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Social Case Work & Counseling: Unit V Counseling

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COUNSELING A helping relationship that is enough to get constructive changes to occur in client. It is an ongoing process wherein the client and counselor work together to assist the client and resolve the problem. Counselling is a learning-oriented process, which occurs usually in an interactive relationship, with the aim of helping a person learn more about the self, and to use such understanding to enable the person to become an effective member of society. Counselling is a process by means of which the helper expresses care and concern towards the person with a problem, and facilitates that person's personal growth and brings about change through self-knowledge. Counselling is a relationship between a concerned person and a person with a need. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although sometimes it may involve more than two people. It is designed to help people to understand and clarify their views, and learn how to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed choices, and through the resolution of emotional or interpersonal problems. The core conditions in a counselling relationship are: 1. empathic understanding 2. congruence/ genuineness 3. respect for clients capacity to lead their own lives. Unconditional Positive Regard (Carl Rogers) Nature of Counseling: The nature of counselling is to assist individuals through a helping relationship to alleviate current negative responses to challenging situations. It is a one-toone relationship in most of the cases. y Focus on working towards the current problem of the client, focussing on the Here and Now of the situation. The counselling session focus on making the client independent to deal with his/her own problem. y Respect for the clients capacity of self-determination y Importance of confidentiality. y Create awareness towards their problem. It is a long-term process that may run into 12-20 sessions (45-60 min each).

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Social Case Work & Counseling: Unit V Counseling

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According to Carl Rogers: 1. Two persons are in psychological contact. 2. The first, who can be stated as Client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious. 3. The second, who can be termed as Therapist is congruence, or integrated in the relationship. 4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client. 5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the clients internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client. 6. The communication to the client of the therapists empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved.

Skills/Qualities required for a counselor/Characteristics of an effective Counselor: One who possess the core conditions in counseling: Empathy, Genuineness, Undertanding, Warmth and Respect. Communication Skills, (Verbal & nonverbal) is essential for en effective counselor. One who believes in the ability of the client. According to Gerald Egan (The Skilled Helper, 1975) effective skilled helpers should also be committed to their own growth, including the social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual aspects of their being. He also adds that helpers need to become potent human beings. Potent human beings are people with both resources and will to act. Good Counselling Skills: y Basic intelligence and respect for ideas. y Knowledge and competant use of theory. y Evaluation skills. y Common sense and social adeptness. y Easiness with others y The ability to feel at home in the social and emotional world of others as well as their own. y The ability to respond effectively to wide range of human needs. y Lack of fear of deep human emotions, both their own and those of others, and a willingness and ability to work at the level of distress. y A willingness to explore their own feelings, and behaviour and to work at recognizing and integrating all aspects of the self. y The ability to interpret non-verbal messages.

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Stages/Steps in the process of counselling: A staged model establishes a framework for helping that grows along with the relationship between the counsellor and the client. Egan: (1) Exploration (2) Interpretation (3) Goal setting/Action Richard Nelson-Jones: 1. Develop the relationship, identify and clarify the problem(s) 2. Assess the problems and redefine the skill terms. 3. State the working goals and plan interventions. 4. Intervene to develop self-help skills. 5. Consolidate self-help skills. An alternative four stage model is as follows: 1. Comprehent the clients perspetive on their problems and their current situation. 2. Explore alternative perspectives with the client; work on their difficulty and explore how they would like their situation to change. 3. Explore ways of achieving the clients chosen goals and make concrete plans of action. 4. Implement the plan, evaluate the extent to which the goals have been achieved and revise the plan if required. Lawrence Brammers counseling process starts out with opening the interview and stating the problems and then come the six stages: 1) Clarifying the problem and goals for counseling 2) Structuring the counseling relationship and procedures 3) Building a deeper relationship 4) Exploring feelings, behavior or thoughts 5) Deciding on some plans of action, trying these out and evaluating them 6) Terminating the relationship Three stages of Counseling: (UNESCO publication) 1. The Present Scenario a) Help clients to tell their stories. b) Help clients become aware of, and overcome their difficulties and develop new perspectives about themselves and their problems. c) Help clients search for options. 2. The Preferred Scenario a) Help clients develop a range of future possibilities. b) Help clients to translate possibilities into viable agendas. c) Help clients identify the kinds of incentives that enable them to commit themselves to the agendas they prepare. 3. Strategies (Getting There) a) Help clients brainstorm various strategies for implementing their agenda.
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b) Help clients choose a set of strategies that best fits their environment and resources. c) Help clients formulate a plan, a step-by-step procedure for reaching each goal. Counselling Techniques: 1. Listening (active listening) 2. Accepting 3. Respecting 4. Understanding 5. Responding 6. Probing 7. Summarizing 8. Paraphrasing 9. Clarifying 10. Reflecting (mirroring back; capture the essence of how the feeling is understood)

Aim & Goal of Counselling: The aims of counselling are broad. They may depend on the situation and the environment, and on training. The basic aims of counselling include the following: 1. To help client gain an insight into the origins and development of emotional difficulties, leading to an increased capacity to take rational control over feelings and actions. 2. To alter maladjusted behaviour. 3. To assist client to move in the direction of fulfilling their potential, or achieve an integration of conflicting elements within themselves. 4. To provide students with the skills, awareness and knowledge, which will enable them to confront social inadequacy. Goals of Counselling: various goals: managing a life crisis, healing a past hurt, handling a transition, making a decision or developing a life skill. Goals can be Remedial or Developmental. The ultimate goal is to overcome negative qualities and developing positive ones. Positive mental health and psychological well being are the supreme focus of counselling. The emphasis in counselling is increasing the clients responsibility for their own lives, so it is essential for them to make choices that help them to feel, think and act effectively.

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Social Case Work & Counseling: Unit V Counseling

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PSYCHOTHERAPY: Psychotherapy can be defined as a treatment by psychological means, of problems of an emotional nature, in which a therapist deliberately establishes a professional relationship with the patient to,  Remove, modify or retard existing symptoms,  Mediate disturbed patterns of behavior, and/or  Promote positive personal growth and development. Counselling & Psychotherapy: (Tim Bond) Counselling Psychotherapy Educational Situational Problem-solving Conscious awareness Focus on present Shorter length on contract working with people who do not have severe or persistent emotional problems Reconstructive Issues arising from personality Analytic Preconscious & Unconscious Focus on past Longer length of contract Emphasis on neurotics or working with persistent and/or severe emotional problem.

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