Professionals and

Practitioners in
Counselling
Counselling as a Profession:
Its Roles, Functions, and
Competencies

"Counseling is a helping profession."

 ROLES FUNCTIONS
-seeks to identify the characteristics and
potential of every client.
Individual Assessment -promotes the client self understanding
and assisting counsellors to understand
the client better.

-it is a client
-centered process that demand
Individual Counseling confidentiality.
-Relationship is established between
counsellor and client.

Group Counseling -Groups are means of providing organized

and planned assistance to individuals for a
and Guidance array of needs.
 ROLES FUNCTIONS
-counsellors are called on to provide
Career assistance career planning and adjustment assistance
to clients.

-a service of school counselling programs

Placement and with emphasis on educational placements
in course and programs.
Follow up
-Is the practice of helping clients find
needed expert assistance that the
Referral referring counsellor cannot provide .
 ROLES FUNCTIONS
-process of helping a client through a third
Consultation party or helping systems improve its
service to its clientele.

-it is necessary to advance the profession

Research of counselling ;it can provide empirically
based data relevant to the ultimate goal of
implementing effective counselling.

-Evaluation is a means of assessing the

effectiveness of counsellor's activities .
Evaluation and -Accountability is an outgrowth demand
that schools and other tax -supported
Accountability institutions be held accountable for their
actions.
 ROLES FUNCTIONS
-includes promotion of mental health
Prevention through primary prevention using a social
-psychological perspective.
Competencies of Counselors
 Competencies of Counselors
1.Interpersonal skills
-counselors who are competent display ability to listen ,communicate,
empathize, be present, aware of nonverbal communication ;sensitive to voice
quality, responsive to expressions of emotion, turn taking, structure of time and
use of language.

2.Personal Beliefs and attitudes

-counselors have the capacity to accept others , belief in potential for change,
awareness of ethical and moral choices and sensitive to values held by client
and self.

3.Conceptual ability
-counselors have the ability to understand and assess the client's problems, to
anticipate future problems, to make sense of immediate process in terms of
wider conceptual scheme, to remember information about the client.
 Competencies of Counselors

4.Personal soundness
-counselors must have no irrational beliefs that are destructive to counseling
relationship, self confidence, capacity to tolerate strong or uncomfortable
feelings in relation to clients ,secure personal boundaries, ability to be a client
must carry no social prejudice, ethnocentr­ism and authoritarianism.

5.Mastery of techniques
-counselors must have a knowledge of when and how to carry out specific
interventions ,ability to assess effectiveness of interventions, unders­tanding of
rationale behind techniques, possessio­n of sufficiently wide repertoire of
interventions.
 Competencies of Counselors
6.Ability to understand and work within
social systems
-this would comprise of awareness of family and work relationships of the client,
the impact of agency on the clients, the capacity to use support networks and
supervision ;sensitivity to client from a different gender , ethnicity, sexual
orientation ,or age group.

7.Openness to learning and inquiry

-counselors must have the capacity to be curious about client's backgrounds
and problems being open to new knowledge.
Career Opportunities and
Areas of Specialization of
Counselors
 Career Opportunities and Areas of
Specialization of Counselors
Marriage and Family Counseling
-it refers to the efforts to establish an encouraging relationship with a couple or
family and appreciate the complications in the family system.
-the focus of counselors is on helping couples and families discover options and
opportunities for effective family living.

Child and Adolescent Counseling

-it is a developing area of expertise in the counseling profession .
-common problems include child abuse and neglect ,child/adolescent
depression ,and antisocial behavior.
-it focus on helping children and adolescents acquire coping skills through
promotion of resiliency, positive attachment relationship, emotion­al and
intellectual intelligence etc.
 Career Opportunities and Areas of
Specialization of Counselors
Group Counseling
-it is a dynamic field in the counseling profession .
It offers the ff: opportunities for members to learn from observing other group
members; can function as helpers and helps; opportunities to discover that you
others have similar concerns ;
-enhance interpersonal skills

Career Counseling
-it is an evolving and challenging counseling field.
-it aids an individuals on decisions and planning concerning their career.
-it includes integrating theory and practice .
-the model consists of vocational career services, occupationa­l placement,
vocational­guidance, career counseling, career education, career therapy and
position coaching.
 Career Opportunities and Areas of
Specialization of Counselors
School Counseling
-it refers to the process of reaching out to students with concerns on drugs ,family
and peers or gang involvement.
-the job requires skills on consultation ,counseling exceptional students and with
the ability to handle problems such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, divorced or
single parents and dropping out of school.

Mental Health Counseling

-it is manifested in the challenges posed by its clientele with mental disorders.
-It includes serious depression, schizophr­enia and substance abuse.
-mental health counselors have to be inventive and creative to address these
problems.
-the job requires patience, humility , kindness and compassion.
 Rights, Responsibilities an­d
Accountabilities of Counselor
The Counseling Relationship
 Areas Description
-counselors primary responsibility is to respect the
dignity and to promote the welfare of clients.
-they are expected to encourage client's growth they
1.Client Welfare are expected to work together.
-counselors need to enlist the understanding and
involvement of the family as they are important in the
lives of the clients

-Counselors do not engage in discrimination based on

2.Respecting age ,color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender,
race, re­ligion, sexual orientation etc.
Diversity -counselors shall respect differences and understand
the diverse cultural backgrounds of their clients.

-counselors shall disclose the purposes goals,

techniques, pro­cedures, limitations and potential risks
3.Client Rights benefits of the services.
 Areas Description
-In cases where the client is receiving services from
4.Clients served another mental health professional ,with client's
consent, inform the professional person already
by others involved to develop an agreement.

-maintain respect for clients and avoid actions that

5.Personal seek to meet their personal needs at the expense of
the clients .
needs and -Counselors shall be aware of their values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors.
values
-Counselors are aware of their influential position over
6.Dual their clients and avoid exploiting the trust and
dependency of the clients.
relationships -Counselors should not accept as superiors or
subordinates client's.
 Areas Description
-Counselors should not have any type of sexual
7.Sexual intimacies with clients and do not counsel persons with
whom they have sexual relationship. Counsel­ors should
intimacies with not also engage in sexual intimacies with former clients
within a minimum of two years.
Clients
-Counselors agree to provide counseling services to
two or more persons who have a
relationship ,counselors clarify at the outset which
8.Multiple person or persons are clients and the
nature of relationship they will have each involved
clients person .
-counselors screen prospective group
counseling/therapy participants to determine those
with compatible needs .
9.Group work -In group setting ,counselors take reasonable
precautions to protect clients from physical or
psychological trauma.
Areas Description
-prior to entering the counseling relationship, the
counselors clearly explain the clients all financial
10.Fees arrangements related to professional fees.
Confidentiality
 Areas Description
-counselors respect a client's right to privacy and avoid
illegal and unwarranted disclosures of unwarranted
information.
1.Right to privacy -counselors who receive info. confirming that a client
has a disease commonly known to be communicable
and fatal is justified in disclosing info. to an identifiable
third party ,who by his /her relationship with the client
is at high risk of contracting the disease.
-when court order counselors to release confidential
information without a clients permit ,counselors should
not be require due to potential harm to client or
counseling relationship.
 Areas Description
-in group work ,counselors clearly define confidentiality
2.Group and and parameter for the specific group being entered,
explain its importance, and discuss difficulties related
families to confidentiality involved in group work.
-in family counseling ,info. About the family cannot be
disclosed to another member without permission.
-when counseling client who are minors or individuals
3.Minor who are unable to give voluntary, informed consent
parents or guardians may be included in the counseling
incompetent process as a appropriate.
clients
 Areas Description
-counselors maintain records necessary for rendering
4.Records professional services to their clients and as required by laws ,
regulations, agency or institution procedures.
-counselors are responsible for securing the safety of and
confidentiality of any counseling record.
-Counselors obtain written permission from clients to disclose
or transfer records to legitimate third parties unless exception
to confidentiality exists.
-use of data derived from counseling relationships for
5.Research and purposes of training ,research, or publication is confined to
content that is disguised to ensure the anonymity of the
training individuals involved.
-identification of client involved is permissible only when the
client has reviewed the material and has agreed to its
presentation or publication .
-information obtained in a consulting relationship is discussed
6. Consultation for professional purposes only with persons clearly concerned
with the case.
Professional responsibility
 Areas Description
-Counselors have a responsibility to read ,understand,
1.Standards and follow the Code of Ethics and Standards of
Practice.
knowledge
-Counselors practice only within the boundaries of
2.Professional their competence based on their education ,training,
supervised experience, state and national professional
Competence credentials and appropriate professional experience.
-Counselors practice in specialty areas new to them
only after appropriate education, training, a­nd
supervised education.
-Counselors accept employment only for positions
which they are qualified by education, training,
supervised experience etc.
-Counselors refrain from offering or accepting
professional services when their physical ,mental or
emotional problems are likely to harm clients or others.
 QUIZ
GET ½ SHEET OF PAPER
1.It is a process of helping a client through a third party or
helping system improve its services to its clientele.
A. Referral B. Research
C. Consultation D. Career
2.It is the process of helping clients find needed expert
assistance that the referring counselor cannot provide.
A. Research B. Referral
C. Career assistance D. Consultation
3.Counselors have the capacity to capacity accept
others ,belief in potential for change awareness of ethical and
moral choices and sensitive to values held by client and self.
A. Mastery of techniques B. Personal soundness
C. Personal Beliefs and attitudes D. Conceptual ability
4.Counselors who are competent display ability to listen,
communicate, empathize, aware of nonverbal
communication ,structure of time and use of language.
A. Personal soundness B. Interpersonal skills
C. Conceptual ability D. Mastery of techniques

5.Counselors must have a knowledge of when and how to

carry out specific interventions and understand rationale
behind techniques.
A. Personal soundness B. Conceptual ability
C. Interpersonal skills D. Mastery of techniques
6.It refers to the efforts to establish an encouraging relationship
with a couple or family and appreciate the complications in the
family system.

A. Career counseling B. Mental Health counseling

C. Group counseling D. Marriage and Family counseling
7.This type of counseling aids individuals on decisions and
planning concerning their career.

A. Career counseling B. Counseling

C. School counseling D. Group counseling
8.It refers to the process of reaching out to students with
concerns on drugs ,family and peers or gang involvement.
A. Mental Health Counseling B. School Counseling
C. Career Counseling D. Group Counseling
9.It is a client-centered process that demand confidentiality.
Rela­tionship is established between counselor and client.
A. Career assistance B. Individual counseling
C. Research D. Placement and follow up

10.Counselors have the ability to understand and assess the

client's problems to anticipate future problems
A. Mastery of techniques B. Personal soundness
C. Conceptual ability D. Interpersonal skills
 ANSWERS

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