The Importance Of Counselling Skills At A Local Secondary School

When we look at other professions like social workers, housing officers, the emergency services, the police and priests who utilise counselling skills we realise that some of the key concepts that are fundamental to the counselling profession are not their main priority. If such people were to introduce themselves as counsellors their clients may be under the impression that such things as confidentiality will be upheld. An example is the work of doctors, social workers, nurses and carers, in these types of professions advise is given to the client as to what to do and what not to do, medication is administered to the client whereas in the case of counselling especially with

Before I began my study in the unit of Counselling Communications, I expected it to be more theoretical than as practical as it really was. Although some of the things we learnt seemed to be of common sense, it was surprising to see how much of that common sense I actually use when counselling. Moreover, there were many things that were of much knowledgeable content and was new to me. I have realised that there were many skills I needed to improve on myself. The tutorials were helpful for me in identifying these skills and enhancing them by regular practice; so they may become almost instinctive to me.

I understand counselling to be a helping practice that differs from other helping activities, such as teaching for example. Counselling requires professional training and is specifically contracted or explicitly agreed. It has a theoretical base and uses specific methods within an ethical framework. The relationship between the counsellor and the client is built upon mutual expectation and is central to the process of the client under-going significant change in their lives.

Gerard Egan’s 3 Stage Skilled Helper Mode 1994, provides a basic guideline on how helping relationships should be carried out. It is important that helpers take into consideration the steps provided in the Egan’s mode as it provides structure and positive support to clients.

Counsellors do not offer advice as such but instead give an insight into a client’s feelings and behaviour and they help the client to change their behaviour accordingly. They do this by actively listening to what the client has to say and comment from a professional perspective. Counsellors are trained to be effective helpers, especially in sensitive and difficult situations. They have to be independent, very neutral and professional as well as respecting the privacy and confidentiality of a client. Counselling can help clients to clarify their problems, identify the changes they wish to make and give them a fresh perspective. Counsellors should help them to seek other options and look at the impact that life events have made on the

To be an individual with a helper’s heart is something that not everyone is born with. I am truly blessed to have been born with a servant’s mentality. To me, helping is using your abilities to better the quality of another individual’s life. Not only that, but I also believe that it is being present and available for anyone who may need it, even if the need is not immediate. Helping can be a wide variety of definitions, and it is not always performing a service; sometimes it is merely being there for someone to sit with them. Yet, helping others is not always easy, in fact, often, it is very difficult, especially in the field of psychology. As a counselor, the environment you work in may require you to assist people whom are there against

A counselling relationship is likened to being on a journey - a beginning, middle and end (Smallwood, 2013). During the beginning phase the client develops sufficient trust in the counsellor and the relationship ‘to explore the previously feared edges of his awareness’ (Mearns and Thorne, 1988, p.126).

From the above quotes, it can be seen that participants use positive relationships with the young people to shape future behaviours. It can be deduced that these trusting relationships enable the youth support workers to access more personal and detailed information about the young person. This information can be used to develop interventions that will be meaningful to the young person’s need, increasing the chances of the intervention being successful. Without the relationship building method, it is suggested that the young people would only disclose brief information, leaving the youth support workers to assume the young person’s needs and problems without enough information. The participants also emphasised using this positive relationship to engage the young people in the service and the interventions available. This

Gerard Egan published the first edition of “the Skilled Helper” in 1975. He added to the concepts of Carl Rogers by putting together a concept on helping based on skills required at different stages, which became known as “Three stage counseling model”. Egan believed that the core conditions of Empathy, Congruence and unconditional positive regard which Carl Rogers initially identified maybe necessary but are not sufficient. Within this essay I am going to demonstrate my knowledge of the core conditions and how these are used within Egan’s Three-Stage Counseling Model.

When school counselors are tasked with designing and sustaining comprehensive school counseling programs they must act from a strengths-based principle, by not so much concentrating on barriers but focusing on promoting/advocating strengths/abilities and resiliency. Counselors intervening effectively with youths at risk from early deprivation will help build resiliency in spite of negative factors in their lives (Rak & Patterson, 1996). This approach was not designed to be used as a delivery method for comprehensive school counseling, but "to serve as a framework for deciding what should be emphasized in comprehensive school counseling programs" (Dollarhide & Sagniak, 2017). The foundation of this approach are supported by six guiding principles

I may not have much experience in counseling services, but I have learned a lot throughout my college career, three-month internship, and personal experiences with several of my children’s school counselors. Each of these factors drove me to not only help others but to get involved in what I believe is the starting point of teaching the young to how to help themselves.

Shifting our ways and opinions or even thoughts is not something that we do easily when it comes to our beliefs, morals, or every day task. We often want to keep doing things the same way even if we are not maximizing on our full potential. Sometimes, all it takes is the blink of an eye to notice that it is time for a change. Suddenly, but not fast enough we embraced this concept in our school systems with regard to counselors. Our minds flowed from treating them as an extension of help to the person who possessed more qualities than we once cared to acknowledge. This paper will define the paradigm shift as it relates to the role of the school counselor, present the necessary steps to ensure change in the educational environment and confirm the role of the counselor after the shift took place.

Research is a systematic investigation where researchers are in search of verifying facts, theories and drawing new conclusions in a specific study. A research question is needed to begin an investigation, then a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method approach can be chosen. Doing research and analyzing research are an essential role in a school counselor. In order to implement a comprehensive school-counseling program, the counselor needs to be aware of the most recent and effective strategies being use. When the counselor takes part in researching or reading studies, they can find ways to be a more effective counselor. The research will allow the counselor to find emotional and instructional support services that will increase student safety and achievement. The following articles, “The self-injury experiences of young adult women: Implications for Counseling” (Craigen, Milliken 2005)“ and “Associations among bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide in high school students” (Bauman, Toomey, Walker, 2013).

Counseling, gave me insight into the root of many of the serious problems we see in young

social exclusion, homophobia, abuse, family crises, discrimination, sibling rivalry, scholastic underachievement, peer pressure and substance misuse are only a few problems that children bring to the school counsellor’s office. Schools are no different from homes in the sense that they are also considered a primary and essential context for supporting, nurturing and facilitating educational, moral and social development in