have their own personal reasons that attacted
them to be a helper or a counselor. Some gained motivation from different aspects in their
personal lives, experiences and even exposure. It is an important factor that individuals who
wishes to be in this profession be able to carefully examine themselves before they commit into
helping others.
Whether they choose counseling as a career or not, people can be helped by studying
counseling and their own lives in relationship to the field.
The effectiveness of a counselor and of counseling depends on numerous variables, including:
• the personality background of the counselor
• the formal education of the counselor; and
• the ability of the counselor to engage in professional counseling-related
activities, such as continuing education, supervision, advocacy, and the building of
protfolio.
Not everyone is fit to be a counselor and not everyone who wants to be a counselor should
enter the field for reasons that they need to examine first their motivation and strive to develop a
congruent life between personality and the responsibilities of the profession.
Witmer and Young (1996) have found out that a number of students “attracted to professional
counseling…appear to have serious personality and adjusment problems”.
According to Guy (1987), the following are the dysfunctional morivators for becoming a
counselors:
Ø Emotional distress – individual who have unresolved traumas
Ø Vicarious coping – persons who live their lives through others rather than have a
meaningful lives of their own
Ø Loneliness and isolation – individual who do not have friends and seek them through
counseling experiences
Ø A desire for power – people who feel frightened and impotent in their lives and see to
control others
Ø A need for love – individuals who are narcissistic and grandiose and believe that all
problems are resolved through the expression of love and tenderness
Ø Vicarious rebellion – persons who have unresolved andger and act out their thoughts
and feelings through their clients’ defiant behaviors
Forunately, most people who eventually become counselors and remain in the profession have
healthy reasons for pursuing the professiona and a number even consider it to be a “calling”
(Foster, 1996)
Personal Qualities of an Effective Counselor (Foster, 1996 & Guy, 1987)
Ø Curiosity and inquisitiveness – natural interest in people
Ø Ability to listen – ability to find listening stimulating
Ø Comfort with conversation – enjoyment of verbal exchanges
Ø Empathy and understanding – the ability to put one’s self in another’s place
Ø Emotional insightfulness – comfort dealing with a wide range of feelings, from anger to
joy
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Ø Introspection – the ability to see and feel from within

Ø Capacity for self-denial – the ability to set aside personal needs to listen and take care of
other’s needs first
Ø Tolerance of intimacy – the ability to sustain emotional closeness
Ø Comfort with power – the acceptance of power with a certain degree of detachment
Ø Ability to laugh – the capability of seeing the bittersweet quality of life events and the
humor in them
Effective counselors are also people who have successfully integrated scientific knowledge and
skills into their lives. They have achieved the balance of interpersonal and technical
competence (Cormier, Nurius, & Osborn, 2009). Qualities of effective counselors over time
other than those already mentioned include the following:
Ø Intellectual competence – the desire and ability to learn as well as think fast and
creatively
Ø Energy – the ability to be active in sessions and sustain that activity even when one sees
a number of clients in a row
Ø Flexibility – the ability to adapt what one does to meet clients ‘needs
Ø Support – the capacity to encourage clients in making their own decisions while helping
engender hope
Ø Goodwill – the desire to work on behalf of clients in a constructive way that ethically
promotes independence
Ø Self-awareness – a knowledge of self, including attitudes, values and feelings and the
ability to recognize how and what factors affect oneself (Hansen, 2009).
Professional aspects of counseling
There are licensing bodies that qualifies one as professional counselor. Depending on where
the place of practice, one must acquire one to be able to ethically provide counseling services.
However, the professional responsibility of a counselor does not stop when they got their
license, they must continue on enhancing professional growth through continuing education,
attaining supervision, involve themselves in advocacies and social justice, and updating
portfolio.
Assessment Activity:
2.1 In the Philippines, there are two licensing boards which an aspiring counselor may
choose to take. Research on the guidelines and qualifications needed on each.
Compare and differentiate the two.

CHAPTER 3: ETHICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF COUNSELING

Counselors are like other professionals in having established code of ethics to guide them in the
practice of helping others. The ACA Code of Ethics is one of the main documents counselors
consult when they face ethical dilemmas. Acting ethically is not always easy, comfortable, or
clear (Barnett & Johnson, 2010)
Generally, these Codes of Ethics highlights major concerns such as:
1. The Counseling relationship (professional/ personal boundaries, multiple relationship
issues, engagement, fees, termination and referral)
2. Confidentiality, Privileged Communication and Privacy
3. Professional responsibility – competencies
4. Relationships with other professionals

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5. Evaluation, assessment and interpretation

6. Supervision, training and teaching
7. Research and publication
8. Resolving ethical issues
The following are some of the most prevalent forms of unethical behaviours in counseling
(American Counseling Association (ACA), 2005; Herlihy & Corey, 2006):
Ø Violation of confidentiality
Ø Esceeding one’s level of professional competence
Ø Negligent practice
Ø Claiming expertise one does not possess
Ø Imposing one’s values on a client
Ø Creating dependency in a client
Ø Sexual activity with a client
Ø Certain conflicts of interest, such as dual or multiple relationships – in which the role of
the counselor is combined with another relationship (either personal or professional) and
not monitored for appropriateness of boundaries (Hermann, 2011a; Moleski & Kiselica,
2005)
Ø Questionable financial arrangements, such as charging excessive fees
Ø Improper advertising
Ø Plagiarism
In making ethical decision, counselors may rely on personal values as well as ethical standards
and legal precedents.
It is not enough that counselors have an academic knowledge of ethics; they must have a
workingknowledge and be able to assess at what developmental level they and their colleagues
are operating.
As counseling continues to develop as a profession, its ethical and legal aspects will probably
become more complicated, and enforcement procedures will become stricter.
Ignorance of ethics and the law is no excuse for any practicing counselor. It is important that
counselors realize that, with notable exceptions, they think differently from attorneys. Therefore,
as the minority culture, they need to take the initiative in learning how to deal with legal matters
and lawyers.
Activity:
3.1 In the Philippines, we have the Code of Ethics for Guidance and Counselors and the
Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologists. Compare and contrast.

CHAPTER 4: COUNSELING IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY and DIVERSE POPULATIONS

Multicultural counselling can take many forms. In responding to the needs and experiences of
people from different cultural backgrounds, a multicultural counsellor must be creative and
adaptive. Nevertheless, it is possible to suggest a set of guidelines for multicultural counselling
practice, derived from the writings of Johnson and Nadirshaw (1993), Pedersen (1994) and
LaRoche and Maxie (2003):
● There is no single concept of ‘normal’ that applies across all persons, situations and cultures.
Mainstream concepts of mental health and illness must be expanded to incorporate religious
and spiritual elements. It is important to take a flexible and respectful approach to other
therapeutic values, beliefs and traditions: we must each of us assume that our own view is to
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some extent culturally biased.

● Individualism is not the only way to view human behaviour and must be supplemented by
collectivism in some situations. Dependency is not a bad characteristic in all cultures.
● It is essential to acknowledge the reality of racism and discrimination in the lives of clients,
and in the therapy process. Power imbalances between therapist and client may reflect the
imbalance of power between the cultural communities to which they belong.
● Language use is important – abstract ‘middle-class’ psychotherapeutic discourse may not be
understood by people coming from other cultures. Linear thinking/storytelling is not universal.
● It is important to take account of the structures within the client’s community that serve to
strengthen and support the client: natural support systems are important to the individual. For
some clients, traditional healing methods may be more effective than Western forms of
counselling.
● It is necessary to take history into account when making sense of current experience. The
way that someone feels is not only a response to what is happening now, but may be in part a
response to loss or trauma that occurred in earlier generations.
● Be willing to talk about cultural and racial issues and differences in the counselling room. Be
actively curious about the social and cultural world in which the client lives his or her life, and his
or her cultural identity.
● Check it out with the client – be open to learning from the client. ● Take time to explore and
reflect on your own cultural identity, and associated attitudes and beliefs, and how these factors
shape your interaction with clients.
These principles have informed the construction of lists of multicultural counselling
competences.
COUNSELING WITH DIVERSE POPULATIONS
Diversity is a major aspect of human life. People differ in multiple ways based on age, gender,
sexual orientation and spirituality. Each of the areas highlighted impacts clients and counselors
for better or worse. When those involved are open to exploring age, gender, sexual orientation
and spirituality factors, productive insights and new behaviors may be generated. When there is
fear or avoidance of examining these aspects of life, people may regress or become stressed.
They may even develop disorders.
Special populations:
1. Aged – in counseling the aged, it is important to help them realize that growing older is a
natural part of life. It can be exciting and fulfilling as well as difficult at times.
2. Gender related – being male or female has advantages and disadvantages.
Concentrating on unique as well as universals related to gender in either a group or
individual setting can help to resolve hurt or misfortune that have occurred because of
one’s biology, socialization and environment.
3. Sexual Orientation – individuals who belong to the LGBTQ face an array of common
concerns, as well as unique circumstances for which counseling can be helpful.
Prejudice and discrimination occur in regard to members of this population, just as they
do with other groups, but probably more frequently and blatantly.

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4. Spirituality – those who want to work on spiritual matters are not distinguishable from
others. There are individuals who have spiritual concerns need to resolve past conflicts
and focus on the present so that they can live their life to the fullest.
In working with any of these populations, counselors must constantly ask themselves how
clients in these domains are similar to and different from others whom they work. What are
within- and between-group universals and uniqueness. Such awareness will help counselors be
more effective and will help clients as well
Overall, working with diverse, multicultural and other populations, a constructive acronym for
counselors to keep in mind is ADRESSING (Hayes, 1996) “Age and generational influences,
Disability, Religion, Ethnicity (may include race and culture), Social status, Sexual
orientation, Indigenous heritage, National origin and Gender. In ADRESSING clients, it is
most likely their needs will be met.
Activity:
4.1 Under the four different populations, give at least 3 specific issues and concerns
unique to them. Include situational examples that shows the need for counseling.
Additional Reading:
There are case studies indicated in the book “Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession” pp 33-
118. Read and make reflections about them.

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PART 2: COUNSELING CONTENT, PROCESSES AND THEORIES

On this part, students will be able to understand:
Ø Factors that influences the counseling process
Ø Types of counseling interviews
Ø The helping relationship
Ø The importance of closing a counseling relationship and issues related to it
Ø The difference between counseling and psychotherapy and guidance
Ø Theoretical viewpoints in counseling:
Ø Psychoanalytic
Ø Adlerian
Ø Humanistic
Ø Trait-factor
Ø Behavioral

CHAPTER 5: BUILDING COUNSELING RELATIONSHIPS AND PROCESS

In Chapter 2, we discussed the importance of the personal characteristics of the Counselor as
one important factor in the counseling process. Here we will further understand how to establish
the counseling relationship.
The process of counseling develops in definable stages with recognizable transitions. Building a
relationship is a continuous process and it is crucial on the first stage. A number of factors affect
this initial stage.
Factors that influence the counseling process are the following:
1. Seriousness of the presenting problem
2. Structure in Counseling - The client wins by becoming more informed about the nature
of counseling and learning what to expect.
3. Initiative - The counselor wins by creating an atmosphere in which the client is
comfortable about sharing thoughts and feelings.
4. Physical setting - Counseling may occur in any setting, but some circumstances are
more likely than others to promote its development. Counselors need to be aware of the
physical setting in which the counseling takes place. Clients adjust to any room, but
certain qualities about an environment such as seating arrangement, make counseling
more conducive.
5. Client qualities – Warnath (1977) points out that “clients come in all shapes and sizes,
personality characteristics and degrees of attractiveness”. Counselors most enjoy
working with clients who they think have the potential to change.
6. Counselor qualities – among those listed on chapter 2, three qualities of counselors
that have great impact in building good counseling relationship are Expertness,
Attractiveness and Trustworthiness.

Regardless of external circumstances and the initial perceptions, a counselor who attends to the
verbal and non verbal expressions of a client is more likely to establish rapport. The counselor’s
conveying of empathy and the use of other helpful microskills such as attending behavior and
client-observation skills. When counselors are atuned to their own values and feelings, there are
able to become even more effective.

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The initial counseling interview can be counselor or client initiated and can center in gathering of
information or on relationship dynamics. In any situation, it is vital for the counselor to explore
with the client the reasons for the possibilities of counseling. Such disclosures can encourage
clients to define goals and facilitate the setting of a mutually agreed-on agenda in counseling.
When this step is accomplished, the work of reaching goals begins.

Dyer and Vriend (1977) emphasize seven specific criteria for judging effective goals in
counseling:

1. Goals are mutually agreed on by client and counselor. Without mutuality, neither
party will invest much energy in working on the goals.
2. Goals are specific. If goals are too broad, they will never be met.
3. Goals are relevant to self-defeating behavior. There are many possible goals for
clients to work on, but only those that are relevant to changing self defeating action
should be pursued.
4. Goals are achievement and success oriented. Counseling goals need to be realistic
and have both intrinsic and extrinsic payoffs for clients.
5. Goals are quantifiable and measurable. It is important that both client and counselor
know when goals are achieved. When goals are defined quantitatively, achievement is
most easily recofnized.
6. Goals are behavioral and observable. This criterion relates to the previous one: An
effective goal is one that can be seen when achieved.
7. Goals are understandable and can be restated clearly. It is vital that client and
counselor communicate clearly about goals. One way to assess how well this process is
achieved, is through restating goals in one’s own words.

Assessment Activity:

5.1. Search for a sample Professional Disclosure Statement.

Ø If you are going to be the client of that particular Counselor, what would be your first
impression and what about that counselor will make you engage or not on his/her
service? Explain your answer.

WORKING ON A COUNSELING RELATIONSHIPS

Before we proceed in the process and content of counseling, let us first establish understanding
what is Guidance, Psychotherapy and Counseling.

GUIDANCE, PSYCHOTHERAPY & COUNSELING

To understand what counseling is, you must first understand the following concepts:
Guidance is the process of helping people make important choices that affect their lives, such
as choosing a preferred life-style. While the decision-making aspect of guidance has long
played an important role in the counseling process, the concept itself, as an often-used word in
counseling. Guidance focuses on helping individuals choose what they value most, counseling
focuses on helping them make changes.
Early work in guidance occurred in schools: an adult would help a student make decisions, such
as deciding on a vocation or course of study. That relationship was between unequals -- teacher
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and pupil-- and was beneficial in helping the less-experienced person find direction in life. In the
process they have gained an understanding of themselves and their world. This type of
guidance will never become passe, no matter what the age or stage of life, a person often
needs help in making choices. Yet such guidance is only one part of the overall service provided
by professional counseling.
Psychotherapy or therapy traditionally focuses on serious problems associated with
intrapsychic, internal and persona issues and conflicts. Characteristically, It emphasizes the
following issues.
- The past more than the present - Insight more than change - The detachment of the therapist -
The therapist's role as an expert
Psychotherapy involves usually involves a long-term relationship (20 to 40 sessions over a
period of six months to two years) that focuses on reconstructive change. On the other hand,
counseling tends to be short- term relationship (8 to 12 sessions spread over a period of less
than six months) and focuses on the resolution of developmental and situational problems.
Counseling have been defined on numerous occasions which follows:
- Counseling is a profession. Counselors are members of organizations that set professional
and ethical standards and promote state licensing and certification by national associations.
- Counseling deals with personal, social, vocational, empowerment and educational concerns.
Counselors work only in areas in which they have expertise. They areas may include intra-and
interpersonal concerns related to school or college adjustment, mental health, aging, marriage
or family issues, employment, and rehabilitation.
- Counseling is conducted with persons who are considered to function within the "normal
range". Clients have adjustment, developmental, or situational concerns; and their problems
require short-term intervention. They are not considered "sick" but "stuck".
- Counseling is theory-based and takes place in a structural setting. Counselors draw from a
number of theories and work in a structured environment, such as an office setting, with various
individuals, groups and families.
- Counseling is a process in which clients learn how to make decisions and formulate new ways
of behaving, feeling, and thinking. Counselors focus on the goals their clients wish to achieve.
Clients explore their present level of functioning and the changes that must be achieve their
clients wish to achieve personal objectives. Thus, counseling involves both choice and change,
evolving through distinct stages such as exploration, goal setting, and action.
- Counseling encompasses various subspecialties. Subspecialties include school or college
counseling, marriage and family counseling, mental health, rehabilitation counseling, addiction
counseling and career counseling.
In summary, Counseling precisely defined as a relatively short-term, interpersonal, theory-based
process of helping persons who are basically psychologically healthy resolve developmental
and situational problems.
COUNSELING - is a continuous, cyclical series of interaction in which a counselor and client
collaboratively set goal, formulate and implement action plans and assess progress toward the
goal
Counseling and Psychotherapy Include the Following
Ø Collaborative relationship between therapist and client
Ø Client seeks to enhance his or her emotional or Psychological well-being
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Ø Therapist seeks to provide a supportive environment in which the client can work
towards seeking to enhance his or her emotional or psychological well-being
Ø Counseling provides a supportive and non-judgemental atmosphere for people to talk
over their problems and explore more satisfactory ways of living (WHO, 2013)
Ø Counseling psychology centers on typical or normal developmental issues as well as
typical or disordered development as it applies to human experience from individual,
family, group, systems and organizational perspectives.

COUNSELING CONTENT
Content refers to the “What” of counseling; it tells what the counselor and client talk about. It
includes, for example, the nature of the problem which the counselee brings. This might be
classified into such areas as educational, vocational, social, emotional, etc., thus indicating the
facet of the individual’s life where the problem seems to be focused.
Another classification system, more on psychological in nature, uses the categories of lack of
assurance, lack of information, lack of skill, dependence, self-conflict and choice-anxiety.
Different counselors will use different diagnostic schemes and will emphasize diagnosis to
different events; but whatever diagnostic system is used, that system is part of the content of
counseling.
In addition to the nature if the problem, content also includes the information of various kinds –
about individual, about schools, about occupations, about the counselee’s environment, etc.,-
which are used by client and counselor at some point during their work together.
Student’s school record would be part of the content of counseling in an educational setting
situation, as would be his test scores, and any other pertinent data found in his folder.
Also include in this aspect of content would be the occupations which counselee or counselor,
or the two together, suggest and discuss
Counseling content is the substantive aspect of counseling. Different counselors will specialize
in different content areas of counseling, some being primarily in educational counselors, some
vocational counselors, some counselors are generalist; work at several content areas rather
than in just one.
Extreme-Content-Emphasis
From this point of view, it is considered important only that the “right” diagnosis be made by the
counselor and the “right” course of action be taken by the counselee. The counselor is seen as
the expert in analyzing problems and in prescribing solutions; this is similar to the traditional
medical approach. The counselor gives little thought to the nature of the relationship developed
with the client, wanting only good enough “rapport” that the latter will talk easily and will accept
the counselor’s interpretation and suggestions. This counselor might be characterized as
problem-oriented, since he is concerned essentially with finding the best solution for the
particular problem which the client brings.

COUNSELING PROCESS
Ø Throughout the process, new information is integrated,
o Counselor-client relationship is developed
o Counseling goal is reassessed
Ø Counselor must be aware in counseling process through interview
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What happens in counseling and psychotherapy sessions?

Therapy session can vary depending on the orientation of the therapist, issues raised by the
client and demands of the service in which the therapy is offered. Most therapy follow this
pattern:
1. Initial contact made by a referral agent or the client.
2. Client register by completing an initial written assessment (usually in the form of a
questionnaire
3. Clients attends an initial meeting to assess his or her needs – Risk assessments will
also be completed at this time and further referrals may be made if the client is deemed
unsuited for the specific type of therapy
4. Client is allocated to an appropriate therapist (may be the therapist from the initial
assessment) or added to a waiting list for the next available therapist (if the service is
particularly busy)
5. Client attends a first session with the therapist
a. First session typically information gathering and contracting – client is invited to
tell his or her story, therapist will outline important policies and procedures
(including confidentiality) and relationship boundaries will be established
6. Clients attends a series of session to work through his or her issues
a. Each session will typically last for one therapeutic hour (50 minutes)
b. Sessions will often run once per week for an agreed time frame
c. Short-term therapy might run for as little as six weeks; long-term therapy could
run for years
7. If possible, client is given an advance warning in the penultimate session so that the
relationship can be drawn to a satisfactory close
8. Client ATTENDS THE FINAL SESSION WITH THE THERAPIST
a. Final session typically involves reflection on progress and ending the relationship
b. Client is encouraged to consider how s/he has changed during the therapy and to
think about how life will continue beyond the therapeutic relationship
c. Both parties express their feelings about the end of the therapeutic relationship
9. Client is asked to complete another written assessment (questionnaire) to determine the
impact of the therapy and may also be asked to complete an evaluation of the service

EGAN’S SKILLED HELPER MODEL

1. Egan’s three-stage model (Egan, 2007) promotes a collaborative relationship between
the therapist and the client designed to guide the helper through the process of
empowering the client to solve their own problems and develop their own opportunities
2. This skilled helper model provides a framework for helping by plotting the therapeutic
process over three stages in order to highlight the appropriate use of skills during each
step of the relationship from problem presentation to solution management

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Stages do not follow a clear linear path with precise sequential steps, but rather act as a
framework for the techniques and a guide to the process.
FIRST STAGE: CURRENT PICTURE – WHAT’S GOING ON?
- The first stage of the skilled helper model aims to assist clients in exploring, identifying and
clarifying their problem situations and unused opportunities
BEGINNING
o Greet the person by their name, welcome them and make them feel comfortable
o Introduce yourself
o Tell the purpose of meeting (If referred)
o Encourage the client to talk about themselves
- Structure Initial Interview
a. Define problems and develop initial hypotheses
b. Revisited in each interview
Key question: ‘what is going on in your world?’

I. STORY (Tell me about…)

The first step of the first stage will focus on the client telling their story
This step forms the basis of the therapeutic relationship between the therapist and the client
o Non-Judgemental manner
o It is essential that the therapist is able to establish this positive connection with the client
during the early stages of the therapeutic process in order for the client to feel comfortable
and confident enough to tell their story. The client has to trust the therapist in order to be
completely honest about their story and this is the first step towards solving their problem
Active Listening or Attending
1. Listen carefully and paying attention to verbal as well as non-verbal signals (Voice
quality, Breathing, Eyes, Facial Expression, Leg movement etc.)
2. Client may provide in-depth information to relieve their fears and worries
3. Counsellor’s words, expression and posture/ gesture indicate that attention is being paid
to what is being said
a. Counsellor is taking down notes, verbal nod or focused in client’s story)
b. It enhance client’s self-respect, safe atmosphere and free expression of thought
4. Includes the Following:
Reflection of content and feeling
a. People respond differently to their illness (Terrified, anger, anxious or sad)
i. Ex. Depress but agitated and irritable
b. Let the client express their feelings
c. Do not take anger personally, maintain composure
d. The focus is kept on the emotion of the client and his/her subjective experiences
in coping with the situation
e. Counselor reflects the content and feeling of the other persons by responding
back to the client and communicating a message through empathy, questioning
or paraphrasing (Not Parroting) that conveys that counselor is listening and trying
to understand counselee’s circumstances
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f. Questioning
i. Always try to use questions and establish communication so that both the
problem and the solutions are clear. It makes the client aware of all
dimension of the problem and help the client understand the core issue
underlying his/her fears or concern
ii. Ask open questions to make communication easier, encourage further
discussion and facilitate building of trust and warmth in the relationship.
iii. Use question containing “Why” with caution as it may easily sound
judgmental. If you need to use “Why”, use it in the middle of a sentence
and not in the beginning of a sentence
g. Paraphrasing and Clarification
i. Paraphrasing is a repetition of the jest of client’s feelings by the counselor
in their own words.
1. Ex. You seem to be saying that you are afraid that your family is
not going to take care of you.
ii. The counselor may seek clarification “Will you please explain it with more
details?”
iii. The essence or content of what the client has just said clarifies the
understanding of client’s world and exploring the feelings at the same
time
iv. In the process, counsellors also tell scientific fact not known to the client
Repeating
At times of stress and crisis, clients are in a state of denial or feeling overwhelmed. They may
not always understand everything they are told. As a counselor, do not hesitate and repeat
salient points of the discussion, statements of support or necessary facts. It ensures that the
clients clearly understand the problem and requisite action.
Summarizing
It is helpful for the counselor to interrupt at times and summarize what has been said to avoid
being stunned to the news. This is like paraphrasing that helps to understand each other
correctly
A summarizing resembles a condition of reflection of feeling and paraphrasing over a longer
period of time.
Highlight decisions which have been made and need to be acted on

II. NEW PERSPECTIVES (‘is there any other way of looking at this issue?’‘how do you
think a neutral observer might describe this situation?’)
The second step of the first stage will focus on identifying blind spots
Therapists should help clients to discover and challenge the blind spots or problems that unable
to see by the client by viewing the problem from a different angle, exploring alternative frames of
reference, clarifying the problem details and investigating any unused opportunities.
Develop case conceptualization as a helpful tool in the counseling process
1. Includes summary of counselor’s view of the problem
2. Consider Common themes and what ties it all together
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3. This is a synthesis of the above data that may illuminate the problem and guide
counseling plan
Interpretation
- Counselor redefines the problems from a different point of view to bring out more clarity to
the problem and make client aware to the core problem.
- The counselor also help the clients to establish what is relevant, emphasizing the important
points
Confrontation - involves a direct examination of incongruities and discrepancies in the client’s
thinking, feeling and or/behavior. The counselor tells the client that how their thoughts affect
their action and behavior which turn affect the behavior of others towards them
Establishment of strong relationship and rapport is essential before commenting on such issues.
It is highly intrusive skill hence timing is very important and advice on confrontation must be
delivered in an atmosphere of warmth, care and concern.
III. VALUE (what is the most important part of all of this for you?’ and what would you
most like to focus on at this moment in time?)
The third step of the first stage will focus on the search for leverage
Therapists should help clients to focus on the issues that have a significant impact in their life
Egan (2007) suggests that the principles of leverage should be applied to determine which issue
should be addressed: if applicable, priority must be given to crisis management, problems
causing extreme pain for the client, problems viewed as particularly important by the client,
problems for which the benefits outweigh the costs, problems that are manageable parts of a
larger problem, and problems that impact on the general wellbeing of the client
RESPECTING - trying to appreciate that people see their problems in unique personal ways
determined by their culture, social class and personality.
STRUCTURING AND PRIORITIZATION means helping the client to see relationship between
facts and feelings. It is essential part of planning and probably one of the most critical skills in
counseling.
SECOND STAGE: PREFERRED PICTURE – “WHAT DO I NEED OR WANT?”
Aims to assist clients in identifying their needs and desires in terms of goals based on an
understanding of the current problem situations and unused opportunities.
Therapist needs to focus on establishing the exact solution desired by the client
Some people move between problem and action without ever really considering exactly what
they want from a solution
1. Possibilities (What do you really want to happen / What would your world be like if
this problem did not exist and everything was perfect)
Ø Exploring the possibilities for the preferred scenario
Ø Therapist should help clients conceptualize various new future situation as alternatives
to the current problematic solution
Ø Clients should be encouraged to be imaginative rather than realistic at this stage and
therapist should try to keep these brainstorming activities fun and non-judgemental
Ø
Counselor and Client make decision about desired behavior change
Ø
Aware of and communicates her/his expectations of the counseling process to the client

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2. Change agenda (Which possible future scenario would be best for you / Which future
scenario do you think could be achieve?)
Ø Focus on developing the range of possibilities into viable (capable of succeeding) goals
Ø This stage will often incorporate a number of challenging skills, as it requires the client to
be honest about their own capabilities and options.
Ø Therapist should help clients to identify the realistic possibilities through a reality testing
Ø It is important that the potential goals are demanding enough to stretch the client, yet
realistic enough to give the client an opportunity to succeed.
Ø Help client to set goal and behavioral objective for change
Some suggestion and consideration of elements in setting goals
- SMART Model (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-limited)
- Clear and specific, Achievable and realistic)

3. Commitment (What will be better for you if you achieve this goal? / What are the
downside of trying to achieve this goal?)
Ø Focus on commitment of change
Ø Client should attempt to conduct a cost/ benefit analysis of the goal in order to assess
the incentives for change
THIRD STAGE: THE WAY FORWARD – HOW DO I GET WHAT I NEED OR WANT? / HOW
CAN YOU GET THERE?)
Aims to assist client in developing action strategies for achieving goals
- Therapist should attempt to work with the client to establish a plan of action
1. Possible strategies (How could you achieve this goal? / can you think of any wild and
wacky ways of achieving this goal?)
Ø Focus on brainstorming of action strategies.
Ø Therapist should encourage clients to include all possible strategies without limitations
as even silly strategies might lead to realistic possibilities
2. Best Fit Strategies (Which of these ideas is most realistic? / which of these ideas is
right for you?)
Ø Focus on selecting a set of strategies appropriate to the current situation of the client
Ø Therapist should encourage clients to investigate both internal factors (clients need,
values, preference etc. and external factors (resources, support networks etc.) to
ascertain which strategies could be realistic and effective)
Ø
Counselor and client seek new information which may include additional input from
testing, use of campus and community resources, exploring career information and
opportunities and accessing bulletins and Psycho-educational materials
3. Plan (what will you do first? / What exactly will you do next?)
Ø Focus in transforming the strategy into a plan of action
Ø Therapist should help clients to formulate a plan of action designed to change the
current scenario into the preferred scenario.
Ø
Assist client in developing plan of action to resolve problem and reach objectives 1
o Counseling plan in collaboration with the client
Ø Consistent with the conceptualization of the problem and the theoretical orientation of
the counselor

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DECIDING PLAN OF ACTION

Based on the scientific knowledge, cultural and socio-economic aspect of the client, help the
client to explore all the possible solution for the prioritized aspect and choose the most relevant
option for action. Encourage client to take their own decision and act accordingly.

COUNSELING PRACTICE
Collaboration between the therapist and the client can be a vehicle for assisting clients in putting
into action what they are learning in therapy.
Develop Care and Strive to develop a trusting, collaborative relationship with the client
Consider both the unique contributions and the particular Limitations of each therapeutic system
What people are doing often provides a good clue to what they really want
Our own genuineness can have a significant effect on our relationship with our clients
1. If we are willing to work to look at our lives and make the changes we want, we can
model that process by the way we reveal ourselves and respond to the client.
2. Abundant research indicates the centrality of the person of the therapist as a primary
factor in successful therapy
3. Clients place more value on the personality of the therapist than on the specific
technique used
“It is not the theories and the techniques that heal the suffering of the clients but the human
dimension of therapy and the meetings that occur between therapist and client as they work
together” Elkins, 2009
Personal Characteristics of effective Counselor
1. Have an identity
2. Respect and appreciate themselves
3. Open to change
4. Make choices that are life oriented
5. Authentic, sincere and honest
6. Have sense of humor
7. Makes mistakes and are willing to admit them
8. Generally live in the present
9. Appreciate the influence of the culture
10. Have a sincere interest in the welfare of others
11. Possess effective interpersonal skills
12. Become deeply involved in their work and derive meaning from it
13. Passionate
a. Has courage to pursue their dreams
14. Able to maintain healthy boundaries

THE COUNSELOR’S VALUES AND THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

Our values are core beliefs that influence how we act, both in personal and our professional
lives
We need to guard against the tendency to use our power to influence clients to accept out
values; persuading clients to accept or to adopt our value system is not a legitimate outcome of
counseling.

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The counseling task is to assist the individual in finding the answers that are congruent with
their own belief. It is not beneficial to provide advice or give clients your answer to their
questions about your life
Bracketing – Managing your personal values so that they do not contaminate the counseling
process.
If the Client acknowledge that what they are doing is not getting them what they want, it is
appropriate to assist them in developing new ways of thinking and behaving to move closer to
their goal. Your role is provide a safe and inviting environment in which clients can explore the
congruence between their values and their behavior.
Counselor must have the ability to work with a range of clients with diverse worldviews and
values.
Value imposition – Refers to counselor directly attempting to define a client’s values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors.
Value exploration is at the heart of why many counselor education programs encourage or
require personal therapy for counselors in training.

THE ROLE OF VALUES IN THERAPEUTIC GOAL

The general goals of counselors must be congruent with the personal goals of the client.
The client and the counselor need to explore what they hope to obtain from the counseling
relationship, whether they can work with each other, and whether their goals are compatible.
In some cases clients have no goal; they’re in the therapist’s office simply because they were
sent for counseling by their parents, probation officers or teachers.
When a person seeks a counseling relationship with you, it is important to cooperatively
discover what this person is expecting from the relationship. It is important to keep this focus in
mind so that the client’s agenda is addressed rather than to your own agenda.
VALUES AND DIVERSITY
Using the ten areas of diversity noted by Nelson-Jones (2005), make a personal inventory of
your understanding and awareness of each area.
1. Culture 6. Marital status
2. Race 7. Sexual orientation
3. Social class 8. Physical disability
4. Biological sex 9. Age
5. Gender role identity 10. Religion or philosophy
Once you have assessed your own understanding of each area, select an area in which you
think that you have limited understanding and do some research into the beliefs, values,
customs and practices of a group that differs from your own.
TERMINATION OF SESSION
Ending the therapeutic relationship can be difficult
Both client and/or therapist are entitled to end the relationship at any time if it is felt that it is no
longer providing any therapeutic benefit. In the ideal scenario, client and therapist agree on a
set number of sessions, complete the therapeutic process within those allotted sessions, and
part on good terms with a positive ending

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However, it is often the case that therapy ends under less ideal circumstances. Clients may
seek to end the therapy if they are not ready to address issues – ending therapy can be an
effective way of avoiding difficult emotional investigations
Therapists may feel that the client is no longer benefiting from therapy when the client may be
reluctant to be entirely independent
Able to terminate appropriately and individual interview, including a summary of important
information gathered and agreed upon action plan for client1
In both of these cases, the relationship end must be carefully managed by the therapist to
encourage positive closure and ensure that the door remains open for the client to return to
therapy in the future
CONCLUDING A COUNSELING SESSION
While ending the session, summarize the salient points and decision taken, congratulate client
for their efforts, wish them luck and fix next visit.
Ethical considerations
Ethical considerations common to most professional bodies include the following
(British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, UKCP, British Psychological society,
American Psychological Association, BABCP, etc.)
1. Therapist should provide all pertinent information at the start of the relationship
(contracting) to obtain fully informed consent
2. Therapist should maintain client confidentiality (within legal limits)
3. Therapist should not hold multiple relationships with the client (client cannot be a sexual
partner, family member, friend, etc.)
4. Therapist should not exploit the client in any way (sexual, financial, psychological)
5. Therapist should respect the free will of the client
6. Therapist should seek to protect the client, clients of colleagues and members of the
general public
7. Therapist and client are entitled to terminate therapy at any time (given appropriate
notice)
8. Therapist should protect their own wellbeing by withdrawing from work if unfit, using
supervision to support practice, and seeking continuous professional development

Personal Therapy For The Counselor

Personal therapy can be obtained before training, during it or both but I strongly support some
form of self-exploration as vital preparation in learning to counsel other (Corey, 2017)
Personal therapy contributes to the therapist’s professional work in the following three ways
(Orlinsky et.al, 2005)
1. As part of the therapist training, it offers a model of therapeutic process in which the
trainee experience the work of a more experienced therapist and learns
experientially what is useful or not helpful
2. A beneficial experience in personal therapy can further enhance a therapist’s
interpersonal skills that are essential to skillful practicing therapy
3. Successful personal therapy can contribute to a therapist’s ability to deal with the
ongoing stresses associated with clinical work

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By participating in personal therapy, counselors can prevent their potential future

countertransference from harming clients
Through our work as therapist, we can expect to confront our own unexplored personal blocks
such as loneliness, power, death and intimate relationships
We should be aware of what these conflicts are and how they are likely to affect us as a person
and as a counselor but it does not mean to heal this issue first before become a counselor
Those who had personal therapy felt more confident and were more in agreement with their
clients on the goals and tasks of treatment than were those who did not experience personal
therapy (Gold and Hilsenroth, 2009)
Experiencing Counseling as a client is very different from merely reading about the counselling
process.
Activity:
5.1. In your own words, reflect on Personal Therapy for Counselors. Why do you think it is
needed or why not? Make a comprehensive statement on your take about Personal
Therapy for Counselors.
5.2. Think of a personal issue or problem you have had difficulty handling. Present it
following Egan’s model.

CHAPTER 6: THEORETICAL VIEWPOINTS IN COUNSELING

The following four variables determine the amount of growth and change that take place in any
type of counseling:
1. Counselor
2. Client
3. Setting
4. Theoretical Orientation
We already have discussed about universal qualities of an effective counselor and the
counseling process. Here we will focus on theoretical viewpoints, understanding the nature and
importance of a theory with the counseling process.
A theory is a model that counselors use as a guide to hypothesize about the formation of
possible solutions to the problem. “Theoretical understanding is an essential part of effective
counseling practice. Theories help counselors organize clinical data, make complex processes
coherent, and provide conceptual guidance for interventions” (Hansen, 2006, p.291) Choosing
which theory to use by the cunselor is based on their educational background, philosophy and
the needs of the clients.
Hansen, Stevic and Warner (1986) list five requirements of a good theory:
1. Clear, easily understood and communicable. It is coherent and not contradictory.
2. Comprehensive. It encompasses explanations for a wide variety of phenomena.
3. Explicit and heuristic. It generates research because of its design.
4. Specific in relating means to desired outcomes. It contains a way of achieving a desired
end product (i.e., it is pragmatic)
5. 5. Useful to its intended practitioners. It provides guidelines for research and practice.
We will now explore on the different theoretical viewpoints of each by highlighting:

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Ø The founder/developer of the approach

Ø The theorie’s view of human nature
Ø Role of the counselor
Ø Therapeutic goals
Ø Primary techniques
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES
Psychoanalysis – Sigmund Freud, a Viennese psychiatrist (1856-1939)
Ø View of human nature – human nature is dynamic. People have a conscious mind
(attuned to an awareness of the outside world), a preconscious mind (that contains
hidden memories or forgotten experiences that can be remembered), and an
unconscious mind (containing the instinctual, repressed and powerful forces). According
to Freud, human personality consists of three parts:
§ Id
§ Ego
§ Superego
o The Id and the superego are confined to the unconscious, the ego operates
primarily on the conscious but also in the preconscious and unconscious.
o Psychosexual developmental stages:
§ Oral
§ Anal
§ Phallic
§ Latency
§ Genital
o excessive frustration or overindulgence in any of these stages might be a cause
for an person to develop immature defense mechanisms
Ø Role of the Counselor – encourage clients to talk whatever comes to mind especially
about childhood memories, analyzes, interprets and gives insight while working on
unresolved past experiences.
Ø Goals –
o to bring the uncoscious to the conscious
o work through unresolved developmental stage
o finally, to help client cope with the demands of the society. Stresses on
environmental adjustment and strengthening the ego
Adlerian Theory – also known as Individual Psychology founded by Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
Ø View of Human nature – people are primarily motivated by social interest,
purposefulness of behavior and the importance of developing a healthy style of life.
Major tenet of this theory is that people strive to become successful (be the best they
can be); a process he called striving for perfection or completeness. That one has the
tendency to feel inferior to others. He also emphasized on birth order and the family
environment is important to a person’s development particularly in the first 5 years of life.
It is the age where a person creates methods of relating to others, viewing the world and
governing behavior – called style of life.
o Three main Life tasks: society, work and sexuality
o Two other challenges of life: spirituality and coping with self
Ø Role of Counselor – help client develop healthy, holistic lifestyles.Educate and
reeducate them about lifestyles and help overcome inferiority.
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Ø Goal - Overcome their faulty lifestyle. Counselors assume the role of teacher and
interpreter of events.
HUMANISTIC THEORIES
Professionals who embrace humanistic counseling approaches help people increase self-
understanding through experiencing their feelings. The term is broad and encompasses
counseling theories that are focused on people as decision makers and initiators of their own
growth and development. Three of these theories are: Person-centered, Existential and Gestalt.

Person-centered Counseling – Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987) first formulated the theory in the
form of non directive psychotherapy in his 1942 book, Counseling and Psychotherapy.
Ø View of human nature – People are essentially good and has innate capacity to self-
actualize. They believe that each person is capable of finding a personal meaning and
purpose in life.
Rogers views the individual from a phenomenological perspective: What is important
is the person’s perception of reality rather than the event itself.
Feelings of worth develop if the person behaves in certain ways because conditional
acceptance teaches the person to feel valued only when conforming to others’ wishes.
Thus, a person may have to deny or distort a perception when someone on whom the
person depneds for approval sees a situation differently. An individual who is caught in
such a dilemma becomes aware of incongruities between self-perception and
experience. If a person does not do as others wish, he or she will not be accepted of
valued. Yet if the person conforms, he or she opens up a gap between the ideal self
(what they strive to become) and the real self (what he person is). The further the ideal
self is from the real self, the more alienated and maladjusted a person becomes.
Ø Role of the counselor – to promote a climate in which the client is free and encouraged
to explore all aspects of self. Create an “I-Thou” counselor-client relationship. Counselor
must be aware of the verbal and non verbal language of the client and be able to reflect
back what the counselor heard and obesrved. Counselor lets the clien lead the session,
develop his or her won agenda on what he/she wishes to work on. Acts as a facilitator
not a director. The counselor is the process expert and expert learner of the client.
Ø Goals – to center the counseling session on the client as a person and not on his/her
problem. Assist in learning how to cope with their situation. One of the main ways to
accomplish this is by helping a client become fully functioning person who has no need
to apply defense mechanisms. Client is helped to identify, use and integrate his or her
own resources and potential.
Existential Counseling - Rollo May (1909–1994) and Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) are two of the
most influential professionals in the field of existential counseling. May dealt extensively with
anxiety, especially in regard to his life and death struggle with tuberculosis, whereas Frankl,
who was interred in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, focused on the meaning of
life even under the most horrendous death camp conditions.
Ø View of human nature - Existentialists believe that people form their lives by the
choices they make. Even in the worst situations there is an opportunity to make
important life-and-death decisions, such as whether to struggle to stay alive (Frankl,
1969). Existentialists focus on this free will of choice and the action that goes with it.
They view people as the authors of their lives. They contend that people are responsible

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for any decision in life they make and that some choices are healthier and more
meaningful than others.
According to Frankl (1962), the “meaning of life always changes but it never ceases to
be” (p. 113). His theory, known as logotherapy, states that meaning goes beyond self-
actualization and exists at three levels: (a) ultimate meanings (e.g., there is an order to
the universe); (b) meaning of the moment; and (c) common, day-to-day meaning
(Das, 1998). We can discover life’s meaning in three ways:
1. By doing a deed, that is, by achieving or accomplishing something
2. By experiencing a value, such as a work of nature, culture, or love, and
3. By suffering, that is, by finding a proper attitude toward unalterable fate.
Existentialists believe that psychopathology is a failure to make meaningful choices and
maximize one’s potential (McIllroy, 1979). Choices may be avoided and potentials not
realized because of the anxiety that is involved in action. Anxiety is often associated with
paralysis, but May (1977) argues that normal anxiety may be healthy and motivational
and can help people change.
Ø Role of the counselor - Counselors concentrate on being authentic with their clients
and entering into deep and personal relationships with them. “The counselor strives to
be with the client in the here-and-now, and to understand and experience the ongoing
emotional and mental state of the client. In order to do this, the counselor needs to
express his or her own feelings” (Fernando, 2007, p. 231).
Counselors who practice from Frankl’s logotherapy perspective are Socratic in engaging
their clients in dialogue (Alex Vesley, June 3, 2011, personal communication).
However, all existential counselors serve as a model of how to achieve individual
potential and make decisions. They concentrate on helping the client experience
subjective feelings, gain clearer self-understanding, and move toward the establishment
of a new way of being in the world. The focus is living productively in the present, not
recovering a personal past. They also focus on ultimate human concerns such as death,
freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness (Yalom & Josselson, 2011).
Ø Goals –
o Assist clients in recognizing that they are not fully present in the therapy process
itself and in seeing how this pattern may limit them outside of therapy.
o Support clients in confronting the anxieties that they have so long sought to
avoid.
o Help clients redefine themselves and their world in ways that foster greater
genuineness of contact with life.
Gestalt Therapy - Frederick (Fritz) Perls (1893–1970) is credited with establishing Gestalt
therapy and popularizing it both through his flamboyant personality and his writings. Laura Perls
(his wife) and Paul Goodman helped Perls develop and refine his original ideas. A number of
other theorists, particularly Joen Fagan and Irma Lee Shepherd (1970), developed the model
further.
Ø View of human nature - Gestalt therapy works based on the understanding that people
are ultimately in control of their lives and need to accept responsibility for their growth.
o People also have the capacity to change when they become aware of what is
happening in and around them.
o “Building awareness” is the core issue in Gestalt therapy.

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o Helping clients recognize their contact with what was happening in and around
them was important. Therapy focused on ‘re-owning’ parts of themselves that
they have disowned.
o Unacknowledged feelings need to be brought to the level of awareness and
resolved.
o If not this ‘unfinished business’ would interfere with functioning and lead to
physical sensations or problems.
Ø Role of the counselor - Create an atmosphere that promotes a client’s exploration of
what is needed to grow. The counselor provides such an atmosphere by being intensely
and personally involved with clients and being honest. Polster and Polster (1973) stress
that counselors must be exciting, energetic, and fully human. Involvement occurs in the
now, which is a continuing process (Perls, 1969). The now often involves having the
counselor help a client focus on blocking energy and using that energy in positive and
adaptive ways (Zinker, 1978). The now also entails the counselor’s helping the client
recognize pat- terns in his or her life (Fagan, 1970).
Ø Goals –
o Emphasis on here and now and recognition of the immediacy of experience
o Help client resolve the past to become integrated. This goal includes the
completion of mentally growing up. It emphasizes the coalescence of the
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of the person.
o Gradually assume ownership of their experience (as opposed to making others
responsible for what they are thinking, feeling, and doing)
o Develop skills and acquire values that will allow them to satisfy their needs
without violating the rights of others
o Become more aware of all of their senses
o Learn to accept responsibility for what they do, including accepting the
consequences of their actions
o Be able to ask for and get help from others and be able to give to others
BEHAVIORAL COUNSELING
Behavioral theories of counseling focus on a broad range of client behaviors. Often, a person
has difficulties because of a deficit or an excess of behavior. Counselors who take a behavioral
approach seek to help clients learn new, appropriate ways of acting, or help them modify or
eliminate excessive actions. In such cases, adaptive behaviors replace those that were
maladaptive, and the counselor functions as a learning specialist for the client (Krumboltz,
1966a). Also, “behavioral change opens doors to perceptual change” (Shadley, 2010, p.17).
Behavior Therapy - B. F. (Burrhus Frederick) Skinner (1904–1990) is the person most
responsible for the popularization of behavioral treatment methods. Applied behavior analysis is
a direct extension of Skinner’s (1953) radical behaviorism (Antony, 2014), which is based on
operant conditioning. Other notables in the behavioral therapy camp are historical figures, such
as Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and Mary Cover Jones. Contemporary figures, such as Albert
Bandura, John Krumboltz, Neil Jacobson, Steven Hayes, and Marsha Linehan, have also
greatly added to this way of working with clients.
Ø View of human nature - Behaviorists, as a group, share the following ideas about
human nature (Rimm & Cunningham, 1985; Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014):
o Concentration on behavioral processes—that is, processes closely associated
with overt behavior (except for cognitive–behaviorists)
o Focus on the here and now as opposed to the then and there of behavior
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o Assumes that all behavior is learned, whether it be adaptive or maladaptive

o Believes that learning can be effective in changing maladaptive behavior
o Focus on setting up well-defined therapy goals with their clients
o Rejects of the idea that the human personality is composed of traits
o Some behaviorists, who embrace the social-cognitive form of learning, stress that
people acquire new knowledge and behavior by observing other people and
events without engaging in the behavior themselves and without any direct
consequences to themselves (i.e., modeling). This type of learning does not
require active participation.
Ø Role of the counselor – they function as a consultant, teacher, adviser, reinforcer and
facilitator. Counselor may even instruct or supervise support people in the clients
environment who are assisting in the change process. Involves client in every phase of
the counseling as they learn, unlearn or relearn specific ways of behaving.
Ø Goals – almost similar to the other approaches, help clients make good adjustments to
life circumstances and achieve personal and professional objectives.
o Modify or eliminate maladaptive behavior
o Help client develop a healthy, constructive and productive ways of responding or
behaving
Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral Counseling
As a rule, cognitive theories are successful with clients who have the following characteristics
(Cormier, 2015):
• They are average to above-average in intelligence.
• They have moderate to high levels of functional distress.
• They are able to identify thoughts and feelings.
• They are not psychotic or disabled by present problems.
• They are willing and able to complete systematic homework assignments.
• They possess a repertoire of behavioral skills and responses.
• They process information on a visual and auditory level.
• They frequently have inhibited mental functioning, such as depression.
Three theories that have a cognitive base, rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), reality
therapy (RT), and cognitive therapy (CT), under the cognitive umbrella. In practice, these
theories are cognitive–behavioral in nature because they emphasize both cognitions and
behaviors. They are humanistic as well.
Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy - Albert Ellis (1913–2007). His theory has similarities to
Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy (which was formulated independently at about the same time)
and David Burns’s new mood therapy. An interesting variation on REBT is rational behavior
therapy (RBT), which was formulated by Maxie Maultsby and is more behavioral.
Ø View of human nature
o Believes people have both self-interest and social interest
o People are inherently rational and irrational, sensible and crazy. According to
Ellis, this duality is biologically inherent and perpetuated unless a new way of
thinking is learned. Irrational thinking ot Irrational Beliefs (iBs) may include the
invention of upsetting and disturbing thoughts.
o Children are more vulnerable to outside influences and irrational thinking than
adults are
o Human beings are gullible, highly suggestible and easily disturbed
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o People have within themselves the means to control their thoughts, feelings and
actions but they mus first realize what they are telling themselves (self-talk) to
gain command of their lives
o Ellis believes it is a mistake for people to evaluate or rate themselves beyond the
idea that everyone is a fallible human being
Ø Role of the counselor – Active and direct. Act as an Instructor, teach and correct
client;s cognitions. Listens carefully and watch out for illogical and faulty statements
made by clients and challenge beliefs.
Ø Therapeutic goals
o Help client realize that they can live more rational and productive lives
o Help client stop making demands and becoming upset through “catasthrophizing”
o Helping them avoid making more of an emotional response to an event thant is
warranted
o Another goal of REBT is to help people change self-defeating habits of thought or
behavior. One way this is accomplished is through teaching clients the A-B-C-D-
E model of REBT:
§ A signifies the activating experience;
§ B represents how the person thinks about the experience;
§ C is the emotional reaction to B.
§ D is disputing irrational thoughts, usually with the help of a REBT counselor,
and replacing them with
§ E effective thoughts and hopefully a new personal philosophy that will help
clients achieve great life satisfaction (Ellis & Ellis, 2014).
• Thoughts about experiences may be characterized in four ways:
positive, negative, neutral, or mixed.
SYSTEMS THEORIES
Systems theory is a generic term for conceptualizing a group of related elements (e.g., people)
that interact as a whole entity (e.g., a family or a group). As a concept systems theory “is more
of a way of thinking than a coherent, standardized theory” (Worden, 2003, p. 8). The originator
of general systems theory was Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968), a biologist. According to the
theory, any living organism is composed of interacting components mutually affecting one
another. Three basic assumptions distinguish systems theory from other counseling
approaches:
1. causality is interpersonal,
2. psychosocial systems are best understood as repeated patterns of interpersonal
interaction,” and
3. “symptomatic behaviors must ... be understood from an interactional viewpoint” (Sexton,
1994, p. 250).
Thus, the focus in general systems theory is on how the interaction of parts influences the
operation of the system as a whole.
There are a number of approaches to counseling that are based on systems theory. One is
Bowen systems theory, which was developed to help persons differentiate themselves from
their families of origin. Structural family therapy is a second theory and one that focuses on
creating healthy boundaries. A third approach, strategic therapy, originated from the work of
Milton Erickson and has a variety of forms, which can be employed in a variety of ways.
Bowen Systems Theory - created by Murray Bowen (1913–1990). Michael Kerr is the

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successor to Bowen at the Georgetown Family Center. Edwin Friedman (1932–1996) also
made major contributions to Bowen systems work.
Ø VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE. Believed that there is chronic anxiety in all life that is both
emotional and physical. Some individuals are more affected than others by this anxiety
“because of the way previous generations in their families have channeled the
transmission” of it to them (Friedman, 1991, p. 139). If anxiety remains low, few
problems exist for people or families. However, if anxiety becomes high, people are
much more “prone to illness” and they may become chronically dysfunctional (Greene,
Hamilton, & Rolling, 1986, p. 189). Thus, the focus of Bowen systems theory is on
differentiation, or distinguishing one’s thoughts from one’s emotions and oneself from
others (Kerr & Bowen, 1988; Kim-Appel, Appel, Newman, & Parr, 2007).
Ø Role Of The Counselor is to coach and teach the client to be more cognitive in his or her
dealings with others. Facilitate a Socratic dialogue, with the teacher or ‘coach’ calmly
asking questions, until the student learns to think for him- or herself” (Wylie, 1991, p. 27).
The counselor may construct a multi- generational genogram with the client to aid in this
process.
Ø Goals. Help clients understand and modify the coping strategies and patterns of
coping with stress that have been passed on from generation to generation. They will
display a non anxious presence in their daily lives and will be able to separate their
thoughts from their feelings and themselves from others.
Structural Family Counseling - Salvador Minuchin (1921–) is the founder of structural
family counseling. Minuchin formulated the theory while director of the Philadelphia Child
Guidance Clinic in the 1960s. Braulio Montalvo and Jay Haley are also notable contributors
to this approach.
Ø View Of Human Nature. Every family has a structure, according to Minuchin (1974). A
structure is the informal way in which a family organizes itself and interacts. Structure
influences people in families for better or worse. If there is a hierarchical structure,
people relate well to each other. However, if there is no such structure or little structure,
developmental or situational events increase family stress, rigidity, chaos, and
dysfunctionality, throwing the family into crisis. In such circumstances, coalitions (i.e.,
alliances between specific members against a third member) or cross-generational
alliances (alliances between family members of two different generations) arise. Neither
works well in the healthy growth of individuals or a family.
Ø Role Of The Counselor. Structural family counseling practitioners are both observers
and experts in making interventions to modify and change the underlying structure of a
family. They advocate for structural changes in the organization of the family unit, with
particular attention on changing interactional patterns in subsystems of the family such
as in the marital dyad. They also work at establishing clear boundaries among family
members (Minuchin, Montalvo, Guerney, Rosman, & Schumer, 1967).
Counselors join with the family in a position of leadership. They map within their minds
the structure of a family, determining how it is stuck in a dysfunctional pattern, and how
to help it change.
Ø Goals. Action is emphasized over insight in order to alter and reorganize a family into
a more functional and productive unit. Dated and outgrown rules are replaced with ones
that are more related to the family’s current realities. Distinctions and differentiation
between subsystems are stressed with a special focus on parents being in charge of
their children. If all works well, the cultural context of a family is changed.
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Strategic (Brief) Counseling - John Weakland, Paul Watzlawick, Jay Haley, and Cloe
Madanes
Ø View Of Human Nature. Based on the belief that when dysfunctional symptoms occur,
they are an attempt to help people adapt. This approach sees problems as occurring
within a developmental framework of the family life cycle.
As a group, strategic counselors focus on several dimensions of family life that are
developmentally significant, such as:
o family rules—the overt and covert rules families use to govern themselves,
o family homeostasis—the tendency of families to remain in their same pattern of
functioning unless challenged to do otherwise
o quid pro quo—the responsiveness of family members to treat each other in the ways
they are treated (i.e., something for something), and
o circular causality—the idea that events are interconnected and that factors behind a
behavior are multiple.
Ø Role of the Counselor. Strategic counselors take a systemic view of problem
behaviors and focus on the process rather than the content of dysfunctional interactions.
Making the clients understand that their behaviors are not working and then get people
to try new behaviors.
Strive to resolve presenting problems and pay little attention to instilling insight. To bring
about change, counselors are active, direct, and goal oriented as well as problem
focused, pragmatic, and brief (Snider, 1992; Todd, 1986). They usually limit the number
of times they see families to 10 visits or less.
Ø Goals. To resolve, remove, or ameliorate a problematic behavior. Generate new
functional behaviors that will help individuals, couples, and families achieve a specific
goal. Another goal of the approach is for the persons involved in the process to learn
new skills for resolving future conflicts.

BRIEF COUNSELING APPROACHES

Ø Brief counseling are brief in nature and have been designated as brief therapy. Likewise,
some newer approaches to counseling, specifically solution-focused counseling and
narrative therapy, have been explicitly designed to be brief in regard to treatment.
Ø Brief counseling approaches are characterized by both their foci and time-limited
emphasis. Most brief counseling is not systemic in nature. However, as has been
previously mentioned, strategic counseling is both systemic and time limited. Solution-
Focused Counseling
FOUNDERS/DEVELOPERS. Solution-focused counseling, also commonly known as
solution- focused brief therapy (SFBT), is a midwestern phenomenon, having been
originated in its present form in the 1980s by Steve deShazer (1940–2005) and Bill
O’Hanlon, both of whom were influenced directly by Milton Erickson (1901–1980), the
creator of brief therapy in the 1940s. Other prominent practitioners and theorists connected
with solution-focused counseling are Michele Weiner-Davis and Insoo Kim Berg (1934–
2007).
Ø View of Human Nature. Solution-focused counseling does not have a comprehensive
view regarding human nature, but it focuses on client health and strength (Fernando,
2007). It traces its roots, as do some of the other theories in this chapter, to the work of
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Milton Erickson (1954), particularly Erickson’s idea that people have within themselves
the resources and abilities to solve their own problems even if they do not have a causal
understanding of them. Erickson also “believed that a small change in one’s behavior is
often all that is necessary to lead to more pro- found changes in a problem context” (D.
Lawson, 1994, p. 244).
Its Ericksonian heritage, solution-focused counseling sees people as being constructivist
in nature, meaning that reality is a reflection of observation and experience. Finally,
solution-focused counseling is based on the assumption that people really want to
change and that change is inevitable.
Ø Role of the Counselor. To determine how active and committed a client is to the process
of change. Clients usually fall into three categories:
o Visitors, who are not involved in the problem and are not a part of the solution,
o Complainants, who complain about situations but can be observant and describe
problems even if they are not invested in resolving them, and
o Customers - who are not only able to describe problems and how they are involved
in them, but are willing to work on finding solutions (Fleming & Rickord, 1997).
Act as facilitators of change to help clients “access the resources and strengths they already
have but are not aware of or are not utilizing” (Cleveland & Lindsey, 1995, p. 145). They
encourage, challenge, and set up expectations for change. They do not blame or ask “why?”
They are not particularly interested in how a problem arose. Rather, they are concerned with
working together with the client to arrive at a solution to the problem. Basically, they allow the
client to be the expert on his or her life (Helwig, 2002).
Ø Goals. To help clients tap inner resources and to notice exceptions to the times when
they are distressed. Direct them toward solutions to situations that already exist in these
exceptions (West, Bubenzer, Smith, & Hamm, 1997). Thus, the focus of sessions and
homework is on positives and possibilities either now or in the future (Walter & Peller,
1992).
Narrative Counseling - Michael White (1948–2008) and David Epston (1990), practitioners
from Australia and New Zealand, respectively, created narrative counseling, a postmodern and
social constructionist approach. Other prominent practitioners and theorists in the field include
Michael Durrant and Gerald Monk.
Ø View of Human Nature. Emphasize “that meaning or knowledge is constructed
through social interaction” (Worden, 2003, p. 8). There is no absolute reality except as a
social product. People are seen as internalizing and judging themselves through creating
stories of their lives. Many of these stories highlight negative qualities about individuals
or situations in their lives and are troublesome or depressing. Through treatment, clients
can reauthor their lives and change their outlooks in a positive way.
Ø Role of the Counselor. Counselors as collaborators and masters of asking questions
(Lambie & Milsom, 2010; Walsh & Keenan, 1997). Engage their clients and use basic
relationship skills such as attending, paraphrasing, clarifying, summarizing, and checking
to make sure they hear the client’s story or problem correctly (Monk, 1998). They
assume that symptoms do not serve a function and are, in fact, oppressive. Therefore,
an effort is made by counselors to address and eliminate problems as rapidly as
possible. Overall, counselors uses narrative reasoning, which is characterized by stories,
meaningfulness, and liveliness, in an effort to help clients redefine their lives and
relationships through new narratives.
Ø Goals. According to the narrative viewpoint, “people live their lives by stories” (Kurtz &
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Tandy, 1995, p. 177). Therefore, the emphasis in this approach is shifted to a narrative
way of conceptualizing and interpreting the world that is more expansive and filled with
more possibilities. Help clients learn to value their own life experiences and stories if
they are successful. Also help them learn how to construct new stories and meaning in
their lives and, in the process, create new realities for themselves.

CRISIS AND TRAUMA COUNSELING APPROACHES

A crisis is a perception or experiencing of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that
exceeds the person’s current resources and coping mechanisms (James & Gilliland, 2013).
Crisis counseling is the employment of a variety of direct and action-oriented approaches to
pragmatically help individuals find resources within themselves and/or deal externally with crisis.
Crisis Counseling - Erich Lindemann (1944, 1956) and Gerald Caplan (1964) are considered
two of the most prominent pioneers in the field of crisis counseling. Lindemann helped
professionals recognize normal grief due to loss and the stages that individuals go through in
resolving grief. Caplan expanded Lindemann’s concepts to the total field of traumatic events. He
viewed crisis as a state resulting from impediments to life’s goals that are both situational and
developmental.
View of Human Nature. Loss is an inevitable part of life. Developmentally and situationally,
healthy people grow and move on, leaving some things behind, whether intentionally, by
accident, or because of growth. In leaving, there may be grieving, which is a natural reaction to
loss. The extent of the grief (emotional sorrow and/or distress over the personal and
interpersonal experience of loss) are associated with the value of what has been lost and how
(Ober, Granello, & Wheaten, 2012). In some cases, the pain may be small because the person
was not attached to or invested in the object left behind, or the person had adequate time to
prepare. In other cases, an individual may feel overwhelmed because of the value the person,
possession, or position had in his or her life or because of the sudden and/or traumatic way the
loss occurred. In such cases, there is a crisis.
People can have a variety of crises. Four of the most common types of crises are:
• Developmental, which takes place in the normal flow of human growth and development
under circumstances that are considered normal (e.g., birth of a child, retirement)
• Situational, in which uncommon and extraordinary events occur that an individual has no
way of predicting or controlling (e.g., automobile accident, kidnapping, loss of job)
• Existential, which includes inner conflicts and anxieties that accompany important human
issues of purpose, responsibility, independence, freedom, and commitment (James &
Gilliland, 2013) (e.g., realizing at age 50 that one has wasted one’s life and cannot relive
past years)
• Ecosystemic, in which some natural or human-caused disaster overtakes a person or a
group of people who find themselves, through no fault or action of their own, inundated
in the aftermath of an event that may adversely affect virtually every member of the
environment in which they live (James, & Gilliland, 2013) (e.g., a hurricane such as
Katrina, a superstorm such as Sandy, an act of terrorism)
Ø Goals. Goals within crisis counseling revolve around getting those who are suffering
immediate help in a variety of forms (e.g., psychological, financial, legal). What occurs
during the immediate aftermath of the crisis event determines whether or not the crisis
will become a disease reservoir that will be transformed into a chronic and long-term

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state (James & Gilliland, 2013). Initially, counselors use basic crisis theory to help
people in crisis recognize and correct temporary affective, behavioral, and cognitive
distortions brought on by traumatic events. This service is different from brief counseling
approaches that try to help individuals find remediation for more ongoing problems.
Long-term adjustment and health may require considerable follow-up on the part of the
crisis counselor or another helping specialist.
Ø Role of the Counselor. Counselors who work in crises need to be mature individuals with
a variety of life experiences with which they have successfully dealt. They also need to
have a good command of basic helping skills, high energy, and quick mental reflexes,
and yet be poised, calm, creative, and flexible in the midst of highly charged situations.
Counselors are often direct and active in crisis situations. The role is quite different from
that of ordinary counseling. Crisis counseling has three stages that those who participate
in it must realize and be ready for: precrisis preparation, in-crisis action, and
postcrisis recovery (McAdams III & Keener, 2008).

Activity:
6.1 Compare and contrast the theories discussed. If you were to practice counseling,
which of the theories will you use and explain why.
6.2 If you were to be the counselee, which one do you think would be more appealing
for you and why.

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PART III, CORE COUNSELING ACTIVITIES IN VARIOUS SETTINGS

This section emphasizes universal skills required in almost all counseling environments.
Counselors use group counseling, consultation, supervision, research, testing, assessment, and
diagnostic skills in various arenas.
On this part, students will be able to understand:
• The place of groups in counseling
• The four major types of groups counselors use: psychoeducational, task/work,
psychotherapy, and counseling
• Stages of and issues in groups
• Qualities of effective group leaders
• The multifaceted nature of consultation
• The differences and similarities between consultation and counseling
• Direct and indirect consultation and stages in the consultation process
• Specific areas of consultation (e.g., individual, educational, agency)
• The nature and importance of supervision and major models of supervision
• The difference between evaluation and research
• Proper steps in evaluation
• Crucial steps in the research process
• Major research methods
• Statistics and statistical methods
• The problems and potential of using tests in counseling
• Qualities of good tests
• Classifications of tests
• Administration and interpretation of tests

Chapter 7: Groups in Counseling

This chapter examines the following aspects of groups: their history; their place in counseling,
including the types of groups most often used; their theoretical basis; issues and stages in
groups; and qualities of effective group leaders.

The following people were pioneers in the group movement along with Pratt:
• Jacob L. Moreno, who introduced the term group psychotherapy into the counseling
literature in the 1920s and began psychodrama as a therapeutic approach to counseling;
• Kurt Lewin, whose field theory concepts in the 1930s and 1940s became the basis for the
Tavistock small study groups in Great Britain and the T-group movement in the United
States;
• Fritz Perls, whose Gestalt approach to groups attracted new interest in the field by
stressing the importance of awareness and obtaining congruence within oneself;
• W. Edwards Deming, who conceptualized and implemented the idea of quality work
groups to improve the processes and products people produced and to build morale
among workers in businesses;
• William Schutz and Jack Gibb, who emphasized a humanistic aspect to T-groups that
focused on personal growth as a legitimate goal; and
• Carl Rogers, who devised the basic encounter group that became the model for growth-
oriented group approaches.

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Encounter groups emerged from T-groups in an attempt to focus on the growth of individual
group members rather than the group itself. They were intended for “normally functioning”
people who wanted to grow, change, and develop (Lieberman, 1991).

Self-Help/Support Groups

Self-help groups and mutual help groups are synonymous (Klaw & Humphreys, 2004, p. 630).
They take two forms: those that are organized by an established, professional helping
organization or individual (support groups) and those that originate spontaneously and stress
their autonomy and internal group resources (self-help groups in the truest sense). Self-help
groups usually develop spontaneously, center on a single topic, and are led by a layperson with
little formal group training but with experience in the stressful event that brought the group
together (Riordan & Beggs, 1987).

Groups have a number of general advantages in helping individuals. Yalom and Leszcz (2005)
have characterized these positive forces as therapeutic factors within groups. For counseling
and psychotherapy groups, these factors include the following:
• Instillation of hope (i.e., assurance that treatment will work)
• Universality (i.e., the realization that one is not alone, unique, or abnormal)
• Imparting of information (i.e., instruction about mental health, mental illness, and how to
deal with life problems)
• Altruism (i.e., sharing experiences and thoughts with others, helping them by giving of
oneself, working for the common good)
• Corrective recapitulation of the primary family group (i.e., reliving early family conflicts and
resolving them)
• Development of socializing techniques (i.e., interacting with others and learning social
skills as well as more about oneself in social situations)
• Imitative behavior (i.e., modeling positive actions of other group members)
• Interpersonal learning (i.e., gaining insight and correctively working through past
experiences)
• Group cohesiveness (i.e., bonding with other members of the group)
• Catharsis (i.e., experiencing and expressing feelings)
• Existential factors (i.e., accepting responsibility for one’s life in basic isolation from others,
recognizing one’s own mortality and the capriciousness of existence)

The group may also serve as a catalyst to help persons realize a want or a need for individual
counseling or the accomplishment of a personal goal.

TYPES OF GROUPS
Groups come in many forms: “there seems to be a group experience tailored to suit the interests
and needs of virtually anyone who seeks psychotherapy, personal growth, or simply support
and companionship from others” (Lynn & Frauman, 1985, p. 423). There are a number of group
models appropriate for a wide variety of situations. Although lively debate persists about how
groups should be categorized, especially in regard to goals and process (Waldo & Bauman,
1998), the following four types of groups have training standards developed by the ASGW
(2000). See the table for a summary of these types of groups.

Psychoeducational Groups - sometimes known as guidance groups or educational groups,

are preventive and instructional (Brown, 2011; Pence, Paymar, Ritmeester, & Shepard, 1998).
Their purpose is often to teach group participants how to deal with a potential threat (such as
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catching the flu), a developmental life event (such as growing older), or an immediate life crisis
(such as the death of a loved one). These types of groups are often found in educational
settings, such as schools, but are increasingly being used in other settings, such as hospitals,
mental health centers, social service agencies, and universities (Jones & Robinson, 2000).

Counseling groups - sometimes known as interpersonal problem-solving groups, seek “to help
group participants to resolve the usual, yet often difficult, problems of living through
interpersonal support and problem solving. An additional goal is to help participants develop
their existing interpersonal problem-solving competencies so they may be better able to handle
future problems. Non-severe career, educational, personal, social, and developmental concerns
are frequently addressed” (Association for Specialists in Group Work, 1992, p. 143).

Psychotherapy groups - sometimes known as personality reconstruction groups, are set up to

help individual group members remediate in-depth psychological problems. They have been
found to be a highly effective form of psychotherapy that is at least equal to individual psycho-
therapy in their power to provide meaningful benefits, such as meaningful relationships, sharing,
communicating, and nurturing (McWhirter, Nelson, & Waldo, 2014). “Because the depth and
extent of the psychological disturbance is significant, the goal [of psychotherapy groups] is to
aid each individual to reconstruct major personality dimensions” (Association for Specialists in
Group Work, 1992, p. 13).

Task/work groups help members apply the principles and processes of group dynamics to
improve practices and accomplish identified work goals. “The task/work group specialist is able
to assist groups such as task forces, committees, planning groups, community organizations,
discussion groups, study circles, learning groups, and other similar groups to correct or develop
their functioning” (Association for Specialists in Group Work, 1992, p. 13).

Like other types of groups, task/work groups run best when the following factors are in place:
• Purpose of the group is clear to all participants,
• Process (dynamics) and content (information) are balanced,
• Time is taken for culture building and learning about each other,
• Conflict is addressed,
• Feedback between members is exchanged,
• Leaders pay attention to the here-and-now, and
• Time is taken by leaders and members to reflect on what is happening (Hulse-Killacky,
Killacky, & Donigian, 2001).

THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN CONDUCTING GROUPS

Theoretical approaches to counseling in groups vary as much as individual counseling
approaches. In many cases, the theories are the same. For instance, within group work there
are approaches based on psychoanalytic, Gestalt, person-centered, rational emotive behavior,
cognitive, and behavioral theories. Because the basic positions of these theories are examined
elsewhere in this text, they will not be reviewed here. Yet the implementation of any theoretical
approach differs when employed with a group because of group dynamics (the interaction of
members within the group).

Three factors useful for group leaders to consider when deciding on what theoretical approach
to take:
1. Do I need a theoretical base for conducting the group?
2. What uses will the theory best serve?

36  

 
  

3. What criteria will be employed in the selection process?

Ford and Urban (1998) believe counselors should consider four main factors when selecting a
theory: personal experience, consensus of experts, prestige, and a verified body of
knowledge. All these criteria contain liabilities and advantages. Therefore, it is crucial for
beginning counselors to listen to others and read the professional literature critically to evaluate
the theories that are most verifiable and that fit their personality styles.

STAGES IN GROUPS

Groups, like other living systems, go through stages. If an individual or group leader is not
aware of these stages, the changes that occur within the group may appear confusing rather
than meaningful, and the benefits may be few.

Tuckman (1965) was one of the first theorists to design a stage process for group counseling.
He believed there were four stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, and
performing. This concept was later expanded to include a fifth stage: adjourning (Tuckman &
Jensen, 1977) or mourning/morning (Waldo, 1985). In each stage certain tasks are
performed.
ISSUES IN GROUPS
Conducting successful groups entails a number of issues. Some deal with procedures for
running groups; others deal with training and ethics. Before a group is set up, the leader of the
group needs to have a clear idea of why the group is being established and what its
intermediate as well as ultimate goals are. It is only from such a process that a successful group
will emerge.
1. Selection and preparation - Screening and preparation are essential for conducting a
successful group (Couch, 1995) because the maturity, readiness, and composition of
membership plays a major role in whether the group will be a success or not (Riva, Lippert, &
Tackett, 2000).
Screening and preparation are usually accomplished through pregroup interviews and training,
which take place between the group leader and prospective members. During a pre- group
interview group members should be selected whose needs and goals are compatible with the
established goals of the group.
Before the group begins, group members and leaders need to be informed as much as possible
about group process (how group member interactions influence the development of the group).
For instance, in homogeneous groups (in which members are similar), there is usually less
conflict and risk taking, more cohesion and support, and better attendance. In contrast, in
heterogeneous groups (in which members are diverse), there is more conflict initially and
greater risk taking, but support and cohesion may lag and members may drop out (Merta,
1995). It is the process of the group, not the content, focus, or purpose, that will eventually
determine whether a group succeeds. In successful groups, the process is balanced with
content (Donigian & Malnati, 1997; Kraus & Hulse-Killacky, 1996).

In joining a group, it is important to check first with the group organizer and become clear about
what possibilities and outcomes are expected in a group experience. Corey (2016) lists issues
that potential participants should clarify before they enroll in a group. The following are among
the most important:

37  

 
  
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38  

 
  

Ø A clear statement of the group’s purpose

Ø A description of the group format, ground rules, and basic procedures
Ø A statement about the educational and training qualifications of the group leader(s)
Ø A pregroup interview to determine whether the potential group leader and members are
suited for one’s needs at the time
Ø A disclosure about the risks involved in being in a group and the members’ rights and
responsibilities
Ø A discussion about the limitations of confidentiality and the roles group leaders and
participants are expected to play within the group setting group leaders must know how
to handle challenges to their leadership and resistance from individual group members
or the group as a whole.

Other Issues in Groups are:

2. Groups size and Duration
3. Open-ended vs Closed Group
4. Confidentiality
5. Physical structure
6. Co-leaders
7. Self-disclosure
8. Feedback
9. Follow-up

QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE GROUP LEADERS

There are distinguishing qualities of effective and ineffective group leaders. For instance, group
leaders who are authoritarian, aggressive, confrontational, or emotionally removed from the
group are ineffective and produce group casualties (members who drop out or are worse after
the group experience) (Yalom & Lieberman, 1971). However, four leadership qualities have a
positive effect on the outcome of groups, if they are not used excessively (Yalom & Leszcz,
2005):
1. Caring—the more, the better
2. Meaning attribution—includes clarifying, explaining, and providing a cognitive framework
for change
3. Emotional stimulation—involves activity, challenging, risk taking, self-disclosure
4. Executive function—entails developing norms, structuring, and suggesting procedures

To be maximally effective, group leaders must be competent and able to handle multiple issues
and people. Learning how to do this is a developmental process, and sometimes a co-leader
process is used to teach essential skills. Effective group leaders know what type of groups they
are leading and share this information with potential members. Leaders follow ethical, legal, and
procedural guidelines of professional organizations, including screening potential members
beforehand. They are concerned with the general well-being of their groups and the people in
them. They anticipate problems before they occur and take proactive steps to correct them.
They systematically follow up with group members after the group has terminated. In addition,
they keep up with the professional literature about groups and are constantly striving to improve
their personal and professional levels of functioning.

Overall, groups are a stage-based and expanding way of working with people to achieve
individual and collective goals. Professional counselors must acquire group skills if they are to
be well rounded and versatile.
39  

 
  

Activity for Assessment:

7.1 Compare and contrast the different type of groups
7.2 Search for examples of self-help/mutual-help groups here in the Philippines and give
an overview of each group’s purpose.
7.3 Read on other issues encountered in Group setting in Counseling. Provide real
situations in each issue and how it should be addressed.

Chapter 8: Consultation and Supervision, Evaluation and Research

Consultation and supervision are integral parts of counseling. Consultation and supervision are
processes most counselors will engage in whether they are prepared to do so or not. Thus, it is
best to learn something about each before being called on to consult, supervise, or to receive
supervision. Each of these special areas of counseling will be examined separately since they
are distinct. However, the processes these two aspects of counseling have together, such as
teaching, ethics, and relationships (Dougherty, 2014), will be examined also.

Consulting approaches have the following characteristics in common (Dougherty, 2014;

Gallessich, 1985; Kurpius & Fuqua, 1993; Newman, 1993; Thomas, 2010):
• Consultation is content based (supported by a recognized body of knowledge)
• Consultation is goal oriented; it has an objective, often a work-related one
• Consultation is governed by variable roles and relationship rules
• Consultation is process oriented; it involves gathering data, recommending solutions, and
offering support
• Consultation is triadic
• Consultation is based on ideologies, value systems, and ethics.

CONSULTATION VS COUNSELING

Four Conceptual Models of Consultation

Many different models of consultation exist, but only a few of them are comprehensive and
useful in counseling. Four of the most comprehensive models of consultation elaborated on by a
number of experts (Keys, Bemak, Carpenter, & King-Sears, 1998; Kurpius, 1978; Kurpius &
Brubaker, 1976; Schein, 1978) follow:

1. Expert or Provision model - Consultant provides direct services, handles difficult

problems
2. Prescriptive (Doctor–patient or prescription model) Traditional medical model, problem
diagnosis and prescription
3. Meditation model - Consultant coordinates existing services, creates alternative plans
4. Collaborator (Process Consultation model) Consultant is a facilitator, gets others
involved finding solutions

Levels of Consultation

Consultation services may be delivered on several levels. Three of the most common ways to
implement the process involve working at the individual, group, and organizational/
community level (Brown, Pryzwansky, & Schulte, 2011; Kurpius, 1988).

40  

 
  

STAGES AND ATTITUDES IN CONSULTATION

Developmental stages are an important part of many consultation activities (Wallace & Hall,
1996). Three well-known theories propose distinct consultation stages. The first two are Scott,
Royal, and Kissinger’s (2015) circular progressive model, which recognizes that the process of
consultation does not always flow in one direction, and Splete’s (1982a) nine-stage process
model based on the premise that clients collaborate with consultants to work on predetermined
concerns in a specific order.

Scott and colleagues’ model (2015) has five stages with dotted lines and two-way arrows in
between the stages indicating that the flow of the process may go forward or backward. The
stages are: Circular Progressive Model
1. Preliminary. In this stage the consultee may contact a consultant without having a
specific goal in mind. The consultee and consultant then enter into conversation to
decide if the consultant’s expertise is needed and, if so, how. A contract is the outcome
of this stage.
2. Exploration and goal setting. This stage requires the consultant, whether internal or
external, to spend time getting to know the structure and personnel within an
organization. The primary goal is to gather facts objectively and stay neutral and
noncommittal so the report the consultant issues is accurate and realistic.
3. Intervention and implementation stage. Interventions are made on evidence-based
data, for example, what has worked in other organizations. The implementation of these
interventions is usually made onsite by the consultee, but the consultant should keep in
contact in case modifications to recommendations need to be made.
4. Outcome stage. The outcome stage is where evidence is gathered to determine if what
was implemented was effective. The process may be formal or informal.
5. Termination. Termination is a two-step that involves a final evaluation (where the
consultation process as a whole is assessed) and the conclusion of services (where a
formal ending of consultation services takes place).

Splete’s stages of consultation are similar to those of Scott and colleagues, but they are broken
down into nine distinct steps with a bit more detail. They are:
1. Precontract. The consultant clarifies personal skill and areas of expertise that can be
used in the consultation process.
2. Contract and exploration of relationship. The consultant discusses a more formal
arrangement between himself or herself and the consultee. The consultee’s readiness
and the consultant’s ability to respond must be determined.
3. Contracting. A mutual agreement is set up that defines what services are to be offered
and how.
4. Problem identification. Both the consultant and consultee determine and define the
precise problem to be worked on and the desired outcome.
5. Problem analysis. The focus is on reviewing pertinent information and generating
possible solutions.
6. Feedback and planning. Here the alternative solutions generated in stage 5 are
evaluated and the probabilities of success are determined. One or more solution plans
are then systematically implemented.
7. Implementation of the plan. The consultee carries out the proposed plan with the
consultant’s support.
8. Evaluation of the plan. Both the consultant and consultee determine how well the plan
worked in relationship to the desired outcome.
9. Conclusion and termination of relationship. Both parties in the process review what
41  

 
  

has happened and plan for any follow-up, either independently or with the consultant.

Although Splete’s plan is detailed and useful like that of Scott and colleagues, it does not
elaborate on counselor skills contained within the process. A third model that does has been
proposed by Dustin and Ehly (1984). It outlines a five-stage process of consultation along with
counselor techniques and behaviors that accompany each stage. The model assumes that the
consultant is working in a school setting with either a parent or teacher, but it has potential
usefulness outside the school environment—for example, in business, government, corrections,
and rehabilitation. Its stages are as follows:
1. Phasing in. The focus is on relationship building. The consultant uses skills such as
active listening, self-disclosure, and empathy and promotes a sense of trust.
2. Problem identification. This step focuses on determining whether a suspected third-
party problem really exists. Consultants employ focusing skills as well as other
counseling techniques, such as paraphrasing, restatement, genuineness, and goal
setting.
3. Implementation. This stage defines strategies and sets up a time frame. Feedback is an
important part of this process. Flexibility, dealing with resistance and negative feelings,
and patience are other counselor skills involved.
4. Follow-up and evaluation. This stage merges with the preceding stage at times, but its
focus is distinct. It concentrates on the results gained from the consultation process,
especially if the consultee is satisfied with the outcome of changes. Counselor skills
include risk taking, openness, and persistence. These skills are especially important if
the consultee is dissatisfied or frustrated.
5. Termination. The final step in this process is that the consultant helps bring closure to
previous activities. Relationship skills such as empathy and genuineness are again
employed. Giving and asking for feedback time are important. It is vital that the
consultant and consultee evaluate what was most profitable for each and what aspects
of the procedure were less effective.
Because Dustin and Ehly’s model is the easiest and simplest to conceptualize, it is summarized
in the accompanying five-stage chart of consultation.
Splete (1982a) also lists four attitude areas that are important for consultants. First, they must
display an attitude of professionalism. They must take responsibility for helping their clients
deal with immediate and long-term problems. Second, consultants must show maturity. They
have to be willing to stand up for their own views, take risks, and deal with hostility or rejection.
Third, consultants need to demonstrate open-mindedness and not close off ideas and input
into the problem-solving process too soon. Finally, they need to believe in the importance of
individuals and place people above technology.
Specific Areas of Consultation
Consultation often takes place in schools and community agencies, but the process may take
place in almost any environment. In this section, some of the work conducted in schools and
agencies will be examined as examples of the kinds of consultation programs that can be set
up.
Supervision
Supervision in counseling is a direct service and like consultation it is comprised of stages. It
involves supervisors and their supervisees at different levels of development and sophistication.
It is conducted individually and in groups, for example, the triadic model. It can emphasize new
learning, insight, and ways of working in a counseling relationship. Some supervision is
theoretically based. One of the most widely used supervision models—the discrimination
42  

 
  

model—was formulated by Bernard and Goodyear (2014). In this model the supervisor may act
as teacher, counselor, or consultant depending on the need of the supervisee. Regardless, the
supervisor works with the supervisee to refine process, conceptualization, and personalization
skills in counseling.
In summary, consultation is a skill counselors must master. It is used in a variety of counseling
settings, such as in educational institutions and agencies. Both supervision and consultation are
based on stages depending on the situation and the personnel involved. There are specific skills
that must be mastered in both, and most counselors will be involved in consultation and
supervision throughout their careers.

EVALUATION AND RESEARCH

Evaluation aims at helping counselors decide how programs are meeting the goals and
objectives of staff and clients. A major first step in conducting an evaluation is to do a needs
assessment. Several excellent models are available for counselors to use in completing this
task.
Research scares many counselors. Yet this fear may diminish as counselors become more
aware that there are many ways to conduct investigative studies. Three main research methods
are historical, descriptive, and experimental. For years, experimental research has been valued
most highly, but this emphasis is changing. Case studies and intensive experimental designs
are gaining popularity. In addition, the difference between understanding research methods and
statistical concepts is growing; that is, people are realizing that the two approaches are not the
same. Both are important, but it is possible for researchers to be stronger in one area than the
other.
Counselors must constantly strive to update their research and evaluation skills and stay
current. The life span of knowledge is brief, and counselors who do not exercise their minds and
find areas of needed change will become statistics instead of an influence.
EVALUATION
Evaluation usually involves gathering meaningful information on various aspects of a counseling
program to guide decisions about the allocation of resources and ensure maximum program
effectiveness (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2012). Evaluation has a quality of immediate utility. In
clinical settings, it gives counselors direct feedback on the services they provide and insight into
what new services they need to offer. It also enables clients to have systematic, positive input
into a counseling program.
Incorrect Evaluation Methods
Although many solid models of evaluation are available, there are a number of incorrect
evaluation procedures used by the uninformed (Daniels, Mines, & Gressard, 1981). These ill-
conceived methods, which produce invalid and unreliable results, have some or all of the
following defects:
• They restrict opinion sampling.
• They make comparisons between nonequivalent groups.
• They promote services rather than evaluate.
• They try to assess a program without any clear goals.

Steps in Evaluation
Program evaluation should be systematic and follow a sequential step-by-step process. The
steps may vary in different evaluations, but a classic procedure that Burck and Peterson (1975)
43  

 
  

have laid out for implementing an evaluation program is an excellent one to follow.
1. Needs Assessment - techniques include clearly identifying the target of the survey,
specifying a method of contact, and resolving measurement-related issues (Cook, 1989,
p. 463).
2. Stating goals and performance objectives
3. Designing a program
4. Revising and improving the program
5. Noting and reporting program outcomes

Evaluation Models
Three models incorporate these concerns:
1. Program plus personnel equals results model (P + P = R) (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012);
2. Planning, programming, budgeting systems (PPBS); and
3. Context-input-process-product (CIPP) model (Humes, 1972; Stufflebeam et al., 1971).

COUNSELORS AND RESEARCH

Some practitioners find that the demands of daily work with clients leaves them little time to be
investigative, let alone keep up with the latest findings and outcome studies (Sexton, 1993).
Therefore, most counselors do not engage in research activities, and there appears to be a
serious gap in the integration of research into the practice of counseling (Murray, 2009; Sexton
& Whiston, 1996). Indeed, a number of counselor practitioners have even “shown evidence of
hostility and resentment toward researchers” and research (Robinson, 1994, p. 339).

Counselors’ negative feelings about research and their reluctance to spend time and energy on
it are related to a number of factors. Chief among them are:
• Lack of knowledge about research methods,
• Absence of clear goals and objectives for the programs in which they work,
• Lack of awareness of the importance of research in planning effective treatment
procedures,
• Fear of finding negative results,
• Discouragement from peers or supervisors,
• Lack of financial support, and
• Low aptitudes and limited abilities for conducting investigative studies (Heppner &
Anderson, 1985; Sexton, 1993).

Steps in Research process

Some guidelines for conducting research investigations are available. Campbell and Katona
(1953), for instance, developed a flowchart to indicate the sequence of steps involved in
carrying out surveys. More recently, Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh (2013) devised an
eight-step process for conducting research. It is ideally suited for clinical work but is also
applicable to other areas of counseling research.
1. Statement of the problem. Must be clear and concise. If there is confusion at this step,
the investigative endeavor will probably produce little of value. An example of a clear
problem statement is, “The purpose of this research is to test the hypothesis that eye
contact between counselor and client is related to the effectiveness of the counseling
process.”
2. Identification of information needed to solve the problem. This step may include a
variety of information derived from sources such as psychological or educational tests or
systematic observations, including experiments. Some data that investigators need may

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be impossible to collect. They must then decide whether to modify the problem
statement or end the research.
3. Selection or development of measures for gathering data. Common measures for
gathering data are surveys, tests, and observational report sheets. If researchers cannot
find an existing appropriate measure, they must develop one and test its reliability and
validity.
4. Identification of the target population and sampling procedures. If a group is small
enough, an entire population may be studied. Otherwise, a sample is selected by careful
standard sampling procedures.
5. Design of the procedure for data collection. This step involves determining how, when,
where, and by whom information will be collected.
6. Collection of data. A systematic procedure is implemented to obtain the desired
information. Usually this process involves careful monitoring and a substantial
investment of time.
7. Analysis of data. Select procedures are employed at this step to organize the data in a
meaningful fashion and determine whether they provide an answer to the problem being
investigated.
8. Preparation of a report. Research results should be made available to others in some
meaningful form, such as a journal article or a professional presentation.

Emphases of Research

Counseling research has several different emphases. Four of the most prominent can be
represented as contrasts:
1. Laboratory versus field research
2. Basic versus applied research
3. Process versus outcome research
4. Quantitative (group) versus qualitative (individual) research

Major Research Methods:

The research methods that counselors choose are determined by the questions they are trying
to answer, their special interests, and the amount of time and resources they have available for
the study (Heppner et al., 2016).

The primary research method can be chosen from among those that present data from
historical, descriptive, or experimental points of view (Erford, 2015a; Vacc & Loesch, 2001).
1. Historical Methods
a. experiencing and reporting events and procedures from earlier times that have
influenced the development of the profession, and
b. embellishing current theories and generating new research hypotheses.
2. Descriptive Methods
a. Survey
b. Case study
c. Comparative Study
3. Experimental Methods
Five steps in intensive experimental designs on individuals:
• Identify an observable problem that can be monitored for change,
• Gather baseline data,
• Decide on the intervention to be studied,

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• Carry out the intervention strategy within one of the three research designs, and
• Evaluate the changes, if any, in the targeted behavior.
Statistics – a branch of science (mathematics) that focuses on the collection, organization,
analysis, interpretation and presentation of a group of numbers as to communicate those
findings draw from a population or sample.
STATISTICAL CONCEPTS
a. Central Tendency – measures different meanings in terms of average. Either median,
mode, or mean.
1. Median – the midpoint of a distribution of scored
2. Mean – the arithmetic avarage score
3. Mode – the measure that occurs most often in the gathered score

b. Standard Deviation - a measure of the dispersion of scores about their mean. It indicates
how much response variability is reflected in a set of scores; that is, it is a measure of how
homogeneous a group is. The larger the standard deviation, the greater the variability
among the individuals(Thorndike & Thorndike-Christ, 2010).

c. Sampling – a representative number of people who are the subject of a study (sample
size). When samples are chosen in a representative, random way, results can be
generalized to the population with confidence.

The Branches of Statistical Methods

1. Descriptive statistics – use to summarize and describe a group of numbers from a
research study, otherwise making them more understandable.
2. Inferential statistics – use to draw conclusions and make inferences that are based on
the numbers from a research study
3. Correlational statistics – describe the strength and connection of relationships of two
or more variables of a study

o Two Broad Categories of Test

1. Parametric Tests. Used when it is thought that the population being described
has evenly distributed characteristics that could be represented by a bell-shaped
curve. Examples of parametric tests are the Pearson product moment correlation
and t tests.

2. Nonparametric Tests. Used when no normal curve distribution can be assumed

but sharp dichotomies can. Nonparametric tests require larger sample sizes to
yield a level of significance similar to parametric tests. Examples of nonparametric
tests are the Spearman rank-order correlation and chi-square (Leedy & Ormrod,
2016).

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Chapter 9: Testing, Assessment, and Diagnosis in Counseling

This chapter examines the nature of tests, assessment, and diagnosis and how each activity fits
into the counseling profession. It covers basic concepts associated with testing, such as validity,
reliability, and standardization. In addition, it reviews some of the major tests that counselors
use and are expected to understand. Finally, it examines the nature of assessment and
diagnosis and their usefulness.
Testing is almost as old as the profession of counseling itself, but the popularity of test use in
counseling has varied over the years. Nevertheless, testing will most likely remain an essential
part of counseling. Therefore, counselors must be well versed in the types of tests available and
their appropriate use in counseling. With this knowledge they can attain greater professional
competence and help clients live healthier, more productive lives. Being well informed involves
an awareness of the validity, reliability, standardization, and norms of the instruments used. A
test that is reliable but not valid is inappropriate. Similarly, an instrument that discriminates
against cultural minorities because it has been normed only on the majority population has no
value; in fact, it can be quite harmful.
TESTS AND TEST SCORES
Anastasi (1982) defines a psychological test (or test, for short) as “essentially an objective and
standardized measure of behavior” (p. 22). Most often test results are reported as test scores,
statistics that have meaning only in relation to a person. A score is a reflection of a particular
behavior at a moment in time. Test scores are important in counseling despite their limitations,
for they provide information that might not be obtained in any other way and do so with
comparatively small investments of time and effort. Although tests and test scores have been
criticized for a number of reasons, testing is an indispensable part of an evaluation process.
How tests and test scores are used depends on the user (Urbina, 2014). As Loesch (1977)
observes, “we usually don’t have a choice about whether we will be involved with testing” (p.
74). There is a choice, however, about whether counselors will be informed and responsible.
To understand a test, counselors must know:
• The characteristics of its standardization sample,
• The types and degree of its reliability and validity,
• The reliability and validity of comparable tests,
• The scoring procedures,
• The method of administration,
• The limitations, and
• The strengths (Kaplan&Saccuzzo,2013).
PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL OF USING TESTS
There are similarities between the tests administered by counselors and those used by
psychologists. However, the ways in which tests are given are more crucial for their success in
serving the welfare of clients and the general public than the professional identity of who
administers them.
Test battery
Test that can be used alone or as a part of a group. It was asserted by Cronbach (1979) that
tests batteries have little value unless competent, well-educated counselors are available to
interpret them. The same is true for individual tests.

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Many of the problems associated with testing are usually the way in which instruments are
employed and interpreted rather than problems with the test themselves.
Opponents of tests generally object them for following reasons:
• Testing encourages client dependency on both the counselor and an external source of
information for problem resolution
• Test data prejudice the counselor's picture of an individual
• Test data are invalid and unreliable enough so that their value is severely limited
Other critics conclude that tests are culturally biased and discriminatory, measure irrelevant
skills, obscure talent, are used mechanically, invade privacy, can be faked, and foster
undesirable competition. Another criticism is that tests are regressive and used for predicability
rather than screening of self-exploration. The use of tests with the cultural minorities has been
an especially controversial area and one in which abuse has occurred.
Assessment instruments must take into consideration the influences and experiences of
persons from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds if they are going to have any meaning.
Oakland (1982) points out that testing can be dehumanizing experience and minority culture
students may spend years in ineffective or inappropriate programs as a result of test scores.
To avoid cultural bias, the AARC developed Standards for Muitcultural Assessment. Ethical
guidelines for test use are also contained in the American Counseling Association Code of
Ethics (2014). These standards, as well as those drawn up by other professional associations,
should be consulted when trying to prevent test abuse with minority populations.
Success or failure of test is related to the sensitivity, ability, and knowledge of the counselors
which select, administer, and interpret them. "Counselors have a general obligation to take an
empirical approach to their instruments, especially those for which there are not complete norms
and substantial validation."
Functions of Tests
• Primarily help clients make better decisions about their futures
• Help clients gain self-understanding
• Help counselors decide if clients' needs are within their range of expense
• Help counselors better understand their clients
• Help counselors evaluate the outcime of their counseling efforts
• Help counselors determine which counseling methods might be most appropriately
employed
• Help counselors predict the future performance of client in selected areas such as
mechanics, art, or graduate school
• Help counselors stimulate new interests within their clients
QUALITIES OF GOOD TESTS
1) Validity - Most important test quality and is "the degree to which a test measures what it is
supposed to measure, and consequently permits appropriate interpretation of scores". The
validity of test is determined by comparing its result with measures of a separate and
independent criterion. If scores on the testing instruments correlate highly and positively with
these independent measures of success, then the instrument is said to possess a higher degree
of validity
Examples: MCAT, LSAT, GRE, and the Miller's Analogies Test (MAT)

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2) Reliability - Another quality of good test wherein a test produces consistency of test scores
when people are retested with the same or an equivalent instrument
Three traditional ways of determining reliability:
a) Test-retest
b) Parallel form or Alternate form
c) Internal consistency analysis
3) Standardization and Norms - Standardization refers to the uniform conditions under which a
test is administered and scored. It makes possible the comparison of an individual's successive
scores over time as well as the comparison of scores of different individuals
-Norms, or average performance scores for specified groups, make possible meaningful
comparisons among people in regard to what can be expected.
CLASSIFICATION OF TESTS
1. Standardized versus non-standardized
2. Individual versus group
3. Speed versus power
4. Performance versus paper and pencil
5. Objective versus subjective
6. Maximum versus typical performance
7. Norm versus criterion based
Another way in which tests may be classified and one that is even more important for
counselors is "by the purpose for which they are designed or by the aspects odd behavior they
sample" The four distinct but sometimes overlapping categories of tests: intelligence/aptitude,
interest/career, personality, and achievement
ADMINISTRATION AND INTERPRETATION OF TESTS
One of the important focuses of counselling is administration and interpretation which take
major criticism on the field. Administering a test is described in the manual that accompanies
each one, and most tests specify uniform procedures to be followed at each step, from
preparing the room to giving instructions. For valid test results, counsellors follow specialized
tests instructions.
Test takers involvement is not usually addressed in the manuals; but in administering tests in
elementary, it is inappropriate to involve the test takers. It is important to take some things in
consideration such as advantages involving test takers in tests:
• the willingness of the tested population to accept test results
• the promotion of independence
• the value of the decision-making experience that might generalize to other decision
making opportunities
• the opportunity for diagnosis based on the test taker’s reactions to various tests
• the selection of tests that best fit the needs of the tested population (Goldman, 1971).
In understanding the test results, four basic interpretations can be helpful to test takers:
1. Descriptive interpretation: which provides information on the current status of the test
taker
2. Genetic interpretation: which focuses on how the tested person got to be the way he or
she is now
3. Predictive interpretation: which concentrates on forecasting the future

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4. Evaluative interpretation: which includes recommendations by the test interpreter

Unfortunately, there are circumstances where counsellors fail in administering and
interpreting test results that can cause misunderstanding. Maintaining the conditions of
standardized administration should be practiced. It is by knowing the strengths and limitations of
the norms, the reliability and validity of particular instruments, and by translating raw test data
into meaningful descriptions of current or predicted behavior, counselors ensure that tests are
used to promote the welfare of their clients (Harris, 1994, p. 10).
ASSESSMENT
Assessment is the procedure and process of collecting information and measures of human
behaviour apart from test data. There are six purposes of assessment according to Cormier
and Cormier (1998):
1. To obtain information on a client’s presenting problem and on other, related problems.
2. To identify the controlling or contributing variables associated with the problem.
3. To determine the client’s goals/expectations for counseling outcomes.
4. To gather baseline data that will be compared to subsequent data to assess and
evaluate client progress and the effects of treatment strategies.
5. To educate and motivate the client” by sharing the counselor’s view of the situation,
increasing client receptivity to treatment, and contributing to therapeutic change.
6. To use the information obtained from the client to plan effective treatment interventions
and strategies. The information obtained during the assessment process should help to
answer this well-thought-out question: ‘What treatment, by whom, is most effective for
this individual with that specific problem and under which set of circumstances?’” (Paul,
1967, p. 111)
There are different techniques to obtain an assessment in can include standardized tests,
diagnostic interviews, projective personality measures, questionnaires, mental status
examinations, checklists, behavioural observations and reports by significant others (medical,
educational, social, legal, etc.)” (Hohenshil, 1996, p. 65).
In the goal of the assessment that was previously stated, which is a comprehensive evaluation
of individuals, it often include formulation of a treatment plan that will result in positive and
predictable outcomes (Groth-Marnat, 2010; Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2013).
MSE which is the mental status examination is organized under the following categories:
• appearance ,attitude
• mood and affect
• speech and language
• thought process, thought content, and perception
• cognition
• insight and judgment
Assessment is a crucial part of counselling because it allows avoidance of blaming from the
client and it helps the client to find solution in a positive way rather than repeating past patterns.
DIAGNOSIS
According to Hohenshil (1993), diagnosis derived from assessment information that provides
meaning or interpretation that is usually translated in the form of some type of classification
system. Thus, a diagnosis is a description of a person’s condition and not a judgment of a
person’s worth (Rueth, Demmitt, & Burger, 1998).

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Some diagnostic categories should be shared appropriately with the clients, however, some
might be misleading and frightening to disclose. Diagnosis do the following when used
appropriately:
• Describe a person’s current functioning
• Provide a common language for clinicians to use in discussing the client
• Lead to a consistent and continual type of care
• Help direct and focus treatment planning
• Help counselors fit clients within their scope of treatment (Rueth et al., 1998)
The counselors must take or receive extensive trainings and supervision to handle and make
proper diagnosis. They should be familiar with the categories in the DSM and realize how
important diagnostic decisions are. They must learn clinical-decision making and cultural
sensitivity. And if the counselor is unsure about the symptoms, they should consider delaying
the decisions to make and consider an alternative conceptualizations of behavior.

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Part IV. COUNSELING SPECIALTIES

Counseling Specialties contains six chapters that focus on specific populations with whom
counselors work or professional practices in which they are engaged.

In this section students will learn about:

• The importance of career counseling and the scope of career counseling
• Major career counseling theories and techniques, (e.g., developmental, social–cognitive)
• Career counseling with diverse populations, (e.g., children, adolescents, adults, women,
LGBTs, and cultural minorities)
• Family life, the family life cycle, and the changing forms of families
• The nature of couple and family counseling
• The process of couple and family counseling
• American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model
• Elementary school counseling—emphasis and role, activities, prevention, and remediation
• Middle school counseling— emphasis and role, activities, prevention, and remediation
• Secondary school counseling—emphasis and role, activities, prevention, and remediation
• 21st-century school counseling
• The development of student life services and college counseling
• The emphases, roles, and activities of college counselors
• The emphases, roles, and activities of student-life services with traditional and
nontraditional students
• The nature of and treatment for interpersonal and intrapersonal abuse
• The nature of and treatment for various forms of addiction (e.g., physiological and
process)
• Various aspects of disabilities including those linked to intellectual, physical, and traumatic
sources
• Dynamics surrounding the work of being an addiction, offender, or rehabilitation counselor

Chapter 10: Career Counseling Over the Lifetime Career

Counseling hasn’t seen the prestige that other forms of counseling and psychotherapy basks in
despite its long history and importance. For Brown (1985), career counseling is a practical
intervention especially for individuals whom faces emotional distresses produced by their
external environments.
The important aspects of counseling, as Crites (1981, pp. 14–15) kindly posits, include:
1. There is a greater need for career counseling compared to psychotherapy.
2. Career counseling has therapeutic qualities.
3. Career counseling is considerably more difficult than psychotherapy.

The Scope of Career Counseling and Careers

A hybrid discipline, career counseling is often misunderstood and undermined. As defined by

the NCDA, career counseling is the process of assisting individuals to develop life-careers that
focuses on one’s worker role with regards on how that interacts with an individual’s other life
roles.

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Many factors are considered by career counselors in helping people make career choices.
These includes “avocational interests, age or stage in life, maturity, gender, familial obligations,
and civic roles.” These factors are represented in a variety of manner.

All theories of counseling are potentially useful and helpful in making career choices; however,
wisdom is only more pronounced through educational ways and counseling relationships.
Individuals who are more in tuned with themselves might need fewer counseling services over
their peers and when they do seek these services, they respond more profoundly.
Other functions which career counselors perform include:
- administering and interpreting tests and inventories;
- conducting personal counseling sessions;
- developing individualized career plans;
- helping clients integrate vocational and avocational life roles;
- facilitating decision-making skills; and
- providing support for persons experiencing job stress, job loss, or career transitions.

Career Information

When the NCDA was still known as the NVGA, it has defined ‘career information’ as the
“information related to the world of work that can be useful in the process of career
development, including educational, occupational, and psychosocial information related to
working, e.g., availability of training, the nature of work, and status of workers in different
occupations.” ‘Career data’ is career information’s more modern counterpart. Career data is the
niche of facts about professional and educational opportunities. A data can only be considered
as information once the client fully understood and utilize this data for their decision-making
practice.

‘Career guidance’ are activities which are done in order to inform an individual about the present
and future vocations for them to gain more knowledge and awareness about themselves in
relation to the workforce they wish to enter. Guidance activities involve:
- career fairs (inviting practitioners in a number of fields to explain their jobs),
- library assignments,
- outside interviews,
- computer-assisted information experiences,
- career shadowing (following someone around on his or her daily work routine),
- didactic lectures, and
- experiential exercises such as role-playing

Career information dissemination and career guidance has been viewed as an educational
activity. Career guidance has been considered to be for people who are relatively normal and
has no emotional turmoil which might interfere in their rational approach in deciding their
vocation or career.

However, it must be known that not all learning practices are as effective as others. There are
individuals who has fail to make vocational decisions. This might bear ‘unrealistic aspirations’ or
goals that are beyond one’s realistic capabilities. Thus, it is important to provide qualitative and
quantitative information which will aid an individual to decide about their future career
aspirations as well as not failing to mention the nature of this process. This is important for
individuals as sufficient information is vital for a good career decision.

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Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) – now transformed into the Occupational Information
Network (O*Net), and the Occupational Outlook Handbook are only one of the many
publications which provides up-to-date information about current careers and career trends.
Including this are online databases which are highly accessible. Among these is the SIGI3
(System of Interactive Guidance and Information, with “3” indicating a refinement of the system),
the DISCOVER, and the Kuder Planning System.
The SIGI3 has five components which offer the following:
1. self-assessment (Values),
2. identification of occupational alternatives (Locate),
3. review of occupational information (Compare),
4. review of information on preparation programs (Planning), and
5. making tentative occupational choices (Strategy).
Discover, on the other hand, provides nine modules:
1. Beginning the career journey
2. Learning about the world of work
3. Learning about yourself
4. Finding occupations
5. Learning about occupations
6. Making educational choices
7. Planning next steps
8. Planning your career
9. Making transitions

The Kuder Career Planning System “offers a comprehensive solution for career planners at all
stages of career development.” It offers the Kuder Online Career Portfolio and Research-Based
Assessments. The Online Career Portfolio provides lifelong career planning whereas the
Research-Based Assessments aids in discovering interests, skills, and work values as well as
how those relate and affect the working sphere of an individual.

Apart from the aforementioned three, there is also the National Occupational Information
Coordinating Committee (NOICC) which provides information that are useful to educational
settings such as high schools. These aren’t the only publications and ways for there are also a
lot of self-help books in the market which caters to this specific concern.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES AND COUNSELING

In career counseling, career development theories serve as a guide for explaining career
choices of individuals and the career adjustments they may make over time. The following
theories, as well as the counseling procedures that go with them, are some of the most widely
utilized in the field of career counseling.

I. Trait-and-Factor Theory emphasizes the uniqueness of each person. It assesses the

traits of an individual first, then matches them with certain occupational choices that are
aligned with the inherent factors of such occupations. According to this theory, abilities
and traits can be quantified, and personal motivation is deemed as stable. Satisfaction in
one’s career depends on a proper fit between their own abilities and the job
requirements of their chosen career.

Originating from Frank Parsons, the trait-and-factor theory has been used by E.G.
Williamson in 1939, during the time of the Great Depression, in which it became

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influential. Although it fell out of favor in the 1950s and 1960s, a more modern and
structural form of the theory eventually surfaced, which was reflected in the works of
John Holland in 1997. This more modern form emphasizes the interpersonal nature of
careers, lifestyles, and performance requirements.

According to Holland, personality and occupation may be classified into one of six
categories:
1. Realistic - skilled, concrete, technical, mechanical
2. Investigative - scientific, abstract, analytical
3. Artistic - creative, imaginative, aesthetic
4. Social - educational, service-oriented, sociable
5. Enterprising - persuasive, outgoing, verbal
6. Conventional - organized, practical, conforming

These categories may then be shortened into letter codes that then portray one’s
personality. A three-letter code (such as S/I/R) gives an overall view of an individual’s
personality, while a pairing of the top two, middle two, and lowest two categories (such
as SI/RA/EC) offers a better picture of one’s personality profile. Personal satisfaction in
one’s own work setting depends on various factors, but compatibility between
personality type, work environment, and social class are among the most important.
Some nonpsychological factors may also come into play, such as economic and cultural
influences.

In trial-and-factor counseling, clients undergo three interviews. In the first, the client has
their background assessed and is given a series of tests. In the second, the results of
the tests are interpreted. In the last, the client reviews career choices that are in line with
their background assessment and test results. However, due to being reliant on the test
results, this form of career counseling also has disadvantages, such as dismissal of the
psychological realities of decision making and failure to promote self-help skills in the
clients.

II. Developmental Theories are more inclusive and are concerned with longitudinal
expressions of career behavior. They are based on personal development and highlight
the importance of one’s self-concept. These theories were proposed by Eli Ginzberg and
Donald Super, but Super’s theory has had more extensive work done with it. According
to Super, making a career choice is “linked with implementing one’s vocational self-
concept,” and that an individual’s view of themselves is reflected in what they do.

There are five stages in vocational development:

1. Growth (birth to 14 years) - children form mental images of themselves in relation to
others and become oriented to the world around them
2. Exploration (14 to 24 years) - revolves around exploration of the world of work and
specification of a career preference
3. Establishment (24 to 44 years) - concerned with becoming establishment and
advancement in a preferred, appropriate work field
4. Maintenance (44 to 64 years) - deals with preservation of one’s career and life
achievements
5. Decline (64 years and beyond) - entails disengagement from work and alignment from
other sources of satisfaction

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The importance of the life span in career decision making is given emphasis in
developmental career counseling, as well as the influence of other processes and life
experiences on making career decisions. This counseling approach can be
conceptualized as career-pattern counseling, which has its strengths in historical and
descriptive emphases and its conceptual depth. It has mainly been applied as a
framework for career development programs tailored towards children and adolescents
and in understanding the development of career maturity. However, its disadvantage lies
in its questionable applicability to individuals who are not of Eurocentric descent.

III. Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) - conceived in 1994, is based on the work of
Albert Bandura and the triadic reciprocal model of causality, which stresses the
interrelation of personal attributes, environment, and overt behavior and how they
operate with each other. Self-efficacy, or “a person’s beliefs regarding their ability to
successfully perform a particular task,” is given importance.

The other central propositions of the SCCT are as follows:

1. “The interaction between people and their environments is highly dynamic.”

2. “Career-related behavior is influenced by four aspects of the person: behavior, self-
efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals in addition to genetically determined
characteristics.”
3. "Self-efficacy beliefs and expectations of outcomes interact directly to influence
interest development.”
4. Factors such as “gender, race, physical health, disabilities, and environmental
variables influence self-efficacy development.”
5. “Actual career choice and implementation are influenced by a number of direct and
indirect variables other than self-efficacy, expectations, and goals.”
6. “All things being equal, people with the highest levels of ability and the strongest self-
efficacy beliefs perform at the highest level.”

Krumboltz has also (1979, 1996) come up with a social-cognitive approach to career
development, which is less developmental in narure but just as comprehensive.
According to him, there are four factors that influence career choice:
1. Genetic endowment
2. Conditions and events in the environment
3. Learning experiences
4. Task-approach skills

Career decisions are controlled by both internal and external processes. The presence
of continuous learning also results in:
1. Self-observation generalizations
2. Task-approach skills
3. Actions

The strength of Krumboltz's theory lies in its view that individuals have some control over
events that they find reinforcing and can take advantage of learning opportunities and
make career decisions accordingly. As it is also applicable to diverse groups of people,
males and females can equally benefit from this approach, as well as racial and ethnic
minorities that have individualistic perspectives.

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IV. Constructivist Career Theory - an interactive process and is based on the premise that
individuals create their own meaning in their lives. Through understanding their roles in
their own worlds and communicating with a career counselor with regards to how they
understand them, the clients learn what factors affect their decision making, as well as
the people and values they deem important and what is needed for them to achieve their
goals.

According to this theory, careers do not unfold, but are developed through making
choices that are aligned with one's self-concept and establishing goals that are in line
with the social reality of work roles. The theory asserts that individuals construct their
careers by way of imposing meaning on their vocational behaviors and occupational
experiences. The implementation of self-concepts serves as the center of this approach.

Instead of traits, an individual’s purpose is what explains and controls their career
behaviors. Emphasis is also given on the why of a career, as well as the what and the
how, altogether comprising a comprehensive take on career counseling which can be
applicable in modern times. It places much importance on flexibility, employability,
commitment, emotional intelligence, and lifelong learning. All in all, this approach
provides a different perspective to career counseling which takes into account one's self
and identity.

Career Counseling with Diverse Population

Ø Career Counseling with Children

Career development starts from preschool years. According to Herr and colleagues, the
first 6 years of school are the most crucial to children, for it's the time wherein they make
tentative commitments in what they want to do. This is where career counseling and
guidance activities in schools enter, a systematic way of helping children pursue what
they want to be, especially those in places with limited employment. This program would
be able to focus more on activities that help children in decision-making and awareness.

Jesser suggests that career awareness should be raised in elementary school through
field trips to local industries that can help children in learning about different jobs and
careers. Not only will they learn about these different occupations, they can also learn
about what they do through activities pre-planned.

Another way of expanding their career awareness could be inviting parents to school for
a talk. Not all parents have the same type of job, with this activity, the parents can teach
them more about what they do and how they do their job. Not only that, but children can
be inspired through this sort of interaction and talk.

Ø Career Counseling with Adolescents

Unlike in elementary school, dealing with adolescents should be a school-wide basis,

according to America School Counselor Association. Middle school students, at this
time, deal with their strengths and weaknesses, therefore weighing what and what they
should not do. This is where career information delivery systems come in. CIDS have
four common components which can help children: (1) assessment, (2) occupational
search, (3) occupational information, and (4) education information. Career exploration is
the best option for this age.

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Senior high school students on the other hand are helped by the school through dealing
with their maturity. These students use their own knowledge of themselves to kickstart
their career options. Career counseling in high school has three emphases: (1)
stimulating career development, (2) providing treatment, and (3) aiding placement. Not
only that, but counselors also work on providing the following for these students, based
on what they need:
- reassurance
- information
- emotional support
- reality testing
- planning strategies
- attitude clarification
- work experience

There are different approaches in helping adolescent pick out their careers. Some are
cognitive while others are comprehensive and experiential. An example of the cognitive
technique is letting the adolescent imagine their daily life while doing a particular job.
While for the experiential and comprehensive kind, apprenticeship could work. These
different techniques can help them weigh their options, thinking of the advantages and
disadvantages. Plus, those adolescents who decide to work right after high school would
be able to get used to the working environment.

Sadly, this is also the age wherein students decide to drop out, without a plan of
pursuing any career. According to Bloch, successful educational counseling programs
for students at risk of dropping out should follow six guidelines:
1. Make a connection between student's present and future status
2. Individualize programs and communicate caring
3. Form successful coalitions with community institutions and businesses
4. Integrate sequencing of career development activities
5. Offer age- and stage-appropriate career development activities
6. Use a wide variety of media and career development resources, including
computers

Ø Career Counseling with College Students

Despite being in college, college students still have a hard time in choosing their career.
They need and value career counseling, such as undergraduate career exploration
courses. Not only them, but even those who have chosen their majors, they seek
validation and extra information on their chosen courses.

In responding to student needs, comprehensive career guidance and counseling

programs in institutions of higher education attempt to provide a number of services.
Among these services are:
- helping with the selection of a major field of study
- offering self-assessment and self-analysis through psychological testing
- helping students understand the world of work
- facilitating access to employment opportunities through career fairs, internships,
and campus interviews
- teaching decision-making skills
- meeting the needs of special populations

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College career counseling offers group counseling. It is said that those who join group
counseling boosts their career decision-making and other skills than can help them in
the field of work they choose. Not only that, but college career counseling also helps
students' futures through "life-career developmental counseling."

Counselors can be the bridge between work and school, often helping students with their
conflicts, whether they're at work, school or at home. Also, they offer help by by
balancing and integrating life-work roles and responsibilities, anticipating problems
related to work, relationships and even responsibilities. By sharing information related to
the careers they want to take, counselors are able to help plan their futures and prevent
work-family conflicts, that can affect a student's behavior, emotions and health. And
lastly, counselors can prepare them by creating realistic job previews. Realistic job
previews could help stop the students' from having maladaptive perfectionism and
dysfunctional career thinking, instead, they'd see the realistic side to things.

Ø Career Counseling with Adults

Usually, during their 40s, adults tend to change their careers, at this time of need, the
have unrealistic thoughts and degrading thoughts like "i'll never find a job I like." It is
crucial in some cases to help people change their way of thinking and become more
realistic. Adults have a hard time making career decisions when they aren't happy with
their work but are also scared about the outcome.
There are two approaches in dealing with adults when it comes to career counseling.
The first way is the differential approach. This approach stresses that "the typology of
persons and environment is more useful than any life stage strategies for coping with
career problems." This is the type of view that avoids age-related stereotypes, gender
and more. One of the advantages to this approach is the ease which explains that
shifting career can happen at any age.

The second approach is the developmental approach, which examines a greater

number of individual and environmental variables. This is mostly focused on identity,
how they see themselves and how they interact with others. With this approach, others
play a big role in one's life. An adult usually conforms to what other adults do or say;
therefore, they are affected greatly by these variables.

Gladstein and Apfel's approach to adult career counseling focuses on a combination of

six elements, which are:
- developmental
- comprehensive
- self-in-group
- longitudinal
- mutual commitment
- multimethodological

Ø Career Counseling with Women and Ethnic Minorities

Women
There are a lot of restrictions women face in the workplace, but not only do they have a
problem in their jobs, it sometimes affects their attitude at home. Work-family conflict, as
mentioned before, talks about the clashing of a woman's job and their responsibility at

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home. Of course, not all women have this kind of dilemma, most working moms and
women who live with their family do, but this may lead to role overload.

In working with women, occupational sex-stereotyping in inevitable, but a counselor

must avoid and resist that topic. The glass ceiling phenomenon is when women are only
seen to rise in a certain level, unable to go beyond what people see them as. When this
is accepted, women won't be able to show their full skills, capabilities and potential.
Career plus life counseling on the other hand is a strategy for women who may be
undergoing depression and difficulties in their life. This mostly focuses on women talking
about their relationships and personal issues, along with their career issues.

Cultural Minorities
Counselors must remember that cultural minorities have special needs in regards to
establishing a career, so they need to be sensitive. Unlike the privileged people, cultural
minorities face discrimination and are only up to certain level because of it. Not all of
them are able to study, or lived in poverty, nevertheless, they are the ones who have
positive outlooks in life and have positive models.

Counselors help the youth, along with several adults, from different cultural minorities.
Career awareness have been proven beneficial for Asian Americans. Usually, parents
choose careers for them, they stage different workshops for their children to choose from
and make them aware of different opportunities. Career development can be increased
in cultural minorities through Integrative Contextual Model of Career Development for it
is drawn from different theoretical perspectives that include self-exploration and career-
exploration.

Ø Career Counseling with Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders

When it comes to the LGBT community, there are certain problems an individual face.
Most of them deal with discrimination, whether they have opened up about their
orientation or not. They not only deal with personal conflicts with other people but
sometimes, their professions are on the line. Despite working hard in pursuing their
careers, their work may still be questioned due to their sexual orientation. According to
O'Ryan and McFarland, to overcome difficulties they may face, dual-career lesbian and
gay couples use these three primary strategies:
- planfulness
- creating positive social networks
- shifting from marginalization to consolidation and integration

The usual method used in counseling is for all sexual orientations, but, people from the
LGBT community are given special attention, as they face other problems that other
people don't. The counselors must evaluate the individual's surrounding, how they're
treated, and stereotyping. They should use gender-free language and at the same time,
must gauge personal, professional and environmental bias towards people who are not
heterosexual. Individuals of the LGBT community must also be introduced to the
"lavender ceiling" which is similar to glass ceiling.

Assessment Activity:
10.1 Make your reflective essay on how you see yourself career wise and how the previous
topic can help you relate and work on your own career path.

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10.2 In the theories used for career counseling, choose 2 from the diverse population and
formulate a career counseling plan about it following the theories mentioned.

Chapter 11: Couple and Family Counseling

As the profession of family and couple counseling is quite young, it is imperative that every
professional counselor understands the substantial beginnings of the field which, according to
Nichols (1993), can be traced back to the 1940s and early 1950s with a notable development in
the 1970s and 1980s. This brings about the importance of understanding the trends and
personalities that influenced the development of the field.
This chapter examines the genesis and development of couple and family counseling along with
an overview of couple and family counseling organizations and research. It also describes the
family life cycle and addresses how family counseling differs from individual and group
counseling. The process of couple and family counseling from beginning to closure is looked at
as well.
Trends
There were 3 trends that made an impact on the family set-up which took place after the end of
World War 2 brought about an unsettling need for adjustment from war time to peace. These
trends are namely: the rise in divorce rates, the changing role of women and the expansion of
life-span.
Couple and Family Therapy Pioneers and Contemporary Leaders
Several figures have been notable in the pursuit of developing effective and practical ways of
conducting sessions in the couple and family counseling field.
Among these pioneers is Nathan Ackerman (1958) who is a psychoanalyst in New York. He
was especially critical in focusing the attention of psychoanalysis on a family counseling.
Virginia Satir and Carl Whitaker also established quite a reputation in the field by taking a
more experiential approach in dealing with couple and family problems. Satir was noted to be a
clear writer and presenter while Whitaker uses an unorthodox style and creativity. Jay Haley
however was considered the dominant figure in early family therapy. He had a major role in
developing strategic techniques for family therapy and influencing its structure.
Other pioneers worked in teams as researchers. Among the most notable teams were the
Gregory Bateson group (Bateson, Jackson, Haley, & Weakland, 1956) in Palo Alto,California,
and the Murray Bowen and Lyman Wynne groups (Bowen, 1960; Wynne, Ryckoff, Day, &
Hirsch, 1958) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The Bateson group developed
certain concepts such as the double bind (where a person receives two contradictory messages
at the same time and, unable to follow both, develops physical and psychological symptoms as
a way to lessen tension and escape). Bowen’s team, however, went to develop their own
systematic way of treatment known as the genogram (a three-generational visual representation
of one’s family tree depicted in geometric figures, lines, and words).
The group movement in the 1960s made an impact on the emergence of couple and family
counseling. Notable personalities of the period are as follows:
• John Bell – one of the practitioners who started treating families as a group which initiated
the practice of couple/family group counseling.
• Salvador Minuchin - the originator of Structural Family Therapy

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• Mara Selvini Palazzoli – known for creating a form of strategic family therapy known as
the Milan Approach.
• Michael White and David Epston – established the Narrative Therapy
Recent Midwestern influx of counselors in the field brought about the following personalities in
light of couple and family counseling:
• Steve deShazer and Bill O’Hanlon - developed brief therapeutic therapies that
emphasize solutions and possibilities.
• Monica McGoldrick (McGoldrick, Giordano, & Garcia-Preto, 2005) - emphasized the
importance of multicultural factors and cultural background in treating couples and families.
• Betty Carter – (including a host of others) focused on an awakening in the couple and
family counseling field to gender-sensitive issues,
• John Gottman and Neil Jacobson – considered to be exemplary researchers, helped
practitioners understand better the dynamics within couples and families, especially factors
related to domestic violence and higher functioning marriage relationships (Peterson,
2002).
Changing Forms of Family Life
There has been a quite rapid change in family forms/set-up since World War II. In an American
cultural life setting, there are 2 dominant family types during the 1950s:
• Nuclear Family – Consists of a husband, a wife and their children
• Multigenerational Family – A household made up of three generations namely: the
grandparents, parents and children. It occasionally includes an unwed aunt or uncle
Rise in approved divorce cases after the war was observed. This created 2 new family types:
• Single-parent Family – Consists of one parent (may be biological or adoptive) who is
solely responsible for supporting his/herself and child/children
• Blended Family – defined as those that occur in remarriage, this set-up occurs when two
people marry and one/both of them have a child/children.
Changes in the societal norms since the 1950s brought about the development and recognition
of other family forms such as:
• Dual Career Family – both partners are engaged and highly committed in work which is
developmental in sequence.
• Childless Family – consists of partners having no child either by choice, chance or
biological factors.
• Aging Family – one or both head of the household is over 65 years old.
• Gay/Lesbian Family – consists of a same-sex couple with/without a child/children from
either a previous marriage, artificial insemination or adoption
• Multicultural Family – two individuals from different cultures marry and form a household
with/without a child/children.
The 21st century offers various forms of couples and families. Couples who enter such
relationships face numerous adversities in terms of economic, social and developmental
aspects. The impact of the couple and family life is great and complicated. Professional
counselors must be prepared to deal with complicated changes and development that comes
with these units.

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ASSOCIATIONS, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Associations
There are four major associations which marriage, couple, and family clinicians consult:
• American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) – established in
1942, considered to be the biggest and oldest association in the field.
• International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC) – chartered in
1986, it stands as a division within the American Counseling Association (ACA).
• Division 43 (Family Psychology) - a division within the American Psychological
Association (APA), formed in 1984, consisting of psychologists specializing in couples and
family.
• American Family Therapy Association (AFTA) – established in 1977, It is identified as
an academy of advanced professionals interested in the exchange of ideas.
Education
The AAMFT and IAMFC established guidelines for training professionals who wish to practice
counseling with couples and families. Aside from the required minimum of 60 semester hour
master’s degree, core subjects for couple and family counseling are included at the table below:
These standards ensure that aspiring couple and family counselors are equipped with
necessary knowledge in handling intricate cases which comes from issues occurring in this field.
Research
Due to the growing societal need for the specialty, as well is its developing research base, many
professionals are attracted to the field of couple and family counseling. The reason behind this,
according to the report Gurman and Kniskern (1981), is that approximately 50% of all problems
brought to counselors are related to marriage and family issues. This clearly nuance that couple
and family counseling utilizes a multi-faceted perspective in solving issues therefore touching
almost all dimensions of an individual.
Furthermore, a summation of research studies by Doherty and Simmons (1996), Gurman and
Kniskern (1981), Haber (1983), Pinsof and Wynne (1995), and Wohlman and Stricker (1983)
suggest a number of interesting findings:
• First, family counseling interventions are at least as effective as individual interventions
for most client complaints and lead to significantly greater durability of change.
• Second, some forms of family counseling (e.g., using structural-strategic family therapy
with substance abusers) are more effective in treating problems than other counseling
approaches.
• Third, the presence of both parents, especially noncompliant fathers, in family
counseling situations greatly improves the chances for success. Similarly, the
effectiveness of marriage counseling when both partners meet conjointly with the
counselor is nearly twice that of counselors working with just one spouse.
• Fourth, when marriage and family counseling services are not offered to couples
conjointly or to families systemically, the results of the intervention may be negative, and
problems may worsen.
• Finally, there is high client satisfaction from those who receive marital, couple, and
family counseling services.
These findings create a narrative that supports the motion of how couple and family counseling
is much effective in touching the different dimensions of an individual in line with resolving their
problems. This is in comparative analysis of the field versus other types of counseling. Basically,
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the argument proven by these is that family and couple counseling offers a much practical
treatment than others.

Family Life and the Family Life Cycle

Just as an individual can be described in terms of his or her stage in the human life cycle, it is
possible to describe stages that occur throughout the life of a family unit. Although stages of a
family are hard to determine, conceptualization can help counselors assess a family’s
functioning and better understanding of family’s strengths and weaknesses.
Family life cycle is the name given to the stages that a family goes through as it evolves over
the years. These stages are unique because not only one individual is involved in the process
and the tasks that should be accomplished are diverse. Furthermore, family life cycle includes
challenges in a family unit that allow them to build or gain new skills that will help them work
with the stages that family goes through.
Stage-critical tasks occur during family life cycle. This so called stage-critical tasks are the
challenges that a person encounter in the stages that go with the family life cycle and their own
personal cycle of growth. For example, stage-critical task of a teenage child is balancing
freedom while considering their responsibilities as they mature. On the other hand, stage-critical
tasks for adults is to establish post parental interest and careers
In accordance with this, Becvar and Becvar (2013) outline a nine stages cycle that begins with
the unattached adult and continues through retirement.
According to McGoldrick, Garcia-Preto, & Carter (2016), some families have the ability to cope
to stage-critical tasks and as a result, they have a better sense of well-being while other families
do not achieve having a sense of well-being and became dysfunctional. Some dysfunctional
families such as those substance abuse family are at high risk for a wide range of
developmental problems. Many people became substance dependent because:
1. It’s their way to relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and structure time
2. to protect and stabilize dysfunctional families by keeping their attention off overall
dynamics and on predictable problematic behaviors
3. it may serve as a substitute for sex
4. promote pseudo-individuation (a false sense of self)
Because of these complex factors and without an intensive social action approach to change
dysfunctional systems, it would be hard for families to overcome substance abuse patterns.
In the alcoholic family system, there is an overresponsible–underresponsible phenomenon
• Over responsible: they continually invest their self-esteem in the ability to control
and influence behavior and feelings in others as well as in themselves, even when
faced with adverse consequences such as feelings of inadequacy after failure
• Under responsible: people are less likely to take action when in the presence of a
large group of people
However, all families should have the ability to adapt and change and should also have
emotional bonding.
Family cohesion and Family adaptability have two dimensions each have four levels,
represented by Olson (1986) in the Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems. The
Circumplex Model is particularly useful as a "relational diagnosis" because it is system focused
and integrates three dimensions that have repeatedly been considered highly relevant in a
variety of family theory models and family therapy approaches. The model is specifically
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designed for clinical assessment, treatment planning and outcome effectiveness of marital and
family therapy. Family cohesion, flexibility and communication are the three dimensions in the
Circumplex Model. It is hypothesized that the central or Balanced levels of cohesion (separated
and connected) make for optimal family functioning. The extremes or Unbalanced levels
(disengaged or enmeshed) are generally seen as problematic for relationships over the long
term.
In reality, even the most dysfunctional families execute well at times and vice versa. Also,
families move around on the circumplex model during their life cycles. Families that are most
successful, functional, happy, and strong are not only balanced but also committed to one
another, appreciate each other, spend time together (both qualitatively and
quantitatively), have good communication patterns, have a high degree of
religious/spiritual orientation, and are able to deal with crisis in a positive manner
(Gladding, 2015b; Stinnett, 1998; Stinnett & DeFrain, 1985).
According to Wilcoxon (1985), couple and family counselors need to be aware of the different
stages within the family while staying attuned to the developmental tasks of individual members
• sensitive to individual family members and the family as a whole they are able to
realize that some individual manifestations, such as depression, career indecisiveness,
and substance abuse that may be a hindrance to family structure and functioning
• evaluating family patterns and the mental health of everyone involved it is crucial that
an assessment be based on the form and developmental stage of the family
constellation
McGoldrick and colleagues (2016) propose sets of developmental tasks for traditional and non-
traditional families, such as those headed by single parents or blended families. It is important to
note that non-traditional families are not pathological because of their differences; they are
merely on a different schedule of growth and development.
Bowen (1978) suggests terms such as “enmeshment” and “triangulation” to describe family
dysfunctionality regardless of the family form.
• Enmeshment is a description of a relationship between two or more people in which
personal boundaries are permeable and unclear.
• Triangulation means that a third person either within the family or someone from
outside, is brought in and selected as a way to protect the integrity of the family by
ending any perceived threat to the system. Part of the way triangulation works is that it
occurs without any direct verbal communication between the threatened member or
members and the individual viewed as posing the threat.

Couple/Family Counseling Versus Individual/Group Counseling

There are similarities and differences in the approaches to couple or family counseling and
individual or group counseling.
Similarities are:
1. Some theories used in individual or group counseling are used with couples and families
such as those person-centered, Adlerian, reality therapy, behavioural. Counselors must
learn about these additional theories as well as new applications of previous theories to
become skilled at working with couples or families
2. Couple or family counseling and individual counseling share a number of assumptions.
For instance, both recognize the importance the family plays in the individual’s life, both

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focus on problem behaviors and conflicts between the individual and the environment,
and both are developmental.
3. Couple and family counseling sessions are similar to group counseling sessions in
organization, basic dynamics, and stage development. Furthermore, both types of
counseling have an interpersonal emphasis.
Differences are:
1. Individual counseling usually treats the person outside his or her family, whereas couple
or family counseling generally includes the involvement of others, usually family
members
2. The family is not like a typical group, although knowledge of the group process may be
useful More emotional baggage is also carried among family members than members of
another type of group because the arrangement in a family is not limited in time and is
related to sex roles and affective bonds that have a long history
3. The emphasis of couple and family counseling is generally on dynamics as opposed to
linear causality as in much individual and some group counseling. the dynamics behind
couple and family counseling generally differ from the other two types of counseling

Overview of Couple and Family Counseling

Couple Counseling
Early practices of couple counseling primarily focused on the couple relationship rather
than the individuals involved. However, it is now emphasized that three entities must be
considered: the two persons individually, and both as a couple. Therefore, in the beginning of a
couple counseling, it is important that the counselor set a precedent conjoint session with the
couple. This is crucial since treating one partner alone may increase the resistance of the other,
thereby creating a conflict and producing more harm (Whitaker, 1977).
Once both partners have a mutual agreement to proceed to couple counseling, the
following approaches may be used (Gurman, Lebow, & Snyder, 2015):
1. Object relational
2. Behavioral
3. Cognitive–behavioral
4. Bowen systems(i.e.,transgenerational)
5. Structural
6. Emotionally focused
7. Narrative
Though all these approaches have their certain strengths, it is believed that the two strongest
are the emotionally focused approach of Susan Johnson and the behavioral approach of John
Gottman since they are both heavily research based.
Family Counseling
In a case of a family counseling, there is usually an identified patient (IP) or the individual who
is seen as the cause of trouble within the family structure. Nonetheless, most family
counselors seek to work with the whole family system than viewing one member of a family as
the problem. The family therapy is usually done from an individual perspective, but it is aimed to
produce a ripple effect – that is, an influence generated from the center outward which is hoped
to influence the family in a positive manner (Nichols, 1988).
Majority of the family counselors operate from a general systems framework rather that a linear
approach. In this light, the family is seen as an open system that evolves over the family life
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