NATURE AND DEFINITION OF COUNSELLING

The terms ‘helping’ and ‘counselling’ are interchangeably used in the

present society to denote any kind of assistance offered to other people in
enabling them manage their adverse situations. These situations could be
financial crisis, ill-health, lack of social support, disturbed relationships to
name a few. But there is a wide difference between helping and
professional counselling. Let us understand these differences.
 Helping relationships involve giving advice while counselling does
not.
 There may be a conflict of interests in some helping relationships.
 Helper might be judgemental but counsellor cannot be.
 Helpers may offer sympathy rather than empathy.
 Counsellors do not impose conditions or expectations upon clients
while other helpers may expect their clients to behave in certain
ways.
 Counselling is a relationship and it is a special form of
communication.
 Counselling involves listening
 In Counselling one person helps another person or a group.
 Counselling is based on the principle of empowerment.
 Counselling is an activity carried out by trained people.
 Counselling is guided by theories about the causes of problems and
the methods needed to help.
 Counselling recognises that each person is unique with unique
experiences.
Counselling is an interactive process characterised by a unique
relationship between counsellor and client that leads to change in the
client in one or more of the following areas: -
1. Behaviour: Overt changes in the ways clients act, their coping skills,
decision-making skills and relationship skills.
2. Beliefs: Ways of thinking about one’self, others and the world.
3. Emotions: Uncomfortable feelings and over and under reactivity to
stimuli.

Counselling is defined as a process which takes place when a counsellor

sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the
client is having, distress they may be experiencing or their dissatisfaction
with life or loss of a sense of direction or purpose.
Counselling is also defined as a process which takes place in a one to one
relationship between an individual troubled by problems with which he
cannot cope alone and a professional worker whose training and
experience have qualified him to help others reach solutions to various
types of personal difficulties.
These definitions indicate that counselling is not an advice giving activity
but its primary aim is to help each individual who asks for help to resolve
or reorganize his difficulties with a maximal degree of self-sufficiency and
self-control.
The counsellor is not directly concerned with making plans and decisions
for his clients. His major mission is to organise learning situations in such
a manner that the client will change his behaviour from what it was to
something more personally satisfying and socially acceptable after gaining
new perception and insight into his problem.
GOALS OF COUNSELLING
Counsellors may have different goals with different clients. Some of them
are: -
 Assisting them to heal past emotional deprivations;
 Manage current problems;
 Handle transitions;
 Help to make decisions;
 Manage crises;
 Develop specific life skills.
Counselling goals emphasise increasing client’s personal responsibility for
creating and making their lives better. The goal of counselling is to help
the clients to make choices that enable them to feel, think and act
effectively. Counselling process helps the clients to acquire the capacity to
experience and express feelings, think rationally and take effective
actions to achieve their goals.
REASONS FOR SEEKING COUNSELLING
People seek counselling for a variety of problems:
 Sometimes problems may have become unmanageable or enhance
the feelings of dissatisfaction or unhappiness with life.
 People may find themselves in self-destructive relationships or fail to
anticipate the consequences of their action. Though they express a
desire to change, they feel it difficult. This could be because of lack
of self-awareness and insight into their problems.
 Sometimes, when physical symptoms fail to respond to medical
investigation, people seek counselling. For example, this can be
seen in the case of psychosomatic symptoms like skin problems,
tension headaches, sleep disorders, tiredness, stomach problems
and other symptoms.
 Sometimes, when people lack motivation or direction they are
propelled towards counselling.
  Academic under achievement, difficulties at work, lack of
assertiveness and low self-esteem are also reasons why people seek
help through counselling.
 Addictions and phobias are problematic for many people while
others are troubled with anxiety, feelings of worthlessness and the
belief that they would break down if help is not obtained.
Apart from these, other reasons for seeking counselling include: -
 Social problems
 Chronic illness
 Gambling
 Job loss and problems related to retirement
 Developmental crises
 Problems associated with sexual orientation or sexual identity
 Violence, rape and assault
 Bullying at school or at work.
USE OF COUNSELLING SKILLS AS PART OF MANY PROFESSIONS
Many people, including doctors, nurses and teachers require some
counselling skills as part of their work. For example, doctors listen to their
patients and they try to understand the complex messages which people
in distress wish to convey. But doctors and others cannot devote
necessary time to individual patients. Moreover, doctors tell their patients
what to do, but their focus is more towards factual aspects than on the
emotional aspects of the problems presented.
So, the need is felt to impart counselling skills training to many
professionals to enable them to discharge their duties more effectively.
Despite the limitations, many professionals use counselling skills as part
of their work. Some of these professionals are:-
 Psychologists
 Welfare workers
 Career Counsellors
 Teachers
 Nurses
 Occupational therapists and Speech therapists
 Social workers
 Physiotherapists
 Voluntary and youth workers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE COUNSELLOR
It is necessary to possess some traits to become an effective counsellor.
They are:-
  A counsellor should be first committed to his own growth that is,
physical, intellectual, social, emotional, in order to help others
achieve.
 He should have adequate basic intelligence.
 He should be good at social and emotional intelligence.
 He should possess empathetic skills to understand the client’s
problem.
 He should respect the client and express his respect by being
available to him, working with him and not judging him.
 He should genuinely care for the person who has come for help. It
means he should be non-defensive, spontaneous and willing to say
what he thinks and feels in the best interests of his client.
 A good counsellor is at home with people. He can handle crises,
mobilise his own energies and those of others in order to act
forcefully and decisively.
 An effective counsellor focuses on action to enable the client bring a
constructive behaviour change.
 He should be able to use humour to ease the clients from distressing
feelings.

COUNSELLING THEORY (APPROACH)

Counselling theory deals with assumptions and hypotheses about the
process of human development. The problems and difficulties which arise
at various stages throughout our life span as a result of environmental or
other influences are considered under counselling theory.
The ways in which different forms of therapy and counselling approach
these problems, and their individual methods of helping clients have
evolved theories about human development and the acquisition of helpful
and unhelpful behaviours.
Three Approaches to Counselling
Psychoanalytical and psychodynamic therapies
These are based on an individual’s unconscious thoughts and perceptions
that have developed throughout their childhood, and how these affect
their current behaviour and thoughts. Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic
are examples of this approach.
Due to the complexity of counselling there are many different approaches
to supporting a client through the counselling process. This can depend on
the style of additional support used or the individual exercises and
teachings a counsellor demonstrates during the one to one counselling
sessions. A psychodynamic approach provides a broad range of
therapeutic approaches.
Psychodynamic therapy helps in counselling clients understand the root
cause of their problems and issues. It also helps equip them with
knowledge and suggestions to enable them to cope with further
difficulties. With a strong emphasis on the trust between a client and
counsellor or psychotherapist, psychodynamic therapy provides the tools
required to make progress.
This form of counselling has roots in the theories of Sigmund Freud, and
was initially developed in the 1940s. His studies focused on the belief that
our emotions, thoughts and behaviour stem from the unacceptable
thoughts from one’s childhood that are allowed to influence the current
thinking. These repressed thoughts and feelings eventually manifest as
depression, fears and conflicts. The therapy is relationship centered and is
powered by one’s interactions with close friends and family.
Psychodynamic therapy helps by understanding and acknowledging that
most emotional problems originate in a client’s childhood, and that all
experiences will have some kind of subsequent subconscious effect on the
individual. Identification of subconscious thoughts and understanding how
these thoughts affect behaviour are accomplished by reflecting and
looking inward at the feelings, thoughts and reactions a client expresses.
Problems like depression etc. can be successfully treated and improved
using some form of psychodynamic approach. This form of counseling
relies on the interpersonal exchange between a counselor and client in
order to establish and develop positive strategies that a client can use to
create changes. Counsellors use non directive counseling in which they
encourage the client to express feelings and emotions while they listen
and watch out for clues to the root cause of a problem or issue.
Psychodynamic approaches take many forms and the key principles
include:-
i. Early experiences of a client in childhood is important
ii. All internal experiences relate to relationships with other people
iii. Free association and other techniques provide more information in
exploring the problem
iv. Insight is essential in order to achieve positive progress and success
in counseling.
Behavioural Therapy
This therapy focuses on an individual’s learnt, or conditioned behaviour
and how this can be changed. The approach assumes that if behaviour
can be learnt, then it can be unlearnt (or reconditioned). So it is useful for
dealing with issues such as phobias or addictions. Examples of this
therapy are behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy.
The behavioural approach to counselling makes the basic assumption that
most problems are problems in learning and as such the behavioural
counsellor tries to help the individual to learn new and more adaptable
behaviours and to unlearn the old non adaptable behaviours. The
behavioural counsellor focuses attention on the individual’s ongoing
behaviours and their consequences in his own environment of school and
home. He tries to restructure the environment so that more adaptable
patterns of behaviour can be learned and nonadaptable patterns of
behaviour can be unlearned.
Humanistic Therapies
These focus on self-development, growth and responsibilities. They seek
to help individuals recognise their strengths, creativity and choice in the
‘here and now’. Person-centered, Gestalt and existential therapies come
under this category. For over fifty years a humanistic approach has been
used in the field of therapeutic counselling. Although behavioural and
psychoanalytic forms of counselling are also available, the humanistic
approach is an extremely successful option.
Counselling clients with a humanistic approach provides them with an
opportunity to explore creativity, personal growth and self-development,
as well as acknowledging a variety of choices. The foundations of the
humanistic approach provide the client with a deeper understanding of
who they are, what they feel and the opportunity to explore the possibility
of creating personal choices. It encourages self-awareness and self-
realisation.
A humanistic approach provides a distinct method of counselling and
focuses predominately on an individual’s unique, personal potential to
explore creativity, growth, love and psychological understanding.
Counsellor’s specialising in providing clients with humanistic counselling
are skilled in offering a non-judgmental, supportive and understanding
service, in a safe and confidential environment. There are many different
types of humanistic counselling, all of which involve a close counselling
relationship between the counsellor/therapist and the client. These include
Gestalt Counselling, Transactional Analysis, Transpersonal Psychology,
Depth Therapy and Humanistic Psychotherapy, to name but a few.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING
The method a counselor chooses may be either direct approach
(counselor-centered) or indirect approach (counselee-centered)—although
a combination of both is often appropriate.
i) Direct Approach: When the counselor assumes the initiative and
carries a major part of the responsibility for problem identification and
resolution he or she is using the direct approach. This approach is called
as “I talk, you listen”. This direct approach to counseling might also be
called the problem solving approach. It has both advantages and
disadvantages that are given below.
Advantages of Direct Approach
 Quickest method.
 Good for people who need clear, concise direction.
 Allows counselors to actively use their experience.
Disadvantages of Direct Approach
 Doesn’t encourage clients to be part of the solution.
 Tends to treat symptoms, not problems.
 Tends to discourage clients from talking freely.
 Solution is the counsellor’s, not the client’s.
ii) Indirect Approach: The indirect approach was developed primarily by
the renowned psychologist Dr. Carl B. Rogers. In this method, the
counsellor’s participation is minimal, and the techniques of reflection and
acceptance are used to encourage the counselee to freely express
himself. The counsellor pays particular attention to the emotion and
attitudes associated with the problem. The counselee is encouraged to
choose the goals, make the decisions, and take responsibility for those
decisions.
 Encourages maturity.
 Encourages open communication.
 Develops personal responsibility.
Disadvantages:
 More time-consuming
 Requires greatest counsellor skill.
 Combined counselling
• Depending on the nature of the client, intensity of the problem and the
available resources, combination of directive and nondirective approaches
are used.
Advantages of Indirect approach
 Moderately quick.
 Encourages maturity.
 Encourages open communication.
 Allows counsellors to actively use their experience.
Disadvantages of Indirect approach
 May take too much time for some situations.
Counseling” is a very broad category that encompasses many
opportunities in any number of types of counseling subfields. Counselors
do work in schools, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, among other
locations, or they can maintain a private practice, and there are many
ways in which to specialise during their counseling career. Here are some
of the most common types of counselling:
• Marriage and family counselling
• Guidance and career counselling
• Rehabilitation counselling
• Mental health counselling
• Substance abuse counselling
• Educational Counselling

Other types of counselling used in other settings such as army etc.,

include the following:
• event-oriented counselling
• counselling for specific instances
• reception and integration counselling
• crisis counselling
• referral counselling
• promotion counselling
• adverse separation counselling
• performance counselling
• rofessional growth counselling

Guidance and career counseling are more geared toward those who are
looking for career opportunities. Many have a difficult time deciding what
career choice would be best for them. When it comes to considering
talents, abilities, likes and opportunities, a career counselor is one that
would most likely be best to help with these issues.
Rehabilitation counseling is relatively straightforward. It basically helps
anyone who needs rehabilitation for any issue they have dealt with. This is
somewhat similar to mental health counseling. Those who have suffered
with mental issues of all kinds are those who should look into mental
health counseling.
Substance abuse counseling is a therapy more in demand as there is a
growing need for substance abuse victims in recent years. Substance
abuse could include drugs, alcohol or anything else one becomes
dependent upon. Indeed, there are several different types of specialised
counseling available to fit the needs of any individual who would like to
seek therapy for his or her problems.
In addition to the main specialties listed above, counselors can also assist
their clients using techniques in areas such as these:
• Debt counseling
• Child development counseling
• Eating disorder therapy
• Grief counseling
• Art therapy
• Musical therapy

COUNSELLING PRACTISE (SKILLS)

Counseling involves a process, the aim of which is to help others to help
themselves by making better choices and becoming better choosers of
options. The counselor’s repertoire of skills includes those of forming an
understanding relationship, as well as interventions, focused on helping
clients change specific aspects of their feeling, thinking and acting.
In a counseling relationship, the counselor and client work together to
explore every aspect of the client’s circumstances, enabling the individual
to reevaluate his or her experiences, capabilities and potential.
Counselors facilitate full and confidential expression of the client’s
feelings, without diverting any attention to their own feelings.
The responsibility for change is placed with the client. This means that
when changes are made, they are self-motivated, and therefore more
likely to last and to be effective. Self-reliance is a central tenet of
counselling.
The counselor is perhaps the first person that the individual has met for a
long time who truly listens without prejudice and whom he or she can
trust completely.
1) Judgement: A good counselor is someone who can learn not to make
judgments on behalf of the person being helped. Although counsellors
have their own values, these should not be imposed on the client and the
counsellor must retain the ability to listen to and accept the views of
clients with other standards.
2) Experience Patience and Acceptance: A counselor rarely needs to use
his or her self-control in dealing with people, even those people who are
not likeable.
3) Experience: Learning to grow into a more complete person from the
experience of life’s hard knocks can be a valuable quality in a counselor.
4) Education: Formal degrees in psychology do not necessarily make good
counsellors, but a common-sense approach is not sufficient. Good
counsellors are willing and able to learn about themselves and other
people too.
5) Social Skills: It is not enough to be considered a good listener.
Counselors learn through training how to perceive all aspects of verbal
and nonverbal communication, and deliberately improve their listening
skills by using appropriate techniques during counselling.
6) Genuineness and Warmth: Effective counsellors have a genuine interest
in other people. This is often referred to as respect or unconditional
positive regard for the person being helped. People who do not need
others in their lives may find this sort of warmth to unknown people as
being problematic.
7) Discretion: Counselors must show complete discretion, never revealing
what others say or do within the counselling context. Confidentiality is
paramount in counseling relationships.
8) Practice: Counseling requires a lot of training, followed by much
practice. A current job that will allow the possibility of a helping role could
be very useful.
Learning to grow into a more complete person from the experience of
life’s hard knocks can be a valuable quality in a counselor.
The word ‘skills’ thus refer to the interpersonal tools which counsellors
need to possess or acquire in order to communicate effectively with
clients. These essential skills include those of:-
 Listening and attending
 Paraphrasing
 Summarising
 Asking questions
 Encouraging clients to be specific
 Reflecting their feelings
  Helping them to clarify their thoughts
 Encouraging them to focus on key issues
 Offering forms of challenge and confrontation when needed.

Structure of Counselling
Counselling is a process which requires a coherent framework or structure.
This structure acts as a guide for both counsellor and client. Egan devised
a structural model of counselling which divides the process into three
main components. They are:-
Stage One: Review of the present situation. Stage One of the models
refers to the initial phase of counselling, where clients are encouraged to
explore their problems so that they may develop a deeper understanding
of them.
Stage Two: Development of a new or preferred scenario. Stage Two refers
to the process of helping clients identify what they want and need in order
to deal more effectively with problems.
Stage Three: Moving into action. Stage Three is the phase of action,
during which clients devise ways of actually dealing with problems.
Most clients experience a beginning phase where they seek to make a
sense of their problems, a middle phase during which they consider what
to do, and a later stage where they start to act.
All clients experiences are not identical in counselling. Most clients
experience a beginning phase where they seek to make sense of their
problems, a middle phase during which they consider what to do and a
later stage where they start to act.
On the other hand, some clients come to counselling for a brief period and
leave once they have been given the opportunity to explore their
problems in the presence of someone who really listens. Such clients
identify ways of coping with problems very early and feel able to
formulate and implement courses of action quickly.
Establishing Rapport
Many clients find it difficult to get started unless they are asked one
opening question. Some examples are:
Please sit down. How would you like to start?
Is there anything in particular that you would like to begin with?
Can you tell me about the issues which concern you at the moment?
How do you see your situation at present?
Once contact has been established and the client starts to talk, the
counsellor can use a range of continuation skills to encourage further
exploration. For example:
Yes, I see……
After that……
Please go on…..
Tell me more about……
So you feel…….

Basic Skills- Stage I

There are certain basic skills which are to be executed by all counsellors
irrespective of the approach or theory they adopt in the counselling
process. These skills are essentially used in the first stage and also
throughout the counselling process. Some of these skills are:
Attending and Listening: Active listening is an important skill in
counselling. It refers to observation of client’s non-verbal behaviour and
as well as understanding of verbal content and meaning. The way
something is said is as important as the actual words spoken. Since many
clients have difficulty in using the words that express their feelings,
observing non –verbal cues is important.
Attending and listening skills always go together in counselling. This is
because it is not always possible to give full attention to the clients
without actively listening to them. The counsellor also communicates to
the client verbally and non-verbally.
Non-Verbal communication: Egan emphasised on the acronym SOLER
to understand the aspects of non-verbal behaviour which encourage
active listening.
S Sit facing the client squarely as it assures the client that he has your
attention.
O Be Open in your posture.
L Lean slightly towards the client as it shows attitude of interest.
E Establish Eye contact with the client.
R Relax
Gestures and Touch: Excessive use of gestures creates uneasiness
between client and counsellor. So counsellors need to minimise these.
Sometimes clients themselves may be anxious and restless initially, but
when counsellors model attitudes of calm and stillness, clients become
relaxed.
The issue of touch is problematic in relation to therapeutic counselling and
in most instances touch is considered inappropriate for a variety of
reasons. For example, clients who have experienced physical or sexual
abuse in the past are fearful of this contact. Nurses may use touch in their
interaction with patients but this may be impersonal. However,
counsellors may use tactile expressions but considering cultural
differences with regard to touch.
Silence: To listen effectively to the client, it is necessary to be silent.
Counsellor need to show through his demeanour that he is ‘with’ the client
in everything he says. Sometimes, clients require periods of silence in
order to collect their thoughts or as a way of experiencing a strong feeling
or emotion. If counsellors are tempted to fill in the spaces either through
asking questions or finishing the client’s sentences, clients regard this as
intrusive and insensitive.
Verbal Communication
Reflection : It refers to the skill of communicating back to the client that
her words and feelings have been heard. It indicates that the counsellor is
listening carefully to her and especially on the emotional content of what
the client has expressed.
Paraphrasing: It refers to the rewording of the content of what clients
say. But it should not be the verbatim of client’s narration. This skill can be
developed by concentrating first on content and then focusing on
emotional content.
Summarising : This skill is used when a helper wishes to respond to a
series of statements or to a whole session. This skill requires active
listening, empathy, the ability to stay with client’s frame of reference and
the ability to connect all random threads into a coherent framework.
Asking Questions : Sometimes counsellors ask variety of questions
depending on the nature of problems inorder to get the facts from the
clients. Some of them are —
Open questions : These are used to encourage clients to explore their
problems in greater depth.
Multiple questions: Several questions are asked at once and the client
doesn’t know which to reply.
Leading questions: These questions lead the client in a certain
direction, usually in the counsellor’s viewpoint.
Probing skills: These are meant to encourage clients to expand on their
initial response.
Focusing questions: These questions encourage clients to look more
closely at specific aspects of a problem and to define issues more clearly

Challenging Skills - Stage II

Along with basic skills, stage –II of counselling requires the use of
challenging skills which will help clients to develop new perspectives
about themselves and the problems they experience. The word challenge
refers to the skill of encouraging clients to confront their own behaviour,
attitudes or beliefs. The skills used in this phase are –
Immediacy: This skill is used to describe the process of discussing what
is actually taking place right now in the counselling situation.
Self-disclosure: Counsellor discloses his experience or information
related to him to the client when he feels the need of it. But this disclosure
has to be appropriate and properly timed. This is especially used in
contexts like counselling for substance abuse or addiction.
Giving information to clients: Information giving can also prove
challenging for clients, especially when their expectations are unrealistic
in some way.
Identifying patterns and themes: Sometimes there are recurrent
themes which are discernible in the problems which clients recount. Once
a relationship of trust has been established between counsellor and client,
it is possible to identify these patterns so that clients are challenged to
consider them seriously.
The Action Phase - Stage III
In the third stage of the counselling process, clients are encouraged to
act, helped by the new understanding and knowledge which they have
acquired in the previous two stages. Along with the counsellor, the client
explores a variety of ways and means to achieve goals. A plan of action is
discussed and formulated, and through out this process the counsellor
supports the client and helps him monitor and evaluate any changes
proposed.
All the skills of stage I & II are used here along with new set of skills which
include the following:-
Goal setting and Choosing Programmes
Many clients may have unsatisfactory work, relationship or other problem
situations over long periods of time. So setting realistic goals is one way of
helping clients to plan the changes they need to make by providing them
the needed support and encouragement. Realistic goals are dependent on
the internal and external resources and when there is a discrepancy
between goals and resources, adjustments need to be made. The
following questions can be asked in relation to any goals which are
formulated:
Are they clear?
Are they specific?
How realistic are they?
Are they measurable?
Clients can be encouraged to write down their goals in clear and specific
terms.
For instance, the client can be asked to explore –
What is it I want?
How can I achieve this?
Why should I do this?

Creative thinking
When clients are emotionally upset or under great stress, creative thinking
may be difficult for clients. However, when clients are ready to act, there
are certain strategies for encouraging creative thinking which help them
to look at new ways of tackling their problems. These are idea storming,
visualisation and imagery.
Giving encouragement
It is important to encourage clients through out the counselling process. It
expresses trust and confidence in the client’s ability, judgement and
capacity for self-development. When clients are confronted with barriers,
they easily give up at which time, the counsellors need to direct the
attention of the clients to their personal resources and achievements.
Evaluation
It is necessary if clients have to achieve their goals. The appropriateness
of any goal or action should be monitored and reviewed and when this is
done clients tend to feel more confident about their progress.

Ending Sessions
The counsellors need to develop the skill of ending individual sessions
especially when clients talk at great length. One way of dealing this is to
mention the time boundaries at the begin of counselling. Another idea is
to state the time ten minutes before the session is due to end.

APPLICATION OF COUNSELLING THEORY AND PRACTICE (SKILLS)

There is a wide range of specific contexts in which counselling and
therapy are used. Counselling practitioners can work alone, work together
within an agency or organisation or as specialists work in multidisciplinary
teams. The diverse modes and settings in which counselling is provided
are –
• Couples counselling
• Family therapy
• Group counselling
• Telephone counselling
• Schools, colleges and university
• Voluntary work
• Health centre
• Hospitals and
• Work place

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COUNSELLING PROCESS
The counselling process is dynamic in nature. It is not a one-time event
but a process consisting of a series of steps with a beginning, a middle
and an end, where the counsellor facilitates the client to understand
different aspects of their life which they wish to change or modify or face
difficulties in. There is a natural progression that takes place within the
context of the helping relationship between the client and the counsellor.
In the process of counselling there are definable stages with recognizable
transitions starting with relationship building, assessing the situation
/problem, setting the goals, selecting, and using counselling strategies to
bring about the desired results and finally, termination and follow-up.
In the counselling process, realistic goals are established and options are
explored by the client with the help of counsellor. Together, they make the
goal as specific as possible because it helps in achieving it faster. All these
happen in the context of a therapeutic relationship of trust which helps
the clients to identify their difficulties, concerns, fears and apprehensions
and address these during the counseling process.

Importance of Counselling Process

The counselling process progresses through different stages which are not
discrete but continue simultaneously. It takes time to build up a
relationship of trust between the client and counsellor, it does not form
overnight. It is a developmental process which progresses towards
reaching to a conclusion or resolution of problem. The most significant
element of the counseling process is the client-counselor relationship. As
stated by Rao (1999), uniqueness commonness comprises an important
dimension of the counseling relationship.
It is unique in terms of the attitudes, beliefs, characteristics, and
background of client and counselor. It is common in terms of the generic
and objective aspects of the client-counselor relationship. For instance, it
includes the cognitive element of eliciting information and analyzing
these; and conative elements of expressiong feelings by the client.
The process of counselling helps the client learn problem solving and
better decision making. It can help the client in different aspects of life
such as personal, social, academic, or career concern. It can assist the
clients to enhance their self-confidence, intrapersonal and interpersonal
skills, and communication skills. It can also make the clients define their
career goals and path and acquire a deeper awareness into their and
others beliefs, feelings, behaviour, perspectives and needs. Counselling
can help them to establish meaningful and happy relationships with others
and cope with day-to-day life’s stress and other negative feelings more
effectively.
Counselling is an active process where the client actively participates in
the counselling session as well outside of the session to develop new
insights and skills and make needed changes. The entire process of
counselling is to enable the client to explore his/her concerns or difficulties
or distress and to make his or her own decisions with the help of the
trained and qualified counsellor. The counsellor does not provide advice or
suggestion to the client. Rather, the counselling process aims at shifting
the client’s perspective from an attitude of victim to feelings of control
over their life.
Stages of Counselling Process
Counselling is an active process influenced by various theoretical
perspectives. Process can refer to the progression or development from
one stage to another with recognisable transitions where counsellor and
clients understand each other and form a trusting relationship, assess the
needs and situation, set realistic and achievable goals and form a
workable plan to bring about the desired positive outcomes.
The natural progression from one stage to another is known as the
counselling process. The process of counselling decides the success of
counselling and it starts with forming a rapport building, moving towards
identifying the problem, goal setting, interventions and then finally
reaches to the termination and follow-up. Various counseling skills are
used during this process. Let us now discuss the various stages in the
counselling process.
1) Rapport establishment
The first stage in the process of counselling is building a relationship
between the counsellor and the client which is a continuous process. It is
also known as “rapport building” stage which is considered as the
foundation of counselling. The counsellor begins with establishing the
environment conducive to build mutual trust and respect where the client
can feel free to have open communication about his/her issues/
insecurities or fear. Genuineness, respect, empathy, effective
communication, and being open-minded by the counselor will facilitate a
psychologically safe, secure and supportive environment and a trusting
relationship.
The counsellor needs to assure confidentiality and have a non-judgmental
attitude towards the client. The counsellor must keep it in mind that the
purpose of counselling is to develop a therapeutic relationship which helps
in identifying the needs of the client and assist the client in taking
responsibilities for his/her problems as well as its decisions or solutions.
The initiation of counselling process begins with the following important
goals on the part of counsellor and the client:
Counsellor needs to:
 Create a comfortable and positive relationship with the client.
 Brief about the counselling process and shared responsibilities to
the client.
 Facilitate trust, open and an honest communication
 Find out and substantiate the client’s concern that brought him/her
to seek counsellor’s help.
 Plan the strategies to get needed information or assessment data
for continuing with the counselling process.

Client needs to:

 Understand and clarify, if required, the counselling process and
his/her responsibilities in the process.
  Share and explain the reasons for seeking help and
 Cooperate in the assessment for understanding the problem/issues
and self.
2) Understanding and assessing the client’s problems

The second stage is the problem assessment stage. In fact, understanding

of the client’s problem starts during the process of relationship building
itself. Assessment holds a crucial place in the process of counselling.
During assessment process, information about the various aspects of the
problem and about the person facing the problem as well as an
understanding of the context is gathered. The process of assessment
involves various skills such as observation, interviewing, taking case
history, noting of information, forming hypothesis, etc. The counsellor
needs to collect extensive details about all aspects of the client’s life.
The gathered information must be validated by cross checking from other
significant people in client’s life such as family members, peers,
colleagues, co-workers, etc. since the presenting or outwardly observed
problems may be just the tip of the iceberg and may be used as a
concealment for the deeper or actual issues. Once the client develops the
trust and feels accepted, they may share their deeper issues, conflicts,
doubts, fears, and insecurities. Thus, it is important that the counsellor
uses an appropriate assessment procedure to find out the deeper problem
and understanding about various issues.
Taking Case history and Interview
Taking history is an important step in assessing and defining the problem
the client is facing. The process of taking history usually starts with
collecting standard identification data about the client such as name, age,
sex, address, socio economic status, education, etc. Apart from this, it is
also important to note the presenting problem, symptoms, and behaviour
of the client. It is also important to note down the physical appearance,
verbal, and non-verbal cues. Sometimes the body language and gestures
can reveal more than what the client tells.
Before the process of taking case history, the counsellor needs to assure
the client about the confidentiality and security of the personal
information shared by the client to the counsellor. It needs to be
reinforced that no information would be revealed to anyone without the
permission of the client. The counsellor notes down the present problems
and past problems if any, treatment, or help sought out before coming to
the present counseling. Developmental history, medical history, and
educational/occupational history of the client are taken. If needed, the
counsellor may interview client’s relatives and friends after taking consent
from the client. It is also important to note that the counsellor should
follow the ethical guidelines and legal rules pertinent for retaining such
personal information of the client.
Along with case history and interview, the counsellor may use certain
standardized tests to diagnose the problem. Thus the counselor gathers
as much relevant information as possible through different methods and
different sources and integrate it to understand the overall picture of the
client’s needs and concerns. This understanding is shared with the client
as counseling process is a collaborative journey where the client also
needs to develop self-understanding and self-responsibility for the change
to happen.
The counsellor can use the following steps to identify and explore
problems of the client:-
1) Describe the problem: Identify the problem and define it very clearly,
specifically and objectively. Find out the contributing and maintaining
factors of the problem, severity and duration of the problem.
2) Explore the problem: Gather the information about the problem
through different sources and methods. What all methods or ways clients
have tried, which did work or which did not work, its background etc.
3) Integrate the information: Systematically organise and incorporate
all the gathered information to make it meaningful that will help in
understanding the client and his/her problem clearly and also to diagnose
the problem and plan the possible course of action.
3) Diagnostic formulation
The next step in assessment is formulating the diagnosis. Counsellor’s
clinical decision making will help in the process of formulating a diagnosis.
The counsellor/practitioner uses the information gathered from the
case/medical history and interviewing the clients and significant others.
They observe physical characteristics and conduct mental examinations
and/or psychological tests to develop a list of possible causes of the
problem or the disorder which is also known as making differential
diagnosis. The counsellor then decides what strategies or action must be
planned and taken to help the client. Sometimes even after
therapy/counselling has begun, the list of possible diagnoses may be
revised further if the client does not progress as expected. The purpose of
assessment and formulation of diagnosis is to help the client set goals and
initiate action. If the client and the problems are correctly understood and
the assessment is made properly, it can help in identifying the client’s
resources and ability to bring about the changes and to set realistic goals
of counselling. This further helps in choosing appropriate therapy/
counselling to be provided by the counsellor.
4) Goal setting in collaboration with the client
Setting goals is an important step to get structure to the entire
counselling process. It provides a structure and direction for the counsellor
and client. The goal represents the desired outcome. Knowing that there is
a goal to be reached through the counselling process generates a sense of
hope and motivates the client. This in turn helps the client work towards
realistic resolution of the problem and determine what can be achieved.
Goals also help the counsellor to validate the outcomes of the counselling
sessions. Both the client and the counsellor need to work in close
collaboration to achieve the results. The main function of goal setting is to
motivate, educate, clarify, and evaluate.
5) Selecting and applying counselling strategies
Once the client and the counsellor are able to identify goals, the next
question is to accomplish these goals. The counsellor needs to identify
and plan strategies or techniques to bring positive changes in the client
and to enable them to resolve their difficulties and live more effectively
and happily. The selection of counselling technique or intervention will
depend upon many factors such as the counsellor’s theoretical or
philosophical orientation, the skills, and the insights of the counsellor in
using a particular technique, nature of the client’s problem, nature of the
client, the insight gained by the client, the time client is having for
counselling, etc. Sometimes a client will report on useful efforts they have
already made and then such interventions or efforts can be further
modified and tried during counselling sessions.
6) Termination and follow up
Therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor is not permanent
and lasting relationship. Successful counselling has a criterion of
successful termination as well. Termination is an important though often
misunderstood phase of counselling. This is often ignored or taken for
granted. Abrupt and unexpected break in relationship may become
traumatic for a client; therefore, the counsellor should prepare the client
for the termination. As this helps the client to mentally prepare
himself/herself for ending this important, secure, and trustworthy
relationship. Some counsellors as well as client may feel attached to the
relationship and may feel uncomfortable ending it. The client may feel
insecure to end the counseling relationship. Therefore, counsellors need to
plan for termination once the client reports some significant gains from
counselling. The counsellor can start preparing their clients gradually for
closure by making statements such as “it seems that now you are gaining
good insight and skills to deal with your problems on your own”, “maybe
very soon you may not require counselling”. Some clients may get upset
at the possibility of facing their problems without help but they may
accept it if the issue is discussed gently and gradually.
 It is also advisable to make a follow up appointment, which would give
them a sense of security and hope they are likely to meet the counsellor
again and may contact the counsellor if needed. It is also scheduled for
various reasons including evaluation, research, or checking the progress
with the client. A formal termination of these counselling session serves
three main functions:
 Counselling is finished and it is time for the client to face their life
challenges on their own.
 The client has gained the insight into his problems and coping
strategies. S/he has matured and thinks and acts more effectively
and independently.
 Skills and strategies learnt during counselling session and changes
which have taken place have generalized into normal behaviour of
the client.

FACTORS INFLUENCING COUNSELLING PROCESS

Counseling is not a linear process, rather a dynamic process affected by
so many factors. Understanding these factors can help the counsellor to
work on these and make the process more effective and beneficial to the
client.
1. Physical Setting/Contextual Factors
To make the process of counselling effective, it is important to have a
physical setting or the context which provides a place of confidentiality
and feeling of safety to client to begin with. Although there is no universal
standard that a counselling room should have, yet there are certain
optimal conditions which can be created to have a conducive environment
for both client and the counsellor. The counselling room should have
comfortable sitting arrangements with good ventilation and right
temperature. The room should have enough lighting and with soft and
soothing colour. It should not be too cluttered as it may deviate the
attention of the client. It should be a place where privacy and
confidentiality can be maintained. If it is near the main office or in view of
public, client will hesitate to approach. It should not be in a noisy place
and no disturbances or distractions should be there.
The sitting arrangement should be in such a way that the distance
between client and counsellor feels comfortable to both. Presence of table
or any other furniture in between the client and counselor may create a
physical and psychological or symbolic barrier which can affect the
rapport building between the client and counsellor. The sitting
arrangement could be arranged at a 90 degree angle from one another so
that the client can either look at the counsellor or straight ahead
(Benjamin, 1987). Different variations in physical setting can be adapted
based on the client/counsellor’s comfort level, available resources and
most importantly, the socio-cultural context. The counsellor should make
sure that the session should not be disturbed or interrupted during
counselling. The counsellor should put the phone on silent mode and can
display ‘do not disturb’ sign outside the room for undisturbed session.
In addition to the physical setting, the counsellor should keep ‘SOLER’
technique (developed by Gerald Egan, 2014) in mind while attending the
client to initiate a better relationship building and listening. These are as
follows:
S – Face the client squarely that is to have a posture of involvement
O –Have an open posture. Sit with your hands open and kept on your lap
or
on side of arms of chair, feet on the ground. Don’t cross your arms or legs.
L – Lean forward (at 60 degree) towards the client but be aware of their
personal space needs
E – Maintain appropriate eye contact. Looking at the person suggest that
you are interested and concerned. But don’t stare or look away or down
which may be perceived as disinterest or boredom.
R – Relax when you interact with client. If you are tensed, the client will
find it difficult to relax and trust in your abilities as counsellor.
2. Process Factors
The process of counseling can be facilitated by putting in a structure to it
so that the client is clear of what to expect in the counselling process. The
structure gives a framework which both the client and counselor can refer
to have a clear understanding of the counseling process. It reflects a
mutual understanding between the client and counsellor regarding their
respectiveroles and responsibilities, and also about the characteristics,
conditions and procedures of counselling including the fees and ethical
guidelines. Thus structure provides a sense of objectivity to the counseling
relationship and the counseling process. It helps clarify counselor-client
relationship, provides a direction to counseling process; protects the
rights, roles and obligations of both counselor and client; and ensures the
success of counseling (Brammer, Abrego & Shostrom 1993).
Structure is provided throughout different stages of counselling. However,
it is more important to provide the structure of counseling in the
beginning itself, so that client is well aware about what to expect from the
counselling sessions and does not have any unrealistic expectation.
Structure helps the client to know the time limit of the session, action
limits i.e., what to express and how to express (for instance s/he is
allowed to express but cannot be offensive, use abusive language or harm
self or the counsellor), role limits (what is expected of the client and the
counselor), and procedural limits (client is required to work on specific
goals or needs during the counselling sessions). Thus structure helps to
bring in some sense of order for the client who is otherwise faced with
confusion, chaotic situation and conflicting issues in her/his life.
The counseling process is also influenced by proper use of counseling
skills by the counselor. The bonding between client and counsellor with
open listening and unconditional acceptance helps in exploration of
problems and getting the awareness and insights on issues. Sensitivity
and expertise in the use of counseling skills will provide the opportunity to
the client for reflection, emotional catharsis and emotional vent out which
fastens the healing process. Learning new models and ways of thinking
helps the client to get empowered to deal with his/her life.
The process of counselling moves forward smoothly if the counsellor and
the client know the boundaries of the relationship and what is expected.
The counsellor can be flexible and discuss the nature of the structure as
per the need of their client.
3 Client Factors
The therapeutic relationship between the client and counsellor depends
on how they perceive each other. The client who actively participates in
the counselling process have more successful outcomes from counseling
than those who are passive. So the initiative taken by the client is a
crucial factor in determining the outcome of counseling. It refers to the
motivation to change. Those clients who have positive expectation and
faith in the counselling process and counsellor, they are more likely to
continue in counseling and achieve success in counseling.
An important aspect here is the source of referral - whether the client is
selfrefered or referred by a third party. When self-referred or the client has
come on her/his own, it is assumed that the client will take initiative and
be motivated to change. However, this may not always be the case in
referral by others – parents, teachers or school administrators or office
boss. There may be reluctant clients or resistant clients. Reluctant clients
may be there in referral cases, however, resistant clients can be in both
self refeered and other-referred cases. A reluctant client lacks motivation,
is reluctant and does not take initiative. They do not want to be in
counseling. They may report dissatisfaction and prematurely terminate
the counselling. Resistant clientsare those who may want counseling but
are unwilling, unready, or opposed to change (Otanie, 1989), and want to
avoid the emotional pain, change in perspective, or enhanced awareness
that counseling demands (Cowan & Presbury, 2000). If the client is not
involved in the counseling process or not doing assignments or work to
change their thoughts and actions, they are being resistant to the
counseling process. In such cases, the skill of the counsellor becomes very
critical.
There are several ways in which counsellor can help the client to stop
resisting and make them initiate and achieve success in counselling. The
counsellor should be ready to anticipate some level of anger, frustration
and defensiveness from the client which will help them to be more
accepting, receptive, patient and understanding. When the counselor
shows understanding, caring and non-judgemental attitude, the client
feels accepted and is open to listen and participate in the counselling
process. Once the relationship is formed the counselor may use
techniques of persuasion, confrontation and other techniques to make the
client work through.
Client’s level of motivation, his/her personality, attitude, beliefs,
intelligent, socio-cultural background, age, gender, educational status,
comorbidity, etc. all can have an effect on the success of the counselling.
The counsellor must understand the client and his/her background, verbal
and non-verbal communication. Cultural background of the client needs to
be kept in mind while evaluating the non-verbal communication such as
body gestures, postures, eye contact, facial expression, etc. as these may
convey different meanings in different cultures. Further, the stigma
associated with being in a counseling session, especially in the Indian
context (Agrawal, 2015; Rajgopala, 2017), may prevent the client in
continuing or getting involved in counseling sessions.
4. Therapist/Counsellor Factors
The counsellor has an important role to play in the outcomes of the
counselling sessions. Their personal and professional qualities are very
important in building up the relationship with the client. There are number
of qualities which a counsellor should possess in order to be more
effective such as they need to be encouraging, supportive, patient
listener, warm, accepting, empathetic, and non-judgemental and having
positive regards for the client.
All these qualities of the counsellor are more likely to create the right
conditions for success. They should also be interested in helping people.
Apart from these, s/he should be well trained and expert in the methods
that they practice, with a high professional ethics.
Okun and Kantrowitz (2015) specified five important characteristics a
counsellor should possess. These are: Self-awareness, honesty,
congruence or genuineness, ability to communicate and knowledge.
Clients also look for expertise in the counselor. Counselors need to
communicate in simple, jargon-free language, wear appropriate attire, and
show genuine concern and interest in the client without being bossy,
lecturing or criticizing the client.
Most important, counselors need to develop a trusting relationship with
the client which can serve as the foundation for the client to open up and
share things with the counselor.
ETHICAL GUIDELINES IN COUNSELLING
Counsellor like other professional also do have ethical responsibilities to
follow because they deal with the human beings and their interaction and
decisions can harm or heal the client. Counsellor’s own attitudes, beliefs
and behaviour can affect the decision making and direction of the
counselling process and hence the outcome of the counselling.
Counsellors’ thoughts, actions or behaviours are guided by their own
moral values, personal and professional ethics and legal procedures.
Without having the knowledge and awareness of these, the counsellor
may harm the client unintentionally.
Therefore, it is very important for counsellors and all helping professionals
to have the knowledge of professional ethical guidelines. Before we move
towards explaining ethical guidelines, let’s understand what we mean by
ethics. According to Kitchener (1986), Ethics means, “making decisions of
a moral nature about people and their interaction in the society”.
Ethics are normative in nature and focus on the principles and standards
that direct relationship between counsellors and clients (Akinade, 2005).
The important point to remember supporting ethical responsibilities of
counsellor is that s/he must act in accordance with the client’s rights.
Purpose of Ethical guidelines
Ethical guidelines help us in many different ways. These serve to provide
certain basic guidelines for the professional behaviour of the members.
There are many ethical and legal considerations which needs to be
followed by the counsellors as helping professionals.
• Ethical guidelines helps the professional counsellors to regulate
themselves and function independently.
• These ensures competent professional behaviour, clarify members’
ethical responsibilities and avoid malpractice in the profession.
• Ethical standards helps to deal with ethical dilemmas, build professional
character and virtues.
• These also can protect the professionals in case of legal procedures and
precedents or processing the ethical complaints. These also help control
internal disagreement.
• These help in establishing principles for behaviour and best practices
among its members and serve as an ethical guide promoting the values of
counselling profession.
Ethics are guidelines that are based on the basic principles of the
counsellor/ practitioner code of ethics. Corey (1996) briefly outlines five
principles on which therapeutic boundaries are based upon:
• Beneficence:The principle of beneficence says that counsellor should act
in the best interests of the client based on his/her professional
assessment. The counsellor has the duty to see that s/he is competent
and provide services based on adequate training or experience. The
paramount goal of counsellor is to work in the best interest of the client.
The counsellor have the responsibility for promoting or doing good for the
client with the anticipation that the client will benefit or get healed from
the counselling sessions.
• Non-maleficence: "Doing no harm". The counsellor must avoid at all
times, (even unintentionally) any activities or situations with the client
that could harm the client or cause a conflict of interest. Hence the
principle of non- maleficence is considered one of the most critical of all
principles because not doing good is ok but doing intentional and/ or
unintentional harm to client is unpardonable. It involves avoiding physical,
emotional, financial, sexual, or any other form of client exploitation. The
counsellor should avoid incompetency or malpractice; providing services
when unfit to do so due to illness, personal difficult circumstances, or
intoxication. The practitioner/counsellor has an ethical obligation to do
his/her best to alleviate any harm caused to a client even when the harm
is unavoidable or unintended. Counsellors have a personal responsibility
to challenge, where appropriate, the incompetence or malpractice of
others; and to help in any investigation pertaining to professional practice.
• Autonomy: the counsellor's must believe that the client is capable of
solving his or her problems and ethical responsibility to encourage client
independent thinking and decision-making, and to deter any kind of
dependency of the client on the counsellor.
• Justice: The counselor must commit himself/herself to provide an equal
and fair service to all clients regardless of their age, gender, race,
ethnicity, culture, disability and socio-economic status. Thus the principle
of justice states that a counsellor/practitioner needs to be just and fair to
all clients and respect their human rights and dignity. S/he should not
discriminate the treatment to the client based on their cast, creed, region,
religion, educational and/or socioemotional status.
Counsellors have a moral duty to ensure a fair provision of counselling and
psychotherapy services, easily approachable, available, and appropriate
to the needs of potential clients.
• Fidelity: being honest and trustworthy with clients and authentically
honouring the counsellor's commitment to the client's progress.
Some of the ethical standards that need to be practiced by professional
counsellor are:
• Informed consent needs to be taken before beginning of the
counselling sessions where the client is provided with all relevant
information pertaining to counseling. The client must have the capacity to
make a rational decision, he/she must be able to comprehend the
information and consent must be voluntary. The counsellee or client
should have the freedom to decide about their participation without any
coercion or excessive incentive or without any penalty, and the freedom
to withdraw from counselling or psychotherapy once it has begun.
• Confidentiality of the client should be maintained. Whatever is shared
between the client and counsellor should remain intact and will not be
shared without the consent of the client. There are certain exceptions to
maintaining confidentiality in case of a likelihood of physical harm to self
(e.g., suicide) or harm to others (e.g., plannig to kill others), illegal
actions, evidences to be submitted in court cases, or child abuse.
• Record Keeping. Counsellors have an ethical duty to secure their
records in a safe place with restricted access without compromising on the
confidentiality and maintaining the privicy of the data. Extra security
measures can be used such as using codes, numbers, fictitious names to
keep notes from identifying the client.
• Privacy is the right of the client. The counsellor should make sure that
the physical privacy is maintained of client. If the client is talking and
sharing s/he should have separate place where others don’t have access
to intrude.
• Alleviating client’s distress and suffering should be the only
agenda of the counsellor and not gaining some personal favours or
rewards or build personal relationships for benefit of self.
• Integrity of the practitioner-client relationship is important for building
up the therapeutic relationship. Trust and respect are fundamental aspects
in any relationship. The basis of trust and respect is integrity. If this basis
or foundation of integrity is damaged or fragile, it is impossible to build
the required trust to maintain a successful and positive relationship.
• Respect for human rights and dignity. Counsellors should be sensitive
and aware about socio-cultural background of the client and respect the
client’s views and opinions without condemning them or being
judgemnetal.
• Professional competence and skills are essential. The counsellor
and the company which hires them must ensure that they are qualified
and trained appropraite to the position they are hired for and should have
licence to practice from a recognised body. The counsellor should practice
within the limitations of his/her competancy, in case s/he feels
incompetent to deal with the client, s/he should either consult his/her
supervisors, or more experienced professional colleague or refer to
someone more competent.
• Self-respect and Self-care of the counsellor: It is the counsellor’s duty
to promote self-awareness and have good physical and mental health. The
principle of self-respect means that the counsellor takes care of her/his
own needs. The counsellor should also seek counselling or therapy for
her/his personal issues and engage in opportunities for personal and
profession development.
Multicultural Competence
Counsellor needs to be sensitive to different cultural context, beliefs and
practices to create a conducive and effective counseling climate.
Disregard and/or non-consideration of specific culture of the client will
hamper the counselor-client relationship and the entire counseling process
may seem alien to the client. This is an important part of ethical practice
in counseling that the counselor has multicultural competence in providing
counseling to people from different cultures. The ACA ethical standards
(American Counseling Association, ACA, 2005) has outlined multicultural
guidelines, both in the practice of counseling and also in the training of
counselors. For instance, aspects of confidentiality, assessment, training
and supervision etc. need to include multicultural/diversity competence so
that counselors develop perspective from other cultures also. The focus in
multicultural competence is mainly on three areas – awareness of one-
self, knowledge of multicultural issues and contexts, and culturally specific
techniques.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
PROCESS OF COUNSELLING- AN INTRODUCTION
Pickard & Carroll, 2015 have defined Counselling as the process by which
a professional (counsellor) provides guidance and assistance meant to
resolve psychological, social and personal difficulties of his clients.
According to McLeod (2013), the psychological therapy that the
counsellor provides to the client includes relationship therapy, cognitive
behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy. The client should effectively
communicate the difficult feelings to the counsellor and the counsellor in
turn helps the client in finding their own solutions for those problems.
From these definitions we can say that the counselling process is a
planned, structured dialogue between a counsellor and a client. It is also a
cooperative process in which a trained professional that is the counsellor
helps a person with difficulty called the client to identify sources of
difficulties or concerns that he or she is experiencing. Together with
cooperation they develop ways to deal with and overcome these problems
so that person has new skills and increased understanding of themselves
and others.
Counselling process refers to events, characteristics, or conditions that
occur during or as a result of the interaction between counsellor and
client.
Professional counselling can take the form of:
 Individual counselling: It is the most common type of counselling
that focuses on the growth and mental health of an individual.
  Couples or marriage counselling: this type mainly focuses on
assisting couples in overcoming conflicts that arise between them
and working towards a stronger relationship.
  Family counselling: It involves the different dynamics of family and
how they affect the family structure.
  Group counselling: This type of counselling makes the use of group
interaction to facilitate growth.
Professional counsellors and counselling psychologists are very commonly
found in all type of institutional settings such as high schools and colleges,
private industry, community agencies, prisons, and the military, as well as
in private practice. They are often called on to help individuals deal with
their grievances that arise of unexpected tragedies.
Concepts in Process of Counselling:
The process of counselling comprises of certain concepts, they are as
follows: -
Readiness: The counsellors are majorly of two types i.e. one who
voluntarily seeks assistance and the other who are referred through some
sources. The counselling pre-supposes a desire on the part of the
counsellor that makes him come for the assistance that is come for help
for solving client’s problems. This desire is referred to as readiness.
Counter Will: People usually experience difficulty in asking for help and
accepting it, because they are unwilling to face the consequences of
change or an admission of inadequacy of failure. The negative feeling that
holds back one from seeking help is referred to, as counter will.
Case History: Case History is a systematic process of collection of facts
about the counsellors past and present life. However, focus of attention
varies from case to case.
 Rapport: It is a warm, friendly and understanding atmosphere created
by the counsellor, which is catalytical in the formation of an effective
counselling relationship with the client. Warmth of relationship and feeling
of trust, which grows out of unconditional acceptance are important in
contributing to the establishment of rapport between counsellor and
client.
Transference: It refers to the transferring of emotions by the counsellors
originally felt toward someone early in life. The clients are encouraged to
express his/her feelings and emotions freely. The counsellor acknowledge
and appreciate these feelings and handles in a therapeutic way.
Counter Transference: This occurs when counsellor project their
unresolved conflicts upon the counselee. When counsellor feels
uncomfortable and experience felling of anger, resentment or become
overemotional. This is unhealthy.
Resistance: It refers to counselee’s move to oppose the counsellor’s to
work towards set goals. This influences counselling outcome positively.
Resistance ranges from open hostility to passively resistant behavior like
being late for an appointment.
4.2 STAGES OF THE COUNSELLING PROCESS
The definition of counselling states that it is an interactive process
characterized by a unique relationship between counsellor and client. To
understand counselling as a process, it is important to distinguish
between outcome goals and process goals. Outcome goals are nothing but
the intended results of counselling. Generally, they are described in terms
of what the client desires to achieve as a result of his or her interaction
with the counsellor. Outcome goals are described in terms of change in
the client that will manifest after the counselling and outside the
counsellor's office.
In contrast, process goals are those events in which the counsellors take
all the needful steps and procedures in bringing about outcome goals.
Process goals are plans for events that take place during the counselling
sections and in the counsellor's office. For example, a counsellor may
think, "If I am to help this client, I must actively listen to what he is saying
and understand the significance of his concerns for his present and future
well-being. I must understand how the attitudes he is describing
influences the way he behaves towards significant others. I must
understand the surrounding circumstances (including cultural background)
that relate to his concerns, and I must understand the reinforcing events
that support his behaviour". All of these statements are process goals that
relate to the counsellor's behaviour.
A process is an identifiable sequence of events taking place over time.
Usually there is the implication of progressive stages in the process. The
stages if the counselling are discussed below:
1. Initial Disclosure:
At the beginning of counselling, the counsellors and clients are novel to
each other, they do not know one another well. Neither the counsellor can
predict in advance the direction in which their discussion will ultimately
take nor the client can predict they are probably a bit anxious about
disclosing their concerns because they are unsure as to how the
counsellor will receive the disclosures. We all know that without
disclosure, counselling is an empty process. One central task of the
counsellor in the first stage is to allay the client’s fears and encourage self
- disclosure.
In the initial disclosure stage of counselling, clients must be made
comfortable and helped to articulate their personal concerns easily and
without hesitation. The client should be able to place those concerns in a
context such that the counsellor can understand the personal meanings
and significance the client attaches to them. To define the problem is the
first step in learning the meaning of the situations of the particular client.
To encourage disclosure, the counsellor must set an environment that can
promote trust in the client. Rogers (1951) described these trust-promoting
conditions as the characteristics of the helping relationship.
Empathy: understanding another's experience as if it were your own,
without ever losing the "as if" quality. Its like stepping into others shoes.
Congruence or genuineness: being as you seem to be that is be what
you are, consistent over time, dependable in the relationship.
Unconditional positive regard: caring for your client without setting
prior conditions for your caring. Example: avoiding the message "I will
care about you if you do what I want", etc.
Concreteness: Egan (1988) adds another condition that has relevance
throughout the counselling process that is concreteness. It involves using
clear language to describe the client's life situation so that it becomes
easier.
Effective counselling procedure in the initial disclosure stage lead to
sustained self-disclosure by the client for the following purposes:
 To let the counsellor have the knowledge of what has been occurring in
the client’s life and how the client thinks and feels about those events
that have occurred.
 To encourage the client to gain some feeling of relief and trust through
the process of talking about her or his problems and feeling light-
hearted.
 To encourage the client to develop a clearer definition of what exactly
his or her concerns are and to develop a greater understanding about
exactly what is disturbing.
 To help the client begin to connect and correlate components of his or
her story that may lead to new insight and new dimension.
2 In-Depth Exploration:
In-Dept exploration is the second stage in the counselling process. In this
stage, the client should have a clear understanding of his or her life
concerns and begin to formulate a new sense of hope and directions. It is
a useful rubric to think of emerging goals as the "flip side" of problems.
The counsellor’s task here becomes that of a friend and a guide which
helps the client develop new awareness and perspective that can help to
lead to growth, more effective coping ways and clarification of goals.
During this stage the client continues to disclose his or her intimate
thoughts and feelings, the counselee and the counsellor, both become
more aware of the following:-
 Significant events that have played an important role in shaping the
counselee’s present personality and circumstances
 Deficiencies that exist in the counselee’s ability to cope with life
circumstances
 Strengths that the counselee possesses and is unable to apply to
resolve his or her problems.
In the second stage, subtly at first the counsellor begins to bring into the
discussion his or her diagnostic impressions of the client's dynamics and
coping behaviour. Coping behaviour is the empathic responses of the
counsellor during this stage. The empathic responses of the counsellor
includes all the material from prior sessions and now the focus is more on
the client's mind state so that the counsellor has an understanding of his
or her world and provide an impetus for still deeper exploration.
Further as the relationship becomes more secure and strong, the
counsellor also beings to confront the client with observation about his or
her goals behaviour. Broadly speaking, constructive confrontation provides
the client with an external view of his or her behaviour, based on the
counsellor's observations. The client is free to accept, reject or modify the
counsellor's impression.
Immediacy is another quality of the counsellor's behaviour that becomes
important in the second stage of counselling. Immediacy refers to general
discussions about the progress of the counselling relationship. The
counsellors give the client an immediate reaction to the client's
statements or asks the clients to disclose current thoughts about the
counsellor. Immediacy response may be a self-involving statement that
expresses the counsellor's personal to a client in the present.
The second stage of counselling usually becomes very emotionally
stressful, as the client has to repeatedly face the inadequacy of habitual
behaviour and must begin to give up the familiar for' the unfamiliar. This
stressful task must be dealt with utmost care in which it is clear that the
counsellor is not criticising the client's past behaviour.
3 Commitment to Action:
In third stage that is the final stage of counselling client resolve how to
accomplish any goals that have come over during the previous two
stages. Goal setting is the first task of the third stage of the counselling
process. The process of specifying goals makes sure that both client and
counsellor know where exactly they are headed during this stage. The
clients have to realise in what manner his or her own behaviour related to
accomplishing the goals that have been clarified through the counselling
process. What remains is to decide whether any overt actions are taken by
the client due to which the problems may elevate. If no such action is
indicated, then the third stage of counselling can focus on how to increase
the client's commitment to a view that s/he has done everything possible
or desirable in the given situation.
This stage includes recognising all possible alternative courses of action
(or decision) the clients might choose, followed by evaluation of each of
them in terms of the likelihood of outcomes. Once an action decision is
made, the clients usually try some new behaviours while remaining in
touch with the counsellor. Together, the counsellor as well as the client
monitor the initial steps of the change process. During this phase the
client often needs to be reinforced so that he/she can behave in new
ways, both because the old behaviours are habitual by nature and
because new behaviours may not bring results immediately, especially
when the goals focus on improving interpersonal relationships with one or
more people, probably because the other parties may not respond
instantly or as desired to the client new direction, which could lead to
discouragement. A goal cannot be defined until a concern has not been
explored, identified and clarified, therefore a particular action cannot be
evaluated. Eventually, the segments of an individual's life cannot be
treated as an independent problem that is it cannot be fully separated.
Ultimately, each sector as individual pieces must fit back into a whole
picture of the individual's life, much as the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fit
together to procedure a complete picture. The process of counselling may
further involve refining the edges of one piece so that it fits the picture
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SKILLS OF COUNSELLING
These are some of the most important counselling techniques you are
likely to use in your counselling sessions. The counsellor has to possess
certain essential skills in order to deal with clients. The four essential
counselling skills are as follows:
1 Rapport Building
Irrespective of the type of counselling or therapy you practice, whatever
model of counselling the you are working with, if you don’t have the
rapport with your client, meaningful change is unlikely to occur. To work
well with a client, we need to establish rapport with them. Rapport means
a sense of having connection with the person. Imagine rapport as the
highway that connects the client and counsellor. Building this highway will
allow mutual transmission of information from the client to counsellor. It
ensures that the transferred information reaches its destination so that it
can be further processed and assimilated. Without the highway,
information can get lost in translation or could be misinterpreted. Building
rapport with your clients is one of the most important counselling skills to
possess. In order to build rapport with the client, the counsellor needs to:-
 The counsellor needs to be well prepared for the session, unrushed,
calm, ready and prepared to be there for the client, putting their own
issues and problems out of the way, for the duration of the session.
 The environment should be made safe and trustworthy which includes
making the setting appealing; offering a restful, clean, uncluttered and
pleasant setting; providing comfortable seating and perhaps a cup of
tea or coffee; and ensuring that there are absolutely no intrusions, and
that the room is soundproofed in order to make the setting private.
 Being aware of who the client is. This includes (for second and follow-
on sessions) knowing the client's basic information like name, and
remembering key things about their issues (through taking the time to
read last week’s notes).
 Offering empathy by making an effort to be there with and for the
client whenever required, and trying to see how the client feels about
and sees things which is likely to be different from the counsellor's
perception.
 Having an accepting manner. The counsellor must remain unshocked,
whatever the client brings to him; he should be non-judgemental,
however much the client's behaviour surprises; he should offer
unconditional positive regard to the client; however, they have been
behaving; and maintaining respect for the person (though not always
condoning the behaviour).
 Being unrushed, allowing the client time; This can be done by letting
the client say with whatever feelings come up, without trying to solve
all the problems at that moment in hurry; and by being patient with
clients who find it hard to talk about themselves. Let them take their
time to talk.
If rapport is established with the counsellor, the client will grow to trust
the counsellor, and a good foundation is laid for real growth and healing to
occur. Following are few counselling skills that are used to develop rapport
with the client:
 Active listening: it's not just about listening, it’s also about ensuring
that the client feels that they are being heard. To do this, the
counsellor must also respond respectfully. The counsellor must use
 his active listening skills to understand the client and their story.
Before making any attempt at an intervention, demonstrate to the
client that you understand where they are coming from.
 Use of silence: enables the client space to process their thoughts
and feelings without distraction.
 Reflecting and paraphrasing: will allow the client to perceive that
they are being understood completely and they have importance.
 Watch your speed: Your speed of intimacy, that is. More time would
be taken by clients in order to build trust depending on the client’s
culture, background, personality, etc., to discuss more personal and
sensitive issues. In order to assess the trust level, pay attention to
both the content of what the client is sharing (some clients will only
share surface-level details at first) and the client’s body language,
as they serve as important indicators to depict how much the client
is ready to share. It is important to be aware of these non-verbal
signals because not all clients will clearly verbalize their discomfort.
 Treat the client with respect: This may seem too obvious, but from
your very first contact treat the client as an important person. This
can be done by starting sessions on time, dressing professionally,
having paperwork ready for them, etc. Respect their time as much
as you value yours.
 Watch your client talk: and become aware of their communication
style. A wise teacher once said that as counsellors we were like
tuning forks. Our jobs were to get the client to come closer to
wellness, or normalcy (to be “in tune”). So, we should try to match
our clients’ communication rhythm but stay a little bit to the centre.
So, for example for hyperactive clients, we stay on the calm side of
hyperactive. Often the client will mirror our style, and thus begin to
calm down.
 Be competent: because the best way to destroy a counselling
relationship is to be incompetent. If you don’t know what you doing
the client isn’t going. Ensure you have received proper training and
experience before tackling the client’s issue. It’s totally on them
whether they want you or not.
2. Listening
Listening is one of the most valuable counselling skills in the therapeutic
relationship. It can be used in three ways:-
 Attending: Attending is defined as the ability to be physically
present for the client at that particular place and time. It means
giving them your individual and undivided attention. This includes
making appropriate eye contact, mirroring body language, and
nodding. These attending behaviours set as an indication to client
that you care for their problems. In fact, in has been researched that
 approximately 80% of communication between the counsellor and
the client take place non-verbally.
 Active listening: Active listening occurs when the counsellor listens
to his clients with all of senses and with full attention. active
listening involves listening with your body, heart, ears, eyes, and
mouth.
 Verbal listening: This is a form of showing you are listening through
the words that you use. These verbal cues are used to show
attention and to encourage more exploration from the client. This
can be as simple as ‘yes’, or ‘go on’. It can also be in the form of
paraphrasing or repeating a word of emotion that the client has just
said.
3. Questioning
Questions are helpful in the therapeutic environment because they help
us to learn more about our client. The type of questions that the
counsellor asks will help to set the tone of the session and the entire
counselling process. Questions occur in two forms:-
 Closed: A closed question is usually the one with one particular
response. It is the practice of asking a question that can be
answered as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’. Closed
questions are generally avoided in the counselling relationship, as
they do not encourage deeper exploration, they are more prone to
superficial information.
 Open: An open question is necessary to gather information. It is
elaborative by nature. An open question is one that cannot be
answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and it requires reflection or
exploration on the client’s end. Every open question should be
intentional and therapeutic. The best open-ended questions begin
with ‘how’ and ‘what’. The open questions serve as source of
providing descriptive and more comprehensive approach to client’s
problems.
4. Responding
In a counselling environment, responding requires that the counsellor’s
attention is focused on the client’s feelings and verbal expression at all
times. There occur many occasions on which we respond perhaps by
offering just a nod of the head without really listening to what is being
said. But in a counselling situation a counsellor must pay close attention
and check that a client is not agreeing with a suggestion, without actually
fully comprehending what has been voiced.
Responding in a positive manner requires not only focus but also
concentration and an interest in the other person and also in what is being
expressed verbally and emotionally. It is a duty of the counsellor to
provide this supportive service throughout a client’s counselling
experience and sessions. Without the use of clear responding and
reflecting skills, the level of counselling offered to a client will not be
sufficient to motivate and encourage the client to continue with open
disclosure which is an essential step in the process of counselling as
discussed earlier.
Responding would be making the use of active listening techniques, you
can rephrase what someone says to you, you can nod for a yes or a no in
acknowledgement, you can take part of what they said and ask a question
specifically about their words which is called clarifying to keep the
conversation ongoing or you can affirm what they said, anything that lets
them know they are being heard and you are present to make them feel
better. Mostly, you have to remember to only what they are saying and try
not to create your own ideas when responding, let their words drive the
conversation in order to find perfect solutions to their problems.
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COUNSELLING OUTCOMES
Counselling is an interactive process involving the client and the
counsellor which is characterised by a unique relationship between them,
and this leads to change in the counselee in one or more of the following
areas: -
Behaviour: After the counselling process there is an observed change in
the ways the counselee acts, copes, makes decisions or relates incidents.
Beliefs: The process of counselling has a relevant effect on the way the
client thinks about one self, others and the world or emotional concerns
about these perceptions.
Level of emotional distress: The counselling process help the clients to
deal with uncomfortable feelings or reactions to environmental stress.
Attitudes: The clients develop a positive attitude and avoids negative
attitudes towards self or others.

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Comparison between Guidance and Counselling
COUNSELLING GUIDANCE
1. Student (client) directed. Locus Counsellor directed. Locus of
of control moves toward student control remains with the Tutor
(client). This means the client is (Counsellor).
more
involved at every stage in
counselling.
The Tutor (Counsellor) is a The Tutor (Counsellor) is
facilitator /enabler. He is not the information/advice giver.
decision maker.
Client and Counsellor jointly Counsellor determines objectives
negotiate a contract about agenda and methods.
and methodology.
Client participates in assessing Assessment/diagnosis and
needs and evaluating progress. evaluation is in the domain of the
counsellor.
Concern is with the process of Concern is with decision (decision
decision-making. Understanding seen as product). The way it is
how decision is reached is not
reached is as important as the regarded as especially significant.
content of the decision.
Learning is seen as transferable. Learning is seen as specific to the
What is learnt in one context is problem in question.
seen utilizable
in another e.g. the learning of a
skill such as breaking down
problem into its component parts.
Learning is seen as an emotional Feelings are not regarded as
as well as a cognitive process. This important in learning.
means the behaviour and the
thinking are important.
Learning about a subject is seen as Learning about a subject is not
involving a process of learning seen as involving self discovery.
about self.

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PRINCIPLES OF COUNSELLING
Counselling is based on a number of principles. These principles are:-
1) Counselling is a process. It is necessary for the counsellor to
understand that counselling is a process and a slow process. Failure to
understand this will result in annoyance and disappointment.
2) Counselling is for all. Especially in the school situation counselling is
meant for all the students and not only for those who are facing problems
or other exceptional students. As we have already discussed in the school
situation counselling is more developmental and preventive than remedial
in nature.
3) Counselling is based on certain fundamental assumptions.
 every individual in this world is capable of taking responsibilities for
him/herself.
  every individual has a right to choose his/her own path, based on
the principles of democracy.
4) Counsellor does not deprive the right of self-choice but simply
facilitates choice. The counsellor should give due respect to the individual
and accept him/her as he/she is.
5) Counselling is not advice giving.
6) Counselling is not thinking for the client, but thinking with the client.
Counselling is for enabling the client to do judicious thinking.
7) Counselling is not problem solving. The counsellor simply assist the
person to find solution on his/her own.
8) Counselling is not interviewing but conversing with the client in order to
help him/her develop self-understanding.
9) The counsellor should determine individual differences and provide for
them.
10) The counsellor has to prepare the client to open to criticism including
self-criticism.
11) The counsellor acts as a facilitator or catalyst only. He/she creates an
atmosphere which is permissive and non-threatening, through his/her
warm and accepting relationship with the client which helps the client to
explore himself/herself and understand himself/herself better.
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THE PURPOSE OF COUNSELLING
Many consider counselling a panacea for all ills, which is not true.
Individuals have wide ranging and many a time unrealistic expectation
regarding counselling. This in turn lead to disappointment. The reason for
this state of affairs is lack of proper understanding as to what exactly are
the goals of counselling. Some of the major purposes of counselling
generally accepted by counselors are given below:-
1) Achievement of positive mental health
An individual is said to have positive mental health when he/she is able to
relate meaningfully with others and lead a fulfilling life. He/she is able to
love and be loved. One purpose of counselling is to help the individual to
attain this state.
2) Problem resolution
Another purpose of counselling is to help the individual to come out of a
difficult situation or problem. It must be remembered that the individual is
only assisted and finds his/her own solution for the problems.
3) Counselling for decision-making
Ability to make right and timely decisions is crucial for success in life. One
major goal of counselling is to make the individual capable of making
independent decisions. Counsellor may assist the individual by providing
necessary information or clarifying the counselee’s goals, etc. but the
decision should be taken by the counselee himself/herself.
4) Improving personal effectiveness
An effective person is one who is able to control impulses, think in creative
ways and has the competence to recognize, define and solve problems. It
can be seen that these different goals are not exclusive. These are all
interdependent and overlapping.
5) Helping to change
For development, change is always necessary. Counselling helps
individuals to make changes in their attitudes, perceptions or personality.
6) Behaviour modification
Another aim of counselling is to help in modifying the behaviour. Removal
of undesirable behaviour or self-defeating behaviour and learning
desirable behaviour is considered necessary for attaining effectiveness
and good adjustment. The behaviourally oriented counselors are the chief
proponents of this view
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APPROACHES TO COUNSELLING
There are many approaches to Counselling, but these approaches can be
grouped under the following three headings:
(a) Indirect Approach: The indirect approach to counselling is also
regarded as the client-centred approach. In this approach, the counselee
is allowed to express self while the counsellor only listen with rapt
attention and intermittently, when necessary, approach rely on the tenets
of the client-centred theory as their major counselling skill.
(b) Direct Approach: This is just the opposite of the indirect or
clientcentred approach. In this counselling approach, the talking is done
by the counsellor who uses questions and various counselling skills to
elicit responses from the counselee about the problems at hand. Here, the
counsellor dictates the pace and directs the counselee based on what can
be made out of the sparing responses gathered from the counselee.
(c) Eclectic Approach: This approach to counseling does not rely totally
on either the indirect or direct approach. Rather it finds the two
approaches named above with any other suitable one handy during
counseling sessions. It thereby relies on chosen skills that suit the
counseling session at hand, from all the available approaches, to resolve
the counsellee’s problems.
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THE MAJOR APPROACHES TO COUNSELLING
The practice of any profession is based on a system of beliefs and
assumptions, generally called a theory. Counselling is no exception. In the
case of counselling, though many elaborate theories have been proposed,
no single theory explains all aspects of counselling. Therefore, the term
approach is generally preferred because it is a more comprehensive term.
An approach provides a coherent definition for the counselling process, a
clear statement of counselling goals, a rationale for selection for a
particular counselling technique, etc. There are three major approaches to
counselling. The directive approach, the non-directive approach and the
eclectic approach.
1. The Directive Approach
As the name itself implies this approach envisages a more active role for
the counsellor. The counsellor employs varying degrees of direction to
help the counselee to reach sound solutions. Also, through his/her own
specialized knowledge and experience in scientific diagnosis and
interpretation of data, counselees are helped to reach earlier solutions for
their problems.
According to E.G. Williamson, the proponent of this approach, the need for
direction by the counsellor is inversely proportional to the individual
counselee’s potentialities for self-regulation. Though the basic
responsibility for reaching the solution is primarily with the counsellor as
the counselling proceeds.
Counselees are encouraged more and more to take up increased
responsibility for self-direction. This approach presupposes a more
personalized relation with the counselee where the counsellor strives to
identify psychologically with the counselee so that he/she can be
understood better.
Counselling Steps
Directive counselling involves six stages. They are as follows:
a) Analysis
This involves collecting from various sources the data needed for an
adequate understanding of the client. This include administration of
psychological tests, etc. however, such testing and form filling should not
come between the counsellor and counselee and its importance should be
limited to the extend that it gives a better idea about the counselee.
b) Synthesis
This refers to summarizing and organizing the data so obtained, as to
reveal the assets, liabilities, adjustments and maladjustments of the
counselee. This includes the data obtained through psychological testing
also.
c) Diagnosis
This stage is concerned with formulating conclusions regarding the nature
and the course of the problems exhibited by the counselee/client. Drawing
conclusions from the results of psychological testing, administration of
questionnaires etc. are done here.
d) Prognosis
This refers to predicting the future course of development of the
counselee’s problem in the light of conclusions as made earlier.
e) Counselling
This is the most important and time consuming step in the whole process.
This is where the expertise of the counsellor is needed the most. It is a
highly personalized teaching and learning process. It may be direct
teaching through explicit explanations, assistance in searching for
relevant aptitudes, interests, etc. that illuminates the counselee’s
problems and so on. Sometimes the counsellor listens in a friendly
encouraging way. It may also involve practice sessions where with the
warm support of the counsellor the counselee acts out the way he/she
should. Thus he/she becomes his/her own teacher to the extend his/her
capabilities and circumstances permits. Success thus achieved reinforces
and retrains those successful behaviors which in turn establishes an
adjusted way of life.
Thus counselling involves (a) assisting the student in self-appraisal, i.e.
identifying his/her interests motives and capabilities (b) helping him/her to
plan a course of action which utilizes the capabilities and potentialities so
identified and (c) finally is establishing an adaptive life style.
To help the counselee appraise himself/herself two types of data are
needed– self perceived data and data from external appraisal. The
counselee himself is the best source of certain type of information.
However the counsellor should also communicate those information
obtained through analysis and diagnosis. However, he/she should be
cautious enough not to make the counselee think that both of them are in
the same state of ignorance.
Counsellor does not enumerate in detail the steps of his/her analysis/
diagnosis, etc. But the counselee is given an overall idea. He/she should
avoid a dogmatic position but through his/her theoretical knowledge,
experience and judgment, assist the counselee. The counsellor should not
at any time appear indecisive because it can cause loss of confidence in
him/her. He should maintain a varied and running discussion of the
casedata taking clue from the counselee’s changing facial and verbal
expressions.
Thus the counsellor co-operate with the counselee to reach a valid
interpretation of the case and an effective programme of adaptive
behaviour changes.
f) Follow-up
Follow-up is very important in directive counselling. Presently, the client
may be able to solve the problem with the help of the counsellor.
However, follow-up is needed to ensure that if a new problem occurs or
the earlier problem recurs the client is able to deal with the situation. The
counsellor has to help the client understand her strength and weakness
and move forward in life.
2 Non-directive Counselling
In this approach, the counsellor provides an atmosphere in which the
client can fully explore his/her own thoughts and feelings freely without
any fear or pressure. Thus by making the counselee understand his/her
potentialities the counsellor acts as a catalytic agent. Here the source of
data is the client himself/herself and the responsibility for change rests
with the counselee rather than the counsellor. The counsellor should not
be as passive as trying to keep out of clients way nor should be as active
as to shift the focus from client to counsellor.
Central Hypothesis
Carl Rogers, the chief proponent of the client centered approach has
formulated a central hypothesis as follows:
a) The individual has within herself the capacity latent if not evident to
understand those aspects of herself and of his/her life which are causing
him/her dissatisfaction anxiety or pain and the capacity and the tendency
to reorganize herself and his/her relationship to life in the direction of
selfactualization and maturity is such a way as to bring a greater degree
of internal comfort.
b) This capacity will be realized when the therapist can create a
psychological climate characterized by genuine acceptance of the client
as a person of unconditional worth, a continuing sensitive attempt to
understand the existing feelings and communications of the client as a
person of unconditional worth, a continuing sensitive attempt to
understand the existing feelings and communications of the client and a
continuing attempt to convey this empathetic understanding to the client.
c) It is further hypothesized that in such an accepting, understanding, and
nonthreatening atmosphere the client will reorganize herself.
d) This adjusted way of life as achieved in the therapeutic relation with the
counsellor will be generalized to real life situations as a whole.
Thus the whole idea of the theory is that the clients are capable of
correcting misperceptions or incongruencies between the self and
experience, in the accepting environment of a counselling situation. The
accepting counselling environment is when the counsellor possesses
personal qualities like congruency (counsellor being a genuine and
integrated person), unconditional positive regard (non evaluation attitude
of the counsellor whereby client’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour are
accepted without judging them as good or bad) and empathy (consellor’s
ability to know the client’s world as he/she does and to convey this
understanding).
However, this theory underestimates the need for the counsellor to be an
expert in behaviour dynamics, problem solving techniques or
developmental processes, etc. Moreover, Rogers rejects the use of
diagnosis testing and other such techniques saying that they hinder the
client’s natural growth. Instead stresses listening, paraphrasing, reflecting
client’s comments rather than interpreting, direct questioning, etc.
3. Eclectic Approach
Here the counsellor bases his/her counselling on concepts taken from
various available viewpoints. He/she owes no specific theoretical
allegiance. Instead, incorporates those procedures and techniques which
he/she believes to be most effective in the case of that particular
counselee, without any prejudice or bias to any particular school of
thought.
According to F.C. Thorne, eclecticism is the most practicable and apt
approach to counselling. Because no two people are able and as such no
single theory of personality could explain the various behavioural pattern
exhibited by individuals. So also each problem is unique in its content and
intensity and a technique or approach suitable in one case need not even
be effective in the second case. Thorne has coined the word ‘Integrated
psychology’ to express his eclectic view. Its theoretical foundations are
based on the following postulates:
i) All psychological conditions are examples of disorders of integrations
and the goal of psychological counselling is to strengthen this integrative
process, thus fostering high levels of self-actualization. The focus is
therefore, the person in the present situation.
ii) The therapist has to assess whether the client has the necessary
resources to take on the responsibilities of life.
iii) If the therapist is satisfied, he gives the client the responsibility of
taking on some routine tasks to start with.
iv) Therapy involves the training and reduction of the client in acquiring
the controls necessary for self-regulation.
Thorne uses the term psychological case handling instead of
psychotherapy. Steps involved in psychological case handling are:
a) Systematic diagnosis to obtain a complete picture of the clients
problem.
b) Understanding the various counselling methods in terms of their
strengths and limitations.
c) Concentrating on the underlying causes rather than symptoms.
d) Choosing a specific method suited to the needs of the client.
e) Evaluating the method on the basis of the results obtained.
f) Scientifically analyzing the data and evaluating the result.
‘Multimodal therapy’ originated by Arnold Lazarus is yet another example
of eclectic approach. He explains seven major areas of personality
functions
(1) behaviour (observable action),
(2) affective (emotional),
(3) sensation (feelings),
(4) images (imagination),
(5) cognition (thought process),
(6) interpersonal relationships (social) and
(7) drugs/biological (physical). He uses the acronym
BASIC ID to encompass all these modalities.
An important feature of this approach is the insistence that every
individual is unique with his own BASIC ID. Maladaptive behaviours are
assumed to result from faulty learning and the goal of counselling is to
bring about client desired changes that will be enduring and to accomplish
this in an efficient and humane way
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COUNSELLING PROCESS
Counselling starts with filling out a life history questionnaire of that
particular counselee. The term counselling in the professional sense is
always concerned with helping others irrespective of the context in which
it is used. Here, it is all the more so, since the person as a whole is our
focus of attention rather than a specific problem.
Counselling can best be described as a process. It means that counselling
involves a sequence of identifiable events spread over a period of time.
The time taken, the sequence of events and dynamics involved, the
nature and extent of exploration, etc. differ from individual to individual.
However there are certain basic stages which form the part and parcel of
each of such counselling processes. But before going into the details of it
we will acquaint ourselves with some of the related concepts.
Related Concepts of Counselling Process
Readiness
Clients broadly fall under two broad categories, the first consisting of
those who seeks assistance voluntarily and the second comprises those
referred. Whatever the case be counselling presupposes a desire on the
part of the counselee, that makes the client come for assistance. This
desire is referred to as ‘readiness’.
Counter Will
Often people experience difficulty in asking for help and accepting it as
well. Because in some cases, they are reluctant to face the consequences
of change and for some receiving help means an admission of inadequacy
or failure. Some feel that they need no assistance or cannot be helped at
all. This negative feeling that holds back one from seeking help is referred
to as ‘counter will’.
Case History
This is a term very often used in this field. A case history can be defined
as a systematic collection of facts about the client’s present and past life.
However, the focus of attention varies with the theoretical orientations of
the counsellor like a psychoanalytically oriented counsellor looking for
relevant childhood experiences, etc.
Rapport
The importance of rapport in counselling cannot be overemphasized. It is
a friendly and understanding atmosphere created by the counsellor which
is catalytical in the formation of an effective counselling relationship.
Warmth of relationship, communication of this warmth to the counselee
and feeling of trust which grows out of unconditional acceptance are all
important factors contributing to the establishment of rapport. Moving out
to receive the client, greeting him warmly, putting him at ease and
directing his attention away from the problem initially, are some of the
techniques that can be used.
Transference
It refers to the client transferring to the therapist emotions originally felt
toward significant others in early life. This is quite natural in counselling
situation because the client trusts counsellor and is encouraged to
express his/her feelings and emotions freely. As a counsellor, one should
acknowledge these feelings and should be handled in a therapeutic way
lest the relation should break down.
Counter Transference
This phenomenon is said to occur when therapists project their unresolved
conflicts upon the client. When counselors feel uncomfortable with the
client or experience irrational feelings of anger, resentment, etc. or when
they tend to and Counselling foster dependence on clients or become
overemotionally involved. We can infer that counter transference has set
in persistence of such feelings is not healthy and the counsellor himself
should seek professional help if reasoning out by self does not improve his
condition.
Resistance
It refers to clients inclination to oppose the counselors attempt to work
towards set goals. Recent trend is to view this as an expected part of
counselling and is found to influence counselling outcome positively.
Resistance ranges from open hostility to passively resistant behaviour like
being late for an appointment etc
Stages
The process of counselling passes through certain stages which can be
broadly classified as follows:-
1) Initial stage : Client self-exploration
Here, the clients are encouraged in self-exploration and their concern are
clarified. General counselling goals are set and the working alliance is
established. Also by gathering information and observing the client, the
counsellor arrives at some tentative hypothesis regarding the nature and
complexity of the problem. To help in these decisions assessment devices
like psychological tests, questionnaires, inventories, etc. are widely
used.
The initial stage is sub-divided into:-
a) first interview and
b) initial counselling sessions.
a) First interview: Its primary objective is to set the foundation for an
effective working relationship. This is the most challenging stage. Client
approaches the counsellor with a feeling of uncertainty and ambivalence.
Counselors through their words, facial expressions and overall behaviour
conveys his understanding and acceptance of the client and his sincere
interest in his problem. Simple courtesies like seating the clients
comfortably, avoiding interrupting phone calls are very important in the
development of rapport. During this interview the counsellor needs to
make a tentative decision whether the task at hand is within his expertise.
If not, it is necessary to refer the client to an appropriate professional
agency. Clients should be made aware of what can be expected out of
counselling and what they are hoping for.
Confidentiality, rights of privacy, other ethical and legal considerations
need to be clarified. Discussion about the length of sessions, payment of
fees, arrangement of mutually appropriate meeting times, etc. are also
done now.
b) Initial counselling sessions: Here, the counsellor mostly listen to the
client’s concerns and encourages the expression of feelings, without
undue questioning. Thus information is gathered by active listening,
attending to client’s self talk, observing his body behaviour and other
reactions, to be used later in deeper explorations. If clients have difficulty
in expressing, non-threatening questions can help.
2) Middle stage: Deeper exploration and analysis
This stage is marked by a shift of counsellor attention from clients external
problem to his internal problems from primarily cognitive level to
emotional level. Thus, the client discloses his feeling increasingly.
Counsellor explores more intensively with client, confronts him with
contradictions, stronger interpretations of client’s comments, etc. At this
point, some counselors use more tests to further explore into the clients
intellectual or personality functioning. Thus as the client moves to
increased disclosure and awareness, the counsellor and client begins to
develop emotional interactions like transference, counter transference,
resistance, etc. Though rooted in psychoanalysis, experts are of the
opinion that these are universal phenomena in all counselling
relationships.
3) Final stage: Implementation of goals through action
By this stage, the client would have started acting upon reality. He/she
becomes more self aware, assertive and genuine and start generalizing
these to everyday life. This is a working through phase in which
understanding is put into constructive action. Emphasis is on making
changes in behaviour, attitudes and skills, specified as goals in the initial
stage. For those who delay decision-making, specific strategies like role
playing behaviour, rehearsal, assertiveness training, etc. are used.
4) Termination
If the goals as set in the beginning are met, termination follows. If the
counsellor believes the problem has been solved, he may raise the issue
directly. Or if the client is sure to have recovered he may bring up the
idea. If the counsellor agrees, termination proceeds. However, the
counsellor must be alert to the possibility that effort to termination may
arise due to lack of progress. Also he should be aware that clients
signalling termination is a sign of resistance and should be handled
carefully.
If termination is reasonable, the counsellor must use the last few sessions
to wean the clients. They often feel a renewal of symptoms, grieving,
sadness, separation, or anxiety. When counsellor manages termination
successfully the counselee maximizes counselling outcome as well as
maintains new learning in later life situations.

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INDIVIDUAL COUNSELLING
Counselling is one of the most important activities in the school guidance
programme. Individual counselling is a personalized process in which the
client and the counsellor are in a one-to-one, face-to-face relationship
working towards exploring and focusing on the various needs of the client.
The counselling process is meant to help the client in exploring feelings,
beliefs, understanding the self, examining possibilities and initiating
change for a positive result. People may approach a counsellor for various
reasons. People may need help to deal with:
• anxiety, depression,
• anger management,
• relationship issues, or
• substance and drug abuse.
People may also seek counselling for improving interpersonal skills, career
prospects etc. The counsellor uses her professional knowledge and skills
to optimize the client’s potential for effecting positive changes. Individual
counselling focuses on the client’s immediate problems and near future
concerns. The relationship in individual counselling is characterized by
mutual trust and respect which means the clients feel safe to disclose and
explore their concerns. When the clients experience the counsellor as
being understanding, genuinely concerned with their welfare and on their
side, then there is a much greater likelihood that clients will benefit from
the counselling process than when these experiences are absent (Truax &
Carkhuff 1967).
Dryden (1984) has pointed out many benefits of individual counselling for
the Counselling in Schools
clients.
• Individual counselling provides complete confidentiality. People who are
not comfortable with disclosure before others would prefer individual
counselling.
• Individual counselling provides an opportunity to develop closer
relationship between counsellor and client. Group counselling situation
may be threatening to some people initially.
• Individual counselling can be conducted to match the client’s pace of
learning.
• Individual counselling is therapeutic when clients’ major problems
involve their relationship with themselves rather than their relationship
with other people.
• Individual counselling is helpful for clients who wish to differentiate
themselves from others. For example, those who have decided to leave a
relationship and wish to deal with individual problems that this may
involve.
• Individual counselling is helpful for clients who want to explore whether
or not they should differentiate themselves from others. For example,
those who are unhappy in their relationship but are not sure whether to
work to improve the relationship or to leave it.
• Individual counselling offers counselors an opportunity to vary their
interactive style with clients free from the concern that such variation may
adversely affect other clients present.
• Individual counselling is beneficial for clients who have profound
difficulties sharing therapeutic time with other clients.
Dryden (1984) has also pointed out some issues involved in individual
counselling and some disadvantages too.
• In individual counselling the client may become over dependent on the
counsellor and hinder the healing process. In group counselling intense
dependency is less likely as the counsellor has to relate to many others.
• Close proximity / interaction may be threatening to some clients.
• Individual counselling situation may not provide enough challenge for
change to clients.
• Clients who are shy, retiring and afraid to take risks may benefit more
from group counselling.
GROUP COUNSELLING
As you have already seen from the definitions, counselling has generally
been considered as a one to one process. However, due to various
reasons, this concept has undergone change. Now, the concept of ‘group
counselling’ has gained wide acceptance. One main reason is that it is
economically affordable. There is shortage of resources in terms of money
as well as trained personnel. Therefore, if a group of individuals can be
helped at the same time, it is a great advantage. There are other benefits
also. In a group setting, the individual tends to loose his identity and
therefore responds more naturally. Moreover, group interaction helps to
change some attitudes, beliefs, feelings, needs, etc. Group counselling
can be of great advantage to persons who are shy or aggressive in their
interpersonal interactions, who are anxious or uncomfortable in groups or
who are unduly resistant of conforming tosocial expectations. Also, special
groups like alcoholics, substance abusers and other groups can benefit
from group counselling.
The Meaning of Group Counselling
Group counselling is an extension of individual counselling. In group
counselling a number of individuals work together with a professional
counsellor to learn to resolve personal and interpersonal concerns. The
primary goal of group counselling is the creation of an interpersonal
climate which helps everyone to develop an insight into himself. It is a
process in which free communication among members is encouraged and
maintained, leading to an understanding and evaluation of each other’s
point of view. It is a means of helping to resolve problems by enjoying the
social process of group dynamics and social facilitation. It is calculated to
attain rapid amelioration in personality and behaviour of individual
members through specified and controlled group interaction.
In group counselling individuals explore and analyze their problems
together so that they may understand them better, learn to cope with
them and learn to make valid choices and decisions. The group experience
helps them to feel closer to others to find and give emotional support and
to understand and accept themselves and others. Feelings of common
direction and purpose develop, as group cohesiveness increases.
Group counselling has all the three dimensions of individual counselling
viz. Counselling in Schools remedial, preventive and developmental.
However, in the school situation, emphasis is given to the preventive and
developmental aspects because schools are meant to be institutions for
providing instruction and guidance to students, majority of whom are
normal. Therefore, in schools the main concern of group counselling is to
prevent problems from becoming disturbing or incapacitating and also to
aid harmonious development.
The Assumptions of Group Counselling
Group counselling is based on certain assumptions.
1. The first assumption is that individuals possess the necessary talent
and capacity to trust and to be trusted by other group members. They
should exhibit a basic concern for others in the group. This encourages
group cohesion and provides an atmosphere of support and security
for each member of the group to experience and share individual
problems.
2. The second assumption is that each individual has the potential to
take responsibility for self-change. On the other hand, if the individual
feels that his life is controlled by others, he will not be left with any
alternative but take recourse to disruptive behaviour.
3. The third assumption is that group members can learn and understand
from the objectives and methodology of group process. The objective
is to reform the members and not to make them conform.

Structuring of Groups
1) Selection and induction of members: the most frequently used
procedure for selection and induction of members for group counselling is
a personal interview, prior to assignments to group. The initial interview
gives the counsellor an opportunity to establish identification with the
members so that feelings of respect, acceptance and assurance is
experienced from the beginning. To help the individual decide whether he
wishes to join the counselling group the counsellor briefs him of the nature
of the work, how it can benefit him, what can be expected and the rules
concerning confidentiality, etc. This interview helps the counsellor to
decide whether an individual will be helped by group counselling and also
whether a particular group will benefit or lose by one being a member.
2) Size of the group: For group counselling the size of the group should
be relatively small. Although it is difficult to recommend a specific
number, as a rule of thumb, about six to ten members could be there in a
group. Big groups become unmanageable. But too small groups are also
not desirable because the group resources will be too limited and the
tension too gets great due to the pressure to participate. Moreover, in too
small a group, where one or more members are absent by chance, the
functioning becomes almost impossible.
3) Composition of the group: There is controversy regarding the
composition of groups for counselling. Opinions differ as to whether the
group should be homogeneous or heterogeneous with respect to
problems, education, intelligence, age, sex and so on. A group
composition can be done in the following ways:
 heterogeneous groups made up of members with ‘various’
complaints and symptoms
  grouping clients with similar concerns and similar purposes for
group counselling because, the similarity facilitates a working bond
and a more cohesive group relationship in the session
 grouping in a similar age range permits the group to focus on
developmental concerns appropriate for all members. Sometimes, a
balance of males and females increases opportunities for women
and men to share views about each other’s behaviour and attitudes.
Although opinions differ, almost all agrees that extreme differences
are undesirable. Similarly, it is not desirable to include extremely
hostile and aggressive individual because he makes it very difficult
to create the atmosphere of acceptance and freedom from threat
that is essential for group counselling. The chronic, monopolist is
also usually excluded from group counselling until his problem can
be worked sufficiently through individual counselling. Care should be
taken to have a balanced group. The aggressive individuals may
pose a psychological threat to passive members.
4) Frequency and duration of meetings: Various recommendations
have been made regarding the frequency of meetings. The population and
the sittings in which group counselling occurs determine the frequency
and duration of meetings. Weekly and twice weekly meetings are
recommended most often. In a community agency, college or in private
practice two-hour weekly sessions are optional. But in the school settings
shorter durations, twice a week may be more suitable because of the
shorter attention span of younger students. Moreover, they will miss less
class period. In schools’ groups usually run from 11 to 15 weeks. It is more
convenient and at the same time it ensures a reasonable amount of time
for the group to attain its goals.
5) Physical setting: Physical setting is less important in comparison with
emotional atmosphere and the skill of the counsellor. A skillful counsellor
and the group obviously will function more effectively on a poor physical
setting than an inept one and his group in an ideal setting. However,
privacy and freedom from interruptions are of course important. The room
should be small rather than large. Seating should be flexible and varied. A
circular seating arrangement with each member sitting where he pleases
is to be preferred to a formal arrangements and permanent seat
assignments.
The Process of Group Counselling
The process of group counselling can be divided into different stages. The
stages are:
• Initial exploratory stage: In the beginning sessions group members
are often strangers. They may be resistant to talk or only be able to bring
up superficial topics for discussion. They may be shy or fearful of sounding
stupid. They tend to focus on themselves and not on others. The
counsellor has to explain his role and also the roles of the group members.
He has to set up facilitative conditions to help develop trust. The
counsellor can accomplish this by modeling genuineness, warmth, non-
judgmental attitudes to group members and by listening carefully.
Members are encouraged to share their ideas and Counselling in Schools
feelings frankly and freely. The counsellor sets up facilitative and
communicative attitudes and skills among participants by demonstrating
and modeling these themselves. When the group members notice the
non-judgmental manner in which the counsellor reacts to positive as well
as negative feedbacks from the members, they also readily accept the
feedback in a healthy way.
• Transition stage: As the group moves from the initial exploratory
stage to the next stage, group members are confronted with the need to
explore more deeply to self-disclose (letting others know more about
oneself) more intensively and to interact more actively with others if they
are to progress. Although some trust has been established by this time,
the feeling is still tentative and the group members are anxious,
ambivalent and defensive as they realize that they are expected to
explore more deeply the emotions and feelings that are painful. Some fear
the group will reject them if they reveal too much. Some are even
suspicious that the other members or the counsellor himself may ridicule
them. This stage is also characterized by conflict or rebellion resulting
from a struggle for power, control or dominance among the members and
with the counsellor. The group members tend to criticize each other
frequently. They may even express doubts about the leadership of the
counsellor.
All these behaviors’ represent the resistance to exploring painful feelings.
Resistance is a sign that members are getting closer to the core of their
problems. Resistance may manifest in various other forms also like
missing sessions, not participating, criticizing others or simply talking with
no mention of feelings. When resistance arise, counselors should
encourage group members to work through conflicts and move toward
more authentic self-explorations.
• Working stage: In this stage, the members feel more close to each
other and more aware of others problems. Since trust has increased, they
are more willing to take risks in sharing feelings and thoughts and to give
constructive feedback to each other. They are more supportive and
cooperative and hence have more confidence in each other. But at this
stage, there is a danger of this group intimacy leading to a false
cohesiveness in which members protect each other and suppressing
negative emotions.
Counselors at this stage should confront the group members with their
behaviours and insist that they challenge each other to convert insights
they have gained in the group into action. For example, a group can
confront a member who says he recognizes the need to assert himself but
remains passive in the group and his interactions outside the group.
Slowly the group becomes productive and committed to going deeply into
significant problems and to giving attention to interchanges in the group.
There is less dependence on the counsellor and the group begins to focus
on working towards specified individual goals and group goals. The group
members feel free to confront each other and are more willing to accept
confrontations as a constructive means to change. As the group
interactions bring about attitudinal and behavioural changes in the group,
members accept challenges among them to reform their everyday life.
Counselling uses a variety of techniques in accordance with the
theoretical orientations. Role playing, psycho-drama, assertiveness
training, etc. are frequently used techniques.
• Consolidation and Termination: Termination is not simply the
‘stopping’.
In fact, it is an integral stage of the process of “group counselling”. It is
usual in group counselling to fix a termination date in advance. It is always
wise to start discussion about the termination, three or four sessions
before the final one. It gives adequate time for handling psychological or
emotional distress associated with weaning, to work toward transferring
new experiences to outside world, to work through any unfinished
problems, to review the experiences of individual members and work out
how each can build on these changes.Once the termination is over,
suggestions for future help can also be made when necessary. Specific
suggestions of how to build on new learning by joining a support group or
other more advanced groups, by reading or by attending workshops, etc.
may also be provided.
Advantages and Limitations of Group Counselling
Advantages
a) It is economical in many ways. In group counselling a large number of
individuals are helped at the same time by a counsellor. This saves time
and money.
b) It helps individuals to socialize their attitudes, habits and judgements.
c) It provides multiple stimuli for each member to work through and
approximates real life situation. By frankly and honestly sharing their
thoughts and feelings members develop a feeling of group cohesiveness
and singleness of purpose that helps them to progress. Discussions of
matters of common concern help the members to appraise the adequacy
of their interpersonal relations. The group gives them a practice field in
which to learn new more flexible and more satisfying ways of relating to
others. Moreover, the group helps the individual appraise his values and
come to an increased appreciation of the importance of good human
relations in his value system.
Some individuals who cannot be reached through individual counselling
can be reached through group counselling. In a group counselling situation
feelings of depression, isolation are reduced and talking made easy. Apart
from these, group counselling gives the counsellor an opportunity to study
persons in an initial group setting.
Limitations
Group counselling is not suitable for all individuals. Some individuals find
the group situation too threatening. Moreover, some individuals have a
very low level of tolerance and will not be able to adopt their behaviour to
the demands of the group. Similarly, very personal and private problems
cannot be discussed in the group situation. Apart from these the
counsellor has less control over the situation in group counselling. As a
result the counsellor may sometimes find himself seriously impeded in
establishing good working relationship with members.
Therefore, the counsellor has to take into consideration all these factors
and Counselling in Schools decide whether group counselling is suitable
for particular individuals and type of problem.

Individual versus Group Counselling

There are differences as well as similarities between individual and group
counselling.
Similarities
a) The aims of both are the same viz helping the counselee achieve self-
understanding and become an integrated, self-dependent, self-directed
and responsible person.
b) The techniques used are also similar, like clarification of feelings,
restatement of contents, etc.
c) Confidentiality and privacy are maintained.
d) The most important thing is the climate that is accepting, permissive
and non-threatening.
e) The individuals who receive help in both are normal individuals who are
trying to cope with stresses, frustrations, anxieties or other developmental
problems.
Differences
a) Individual counselling is a one to one, face-to-face relationship where
the counsellor interacts with only one counselee. But in group counselling
the counsellor interacts with anumber of individuals at the same time.
b) In individual counselling the counselee only receives help whereas in
group counselling, the counselee also gives help to others.
c) In group counselling, the principles of group dynamics find a lot of
application. But in individual counselling it is the relationship of the
counselee with the counsellor that is important.
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Types of Counselling
There are two major types of Counselling, namely:- individual counselling
and group counselling.
(a) Individual Counselling: This is referred to as one-toone counselling. It
occurs between the professionally trained Counsellor (Therapist) and his
client (Counsellee). The goal of this is to help the client to understand
himself, clarify and direct his thought, in order to make a worthwhile
decision. Through this, clients’ problems are alleviated. Frumboltz and
Thoreson (1967) as cited in Ojo (2005) remarked that it is mainly to bring
about change in the client either by altering maladaptive behaviour,
learning the decision making process or preventing problems.
(b) Group Counselling: This is a counselling session that takes place
between the professionally trained counsellor and a group of people.
Number of this group should not be more than seven, or at least ten, in
order to have a cohesive group and an effective well controlled
counselling session. Members of the groups are clients/counselees whose
tasks or problems that are meant for resolution are similar.
During group counselling, a free atmosphere is allowed and freedom of
speech is encouraged. The counselees are free to express themselves
individually as counselling progresses so that encumbrances surrounding
the tasks or problems to be resolved would be open for all to consider and
benefit from. All counselees are expected to participate and express their
feelings. The responsibility of the counsellor during group counselling is to
help remove the marks covering the problem. He helps open up the
problem with the professional competence and knowledge he possesses.
The counsellor is not just a member of the group; he is to direct the
affairs and situations.

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PEER COUNSELLING
As in counselling, peer counselling is a helping relationship and process. In
peer counselling, two people or a group of people are in a helping
relationship. Peer counselling is employed in situations where people have
a number of things in common. The basis for peer counselling is that most
people seek the help of their friends when they face challenging life
situations, for making important decisions etc.
In school settings, peer counselling means one student counselling
another student or a group of students. Peer counselling gains importance
as many schools do not have a regular full-time trained professional
counsellor. Even if the school has a regular counsellor, it is difficult for a
counsellor to deal with the varied needs of so many students in a school.
Then, there are many students who may not find it easy to open up to the
teachers or counselors if they are in distress or trouble. Naturally, you
may be thinking now if the peer counselors may be able to handle
complex situations / issues. Your concern is well placed. The idea is to use
peer counselors in appropriate situations. For example, we do not want a
peer counselling apeer about sexual abuse or suicide. Here, the role of the
peer counsellor is limited to helping the peer in seeking professional help
timely.
Such an action by the peer counsellor is very important as the peer would
get timely help to cope with the situation, thus limiting the damage.
Where as a peer can provide counselling to a peer about study skills, time
management, socialization skills, regular attendance in the school etc.
Peer counselling or peer mentoring is not a new concept although it is
gaining Counselling in Schools momentum these days. Certain boarding
schools have been practicing a type of peer mentoring for a long time.
Often a senior student plays the role of a mentor / buddy to two or more
new entrants in the school. This senior student provides mentoring to the
new entrants by familiarizing them with the school routine, helping them
to adjust socially and emotionally in the new environment away from
home, guiding them in different academic tasks etc. In day scholar schools
too, some teachers have always encouraged peer mentoring. Teachers
often would ask a peer to ‘tutor’ other students who experience difficulty
in any particular academic learning activity. You would agree that peer
counselling existed in a nascent form in many schools. Teachers used peer
counselling in the school because they found it beneficial to their students
welfare.
Some of the benefits of peer counselling are:
• Peer counselling benefits both the peer counsellor (mentor) and the
counselee (mentee).
• It is economical as the peer counselors are drawn from the student
population.
• Peer counselling is easily available.
• Peer counselling is informal, therefore, the client can approach the
counsellor without any inhibition.
• Peer counselling enhances the school counselling programme.
• Peer cousnelling brings more students to the fold of the counselling
programmes.
• Peer counselors bridge the gap between the students and the
professional counsellor.
As we have mentioned earlier, some teachers and schools have often
used the services of the peers to help other students. Let us now examine
some of the functions the peer counselors can perform in the school
settings.
a) Supporting in academic activities: Peer counselors can ‘tutor’ other
students who experience difficulty in certain areas of learning. The peer
counsellor is paired with a student or group of students who may need
additional help in different learning activities. For example:
• helping a student who returned to the class after a long leave of illness.
• providing help in understanding a difficult learning content.
• helping a student to improve his/her reading/writing skills.
• helping student to develop better study skills.
• helping students to manage their time better.
b) Inducting new comers: When children join school or join a new school,
initially they experience difficulty in adjusting with the new settings. When
children enter school the first time, senior students can act as peer
counselors (also known as cross-age counsellors /mentors) to acquaint
them with the school functioning and help them in adjusting socially and
emotionally in the new settings. The peer counsellor can do the same for
a peer who has come from another school. The new entrant can be helped
by the peer counselors to get familiar with the school routine, ethos and
socio-cultural environment. Such a helping relationship makes the new
entrant feel accepted in the new settings.
c) Helping in resolving conflict: Students in a school come from different
social, cultural and economic background. They also come with different
types of abilities. During secondary school stage students go through one
of the most crucial stages of their life, adolescence. All these factors cited
here, can contribute to conflicting situations very often in a school. Peer
counselors can mediate between students and help them in resolving
their conflict.
d) Helping in preventing absenteeism and dropout: Some students keep
away from school without informing or taking leave. In certain cases
truancy may also lead to dropping out of the school. Peer counselors can
interact with such students and motivate them to attend the school.
These are some of the functions the peer counselors can carry out in the
school. More functions can be added as per the needs of the school.
• Setting up a peer counselling programme
How will you set up a peer counselling programme in your school? Let us
consider some guidelines you can follow when setting up a peer
counselling programme.
a) Conducting need assessment survey
Before designing the peer counselling programme, conduct a survey to
identify the areas of development (academic, social and emotional
adjustment, interpersonal skills etc) that need intervention. Then assess if
peer counselling is a desirable option for developing these areas.
b) Defining the goals
The goals of the peer counselling programme would depend on the
student population you want to serve, the students who would serve as
the counselors and the areas of development you have identified for the
programme. The design of the programme whether same-age group (peer
counselling) or cross-age group (senior-junior) may also determine the
goals of the programme. Defining the expected outcome brings clarity to
the specific activities to be undertaken, the resources needed for the
activities, the partnership involved in the activities etc.
c) Selecting the peer counsellors
The most important partners in the peer counsellling programme are the
peer counsellors. Therefore, you should be very careful when selecting the
peer counselors. Peer counsellors should exhibit characteristics that are
found in good counsellors. Therefore, you may select those students who
have demonstrated:
- empathy
- self-confidence
- the ability to listen to others
- non-judgemental behaviour
- an innate need to help others
- pluralistic orientation
- good communication skills
- trustworthiness
d) Training the peer counsellors
After identifying the peer counsellors, the next task is to train and prepare
them to play the role of peer counsellors. Such a training programme
should be conducted by a professional counsellor.
e) Defining the roles of the partners
There are different players in a peer counselling programme. Hence it is
important to define the role of each player. A coordinator is needed to
coordinate the activities of the different players in the programme. For
example, it is the responsibility of the coordinator to organize the training
programme for the peer counsellors. Again should the coordinator do the
matching of the peer counsellor and counselee. Or can this be done by the
school counsellor? Who will provide supervision and support to the peer
counsellors? What are the specific roles assigned to the peer counsellors?
What is the role of the other teachers and staff? For the success of the
programme, first you should identify the different partners and then
define the role of each of them.
f) Enlisting support of the school administration
Without the support of the administration you cannot conduct any activity
in the school. Support from the principal, teachers and staff is crucial for
the success of the programme
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MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING
You have learnt that counselling is a helping relationship where a
professional counsellor and client work towards effecting positive changes
in the client. In a multicultural society the counsellor and clients may not
always belong to the same culture group. Multicultural counselling
evolved as an effort to understand what happens when a professional
counsellor works with clients from a different socio-cultural background
and how the differences affect the quality of the interaction and healing
process. Indian population is constituted of multiple identity :- diverse
culture groups, castes, tribes, socioeconomic class, religion, language,
minority, gender, age, sexual orientation, geographical location etc.
This reality is reflected in the school population also. Teachers and
students may not come from the same background. There exist
differences in the student community too. Therefore, multicultural
counselling gains importance in the school counselling programme. In
multicultural counselling a counsellor needs to acquire and demonstrate
additional multicultural competencies. Multicultural counselling involves
gaining knowledge about the culture of the clients, understanding the
process of socialization in their culture and understanding the complex
process through which they construct gender-role identity, values,
attitudes and world views. A culturally competent counsellor should have
the ability to appreciate and respect the difference in those he/she works
with. It is not enough to understand the difference in the client you work
with. Multicultural counselling requires that as a counsellor you reflect on
the ‘self’ and identify your beliefs, values, attitudes, biases, prejudices
and world views about those who are different from you. Being self aware
and learning about the clients’ culture help you to develop appropriate
intervention strategies and techniques for addressing the clients’ realities.
4.7 CRISIS COUNSELLING
There are times when devastating changes in life incapacitate our ability
to function normally. In such situations, we need help to cope with the
crisis and return to normalcy. A crisis situation may occur in an individual’s
life due to the death of a loved one, debilitating injury, illness, physical
violence, sexual abuse, natural disasters, war, militancy, civil strife, and
such other events. Children may also experience crisis in their life when
faced with such events. These events are intense and stressful and
severely affect your ability to cope. Often people would find it difficult to
deal with it alone and it disrupts the quality of day-goday normal life.
Professional help offered to cope with a crisis situation is a highly
specialized area of counselling.
Let us discuss some crisis situations that school children may face in their
life.
Child abuse: Child abuse includes physical or mental violence, emotional
neglect, sexual abuse, commercial exploitation or any such activity that
harms the child’s well-being and risks his/her life. Child abusers can be
parents or any other caretakers. If children have experienced physical /
mental violence or sexual abuse, it may impair their mental health and
they may exhibit low self esteem, anxiety, depression, fear, aggressive
behaviour or suicidal tendencies. Children who experience abuse go
through a crisis period in life and are in need of help.
Teachers and school counsellors have close interaction with children and
spend a lot of time together. Therefore, teachers and counsellors are
better placed to know changes, if any, in the behaviour of a child. Children
who face abuse are often traumatized, therefore, find it difficult to disclose
it to others. Teachers and counsellors should observe children closely,
identify signs of distress early and develop intervention strategies for
helping the child to cope with the crisis and return to normal functioning.
Severe illness: Prolonged or severe illness may be a reason for crisis in a
child’s life. The child herself or a family member may be suffering from
serious illness. There is stigma attached to illness such as HIV/AIDS. If a
child or a family member is suffering from HIV/AIDS, he/she may be
isolated by others in the school and community. The imposed isolation can
be a traumatizing experience for the child and the family. Teachers and
counsellors should provide counselling to the affected family, the other
students and the neighbourhood community and create awareness about
HIV/AIDS, how the disease is transmitted, the availability of treatment,
how it can be prevented etc. Counselling the people who ostracise the
HIV/AIDS affected party help them to revisit their attitude and engage with
the victim. Thus the two pronged counselling helps to ease the intensity of
the situation for the victim.
Suicide prevention
It is generally believed that children do not commit suicide. But statistics
show that a considerable number of children commit suicide every year.
Suicide is a huge waste of human life. There can be many reasons for
people committing suicide. During the time of board examination or at the
time of declaration of board examination results we get to hear about a
few children having committed suicide. This could be due to examination
preparation stress, failing in examination, low score, not getting admission
in a preferred course etc. Suicide may also be due to depression, the
death of a loved one, a failed relationship, child abuse, substance abuse
etc. If people around the potential victim have the ability to recognize the
risk signs, suicide can be prevented. Therefore, teachers and counsellors
should provide counselling to children who are at risk. Someone thinking
of suicide may exhibit high level of anxiety, depression, exhaustion, etc.
They may talk about suicidal plan to a friend. They may express
hopelessness of their existence. They may be deeply grieving about the
loss of a dear one. May show lack of interest in activities they previously
enjoyed, in dressing and appearance. There are warning signs of suicide
that call for intervention by teachers and counsellors. If your assessment
shows that a student is at risk of suicide, you should immediately provide
information to the parents and prepare a plan for intervention if need be
seeking help from professional agencies from outside
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SPECIALISED AREAS IN COUNSELLING
So far we have been discussing counselling in general with regard to its
various aspects and related concepts. But some areas in counselling are
such that they call for special expertise and techniques on the part of the
counsellor. These are recognized as special areas in counselling.
Family Counselling
Family counselling involves an interaction between professional counsellor
and a family, in which family members are helped to improve their
communication and relationships so as to increase the individual growth
of each family member while achieving balance and healthy interactions
among family members. Family counselling passes through four specific
stages. Initial stage consists of developing a relationship and assessing
the problems. In the middle stage family members develop an emotional
understanding of the reasons behind their problem. Ending stage is
helping the family learn alternative ways of behaving thus transforming
the family system. Termination stage is the weaning period where the
family helped to function productively without the help of the counsellor.
In the initial sessions counselors try to establish rapport, confidence and
trust. Each member is treated as important and insist that members
should speak for themselves. Members are promoted to speak out what
they think as their problem and also to discuss their expectations of the
family. Counselors observe family dynamics, power structure in the family,
communication patterns, and positive resources of the family, etc.
Members are helped to perceive themselves as a social unit. Family
history, interaction with extended family members are also explored if
need be. Once the problem has been refocused, goals are set and
commitment of each family members clarified. Whether to involve all
members in one session or to hold separate sessions will also be decided.
In the middle stage, members are helped to arrive at an emotional
understanding of the problem. Counsellor becomes more confrontative
leading to emotionally charged disclosures. Expression of unresolved grief
like death of loved one, divorce, loss of childhood, etc. is encouraged at
this stage. Here members begin to realize that relationships can be
changed for the better. With this, roles become less rigid and
communications become direct and constructive.
In the ending stage, members are encouraged to generalize these
changes to interactions at home and in the termination stage the family is
weaned and helped to function productively without therapists help.
Review of what happened, discussion of potential problems ahead and
how they intend to handle the matter, etc. are helpful here.
Career Counselling
Career counselling refers to that professional relationship where the
clients are helped to select, prepare to enter and function effectively in an
occupation. According to E.G. Williamson (1939) client problems could be
classified into four categories viz. no choice, uncertain choice, unwise
choice and discrepancy between interests and aptitudes. process of
counselling in these context is very much similar to that in general
counselling because the development choice and establishment of a
career are closely related to social and environmental influences and
personality development.
Client problems are identified and clarified through establishment of
rapport and on the basis of information so gathered, the counsellor forms
a tentative hypothesis. Client problem resolution is then accomplished
with the help of the counsellor followed by evaluation. The major
difference being that in career counselling additional information is
gathered in occupational areas. Occupational history is reviewed, resort to
occupational testing if need be and exploration of occupation and training
possibilities are made. Finally decisions about career choice or
development are taken.
Career counselling though primarily confined to education in India, it has
wide scope in community agencies and business for employee counselling
and assistance programmes. Also specialized counselors do placement
work and vocational rehabilitation counselling to help disadvantaged or
handicapped persons with respect to jobs. Considerable research gone
into this field shows that career counselling is generally beneficial.
Counselling for Prevention of Substance Abuse
Drug addiction has reached epidemic proportions in our country. The ill
effects of substance abuse are so many. These substances are
psychoactive in the sense that they alter the mood, perceptions and
behaviour. The so called stimulants temper appetite leading to nutritional
deficiencies and serious physical ailments.
Drug abuse also leads to serious interpersonal problems like domestic
violence, child abuse, sexual dysfunction etc. These substances induce
physical and psychological dependency which makes it nearly impossible
for the victim to get rid of the habit. Street crimes involving drug addicts
are on the rise and reveals attempts made by them to get money to pay
drug dealers.
In substance abuse cases counsellors emphasize in patient residential
treatment programmes in highly structured and protected environment.
This is because it is important to protect them initially from bad
environmental influences. Moreover medication is advisable in many
cases to help addicts to withdraw from dependency that they have
developed.
Counsellors after ruling out the need for hospitalization inducts the client
into the counselling programme. They insist that the client abstain from
taking drugs, as the first step. Because without that, proper rapport or
communication is impossible. Family members are also counseled and
made aware of their faulty roles, dysfunctional communication, etc. which
have caused or precipitated the problem. Both the client and family
members receive help to develop feelings of self worth and responsibility
for their behaviours. They learn to express their needs more directly.
Through exploration of childhood experience they become aware of
repressed negative emotions that are affecting their present behaviour.
They also learn new ways of dealing with stress. Drug addicts should
receive group counselling because they often lack social skills. Auxiliary
services like recreational or occupational therapy helps them to cultivate
new interests. Nutritional guidance helps them to cultivate healthy eating
habits. Counselling ensures their successful return to the society thus
alienating the problem
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Classification of Counselling
Counselling can be classified according to different spheres or areas of life
in which human beings could encounter problems.These are:
(a) Educational Counselling: problems that could be of learning,
teaching and that of education generally are handled here.
(b) Marital Counselling: problems that could emanate from married life
beginning from spouse selection are resolved here.
(c) Personal Social Counselling: problems including personality and life
in general are taken care of here.
(d) Rehabilitation Counselling: problems emanating from life
disruptions such as accidents, retrenchment and natural mishaps are
handled here.
(e) Vocational Counselling: problems from work and training, career
choice making and adjustment are handled here.

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