Aaron M.

Pepito, RPm
DIASS
At the end of this module, I can:
 Show an understanding of the role and functions of
counselors.
 Identify competencies of a transformative counselor.
 Identify specific work areas in which counselors can be
employed.
 Identify the rights, responsibilities, and accountabilities of
counselors.
 Distinguish the ethical from the unethical behaviors among
counselors
 Counseling is a profession that allows you to help
others manage their responses to life’s challenges. It is
a career that provides you an opportunity to assist
others in developing their potentials and to encourage
personal growth and learning.
 To better understanding the counseling profession, we
begin by differentiating who are professional counselors
and who are the informal helpers. Professional
counselors are expected to maintain a high degree of
objectivity in doing their job. To do this effectively, they
must not have a personal involvement with their client.
 The role of professional counselor is important in school
to assist students in their academic well-being.
 1. Provides of individual and group
counseling services
 In school setting, professional counselors are equipped not
only in helping individuals understand themselves, but also in
providing correct evaluation for either behavioral or clinical
problems a student may have.
 2. Developmental classroom
guidance specialists
 Professional counselors also prepare lessons and implement
guidance instructions to students. These are executed by
developing clear and measurable objectives to meet the
needs of the students. To meet these objectives, professional
counselors deliver talks, seminars, workshops, and other
interesting activities. Lastly, professional counselors improve
their programs and mode of instructions through consistent
feedback and evaluation.
 3. Leaders and advocates of
academic success
 Professional school counselors have an ethical responsibility
of promoting academic success by helping students identify
barriers affecting school performance. These barriers may be
personal, socio-emotional, moral dilemmas (example: failing
in exam or cheating to pass), or career-related barriers.
Professional counselors guide the students so they can
positively cope with these challenges and see these
challenges as opportunities for growth.
 4. Career development specialist
 Professional counselors also provide activities that will
prepare students for the demands and requirements of their
chosen profession. These activities
include formal writing of resumes,
having proper response to job
interviews, and knowing
appropriate clothing for job
applications.
 5. Agents of diversity and
multiculturalism
 Professional school counselors are trained to deal with the
address the needs of people from different cultural
backgrounds.
 6. Advocates of students with
special needs and students-at-risk
 Professional counselors give attention to students with
special needs – such as the athletes, honor students, students
with absentee parents, those with learning disabilities, and
other clinically diagnosed students. They are special groups
who need additional assistants to help them cope better – by
providing comprehensive assessment programs to better
understand and address their special needs.
 7. Advocates of a safe school
environment
 Conflicts, which may lead to violence, happen in some school
communities. For instance, there are issues on bullying –
physical, verbal, cyber, psychological, etc. – nowadays.
 8. School and community
collaboration specialist
 To ensure student’s holistic
development and success,
professional school counselors
work in collaboration with the
other school authorities and
with the parents of the
students.
Allied Mental
Health
Professionals
 Psychologist
 Psychologist provide counseling and psychotherapy to
promote a healthy mental state.
 Psychotherapy - is knows as the use of psychological
approaches, such as talk therapy which allows the client to
tell whatever is in his or her mind.
 Psychiatrists
 Psychiatrists specialized on the treatment of mental health
disorders and believe that this may be resolved by the use of
pharmacological interventions. Usually, psychiatrists require
physical examination, such as complete blood test and
urinalysis to determine physiological causes of the client’s
condition. Afterwards, they usually prescribe medications to
stabilize or regulate these physiological causes.
 Neurologist
 Neurology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study
and treatment of disorders of the nervous system. When a
client’s performance is affected by neurological problems,
such as speech and language disorders, brain seizures, cr
movement disorders, professional counselors refer him or her
to a neurologist.
 Social Worker
 Professional counselors may also refer clients to social
workers. Specific concerns to housing emergencies or crisis
situations may be attended by a social worker, upon referral
of the professional counselor.
 Characteristics of a
Professional Counsleors
 Just like any individual, professional counselors possess
distinctive traits that make them unique from other helping
professionals. Thus, aside from being knowledgeable and
equipped with skills necessary in helping, effective counselors
must develop and exhibit personal traits or characteristics
that distinguish the uniqueness of their profession. These
traits include the following:
 1. Empathy
 Empathy is the counselor’s ability to accurately sense the
feelings and understand the counselee’s experience. It also
include the counselor’s capacity to communicate acceptance
and understanding of the counselee’s point of view.
 2. Acceptance
 Acceptance is the counselor’s ability to demonstrate an
attitude that is accepting of the client’s insights as expressed
during the counseling session. This is also referred to as
unconditional positive regard.
 3. Genuineness
 When a person is genuine, this means that he or she is
authentic, open in touch with his or her thoughts and
feelings. Hence, when you are
as counselor talk to the counselee,
a genuine trait is manifested when
you feel the same for your counselee
even if he or she is not around.
 4. Self-Awareness
 An awareness of one’s strengths and limitations is necessary
for an efficient and ethical practice of the profession (Parsons
and Zhang, 2013). When a counselor has self-awareness, he
or she is conscious about hi or her personal motivations,
values, world views and biases – and how these influence his
or her professional decisions which may affect his or her work
as well as his or her relationship with the client.
 Big Idea: Effective counselor must develop and show
personal and professional traits that are unique in the
profession.
 5. Open-mindedness
 Counselors must also be open-minded about improving
themselves – new possibilities, knowledge, or suggestions
they may obtain from colleagues and others professionals –
to help themselves grow in maturity and develop
professionally. Thus, they must welcome and embrace new
experiences and their lessons.
 6. Integrity
 Professional counselors must demonstrate personal values
expressed in the ethical practice of their profession.
 7. Competence
 Professional counselors must be highly skillful and
knowledgeable in applying the theories and strategies to
effectively help people. They continue to further enhance
their capabilities by attending professional organizations,
seminars, forums or relevant trainings to their profession.
 8. Problem-solving Skills and
Creativity
 Professional counselors see problems not as mere difficulties,
but also as opportunities for psychological growth. With
these, counselors must be able to facilitate the client’s
realization of the possible solutions given his or her
circumstances.
 9. Embracing a Perspective
Wellness
 A wellness perspective is the counselor’s ability to see the
importance of taking care of himself or herself the way he or
she takes care of others. The counselors may go through
various activities like sports, meditation, and yoga as a form
of recreation.
 Basic Attending Skills
 S – means sitting across the counselee;
 O – means adopting open posture during the counseling
session;
 L – means leaning at times toward the counselee
 E – means maintaining an eye contact, but not necessarily
and confident during the session; and
 R – means being relaxed or the ability to be composed and
confident during the session.
 Observation Skills
 A professional guidance counselor must have the ability to
observe the verbal and nonverbal message conveyed by the
counselee.
 Verbal message – are the spoken words through stories
or insights shared by the counselee.
 Nonverbal message – are the cues or indicators of kept
thoughts and feelings that may indicate personal issues or
problems of the counselee.
 Guidon (2011)
six basic types of
nonverbal expression:
 1. Physical appearance
 This may include a person’s
manner of dressing or
grooming, indicating his or
her ability to adapt and take
care of himself or herself.
 2. Personal space
 Refers to the proximity or
distance between two persons.
Cultural background may
account for personal space;
that is why there are
individuals who feel
comfortable with close
proximity, and others who are
uncomfortable with it.
 3. Voice
 Counselor must pay attention
to the tone of the counselee’s
voice as the latter shares his or
her story. Any fluctuation from
the original pattern of speech
must be noted.
 4. Facial expression
 The individual’s face often
reflect genuine feelings and
emotions. A counselee’s verbal
expression may contradict the
emotions reflected on his or
her eyes and facial expressions.
 5. Body language
 The counselee’s body language is a nonverbal message that
suggests unconveyed emotions.
 6. Sudden change in behavior
 When a counselee display
sudden changes in behavior
during the counseling sessions,
these are indicative of possible
Basic Responding Skills
 Basic responding skills, also called listening skills, are
competencies that indicate a counselor’s ability to accurately
hear and understand the counselee.
 This is the counselor’s ability to understand the client’s
spoken words and shared emotions. Hence, empathy or the
counselor’s “ability to put himself or herself into the shoes of
another person” is essential to properly carry out the
counseling process.
 The following skills allow
effective communication with the
counselee:
 1. Use of Minimal Encouragers
 Minimal encouragers include verbal and nonverbal behaviors
of the counselors, which expresses his or her interests in the
client’s story.
 This also allows the counselee to communicate and continue
sharing his or her stories.
 2. Restatement and Paraphrasing
 This involves restating what the counselee has shared
without alerting the meaning.
 Restatement allows the counselor
to deeply understand the clients’s
experience by using his or her own
words to approximate what the
counselee has shared.
 3. Reflection of Feelings
 This skill involves the counselor’s
capacity to reflect on what
emotions of feelings the
counselee has about a particular
event or experience.
 4. Summarizations
 Summarization attempts to bring together all the important
parts of the discussion, especially when the couselee about
the different concerns or had a lengthy explanation of his or
her experiences.
 We see the world suffering, but still, we get
married and have children.

- That is Love.