Chapter 2 Understanding Counselling

1. UNDERSTANDING
COUNSELLING
CHAPTER 2
Lourdes E. Abadingo, D.P.A
Author

2. Counselling
• Counselling – is an interactive process characterized
by a unique relationship between the counsellor and
client, which leads to the client experiencing changes
in one or more of the following areas:
1. Behavior
2. Beliefs
3. Level of emotional distress

3. The objectives of counselling is achieved through one
or more of the following counselling functions:
1. Advise
2. Reassurance
3. Communication
4. Release of Emotional Tension
5. Clarified Thinking
6. Reorientation

4. The Components of Counselling
1. Counsellor
2. Client
3. Working alliance between counsellor and client

5. The Counsellor
• Counsellor – is a trained professional who serves
through therapeutic communication, which entails
encouraging disclosure, listening to the client, and
giving advice, among other things.

6. The Counsellor
A counsellor is expected to posses the following
attributes and values:
1. A genuine desire to help the client.
2. An acceptance of an respect for the client
3. An ability to listen and understand the client’s
psychological pain from his or her perspective.
4. Excellent therapeutic communication skills.

7. The Client
The client brings to counselling a number of
ingredients which include the following:
1. Personal Pain
2. Help-seeking by choice
3. Personal issues

8. The Working Alliance between Counsellor and
Client
• Ed Bordin (1979) argued that counselling and
psychotherapy can be best understood as an alliance
between the counsellor and client who work together
throughout the process. This relationship is described
as the counselling bond.

9. Several components of counselling bond:
•Core conditions – (first components)
Three core conditions which must be experience by
the client
•Empathy
•Respect - Rogers(1957) originally called this
unconditional positive regard (UPR)
•Genuineness

10. • The counsellor and the client work together for a
purpose. Alvin Mahrer in his book The Goals of
Psychotherapy (1967) argued that there are types of
goals:
1. amelioration of psychological distress
2. promotion of psychological growth

11. The counsellor increases the chances of helping his or her client when
they both agree to pursue goals that are:
• within the client’s direct control to achieve realistic and achievable
• set by client himself/herself
• positively and clearly stated
• uncontaminated by psychological disturbance
• based on the present state of the client
• reflective of the amount of efforts the client is willing to devote in
achieving these goals
• look into their views about the problems being addressed and how
the counselling process can address these.

12. Process Goals in Counselling
• Outcome goals – are the intended results of
counselling.
• Process goals – are objectives that must be achieved
during the counselling sessions and in the counsellor’s
office.

13. Outcome Goals of Counselling
• Developmental – oriented toward personal growth
• Remedial – oriented toward the resolution of
problems

14. Outcome Goals of Counselling
In counselling, change can take several forms:
• Behavioral change (behavior change)
• Cope with the realistic of life (improvement in
coping)
• Make important life decisions (decision making-skills)
• Change in beliefs (altered beliefs or values)
• Relief from emotional distress (reduced emotional
distress) (Brammer and McDonald, 1996)

15. The Stages of the Counselling Process
• First Stage: Initial Disclosure
• To encourage disclosure, the counsellor must set
conditions that promote trust. Rogers (1951)
described these trust-promoting conditions as the
characteristics of the helping relationship:
1. Empathy
2. Congruence or genuineness
3. Unconditional positive regard
4. Concreteness

16. The Stages of the Counselling Process
• The Second Stage: In-depth Exploration
•Immediacy
•Assessment
•Diagnosis
• The Third Stage: Commitment to Action

17. Types of Counselling
• Directive counselling – involves learning about, planning to
solve, and motivating a client to act on his or her problem.
• Nondirective or client-centered counselling – it involves
skillfully listening to and encouraging a client to explain his or
her issues, understand them, and determine appropriate
solutions.
• Participative counselling, also called cooperative
counselling – is a mutual counsellor client relationship that
establishes a cooperative exchange of ideas to help solve a
client’s problem/s.

18. The Ethical Dimensions of Counselling
1. Informed consent
2. Confidentiality
3. Protection and Development