Needs of Counselling

 

Counselling Meaning

            The counselling means to give professional help and advice to (someone) resolve personal or psychological problems. To help clients understand and clarify their views of their life space, and to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed choices and through resolution or problems of an emotional or interpersonal nature (Burks and Steffire, 1979). Counselling is a voluntary face-face dialogue between a professional and a client. The client is offered an opportunity to explore self and discover ways and means of living with satisfaction. It is a specialized service designed to meet emotional and psychological problems of the seekers. Remember it has to voluntary i.e., the client should come forward to seek not the other way round.

 

Definition of Counselling

            Counselling is a learning-oriented process that is completed in a simple social environment in which the counsellor, professionally competent in relevant psychological skills and knowledge, assists the client in appropriate ways.

            Carl Rogers “It does not mean providing a service by means of which a specific problem of an individual may be solved. The process should help the counselee in gaining clear insight into the problem and in achieving the self-confidence”.

 

Core Pre-requisites of counselling

1.         Empathy – Fitting into other’s shoes i.e., understanding the feelings and emotions of others. Empathy is the experience of understanding another person's thoughts, feelings, and condition from his or her point of view, rather than from one's own.

2.         Congruence – It means that counsellor has to be genuine and real in approach. Congruence helps in building a rapport with the counselee. The counsellor’s congruence      and genuine approach allows the client to feel valued, which in turn builds self-esteem and trust in their own judgment (counsellingtutor.com).

3.         Unconditional positive regard - Unconditional positive regard in the words of Carl Rogers "It means caring for the client, but not in a possessive way or in such a way as simply to satisfy the therapist's own needs," (Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1957). "It means caring for the client as a separate person, with permission to have his own feelings, his own experiences”.

 

Conditions Essential for Counselling

1.         The Counselee must be willing

2.         The counselee must be aware that she/he requires professional help.

3.         The counselee must have trust in the counselling technique and counsellor.

4.    The counsellor should be adequately skilled, competent, professionally trained and have experience.

5.         Rapport formation is pre-condition for counselling.

6.         Conducive environment for exchange of information.

7.         Mutual respect for personal-cum-professional relationship

 

Characteristics of Counselling

1.         The process of counselling is related to two individuals—the client or the counselee and the counsellor.

2.         In counselling, the counsellor and the counselee or the client have a face-to-face contact.

3.         Solution of the problems is arrived through mutual discussion.

4.         The counsellor, being a trained person, finds out the problem and its importance in his counselee's life through his skilful questioning.

5.         Counselling is the active part of the entire process of guidance.

6.         Counselling is a learning-oriented process.

7.         Counselling helps in solving individuals’ behavioural problems in which emotions and motivations are the main factors.

8.         Counselling helps individuals in overcoming or removing those inabilities and weaknesses which come in the way of their learning process.

9.         Counselling is both an educational and a vocational service.

10.       Counselling is based on an interview.

11.       In counselling, effort is made to provide an opportunity to the individual to understand and solve his own problem.

 

Why Counselling?   

Ø  When an individual finds it difficult to address problems

Ø  When an individual is seeking professional and scientific help

Ø  To gain insight through mutual learning

Ø  For identification and development of individual potential

Ø  For assisting the individual in need

Ø  Optimal utilization of psychological resources

Ø  For adaptation and adjustment with changed environment

Ø  To motivate in order to make the individual self-reliant

Ø  Diagnosis and analysis of personal problems

Ø  Helping the individual in ‘Self-acceptance’

 

References:

1.         Rao, S. N. (2004). Counselling and Guidance. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.

2.         Kinara, A. K. (2008). Guidance and Counselling. New Delhi: Pearson Education.

3.         Shrivastava, K. K. (2003). Principles of Guidance and Counselling. New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers.

4.         Fundamentals of Guidance and counselling- R. S. Sharma

5.         Guidance and counselling-A. K. Nayak.

 

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