PHILOSOPHY OF COUNSELING

Since this book is concerned with presenting the knowledge and skills that counselors should possess, it is important to explore early the reasons for the necessity of counseling. A rationale for counseling can be arrived at through a discussion of the meaning, principles, and objectives of counseling. Each of these serves to indicate the "why" of counseling.

Why counsel? Unless there are satisfactory answers to this query, what thinking student can justify the choice of the counseling profession for his career? Indeed, how can a practicing counselor maintain his self-esteem unless his rationale for counseling leads to the conclusion that counseling is an indispensable professional service?

The Meaning of Counseling

"... counseling is a one-to-one, face-to-face relationship between an individual who seeks help and another person who is professionally educated to give this help." (4, p. 219) It is immediately apparent that an individual does not have to possess the title "counselor" in order to be qualified to counsel. But he/she must be a professional, and he/she must limit his/her counseling to within the scope of his/her professional competency.

Counseling is one of the most intimate of all professional relationships in which two people interact and communicate with each other. It is certainly characteristic of the finest in our Western traditions, providing an environment in which the emphasis is on the individual and his personal fulfillment.

The nature of the help being provided by the counselor is "assisting the individual in making wise choices and adjustments." (3, p. 4) These choices involve a wide range of activities: for example, determining a major, choosing an appropriate subject, selecting an occupation, evolving a career, choosing a husband or wife, deciding on a hobby, or adopting a budget. The adjustments that confront individuals are equally diverse: adapting to new environments, dealing with fears and hostilities, resolving dilemmas, changing self-concepts, altering level of aspirations, getting along with others, maintaining self-esteem, and enhancement of self. Choices and adjustments may be classified into three areas: educational, career (or vocational), and personal-social.

When guidance is concerned with curriculum, cocurricular activities, studying, learning, and preparation for a vocation, it is classified as educational guidance. (9, p. 7)

Guidance which includes vocational interests and aptitudes, surveying vocations, selecting vocations, and getting a job is classified as vocational guidance. (9, p. 8)

Personal-social guidance involves problems in such categories as mental, emotional, ethical, social, marital, financial, health, etc.

It is important at this time to reflect upon the definitions of counseling as expressed by different authorities:

Counseling has been described as the face-to-face meeting of the counselor and counselee. Within the guidance services, counseling may be thought of as the core of the helping process, essential for the proper administration of assistance to students as they attempt to solve their problems. (15, p. 12)

Counseling is a service of verbal assistance by one person who wishes to help another person in a puzzled or troubled state by influencing his behavior so as to relieve the puzzled or troubled state. (2, p. 61)

Guidance is the assistance given to individuals in making intelligent choices and adjustments in their lives. (12, p. 25)

... we may define counseling as a learning process, warm and permissive in nature, by which one human being, properly trained, helps another to come to a closer realization of his total personality. (23, pp. 103–104)

Counseling is a personal face-to-face relationship between two people, in which the counselor, by means of the relationship and his special competencies provides a learning situation in which the counselee, a normal sort of person, is helped to know himself and his present and possible future situations so that he can use his characteristics and potentialities in a way that is both satisfying to himself and beneficial to society, and further, can learn how to solve future problems and meet future needs. (22, p. 3)

Throughout the literature on counseling, there is considerable confusion, disagreement and fuzziness in the use of the words "counseling" and "guidance." Some authorities use them synonymously. Others consider "guidance" a broader term that encompasses services other than "counseling." To further confuse the issue, the term "pupil personnel" has been inserted into the literature, sometimes to replace "guidance" and in other instances to represent more of a variety of services than is usually associated with "guidance."

The attachment of the word "guidance" to "counselor" is a redundancy in some instances, though perhaps because of the divergence in the use of the terms, even educators occasionally may become confused.

Whenever the word "guidance" is used in this text, it refers to a professional service designed to help individuals in making wise choices and adjustments. A guidance worker is any professional who is so engaged, and this includes people other than counselors, such as teachers, supervisors, and administrators.

Whenever the word "counselor" is used in this text it means "professional counselor," and it means "guidance counselor." A professional guidance counselor is defined as a qualified individual who helps another person to make wise educational, career (or vocational) and personal-social choices and adjustments.

Some colleges, universities, and agencies are referring to their counselors as "counseling psychologists." In the public schools the titles of "counselor" and "school psychologist" are used, representing two different occupations and requiring different educational preparation.

It is believed that "guidance counselor" – dropping the word "guidance" whenever the usage of the word "counselor" alone does not...