Module 3 Disciplines in Applied Social Sciences

LESSON 1

11 Clientele and Audiences in Counseling; Settings, Processes,

Methods, and Tools in Counseling

Clientele and Audiences in Counseling

Individuals and groups of people who receive service from various counseling professions constitute the

clientele and audience. These individuals and groups vary in their needs and context where they avail of counseling

services.

Characteristics of the Clientele and Audiences of Counseling

The clientele and audiences of counseling are normal people. They are not in need of clinical or mental

help. They may be the youth in need of guidance at critical moments of their growth, anyone in need of assistance

in realizing a change in behavior or attitude, or simply seeking to achieve a goal. What the audience normally calls

for in counseling is application or development of social skills, effective communication, spiritual direction,

decision-making, and career choices. Sometimes, people need to cope with crisis. Other clientele and audiences of

counseling may be people in need of premarital and marital counseling, grief, and loss (divorce, death, or

amputation), domestic violence and other types of abuse, or coping with terminal illness, death and dying.
Needs of Various Types of Clientele and Audiences of Counseling

The needs vary for each type of clientele and audience of counseling. In the school context, guidance and

counselors aim to meet needs such as job-hunting coaching, conflict management providers, human resources

personnel, marriage counselors, drug abuse and rehabilitation counselors, bereavement counselors and abused

children’s caretakers and rehabilitation in government and NGO settings.

As school guidance and counselors, these professionals provide the need for personal guidance by helping

students seek more options and find better and more appropriate ones in dealing with situations of stress or

simply decision making. This may include career options. Sometimes, they bridge between family and the school

in resolving conflicts that affect students and their families to the extent of becoming a threat to student

development and learning.

As job-hunting coaches, counselors provide avenues for people to find necessary information and get

employment that is suitable to them. The services individuals and groups of people who receive service from

various counseling professions constitute the clientele and audience. These individuals and groups vary in their

needs and context where they avail of counseling services.

The Individual as Client of Counseling

The individual who needs to be helped to manage well a life-changing situation or personal problem or

crisis and other support needs may undergo counseling as an individual. This is the common type of counseling:

the individualized type.

The individual needs capacitation to be able to manage well their unique circumstances, which may be

very difficult to endure alone. Problems like alcoholism, loss of job, divorce, imprisonment, and rehabilitation can

be a cause of shame and embarrassment. Without acquiring enough strength and ability to go through such life
experience, people are vulnerable and may come out worse, even while simply going through natural life transitions

like retirement and growing old.

The Group and Organization as Client of Counseling

Groups exist in communities, organizations and students in schools, teachers in school and departments

in workplaces and such an entity can undergo group counseling to meet counseling needs on that level. The needs

can range from desire to reduce conflict or manage it, become more productive as a team or work better together.

Some of the group processes and procedures resemble those that are applied to individuals. However, some are

unique to groups and organizational context.

The Community as Client of Counseling

When people experience something collectively, which may be socially troubling and constitute the danger

of blocking their collective capacity to move on, counseling is necessary to be undertaken on a community level.

In South Africa, truth and reconciliation commission were sought to help restoration of the South African

communities. Likewise, in the post genocide Ruanda, a similar approach was done to help restore trust and

confidence in communities that were brutally disrupted by civil war and mass killing.

1. Individual – generally works on individual who is to be assisted to fit in a larger environment calling for

change.
 2. Group/Organizations – Group of people existing with similar or common identity:

Gay- Sexually attracted to someone who is the same sex

Lesbians - Relating to homosexuality between females

*** Take Note: Gays and Lesbians are now part of the LGBTQ group.

Migrants - A person who goes from one place to another specially to find work.

Women - Adult female human being

ABUSED OR NEGLECTED

Children - Subjected to harmful or improper treatment

Elderly - Old or rather old

Pensioners - Persons who receive or live on a pension

 Veteran - Man or a woman who serves in the military and is retired already

Military - The protector of the state

Prisoners - A person who is kept in a prison, mostly due to a crime.

** We classify them as groups because they form collectiveness in terms of services they must retrieve.
 3. Community - it is a group of people who live in same area such as city, town, or neighborhood.

Types of Special Counseling

1. People who abuse drugs

2. People who use tobacco

3. People who abuse alcohol

4. Women

5. Older Adults

6. People with AIDS

7. Victims of Abuse

8. Gay Men and Lesbian Women

 LESSON 2

THE COUNSELING PROCESS

The counseling process is a planned, structured dialogue between a counselor and a client. It is a cooperative process
in which a trained professional helps a person called the client to identify sources of difficulties or concerns that he or she is
experiencing. Together, they develop ways to deal with and overcome these problems so that person has new skills and
increased understanding of themselves and others. For example, students in a college or university may be anxious about how
to study in university, lack of clarity on educational or career direction, have difficulty living with a roommate of another race
or religion, have concerns with self-esteem, feelings with being “stressed out”, difficulties in romantic relationships and so
forth.

Steps on Counseling Process

1. Relationship Building (Building Rapport)

The first step involves building a relationship and focuses on engaging clients to explore issue that directly affect
them. The first interview is important because the client is reading the verbal and nonverbal messages and make inferences
about the counselor and the counseling situation. Is the counselor able to empathize with the client? Does the client view the
counselor as genuine?

Some Non-Helpful Behaviors

There are several lists of non-helpful behaviors. Most common among them include: Advice Giving, Lecturing,
Excessive Questioning, Storytelling, Asking “Why?” Asking “How did that make you feel?”

Some steps for Relationship Building for the Counsellor

Introduce yourself Indicate that you are interested in the person

Invite client to sit down Invite client to describe his or her reason for coming to talk

Ensure client is comfortable Allow client time to respond

Address the client by name Watch for nonverbal behavior as signs of client’s emotional state

Invite social conversation to reduce anxiety

 2. Problem Assessment
While the counselor and the client are in the process of establishing a relationship, a second process is taking place,
i.e., problem assessment. This step involves the collection and classification of information about the client’s life situation
and reasons for seeking counseling.

3. Goal Setting
Like any other activity, counseling must have a focus. Goals are the results or outcomes that client wants to achieve
at the end of counseling. Sometimes, you hear both counselor and client complain that the counseling session is going nowhere.
This is where goals play an important role in giving direction.

GUIDELINES FOR SETTING GOALS

• Goals should be selected and defined with care. Below are some guidelines for goal selection that can be used
with students: Goals should relate to the desired end or ends sought by the student.
• Goals should be defined in explicit and measurable terms. Goals should be feasible.
• Goals should be within the range of the counselor’s knowledge and skills. Goals should be stated in positive
terms that emphasize growth.
• Goals should be consistent with the school’s mission and school health policy.

4. Intervention
There are different points of view concerning what a good counselor should do with clients depending on the
theoretical positions that the counselor subscribes to. For example, the person-centered approach suggests that the counselor
gets involved rather than intervenes by placing emphasis on the relationship. The behavioral approach attempts to initiate

5. Evaluation, Follow-up, Termination or Referral

For the beginning counselor, it is difficult to think of terminating the counseling process, as they are more concerned
with beginning the counseling process. Terminating the counseling process will have to be conducted with sensitivity with
the client knowing that it will have to end.

Methods of Counseling
Both Counselors and Psychotherapists work from a variety of Theoretical Approaches with their clients. These
therapies range from the type of Psychoanalysis, originally practiced by Sigmund Freud and later developed into other forms
of analytic psychotherapy by his pupils, through Humanistic Psychotherapy (based on personal growth and self-development)
to the Behavioral Therapies used for dealing with specific phobias and anxieties. However, there is evidence that the
relationship between the counsellor and the client is more important than the approach the therapist uses.
The following is an alphabetical list of commonly used Theoretical Approaches with brief descriptions of their meanings:

Adlerian Therapy
Adlerian Therapy, originated by Alfred Adler, is also called individual psychology, and focuses on creating a
therapeutic relationship that is co-operative, encouraging and practical. Adlerian counselors help clients look at their lifestyle
and personal values to help them understand and question their usual patterns of behavior and hidden goals. It is a learning
process that assists the client to move towards useful involvement and contribution to society.

Behavioral Therapy
This therapy is based on the belief that behavior is learnt in response to past experiences and can be unlearnt, or
reconditioned, without analyzing the past to find the reason for the behavior. It works well for compulsive and obsessive
behavior, fears, phobias, and addictions.

Cognitive Analytical Therapy

This combines Cognitive Therapy and Psychotherapy and encourages clients to draw on their own ability to develop
the skills to change destructive patterns of behavior. Negative ways of thinking are explored in structured and directive ways,
involving diary-keeping, progress charts, etc.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This combines Cognitive and Behavioral techniques. Clients are taught ways to change thoughts and expectations
and relaxation techniques are used. It has been effective for stress-related ailments, phobias, obsessions, eating disorders and
(at the same time as drug treatment) major depression.

Cognitive Therapy
Uses the power of the mind to influence behavior. It is based on the theory that previous experiences can damage
self-image and this can affect attitude, motions, and ability to deal with certain situations. It works by helping the client to
identify, question and change poor mental images of themselves, thus altering negative responses and behavior. It can help
pessimistic or depressed people to view things from a more optimistic perspective.

Dialectical Behavioral therapy

DBT was developed from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The main aim of CBT is to change behavior, which is
done by applying techniques with a focus on problem-solving, such as homework, diary cards and behavioral analysis.
However, some people felt uncomfortable with the strong focus on change and felt that their suffering and apparent loss of
control over their lives were not understood. This caused them to become frustrated and even to drop out of treatment.
Therapist sought to resolve this using acceptance strategies. Acceptance strategies are added to the process of CBT which
means that the therapist explores with their clients an acceptance that their behavior (e.g. self-harming, drinking, etc.), even
though damaging in the long term, may be the only way they have learned to deal with intense emotions; and which might
have led to positive short-term benefits.

Eclectic Counseling
An Eclectic counsellor will select from a number of different approaches appropriate to the client’s needs. This is
based on the theory that there is no proof that any one theoretical approach works better than all others for a specific problem.

EMDR
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that was developed to resolve
symptoms resulting from disturbing and unresolved life experiences. EMDR is thought to imitate the psychological state that
we enter when in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Studies show that when in REM sleep we are able to make new
associations between things very rapidly – EMDR may be tapping into this high-speed processing mode that we all have but
often can’t access. The theory is that EMDR works directly with memory networks and enhances information processing by
creating associations between the distressing memory and more adaptive information in other memory networks.

Family Therapy
This is used to treat a family system rather than individual members of the family. A form of Systemic Therapy, it
requires specifically trained counsellors.

Gestalt Therapy
The name is derived from the German for “organized whole”. Developed by Fritz Perls, it focuses on the whole of
the client’s experience, including feelings, thoughts, and actions. The client gains self-awareness in the `here and now’ by
analyzing behavior and body language and talking about bottled up feelings. This approach often includes acting out scenarios
and dream recall.

Humanistic Therapy
Coming from the “personal growth movement” this approach encourages people to think about their feelings and
take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Emphasis is on self-development and achieving highest potential. “Client-
Centered” or “Non-Directive” approach is often used, and the therapy can be described as “holistic” or looking at person.
The client’s creative instincts may be used to explore and resolve personal issues.

Integrative Therapy
This is when several distinct models of counselling and psychotherapy are used together.
Jungian
Carl Jung was the originator of Analytical Psychology, a disciple of Sigmund Freud and a pioneer of Psychoanalysis.

Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a specific way of intentionally paying attention. One negative thought can lead to a chain reaction of
negative thoughts. This approach encourages people to be aware of each thought, enabling the first negative thought to be
‘caught’ so that is seen as just a ‘thought’ and not a fact. This breaks the chain reaction of negative thoughts giving a mental
‘space’ in which the person can re-center themselves in the present. Mindfulness-based therapists can work with individuals
and groups and will usually integrate mindfulness into another modality, in which they are already trained. Mindfulness is
likely to appeal to therapists who have developed a long-term meditation practice.

Person-Centered Therapy
Devised by Carl Rogers and called “Client-Centered” or “Rogerian” counselling, this is based on the assumption that
a client seeking help in the resolution of a problem they are experiencing, can enter into a relationship with a counsellor who
is sufficiently accepting and permissive to allow the client to freely express any emotions and feelings. This will enable the
client to come to terms with negative feelings, which may have caused emotional problems, and develop inner resources. The
objective is for the client to become able to see himself as a person, with the power and freedom to change, rather than as an
object.

Primal Therapy
Primal Therapy is not generally seen as model of therapy that is used on its own. It is usually an additional way of
working within the more general therapeutic approach in which therapists are trained. This is based on the theory that buried
birth or infancy distress can resurface as neuroses. The therapy takes the client back to the “primal scene” where trauma can
be re-experienced as an emotional cleansing.

Psychoanalysis
This is based on the work of Sigmund Freud, who believed that the unacceptable thoughts of early childhood are
banished to the unconscious mind but continue to influence thoughts, emotions, and behavior. “Repressed” feelings can
surface later as conflicts, depression, etc. or through dreams or creative activities. The analyst seeks to interpret and make
acceptable to the client’s conscious mind, troublesome feelings, and relationships from the past. “Transference” onto the
analyst, of feelings about figures in the client’s life, is encouraged. This type of therapy is often used by clients suffering high
levels of distress and can be a lengthy and intensive process.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy/Counselling
This approach stresses the importance of the unconscious and experience in shaping current behavior. The client is
encouraged to talk about childhood relationships with parents and other significant people and the therapist focuses on the
client/therapist relationship (the dynamics) and on the transference. Transference is when the client projects onto the
therapist feelings experienced in previous significant relationships. The Psychodynamic approach is derived from
Psychoanalysis but usually provides a quicker solution to emotional problems.

Psychosynthesis
Sometimes described as “psychology of the soul”. It is the name given to a series of actions that lead to a change or
development which encourages personal growth by a bringing together of the whole person – the emotional, the mental, the
physical and spiritual within a safe environment. Psychosynthesis is useful for people seeking a new, more spiritually oriented
vision of themselves.

Re-Birthing
Re-Birthing is not generally seen as model of therapy that is used on its own. It is usually an additional way of
working within the more general therapeutic approach in which therapists are trained. In this approach, emotional or physical
traumas during birth are said to create feelings of separation or fear in later life. Breathing techniques are used to release
tension whilst the client re-experiences traumatic emotions. A skilled practitioner is essential.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

This promotes positive change rather than dwelling on past problems. Clients are encouraged to focus positively on
what they do well and to set goals and work out how to achieve them. As little as 3 or 4 sessions may be beneficial.

Systemic Therapies
These are the therapies which have, as their aim, a change in the transactional pattern of members of a system. It can
be used as the generic term for family therapy and marital therapy.

Transpersonal Therapy
This describes any form of counselling or therapy which places emphasis on spirituality, human potential, or
heightened consciousness. It includes psychosynthesis.

Question #2

Do you have any experience in visiting a counselor?