Unit III Concept of psychosocial counseling 8 Hrs.

 Concept, Nature, goal, Importance of counseling.

 Evolution of counseling practice.
 Personal and professional aspect of counseling
 Ethical practice and values in counseling (also include ethics related to assessment)
 Power in counseling
 Legal aspects of counseling
 The context of cross-cultural counseling

Concept of Counseling

Life is beautiful but not always easy, it has problems too and the challenge lies in facing them with
courage, letting the beauty of life act like a balm, which makes the pain bearable, during trying times, by
providing hope.
Happiness, sorrow, victory, defeat, day-night are the two sides of the coin. Similarly, life is full of
moments of joy, pleasure, success and comfort punctuated by misery, defeat, failures and problems. There
is no human being on Earth, strong, powerful, wise or rich, who has not experienced, struggle, suffering
or failure.
Being self-aware and having the capability to think and feel emotions with clarity and understanding is
part and parcel of being human. Unlike animals, our thought processes rely on far more than instinct
alone.
Because of this, there is scope for the way we think to become a problem and to affect our emotions. If
we go back a few hundred years we can see that psychological issues were approached with fear and
unnecessarily invasive treatments. Thanks to the evolution of science and technology we now have
Counselling is a process intended to help people take effective control of their daily lives. It is a process
of sharing thoughts and feelings in confidence with someone who is objective and who is a good listener.
Counselling is cooperative where counsellors do not solve people's problems, but rather serve to enhance
the efforts the person is already making by discussing new approaches to solving a problem, by giving
needed information, by helping to clarify thoughts and feelings, or just through listening.
Hence we can summarize the concept as below: -

 The term counselling includes work with individuals and with relationships that may be
developmental, crisis support, psychotherapeutic, guiding or problem solving. It may be practiced
within a counselling or other professional work setting, or in private practice on a paid or
voluntary basis.
 The task of counselling is to give the 'client' an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify ways
of living more satisfyingly and resourcefully. Maintaining good standards of counselling involves
continuous self-monitoring and self-development on the part of the counsellor.
 Counselling is a goal-oriented process, which emphasizes a cooperative role relationship between
provider and recipient. When counselling, the provider applies his or her expertise to benefit each
 recipient, directing them to use information in a way that serves best in everyday life. In short, it
is a process of helping someone to recognize, face, accept and resolve problems.
 The term counselling includes a wide array of activities: assessing knowledge and motivation,
providing information, modifying inappropriate behavior, reinforcing desired behavior, and
monitoring long-term progress.
 Counselling is a form of psychotherapy, usually far more brief in the length of time clients
receive in traditional psychotherapy, that aims to assist people who are experiencing problems in
various areas including relationship problems, academic or school related problems, depression,
anxiety, trauma, and issues from the past that negatively affect the person's daily functioning
(Corey, 2004).

Meaning
Counseling denotes a professional relationship in which counselors take responsibility for making their
efforts aid the Counselee in a positive manner. It is not a “casual” incident designed to “adjust” or
“straighten out the Counselee”. The counselor needs to be able to use effective techniques and skills that
have been gained through education and training. Boyd (1978) indicates that successful counselors grow
personally and professionally and become increasingly competent through ongoing counseling
experiences and supervision. A major element of counseling is that the counselor has a particular
expertise not found in typical relationships.

Definition of counselling:

The term counseling eluded definition for years. However, in 2010, a consensus definition of counseling
was agreed upon by 29 counseling associations including the American Counseling Association (ACA)
and all but two of its than 19 divisions, along with the American Association of State Counseling Boards
(AASCB), the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs
(CACREP), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the Council of Rehabilitation
Education (CORE), the Commission of Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), and Chi Sigma
Iota (counseling honor society international). It was achieved through a process called 20/20 where these
groups met over a 3-year period in person and through Internet exchanges to create a broad, concise, and
inclusive description of the process.
According to the 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling consortium, counseling is defined as
follows:
Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to
accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.
(www.counseling.org/20-20/index.aspx)
This definition contains a number of implicit and explicit points that are important for counselors as well
as consumers to realize.

 Counseling deals with wellness, personal growth, career, education, and empowerment
concerns. In other words, counselors work in areas that involve a plethora of issues including
those that are personal and those that are interpersonal. These areas include concerns related to
finding meaning, adjustment, and fulfillment in mental and physical health, and the achievement
of goals in such settings as work and school. Counselors are concerned with social justice and
advocate for the oppressed and powerless as a part of the process.
 Counseling is conducted with persons individually, in groups, and in families. Clients seen
by counselors live and work in a wide variety of settings and in all strata of society. Their
problems may require short-term or long-term interventions that focus on just one person or with
multiple individuals who are related or not related to one another.
 Counseling is diverse and multicultural. Counselors see clients with varied cultural
backgrounds and at different ages and stages of life. Those from minority and majority cultures
are helped in a variety of ways depending on their needs, which may include addressing larger
societal issues, such as discrimination or prejudice.
 Counseling is a dynamic process. Counselors not only focus on their clients’ goals, but they also
help clients accomplish them. This dynamic process comes through using a range of theories and
methods. Thus, counseling involves making choices as well as changes. Counseling is lively and
engaging. In most cases, “counseling is a rehearsal for action” (Casey, 1996, p. 176) either
internally with thoughts and feelings or externally with behavior. In addition to defining
counseling in general, the ACA has defined a professional counseling specialty, which is an area
(within counseling) that is “narrowly focused, requiring advanced knowledge in the field” of
counseling (www.counseling.org). Among the specialties within counseling are those dealing
with educational settings such as schools or colleges and those pertaining to situations in life such
as marriage, mental health, rehabilitation, aging, assessment, addiction, and careers. According to
the ACA, becoming a specialist is founded on the premise that “all professional counselors must
first meet the requirements for the general practice of professional counseling”
(www.counseling.org).
Counselling is a process where clients are helped in dealing with their personal and interpersonal conflicts
by a third-party therapist. It allows an individual to have an opportunity to improve upon their
understanding of themselves, including their pattern of thoughts, behaviors, feelings and the ways in
which these may have been problematic in their lives.
Counselling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a client. Relationship is
usually person-to-person, and is designed to help clients to understand and clarify their views of their life
spaces, to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed choices and
through resolution of problem”.
Some definitions by scholars

 It is an interaction process that facilitates meaningful understanding of self and environment and
results in the establishment and /or clarification of goals and values for future. - Stone and
shertzer
 Counselling is a dynamic and purposeful relationship between two people, who approach a
mutually defined problem with mutual consideration of each other to the end that the troubled one
or less mature is aided to a self-determined resolution of his problem. - Wren 1962
 The task of counselling is to give the 'client' an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify, ways
of living more satisfyingly and resourcefully- (BAC, 1984).
 Counselling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a client. This
relationship is usually person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than two
people. It is designed to help clients to understand and clarify their views of life, and to learn to
reach their self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed resolution of problems of
emotional or interpersonal nature- (Burks and Steffire,1979: I4).
 According to Pepinskey & Pepinskey (1954)- Counseling is an interaction process that occurs
between the counselor and the counselee, takes places in professional settings and is initiated and
maintained to facilitate changes in the behavior if the Counselees.
 According to Rogers, counseling is a definitely structured permissive relationship, that allows the
Counselees to gain and understanding of himself to a degree that enables him/ her to take positive
steps in the life of his/her new orientation.
 According to Smith, Counseling is a process in which counselor assists the counselee to make
interpretations of facts related to a choice, place of adjustment, which he/ she needs to makes.
 According to Perez, Counseling is an interactive process conjoining the counselee who needs
assistance and the counselor who is trained educated to give this assistance.
 According to Ruth Strang, “Counselling is a face to face relationship in which growth takes place
in the counsellor as well as the counselee.”
Related terms to counselling
1. Individual Assessment
Individual assessment seeks, systematically, to identify the characteristics and potential of every
client. This activity is often considered a primary skill of the professional counsellor because it
provides a database for more readily understanding the person in the counselling set ting, the
effective planning of group counselling activities that reflect client interests and needs the
development of responsive career and human potential development programs, and the
organization of systematic placement and follow-up programs. Often referred to as individual
inventory, assessment, or appraisal, this activity promotes the client's self-understanding, and it
also assists counsellors and other helping professionals to understand clients better.
Individual assessment emerged as a result of the standardized testing movement. Even today,
standardized test results are the most frequently used objective data in individual analysis. Other
popular and traditional techniques are observation, observation reports, and such self-reporting
techniques as the autobiography. Note that other helping professional specialists also have
diagnostic skills and responsibilities. For example, a school counsellor will often consult with
school psychologists and psychometrists for their expertise in psychological assessment,
 including individual testing, and with school social workers as specialists in environmental and
case study analysis.
2. Guidance
Guidance focuses on helping people make important choices that affect their lives, such as
choosing a preferred lifestyle. Although the decision-making aspect of guidance has long played
an important role in the counseling process, the concept itself, as a word in counseling, “has gone
the way of ‘consumption’ in medicine” (Tyler, 1986, p. 153). It has more historical significance
than present-day usage. Nevertheless, it sometimes distinguishes a way of helping that differs
from the more encompassing word “counseling.”
One distinction between guidance and counseling is that guidance focuses on helping individuals
choose what they value most, whereas counseling helps them make changes. Much of the early
work in guidance occurred in schools and career centers where an adult would help a student
make decisions, such as deciding on a course of study or a vocation. That relationship was
between unequal and was beneficial in helping the less experienced person find direction in life.
Similarly, children have long received “guidance” from parents, religious leaders, and coaches. In
the process they have gained an understanding of themselves and their world. This type of
guidance will never become passé. No matter what the age or stage of life, a person often needs
help in making choices. But guidance is only one part of the overall services provided by
professional counseling.

3. Career Assistance
Since their earliest inception, both the school guidance movement and the counselling psychology
movement have had a strong vocational influence. Traditionally, this activity has been viewed as
one in which standardized tests were used for career assessment and planning. Descriptive
materials and media were accumulated organized, and then disseminated through planned group
activities, as well as used in individual advising and counselling. For many years in school
settings this activity was referred to as the information service (providing occupational and
educational information). In the 1970s the concept of this basic service was broadened and a new
(now more appropriate) label assigned: career guidance. This term seemed more compatible with
the rapidly developing career education movement and also represented in the minds of many
(but not all) a broadening of the school counselling program's responsibility in the career
development of school-age youths. This approach, a developmental one, suggests that a person
should have certain experiences and understandings at each stage of growth that will provide
appropriate foundations for later career planning and decision making.
The attention to and preparation for providing career assistance to client populations is one of the
distinguishing and unique characteristics of the counselling profession. Dramatic changes taking
place in the world of work have altered the workplace and affected the traditional planning and
careers of millions of workers.
As a result, the counselling profession is being called upon once again to renew and update its
efforts in one of its most traditional areas of service and to provide career guidance and
counselling, not at selected stages in life's development, but across the entire life span.
Technology is also keeping pace with the rapid change affecting work, workers, and preparation
for work. Computer-based programs, the Internet, distance learning, and interactive learning
systems are but a few of the technological developments impacting the counsellors provide career
assistance and information to their clients.
Counsellors in a wide range of settings are called on to provide career planning and adjustment
assistance to clients. In some agencies, such as community career centers and career centers for
 special populations, the focus is exclusively on the career needs of individuals. Counsellors in
government employment offices and rehabilitation services have an obvious responsibility to
provide career counselling and guidance. Even those counsellors in more broadly-based
programs, such as community agencies, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education,
are expected to address the career-oriented needs of the populations they serve.

4. Consultation
Consultation is a process for helping a client through a third party or helping a system to improve
its services to its clientele. The former, usually labelled triadic consultation, is popular in working
with parents of troubled children or teachers with problem pupils.
The latter, appropriately labelled process consultation, focuses primarily on the processes that
agency or institution may be using to carry out its mission. Thus, consultation is a form of
outreach in which counsellors’ function as team members to assist individual clients or systems
that serve clients.
In community and other agency settings, consultation is receiving increased attention as a way of
preventing severe mental illnesses. In fact, the Community Mental Health Centres Act (1963 and
subsequent amendments) requires centers to provide consultation as one of five essential services.
In school settings, especially elementary schools, the counsellor is used increasingly as a
consultant to teachers and parents.
5. Group counselling
In recent generations, group counselling has also been viewed as a basic but different activity
from group guidance. Group guidance refers to group activities that focus on providing
information or experiences through a planned and organized group activity.
Examples of group guidance activities are orientation groups, career exploration groups, college
visitation days, and classroom guidance. Group guidance is also organized to prevent the
development of problems. The content could include educational, vocational, personal, or social
information, with a goal of providing students with accurate information that will help them make
more appropriate plans and life decisions.
Group counselling is the routine adjustment or developmental experiences provided in a group
setting. Group counselling focuses on assisting counselees to cope with their day-to-day
adjustment and development concerns. Examples might focus on behavior modification,
developing personal relationship skills, concerns of human sexuality, values or attitudes, or career
decision making.
We might conclude that group guidance activities are most likely to be found in schools. Group
counselling typically is popular in agency and institutional settings and utilized, though not as
frequently as group guidance, in school settings, while group psychotherapy will most frequently
occur in clinics and agency or institutional settings.
6. Referral
Referral is the practice of helping clients find needed expert assistance that the referring
counsellor cannot provide. It directs the client to another counsellor with a higher level of training
or special expertise related to the client's needs. Counsellors in all settings who establish a
network of qualified helping professionals for referral purposes will find it to be an advantage to
their clients.
Of course, counsellors themselves will be the recipients of referrals from their various work
settings and the populations they are expected to serve.
 7. Psychotherapy
Traditionally, psychotherapy (or therapy) has focused on serious problems associated with
intrapsychic disorders (such as delusions or hallucinations), internal conflicts, and personality
issues (such as dependency or inadequacy in working with others). It has dealt with the
establishment or “recovery of adequacy” (Casey, 1996, p. 175). As such, psychotherapy,
especially
analytically based therapy, has emphasized: -
a) the past more than the present,
b) insight more than change,
c) the detachment of the therapist, and
d) the therapist’s role as an expert.
In addition, psychotherapy has historically involved a long-term relationship (20 to 40 sessions
over a period of 6 months to 2 years) that concentrated on reconstructive change as opposed to a
more short-term relationship (8 to 12 sessions spread over a period of less than 6 months).
Psychotherapy has also been more of a process associated with inpatient settings—some of which
are residential, such as mental hospitals—as opposed to outpatient settings—some of which are
nonresidential, such as community agencies.
However, in more modern times, the distinction between psychotherapy and counseling has
blurred, and professionals who provide clinical services often determine whether clients receive
counseling or psychotherapy. Some counseling theories, such as psychoanalysis, are commonly
referred to as therapies as well and can be used in multiple settings. Therefore, the similarities in
the counseling and psychotherapy processes often overlap.
In Patterson's (1973) view the term psychotherapy is used for the treatment employed to remedy
the patient of his emotional disturbances of a deep-lying and serious nature. On the other hand,
when the disturbances are not serious enough to incapacitate a patient but are like the problems of
a normal person which interfere with the development of his potential, it is called 'counselling'.
Psychotherapy is a general term, used to describe the process of treating psychological disorders
and mental distress through the use of psychological techniques. During this process, a trained
psychotherapist helps the client tackle specific or general problems such as a particular mental
illness or a source of life stress. The main types of therapy are Behavioral therapy, Cognitive
therapy, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Humanistic therapy and Psychoanalytical therapy.
Depending on the approach used by the therapist, a wide range of techniques and strategies can
be used. All types of psychotherapy involve developing a therapeutic relationship,
communicating and creating a dialogue, and working to overcome problematic thoughts or
behaviors.
Counselling and Psychotherapy
Although the terms 'psychotherapy' and 'counseling' are often used interchangeably, there are some subtle
differences between these processes. Counseling tends to address concerns with less probing bf one's past
and more focus on present day situations and solutions. It assumes one is basically healthy from a
psychological standpoint and simply in need of some professional guidance. It may involve giving direct
advice to the client if necessary and is often practiced by people with diverse backgrounds, levels of
training, and perspectives. Counselling is one aspect of the Guidance process (Kenneth.B.Hoyt)
In contrast, psychotherapy is a deeper process that often delves into the factors and motives behind one's
thoughts, feelings, or behavior that leads to one's present day existence. It addresses different forms of
psychopathology and areas where one may need rebuilding in order to lead a healthier and more fulfilling
life. It encompasses all of the aspects of counseling but goes beyond to achieve a more fundamental
transformation.
"Psychotherapy" and "counseling" are terms that are often used interchangeably. Although they are very
similar there are some subtle differences as well.
Psychotherapy is a deeper process that often delves into the factors and motives behind one's thoughts,
feelings, or behavior that lead to one's present day existence. It addresses different forms of
psychopathology and areas where one may need rebuilding in order to lead a healthier and more fulfilling
life. It encompasses all of the aspects of counseling but goes beyond to achieve a more fundamental
transformation. "Psychotherapy "and "counseling" are terms that are often used interchangeably.
Although they are very similar, there are some subtle differences as well.
Technically speaking, ―counselor" means ―advisor". It involves two people working together to solve a
problem. It is a term that is used in conjunction with many types of advice giving. For example, financial
planning and spiritual guidance are both types of counseling. Just about anyone at all may claim to be a
counselor if they are in the role of giving advice. The term counseling may also properly be used to refer
to what occurs in a relationship with a psychotherapist.
Difference between psychotherapy and counselling
The term "counselling" and "therapy" are commonly used interchangeable. The term "Counselling" is
used when a strong component of the process is educational, as when parents learn new ways of handling
children's behaviors, or when spouses learn better ways of communicating.
"Counselling" is probably the most appropriate term to describe the process when the couple or family is
basically "healthy" yet seek enrichment of their quality of life together.
"Therapy" may be more appropriate when there is a great deal of emotional stress or pain in the
relationship or system. Professionals often prefer the term "therapist" to "counsellor" as label, because it
includes education functions as well as treatment functions.
Blocher (1966) distinguishes between counselling and psychotherapy by pointing out that the goals of
counselling are ordinarily developmental-educative preventive, and the goals of psychotherapy are
generally remediative-adjustive- therapeutic. He describes that five basic assumptions about client and
counsellor differentiate both: -
1. Counselling clients are not considered to be "mentally ill", but they are viewed as being capable
of choosing goals, making decisions, and generally assuming responsibility for their own
behavior and future development.
2. Counselling focuses on present and future.
3. The client is a client, not a patient. The counsellor is not an authority figure but is essentially a
teacher and partner of the client as they move towards mutually defined goals.
4. The counsellor is not morally neutral but has values, feelings, and standards of her or his own.
Although the counsellor does not necessarily impose these on clients, yet she or he does not
attempt to hide them, and
5. Counsellor focuses on changing behavior, not just creating insight.
In the context of mental health, "counseling" is generally used to denote a relatively brief treatment that is
focused most upon behavior. It often targets a particular symptom or problematic situation and offers
suggestions and advice for dealing with it. To be precise counseling deals with normal individuals
seeking clarification to gain insight. For example, a Guidance Counselor may administer tests like
aptitude, interests, personality, etc. to help choose a proper vocation or course of study.
"Psychotherapy" on the other hand is generally a longer-term treatment, which focuses more on gaining
insight into chronic physical and emotional problems. Its focus is on the patient's processes and way of
being in the world rather than specific problems.
In actual practice there may be quite a bit of overlap between the two. A therapist may provide counseling
with specific situations and a counselor may function in a psychotherapeutic manner. Generally speaking,
however, psychotherapy requires more skill than simple counseling.
Professionals trained to practice psychotherapy such as psychiatrist, a trained Psychologist, or social
worker, conduct it. While a psychotherapist qualified to provide counseling, a counselor may or may not
possess the necessary training and skills to provide psychotherapy.
Clinical Social Workers are licensed mental health professionals who can help you find solutions to your
emotional problems-from daily crises to life's most difficult situations. They are trained to work with
individuals to pinpoint the life circumstance that contribute to their problems and help them understand
which aspects of those problems they may be able to solve or improve. This is accomplished through a
unique combination of psychotherapy and active problem-solving assistance. Counseling is considered an
exchange of opinions and ideas to effectively solve the problem of an individual's daily living issues
associated with his or her emotional, cognitive or behavioral problems.
Psychotherapy is a form of treatment for emotional problems in which a therapist establishes a
relationship with an individual for the purpose of modifying self-defeating patterns of behavior and
promoting positive personality growth and development. Psychotherapy is generally undertaken to gain
self-knowledge. Most people come to therapy because defenses, which have served them in the past, are
no longer working or useful.
The reason people come to counseling or psychotherapy is as varied as people themselves. Often, clients
have encountered distressing or stressful experiences to situations, which they would like to talk about in
a safe setting. These might include present circumstances of bereavement, separation, or other major life
transitions or experiences from the past, such as in childhood. Others seek help in dealing with specific
psychological or behavioral traits, which they'd like to alter, such as compulsive thoughts or difficulties
relating to people. Some people seek counseling to help them explore a general feeling that their lives are
not quite right, or to cope with the feelings of depression or anxiety.
Still others look to counseling as part of their effort to discover or create meaning in their lives. Many
people are attracted to counseling as an opportunity to undertake personal development in a safe and
supportive environment: it is not at all necessary to have a 'problem' to find counseling useful.
People seeking general development as well as difficulties ranging from 'minor niggles' to profound
distress impacting all areas of life have benefited from counseling and psychotherapy. Increasingly, many
clients turn instead to coaching - a service well suited to helping them re-discover their own talents,
identify what is most important to them in life, and create and implement concrete plans to live the kind
of life they want to live.
Similarities between' Counselling and Psychotherapy
Counselling and psychotherapy are similar in many procedures adopted and concepts used, some of them
are given below: -

 The nature of seating arrangements and directions during the process of conducting sessions are
more or less the same.
 In both therapy and counselling special relationship is built and both value clients.
 Psychotherapists and counsellors use the same theoretical models.
 Counselling skills are used by those practicing psychotherapy and counselling.
 Both therapy and counselling have same ethical and professional boundaries like confidentiality,
time limits, payments and ethical issues.

Characteristics of counselling
1. It involves two individual one seeking help and the other a professionally trained person who can
help the first. One who seeks help is counselee and the one who provide help is the counsellor.
2. There is a mutual respect between the two individuals.
3. It is aimed to bring about desired changes in the individual for self-realization and aiding solve
problems.
4. The counsellor identifies the problems of counselee and helps him to take decision, make a
choice or find a direction.
5. It is more than advice giving, solution emerges through thinking that the person does for himself
rather than solutions suggested by the counsellor.
6. It involves more than aiding find a solution to an immediate problem. Its function is to produce
changes in the individual thereby enabling him to deal with the difficulties in a more productive
and independent manners.
7. It is a purposeful learning experience for the counselee.
8. Counselling process is structured around the felt needs of the counselee.
9. Main emphasis in the counselling process is on the counselee’s self-direction and self-acceptance.
Goals of counselling

 The counsellor has the goal of understanding the behavior, motivations and feelings of the
counselee. The counsellor’s goals are not limited to understanding his clients. He has different
goals at different levels of functioning. The immediate goal, however, is to obtain relief for the
client and the long-range goal is to make him a ‘fully functioning person.’ Both the immediate
and long-term goals are secured through what are known as mediate or process goals.
 The goal of counselling is to help individuals overcome their immediate problems and also to
equip them to meet future problems. Rapid social change brought about, by industrialization and
urbanization has led to several perplexing problems. The pace of this change is ever on the
increase, thus making adjustment a continuous process of grappling with new situations.
Counselling, to be meaningful, has to be specific for each client since it involves his unique
problems and expectations. The goals of counselling may be described as immediate, long-range,
and process goals. A statement of goals is not only important but also necessary, for it provides a
sense of direction and purpose. Additionally, it is necessary for a meaningful evaluation of the
usefulness of it. It is only in terms of the defined goals that it is possible to judge the
meaningfulness or otherwise of any activity, including counselling. It establishes a congruency
between what is demanded or sought and what is possible or practical.
 Specific counselling goals are unique to each client and involve a consideration of the client’s
expectations as well as the environmental aspects. Apart from the specific goals there are,
however, two categories of goals which are common to most counselling situations. These are
identified as long-range and process goals. The latter have great significance. They shape the
counselee and counsellors’ inter-relations and behavior. The process goals comprise facilitating
procedures for enhancing the effectiveness of counselling. The long-range goals are those that
reflect the counsellor’s philosophy of life and could be stated as: -
1. To help the counselee become self-actualizing.
2. To help the counselee attain self-realization.
3. To help the counselee become a fully functioning person.
 The immediate goals of counselling refer to the problems for which the client is seeking
solutions, here and now. The client fails to utilize his capacities fully and efficiently and,
therefore, is unable to function efficiently. The counselee could be helped to gain fuller self-
understanding through self-exploration and to appreciate his strengths and weaknesses. The
counsellor could provide necessary information but information, however exhaustive, may not be
useful to the client unless he has an integrative understanding of himself vis-a-vis his personal
resources and environmental constraints and resources.
 The long-range and immediate goals are related. There is an inter-relation between, them as both
depend on the process goals for their realization. The process goals are the basic Counselling
dimensions which are essential conditions for counselling to take place. They comprise empathic
understanding, warmth and friendliness which provide for inter-personal exploration which, in
turn, helps the client in his self-exploration and self-understanding and eventually lead to the
long-range goals, namely, self- actualization, self-realization and self-enhancement. The client
may have certain inhibiting and self-destructive patterns of behavior which are eliminated and
overcome to enable the individual to become a fully functioning person.
 Further, Hackney and Cormier (1996) have noted that Goals serve three important functions in
the counselling process. First, goals can have a motivational function in counselling. Second,
goals can also have an educational function in counselling in that they can help clients acquire
new responses. Three, goals can also meet an evaluative function in counselling whereby the
client's goals help the counsellor to select and evaluate various counselling strategies appropriate
to the client' goals.
Hence based on above discussion, we can point out the goals as below: -

 Help the Counselee to help himself.

 Use the principle of self-determination.
 is concerned with decision making skills and problem resolution.
 Involves Counselees learning behavior of formulating new attitudes.
 To develop mutual enterprise on the part of the counselor and counselee.
 Cannot be specifically defined since it is a changing entity but there are skills involved which
are common and facilitate the relationship.
 is to find a way of life
 achievement of positive mental health
 resolution of problems (E.g.: behavioral goals – altering maladaptive behavior – learning
decision making process- preventing problems)
 improving personal effectiveness
 Help to bring change
  Modification of behavior
 Main goal is to understand behavior – feelings- motivations- of the counselee.

1. Short term goals are process goals and can be obtained at the end of the process.
2. Long term goals are vague and almost seen to be unattainable. E.g. Self- actualization,
Self- Realization.
The goals of counseling can also be best described on the basis of phases of counseling process.

S.N Phase Helper’s goal Counselee’s goal

1. Pre- helping stage- To attend physically and The Counselee may/ may
Attention phase psychologically to the Counselee not be ready yet to
initiate the process…..
2. Stage-1 Responding Rapport building, making the Self- Exploration to explore
and self- exploration Counselee to explore, respond to his/her experiences,
the Counselee’s feelings behaviors & feelings
Responding to the Counselee relevant to the problems
efficiently & facilitate the
Counselee’s self-exploration
3. Stage – 2 Integrating To integrate the Counselees Understanding the
phase feelings, behavior and attitude with problem /Dynamic self-
the problem and understand understanding
the problem clearly.
To integrate the broken pieces of
information obtained from the
Counselee and get the larger picture
4. Stage – 3 To facilitate the Counselee by To act or to make decisions.
Facilitating giving various choices/ alternatives Living more efficiently, by
phase to facilitate the Counselee’s action. modifying self-destructive
Collaborating with the Counselee in behavioral patterns,
working out specific action acquiring essential life-skills
programs and adopting positive
patterns of living.
5.

Ethical Principles of counselling

1. Principle of acceptance -accepts the patient with his physical, psychological, social,
economic and cultural conditions.
2. Principle of communication - Communication should be verbal as well as nonverbal and
should be skillful.
 3. Principle of empathy -Instead of showing sympathy put yourself in patients shoes and then
give reflections accordingly (Empathy is ability to identify with a person.)
4. Principle of non-judge-mental attitude - Do not criticizes or comments negatively regarding
patient’s complaints.
5. Principle of Confidentiality-Always keep the patient’s name, and the problems strictly secrete
and assure the patient about the same.
6. Principle of individuality -Treats each and every patient as unique and respect his problem
as well.
7. Principles of non-emotional Involvement-Not getting emotionally involved with the patient
and avoid getting carried away with his feelings.
Need and importance of counseling

Need for counselling:

At times, a person might experience trauma, distress, or memories that generate unhealthiness in their
behavior and in their lives. Thus, they might necessitate the help of those qualified professionals who are
trained to counsel and help those people who are under the bottom of their emotional dilemmas. These
trained individuals are also able to aid a person in creating strategies for new and healthy coping devices.
These professionals are called counselors. They offer professional counselling service to help those
individuals who are in need of emotional support. Counselling is a term used to comfort, listen, or give
advice to those people who are experiencing depression or any emotional problems. However, this term
might not be that encouraging or welcoming to some people. It looks like a therapy in a sense that it is
without being quite so worrying. Nevertheless, there’s a negative stamina appended to the concept of
counselling and counsellors. On the brighter side, counselling is giving counsel and advice.
One should never feel embarrassed about it. Counselling is just like talking to a close friend or a family
member. In the end, counselling is suggested for individuals who need someone who can offer them
professional advice for mental health and well-being.
There are certain signs that one might need counselling. Once these signs are evident, one can call a
qualified professional and ask for his pieces of advice. One of the common signs that a person might need
counselling is when he has exhausted his support system. It can be exhausting for a person who has been
that shoulder to cry on. Therefore, significant others can only take much of that feeling of letdown,
depression and upset. However, these individuals may not have the tools to help solve the problem. When
the support system tends to falter, then it is necessary to seek professional help.
A person knows when he needs professional help. It is like physically sick individuals seek medical
assistance. One should never feel ashamed to ask for help. Asking for a counselor’s advice is simply
analogous. When a person feels that he needs an extra help, then he should go to a counselor. Oftentimes,
they are very friendly and approachable. Lastly, it is essential to seek professional advice when a person
has a recurring problem. Most of the time, these problems are like physical injuries that often linger on
one’s well-being. Avoiding the problem is not a very healthy solution. Instead, face the problems and
avoid ignoring it.
These are some of the signs that a person might need a professional help. Most individuals might not avail
counselling that they need because they fear of asking for help. Going to a counselling service can be the
healthiest thing that individuals can do for themselves. There’s nothing wrong in asking for assistance and
reaching for help. Remember, one just have to guarantee that they are being assisted by individuals who
are trained and certified in order to help them overcome and conquer their emotional stresses and
problems in the healthiest way possible
The importance of counselling
Counselling may help those who are struggling in the world. They may help them to deal with personal
issues such as loss of a job or a divorce. This can be a very stressful time for anyone.
A counsellor can help the person to get back on their feet and feel empowered and stronger than ever.
Counselling may help the person to let go of the past and start over without feeling guilty. The counsellor
may help an addict or alcoholic to give up their drug of choice and their drinking in an effort to lead a
normal life. They may help guide the person through the difficult transition of going from addict to
functional person in society. Not all addicts or alcoholics are bad, many have had serious issues in getting
to where they are at and just need a bit of encouragement and help to make it back up to the top.
Counsellors will focus on individual treatment as well as group therapy to help others in similar
situations. The field of counselling offers up many of great opportunities to help others lead a healthy,
happy, and normal life. There are positions from working with children in hospital settings to working in
more public settings.
Personal and professional aspects of Counseling

Personal aspects
Individuals aspire to become counselors for many reasons. For the most part, “it attracts caring, warm,
friendly and sensitive people” (Myrick, 1997, p. 4). However, some motivators, like the people involved,
are healthier than others, just as some counselor education programs, theories, and systems of counseling
are stronger than others. It is important that persons who wish to be counselors examine themselves
before committing their lives to the profession. Whether they choose counseling as a career or not, people
can be helped by studying counseling.
By doing so they may gain insight into their thoughts, feelings, and actions; learn how to relate better to
others; and understand how the counseling process works. They may also further develop their moral
reasoning, critical thinking, and empathetic abilities.
The effectiveness of a counselor and of counseling depends on numerous variables, including: -
1) the personality and background of the counselor;
2) the formal education of the counselor; and
3) the ability of the counselor to engage in professional counseling-related activities, such as
continuing education, supervision, advocacy, and the building of a portfolio.

Counselors and the counseling process have a dynamic effect on others. If counseling is not
beneficial, it is most likely harmful (Carkhuff, 1969; Ellis, 1984; Mays & Franks, 1980). Thus,
personal and professional factors that influence the counseling profession must be examined.
1) The personality and background of the counselor
A counselor’s personality is at times a crucial ingredient in counseling. Counselors should
possess personal qualities of maturity, empathy, and warmth. They should be humane in spirit
and not easily upset or frustrated. Unfortunately, such is not always the case, and some people
aspire to be in the profession of counseling for the wrong reasons.

Negative Motivators for Becoming a Counselor

 Not everyone who wants to be a counselor or applies to a counselor education program should
enter the field. The reason has to do with the motivation behind the pursuit of the profession and
the incongruent personality match between the would-be counselor and the demands of
counseling.

A number of students “attracted to professional counseling … appear to have serious personality

and adjustment problems” such as narcissism or unresolved developmental issues (Witmer &
Young, 1996, p. 142).

Most are screened out or decide to pursue other careers before they finish a counselor preparation
program. However, before matriculating into graduate counseling programs, candidates should
explore their reasons for doing so.

According to Guy (1987), dysfunctional motivators for becoming a counselor include the
following: -
 Emotional distress—individuals who have unresolved personal traumas
 Vicarious coping—persons who live their lives through others rather than have
meaningful lives of their own
 Loneliness and isolation—individuals who do not have friends and seek them through
counseling experiences
 A desire for power—people who feel frightened and impotent in their lives and seek to
control others
 A need for love—individuals who are narcissistic and grandiose and believe that all
problems are resolved through the expression of love and tenderness
 Vicarious rebellion—persons who have unresolved anger and act out their thoughts and
feelings through their clients’ defiant behaviors
Fortunately, most people who eventually become counselors and remain in the profession have healthy
reasons for pursuing the profession, and a number even consider it to be a “calling” (Foster, 1996).
Counselors and counselors-in-training should always assess themselves in regard to who they are and
what they are doing. Such questions may include those that examine their development histories, their
best and worst qualities, and personal/professional goals and objectives.
Motivators for becoming a counselor

 Being intrigued by individual behavior and fascination/ curiosity to explore;

 Learning to apply the theoretical scientific knowledge to human welfare;
 Particularly to learn and understand how positivity can bring change in life and enhance wellness/
happiness/ mental health;
 Sensitivity toward people suffering from mental health issues/ daily life maladjustment;
 Realization of virtues such as active listening and empathy while pursuing psychology;
 Sense of enjoyment/ satisfaction obtained after helping people suffering from pain/ trauma;
 Curiosity to understand and learn skills like gratitude, forgiveness after realizing that such
religious
And charity lead to a happier life;
 Developing love for counseling due to identification with the teacher of counseling as a role
model
 Reflection of human touch and understanding other human beings with the same respect and
dignity without being judgmental;
 Personal distress and dissatisfaction during teenage/ school/ college life, observed/ experienced
flights in family separation of parents; and
 Accidentally entering into psychology and having no choice than developing a career in
counseling

Personal Qualities of an Effective Counselor

Among the functional and positive factors that motivate individuals to pursue careers in counseling and
make them well suited for the profession are the following qualities as delineated by Foster (1996) and
Guy (1987). Although this list is not exhaustive, it highlights aspects of one’s personal life that make a
person best suited to function as a counselor.

 Curiosity and inquisitiveness—a natural interest in people

 Ability to listen—the ability to find listening stimulating
 Comfort with conversation—enjoyment of verbal exchanges
 Empathy and understanding—the ability to put oneself in another’s place, even if that person is
totally different from you
 Emotional insightfulness—comfort dealing with a wide range of feelings, from anger to joy
 Introspection—the ability to see or feel from within
 Capacity for self-denial—the ability to set aside personal needs to listen and take care of others’
needs first
 Tolerance of intimacy—the ability to sustain emotional closeness
 Comfort with power—the acceptance of power with a certain degree of detachment
 Ability to laugh—the capability of seeing the bittersweet quality of life events and the humor in
them
In addition to personal qualities associated with entering the counseling profession, a number of personal
characteristics are associated with being an effective counselor over time. They include stability,
harmony, constancy, and purposefulness. Overall, the potency of counseling is related to counselors’
personal togetherness. The personhood or personality of counselors is as important, if not more crucial in
bringing about client change, than their mastery of knowledge, skills, or techniques. Education cannot
change a person’s basic characteristics. Effective counselors are growing as persons and are helping
others do the same both personally and globally. In other words, effective counselors are sensitive to
themselves and others. They monitor their own biases, listen, ask for clarification, and explore racial and
cultural differences in an open and positive way. In addition, effective counselors practice what Wicks
and Buck (2014) call “alone time”—an intentional practice of devoting periods in their lives to silence
and solitude and reflectivity. These are times when they improve self-awareness, renew self-care, and
practice gratitude. They need to be planned and do not have to be long but can be as simple as taking a
walk, waiting in line, or preparing for sleep.
Related to this sensitive and growth-enhancing quality of effective counselors is their appropriate use of
themselves as instruments in the counseling process. Effective counselors are able to be spontaneous,
creative, and empathetic. “There is a certain art to the choice and timing of counseling interventions”.
Effective counselors choose and time their moves intuitively and according to what research has verified
works best. It is helpful if counselors’ lives have been tempered by multiple life experiences that have
enabled them to realize some of what their clients are going through and therefore to be both aware and
appropriate.
The ability to work from a perspective of resolved emotional experience that has sensitized a person to
self and others in a helpful way is what Rollo May characterizes as being a wounded healer. It is a
paradoxical phenomenon. Individuals who have been hurt and have been able to transcend their pain and
gain insight into themselves and the world can be helpful to others who struggle to overcome emotional
problems. They have been where their clients are now. Thus, “counselors who have experienced painful
life events and have adjusted positively can usually connect and be authentic with clients in distress”.
Effective counselors are also people who have successfully integrated scientific knowledge and skills into
their lives. They have achieved a balance of interpersonal and technical competence.
Qualities of effective counselors over time other than those already mentioned include the following: -

 Intellectual competence—the desire and ability to learn as well as think fast and creatively
 Energy—the ability to be active in sessions and sustain that activity even when one sees a number
of clients in a row
 Flexibility—the ability to adapt what one does to meet clients’ needs
 Support—the capacity to encourage clients in making their own decisions while helping to
engender hope
 Goodwill—the desire to work on behalf of clients in a constructive way that ethically promotes
independence
 Self-awareness—a knowledge of self, including attitudes, values, and feelings and the ability to
recognize how and what factors affect oneself (Hansen, 2009).
According to Holland (1997), specific personality types are attracted to and work best in certain
vocational environments. The environment in which counselors work well is primarily social and problem
oriented. It calls for skill in interpersonal relationships and creativity. The act of creativity requires
courage (Cohen, 2000; May, 1975) and involves a selling of new ideas and ways of working that promote
intrapersonal as well as interpersonal relations. The more aligned counselors’ personalities are to their
environments, the more effective and satisfied they will be.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICAL PRACTICE AND VALUES IN COUNSELING

One of the characteristics of contemporary society is the coexistence of different approaches to ethics.
This statement reflects this ethical diversity by considering:
1. Values
2. Ethical Principles
3. Personal moral qualities
Ethical principles are well suited to examining the justification for particular decisions and actions.
However, reliance on principles alone may detract from the importance of the practitioner's personal
qualities and their ethical significance in the counseling or therapeutic relationship. The provision of
culturally sensitive and appropriate services is also a fundamental ethical concern. Cultural factors are
often more easily understood and responded to in terms of values. Therefore, professional values are
becoming an increasingly significant way of expressing ethical commitment.
Values of Counseling and Psychotherapy
The fundamental values of counseling and psychotherapy include a commitment to:
1. Respecting human rights and dignity
2. Ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships
3. Enhancing the quality of professional knowledge and its application
4. Alleviating personal distress and suffering
5. Fostering a sense of self that is meaningful to the person(s) concerned
6. Increasing personal effectiveness
7. Enhancing the quality of relationships between people
8. Appreciating the variety of human experience and culture
9. Striving for the fair and adequate provision of counselling and psychotherapy services.

Values inform principles. They represent an important way of expressing a general ethical commitment
that becomes more precisely defined and action-orientated when expressed as a principle.
Ethical principles of counseling and psychotherapy
Principles direct attention to important ethical responsibilities. Each principle is described below and is
followed by examples of good practice that have been developed in response to that principle.
Practitioners will encounter circumstances in which it is impossible to reconcile all the applicable
principles and choosing between principles may be required. A decision or course of action does not
necessarily become unethical merely because it is contentious or other practitioners Id have reached
different conclusions in similar circumstances. A practitioner's obligation is to consider all the relevant
circumstances with as much care as is reasonably possible and to be appropriately accountable for
decisions made.
1. Fidelity: honoring the trust placed in the practitioner. Being trustworthy is regarded as
fundamental to understanding and resolving ethical issues. Practitioners who adopt this principle:
act in accordance with the trust placed in them; regard confidentiality as an obligation arising
from the client's trust; restrict any disclosure of confidential information about clients to
furthering the purposes for which it was originally disclosed.
2. Autonomy: respect for the client's right to be self-governing. This principle emphasizes the
importance of the client's commitment to participating in counseling or psychotherapy, usually on
a voluntary basis. Practitioners who respect their client's autonomy: ensure accuracy in any
advertising or information given in advance of services offered; seek freely given and adequately
informed consent; engage in explicit contracting in advance of any commitment by the client;
protect privacy; protect confidentiality; normally make any disclosures of confidential
information conditional on the consent of the person concerned; and inform the client in advance
of foreseeable conflicts of interest or as soon as possible after such conflicts become apparent.
The principle of autonomy opposes the manipulation of clients against their will, even for
beneficial social ends.
 3. Beneficence: a commitment to promoting the client's well-being. The principle of beneficence
means acting in the best interests of the client based on professional assessment. It directs
attention to working strictly within one's limits of competence and providing services on the basis
of adequate training or experience. Ensuring that the client's best interests are achieved requires
systematic monitoring of practice and outcomes by the best available means. It is considered
important that research and systematic reflection inform practice. There is an obligation to use
regular and on-going supervision to enhance the quality of the services provided and to commit to
updating practice by continuing professional development. An obligation to act in the best
interests of a client may become paramount when working with clients whose capacity for
autonomy is diminished because of immaturity, lack of understanding, extreme distress, serious
disturbance or other significant personal constraints.
4. Non-maleficence: a commitment to avoiding harm to the client. Non-maleficence involves:
avoiding sexual, financial, and emotional or any other form of client exploitation; avoiding
incompetence or malpractice; not providing services when unfit to do so due to illness, personal
circumstances or intoxication. The practitioner has an ethical responsibility to strive to mitigate
any harm caused to a client even when the harm is unavoidable or unintended. Holding
appropriate insurance may assist in restitution. Practitioners have a personal responsibility to
challenge, where appropriate, the incompetence or malpractice of others; and to contribute to any
investigation and/or adjudication concerning professional practice which falls below that of a
reasonably competent practitioner and/or risks bringing discredit upon the profession.
5. Justice: the fair and impartial treatment of all clients and the provision of adequate services. The
principle of justice requires being just and fair to all clients and respecting their human rights and
dignity. It directs attention to considering conscientiously any legal requirements and obligations,
and remaining alert to potential conflicts between legal and ethical obligations. Justice in the
distribution of services requires the ability to determine impartially the provision of services for
clients and the allocation of services between clients. A commitment to fairness requires the
ability to appreciate differences between people and to be committed to equality of opportunity,
and avoiding discrimination against people or groups contrary to their legitimate personal or
social characteristics. Practitioners have a duty to strive to ensure a fair provision of counseling
and psychotherapy services, accessible and appropriate to the needs of potential clients.
6. Self-respect: fostering the practitioner's self-knowledge and care for self. The principle of self-
respect means that the practitioner appropriately applies all the above principles as entitlements
for self. This includes seeking counseling or therapy and other opportunities for personal
development as required. There is an ethical responsibility to use supervision for appropriate
personal and professional support and development, and to seek training and other opportunities
for continuing professional development. Guarding against financial liabilities arising from work
undertaken usually requires obtaining appropriate insurance. The principle of self-respect
encourages active engagement in life enhancing activities and relationships that are independent
of relationships in counseling or psychotherapy.
PERSONAL MORAL QUALITIES
The practitioner's personal moral qualities are of the utmost importance to clients. Many of the personal
qualities considered important in the provision of services have an ethical or moral component and are
therefore considered as virtues or good personal qualities. It is inappropriate to prescribe that all
practitioners possess these qualities, since it is fundamental that these personal qualities are deeply rooted
in the person concerned and developed out of personal commitment rather than the requirement of an
external authority. Personal qualities to which counselors and psychotherapists are strongly encouraged to
aspire include: -
1. Empathy: the ability to communicate understanding of another person's experience from that
person's perspective.
2. Sincerity: a personal commitment to consistency between what is professed and what is done.
3. Integrity: commitment to being moral in dealings with others, personal straightforwardness,
honesty and coherence.
4. Resilience: the capacity to work with the client's concerns without being personally diminished.
5. Respect: showing appropriate esteem to others and their understanding of themselves.
6. Humility: the ability to assess accurately and acknowledge one's own strengths and weaknesses.
7. Competence: the effective deployment of the skills and knowledge needed to do what is required.
8. Fairness: the consistent application of appropriate criteria to inform decisions and actions.
9. Wisdom: possession of sound judgment that informs practice.
10. Courage: the capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty.
The challenge of working ethically means that practitioners will inevitably encounter situations where
there are competing obligations. In such situations it is tempting to retreat from all ethical analysis in
order to escape a sense of what may appear to be irresolvable ethical tension. These ethics are intended to
be of assistance in such circumstances by directing attention to the variety of ethical factors that may need
to be taken into consideration and to alternative ways of approaching ethics that may prove more useful.
No statement of ethics can totally alleviate the difficulty of making professional judgments in
circumstances that may be constantly changing and full of uncertainties.
Ethical issues in practice
All clients are entitled to good standards of practice and care from their practitioners in counseling and
psychotherapy. Good standards of practice and care require professional competence; good relationships
with clients and colleagues; and commitment to and observance of professional ethics.
a) Good quality of care
1. Good quality of care requires competently delivered services that meet the client's needs
by practitioners who are appropriately supported and accountable.
2. Practitioners should consider the limitations of their training and experience and work
within these limits, taking advantage of available professional support. If work with
clients requires the provision of additional services operating in parallel with counseling
or psychotherapy, the availability of such services ought to be considered, as their
absence may constitute a significant limitation.
3. Good practice involves clarifying and agreeing the rights and responsibilities of both the
practitioner and client at appropriate points in their working relationship.
4. Dual relationships arise when the practitioner has two or more kinds of relationship
concurrently with a client, for example client and trainee, acquaintance and client,
colleague and supervisee. The existence of a dual relationship with a client is
seldom neutral and can have a powerful beneficial or detrimental
impact that may not always be easily foreseeable. For these
reasons practitioners are required to consider the implications of
entering into dual relationships with clients, to avoid entering into
relationships that are likely to be detrimental to clients, and to be
readily accountable to clients and colleagues for any dual
relationships that occur.
5. Practitioners are encouraged to keep appropriate records of their
work with clients unless there are adequate reasons for not
keeping any records. All records should be accurate, respectful
of clients and colleagues and protected from unauthorized
disclosure. Practitioners should take into account their
responsibilities and their clients' rights under data protection
legislation and any other legal requirements.
6. Clients are entitled to competently delivered services that
are periodically reviewed by the practitioner. These reviews may
be conducted, when appropriate, in consultation with
clients, supervisors, managers or other practitioners with relevant
expertise.
b. Maintaining competent practice
7. All counselors, psychotherapists, trainers and supervisors
are required to have regular and on-going formal supervision/
consultative support for their work in accordance with
professional requirements. Managers, researchers and providers
of counseling skills are strongly encouraged to review their need
for professional and personal support and to obtain appropriate
services for themselves.
8. Regularly monitoring and reviewing one's work is essential
to maintaining good practice. It is important to be open to, and
conscientious in considering, feedback from colleagues,
appraisals and assessments. Responding constructively to
feedback helps to advance practice.
9. A commitment to good practice requires practitioners to keep up
to date with the latest knowledge and respond to changing
circumstances. They should consider carefully their own need for
continuing professional development and engage in
appropriate educational activities. 10. Practitioners should be aware of and understand any
legal requirements concerning their work consider these
conscientiously and be legally accountable for their practice.
c. Keeping trust
11. The practice of counseling and psychotherapy depends on gaining
and honoring the trust of clients. Keeping trust requires:
Attentiveness to the quality of listening and respect offered to clients
Culturally appropriate ways of communicating that are courteous and
clear respect for privacy and dignity
Careful attention to client consent and confidentiality
12. Clients should be adequately informed about the nature of the
services being offered. Practitioners should obtain adequately informed
consent from their clients and respect a client's right to choose whether
to continue or withdraw.
13. Practitioners should ensure that services are normally delivered my
on the basis of the client's explicit consent. Reliance on implicit consent
is more vulnerable to misunderstandings and is best avoided unless
there are sound reasons for doing so. Overriding a client's known wishes
or consent is a serious matter that requires commensurate justification.
Practitioners should be prepared to be readily accountable to clients,
colleagues and professional body if they override a client's known
wishes.
14. Situations in which clients pose a risk of causing serious harm
to themselves or others are particularly challenging for the practitioner.
These are situations in which the practitioner should be alert to the
possibility of conflicting responsibilities between those concerning their
client, other people who may be significantly affected, and society
generally. Resolving conflicting responsibilities may require due
consideration of the context in which the service is being provided.
Consultation with a supervisor or experienced practitioner is strongly
recommended, whenever this would not cause undue delay. In all cases,
the aim should be to ensure for the client a good quality of care that is as
respectful of the client's capacity for self-determination and their trust as
circumstances permit.
15. Working with young people requires specific ethical awareness and
competence. The practitioner is required to consider and assess the
balance between young people's dependence on adults and careers and
their progressive development towards acting independently. Working with children and young
people requires careful consideration of issues
concerning their capacity to give consent to receiving any service
independently of someone with parental responsibilities and the
management of confidences disclosed by clients.
16. Respecting client confidentiality is a fundamental requirement
for keeping trust. The professional management of confidentiality
concerns the protection of personally identifiable and sensitive
information from unauthorized disclosure. Disclosure may be authorized
by client consent or the law. Any disclosures should be undertaken in
ways that best protect the client's trust. Practitioners should be willing to
be accountable to their clients and to their profession for their
management of confidentiality in general and particularly for any
disclosures made without their client's consent.
17. Practitioners should normally be willing to respond to their
client's requests for information about the way that they are working and
any assessment that they may have made. This professional
requirement does not apply if it iş considered that imparting this
information would be detrimental to the client or inconsistent with the
counseling or psychotherapeutic approach previously agreed with the
client. Clients may have legal rights to this information and these needs
to be taken into account.
18. Practitioners must not abuse their client's trust in order to
gain sexual, emotional, financial or any other kind of personal
advantage. Sexual relations with clients are prohibited. "Sexual relations
include intercourse, any other type of sexual activity or sexualized
behavior. Practitioners should think carefully about, and exercise
considerable caution before, entering into personal or business
relationships with former clients and should expect to be professionally
accountable if the relationship becomes detrimental to the client or the
standing of the profession.
19. Practitioners should not allow their professional relationships
with clients to be prejudiced by any personal views they may hold about
lifestyle, gender, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, beliefs or
culture.
20. Practitioners should be clear about any commitment to be
available to clients and colleagues and honor these commitments.
d. Fitness to practice
21. Practitioners have a responsibility to monitor and maintain
their fitness to practice at a level that enables them to provide an effective service. If their
effectiveness becomes impaired for any
reason, including health or personal circumstances, they should seek
the advice of their supervisor, experienced colleagues or line manager
and, if necessary, withdraw from practice until their fitness to practice
returns. Suitable arrangements should be made for clients who are
adversely affected.
e. If things go wrong with own clients
22. Practitioners should respond promptly and appropriately to
any complaint received from their clients. An appropriate response in
agency-based services would take account of any agency policy and
procedures.
23. Practitioners should endeavor to remedy any harm they may
have caused to their clients and to prevent any further harm. An
apology may be the appropriate response.
24. Practitioners should discuss, with their supervisor, manager or
other experienced practitioner(s), the circumstances in which they may
have harmed a client in order to ensure that the appropriate steps have
been taken to mitigate any harm and to prevent any repetition.
25. Practitioners are strongly encouraged to ensure that their work
is adequately covered by insurance for professional indemnity
and liability.
26. If practitioners consider that they have acted in accordance
with good practice but their client is not satisfied that this is the case,
they may wish to use independent dispute resolution, for example:
seeking a second professional opinion, mediation, or conciliation where
this is both appropriate and practical.
f. Responsibilities to all clients
27. Practitioners have a responsibility to protect clients when they have
good reason for believing that other practitioners are placing them at risk
of harm.
28. They should raise their concerns with the practitioner concerned in
the first instance, unless it is inappropriate to do so. If the matter cannot
be resolved, they should review the grounds for their concern and the
evidence available to them and, when appropriate, raise their concerns
with the practitioner's manager, agency or professional body.
29. If they are uncertain what to do, their concerns should be discussed
with an experienced colleague, a supervisor or raised with this
Association g. Working with colleagues
30. The increasing availability of counseling and psychotherapy
means that most practitioners have other practitioners working in their
locality, or may be working closely with colleagues within specialized or
multidisciplinary teams. The quality of the interactions between
practitioners can enhance or undermine the claim that counseling and
psychotherapy enable clients to increase their insight and expertise in
personal relationships. This is particularly true for practitioners who work
in agencies or teams. h. Working in teams
31. Professional relationships should be conducted in a spirit of
mutual respect. Practitioners should endeavor to attain good working
relationships and systems of communication that enhance services to
clients at all times.
32. Practitioners should treat all colleagues fairly and foster
equality opportunity
33. They should not allow their professional relationships
with colleagues to be prejudiced by their own personal views about a
colleague's lifestyle, gender, age, disability, race, sexual orientation,
beliefs or culture. It is unacceptable and unethical to discriminate against
colleagues on any of these grounds.
34. Practitioners must not undermine a colleague's relationships
with clients by making unjustified or unsustainable comments.
35. All communications between colleagues about clients should be on a
professional basis and thus purposeful, respectful and consistent with
the management of confidences as declared to clients.
i. Awareness of context
36. The practitioner is responsible for learning about and taking account
of the different protocols, conventions and customs that can pertain to
different working contexts and cultures.
j. Making and receiving referrals
37. All routine referrals to colleagues and other services should be
discussed with the client in advance and the client's consent obtained
both to making the referral and also to disclosing information to
accompany the referral. Reasonable care should be taken to ensure
that:
The recipient of the referral is able to provide the required service; Any confidential information
disclosed during the referral process will be
adequately protected;
The referral will be likely to benefit the client.
Prior to accepting a referral the practitioner should give
careful consideration to:
the appropriateness of the referral;
the likelihood that the referral will be beneficial to the client;
the adequacy of the client's consent for the referral.
If the referrer is professionally required to retain overall responsibility for
the work with the client, it is considered to be professionally appropriate
to provide the referrer with brief progress reports. Such reports should
be made in consultation with clients and not normally against their
explicit wishes.
k. Probity in professional practice
38. Ensuring the probity of practice is important both to those who
are directly affected but also to the standing of the profession as
a whole.
I. Providing clients with adequate information
39. Practitioners are responsible for clarifying the terms on which
their services are being offered in advance of the client incurring any
financial obligation or other reasonably foreseeable costs or liabilities.
Stone, Dragon
40. All information about services should be honest, accurate,
avoid unjustifiable claims, and be consistent with maintaining the good
standing of the profession.
41. Particular care should be taken over the integrity of
presenting qualifications, accreditation and professional standing. m.
Financial arrangements
42. Practitioners are required to be honest, straightforward
and accountable in all financial matters concerning their clients and
other professional relationships.
n. Conflicts of interest
43. Conflicts of interest are best avoided, provided they can
be reasonably foreseen in the first instance and prevented from arising.
In deciding how to respond to conflicts of interest, the protection of the client's interests and
maintaining trust in the practitioner should be
paramount.
o. Care of self as a practitioner
44. Attending to the practitioner's well-being is essential to
sustaining good practice. Practitioners have a responsibility to
themselves to ensure that their work does not become detrimental to
their health or well-being by ensuring that the way that they undertake
their work is as safe as possible and that they seek appropriate
professional support and services as the need arises.
45. Practitioners are entitled to be treated with proper consideration and
respect that is consistent with this Guidance.

Significance and Need to Understand the Culture

Understanding and developing cultural identity means exploring all the salient parts of a client, including
their spirituality. Integrating spirituality or faith development into holistic growth requires both a non-
judgmental investigation of the client's current beliefs and an understanding of how the client wants their
spirituality to play a part in their lives. Clients should be encouraged to be proud of whatever spiritual
beliefs or faith they hold land to recognize them as a vital part of their cultural identity.
All people, including psychotherapist, have a unique worldview based on family, culture, and community
experiences. As a result, all psychotherapists will have expectations, assumptions, and blind spots. It will
be necessary for the psychotherapist to be on the constant watch for how their cultural blind spots may be
playing out in psychotherapy. It will also be necessary to investigate how the ―culture‖ of mental health
professionals may be playing out in the relationship with the client.
Because psychotherapists are human beings, they all have cultural focused assumptions and expectations.
However, working in an Egalitarian style means that the psychotherapist must empower the client. as
much as possible, within an appropriate and ethical therapeutic relationship. Clients may need help
recapturing personal power and responsibility for choice in their lives. Psychotherapists will need to
present possible decisions in such a way that clients are able to choose a course of action without being
pressured by the psychotherapist's own expectations and agenda. When a psychotherapist does have a
strong preference or bias, they have a responsibility to own the reaction and share it with the client. This
warns the client about possible bias in the presentations of the problem and separates the psychotherapists
and presentation of the problem and separates the psychotherapist's professional power from his or her
personal reactions.
Because all people are unique, there will be inevitable differences between psychotherapist and client
cultural identities. In some cases, especially when the gap in identities is small or the client's crisis is
intense, these mu differences may have little salience in the therapeutic relationship. Al other times, such
as when presenting concerns revolve around cultural factors or when the focus of psychotherapist cultural
identities may have a strong impact on the psychotherapy experience.
Under these circumstances it will be necessary for the psychotherapist to explore how cultural differences
might be affecting the relationship. Cultural background has a large impact on normative nonverbal and
verbal behaviors. Eye contact and physical proximity have different meanings in different cultures.
Formality of speech and other verbal behaviors also should be appreciated in light of a client's
background. In addition to being aware of the cultural source of different behaviors, it may be helpful to
adapt your own nonverbal and verbal behavior to a client's culture-based expectations. For example, if a
client comes from a culture in which direct eye contact is seen as a sign of disrespect, it may be important
to adjust your own eye contact accordingly.