Social Work Counseling

FLOW OF THE DISCUSSION

 Framework in Counselling
 Counselling versus Interviewing
 Ethics in Counselling
 Principles in Counselling
FRAMEWORK IN COUNSELLING

 Knowledgeable in Human Behavior and

Social Environement
 Foundation in Social Work
 Social Cahnge
• Interviewing is considered the
most basic process used for
information gathering, problem
solving , and information and advice
giving. Interviewers may be guidance
and counseling staff, medical
personnel, business people or
member of a wide variety of other
helping professions (Allen E. Ivey & Mary
Bradford Ivey)

INTERVIEWING
 Counseling

• Counseling is a more intensive process and

personal process, generally concerned with
helping people cope with problems and
opportunities, associated with professional fields
of social work, guidance, psychology, pastoral
counseling, and to a limited extent,
psychotherapy.
 TYPES OF
• Data Gathering INTERVIEW

• Investigative Interview

• Therapeutic Interview
• Counseling is a therapeutic experience for
normal people without serious emotional
problems.

• Psychotherapy is a longer experience for

emotionally disturbed persons.

Distinction between Counseling

and Psychotherapy
 Counselling and Guidance

Guidance
Guidance is a process of helping people make
important choices that affect their lives, such as
choosing a preferred lifestyle” (Gladding, 2000, pg.

Counselling
The application of mental health, psychological or
human development principles, through cognitive,
affective, behavioral or systemic interventions,
strategies that address wellness, personal growth,
or career development, as well as pathology.”
 Goal of Counselling

Problem resolution
Counselling is for decision-making
Improving personal effectiveness
Help Change
Behavioural Change
Achievement of positive mental health
Provide them with an understanding of the origins of
emotional difficulties,
Allowing them to become more aware of blocked
thoughts and feelings
 ETHICS IN COUNSELLING

Moral code, principles

Rules of conduct
Sense of duty, conscience
ETHICAL CODES
 Defines standards of conduct subscribed
to by member of the profession, aiding
member, in their decision making with the
clients whenever areas of conflict area

 The ethics in counseling are what

counselors follow to protect both
themselves and their clients. Ethics may
comprise personal moral qualities and key
ethical guidelines.
Personal moral qualities in counselling
often include:

Empathy — The ability to understand a

client's feelings or thoughts from their
point of view.

Integrity — Being honest with strong

moral values.
 Continuations ......

Humility — Acknowledgment of one's

own weaknesses.

Resilience — The ability to recover

from difficult situations.
 Continuations ......

Competence — The ability to perform a

duty efficiently.

Self- Awareness - knowing yourself

weakness and strenght
 Continuations ......

Self- Awareness -
Transference is the redirection of feelings
about a specific person onto someone else (in
therapy, this refers to a client's projection of
their feelings about someone else onto their
therapist).
Countertransference is the redirection of
a therapist's feelings toward the client.
 Continuations ......

Supersvision — The ability to recover

from difficult situations.
 Some Basic Principles
• Each client must be accepted as an individual and
dealt with as such (the counselor does not
necessarily approve of all behavior, but still accepts
the client as a person).

• Counseling is basically a permissive relationship;

that is, the individual has permission to say what
they please without being reprimanded or judged.

• Counseling emphasizes thinking with; not for the

individual.

• All decision-making rests with the client.

 Some Basic Principles
• Counseling is centered on the difficulties of the client.

• Counseling is a learning situation which eventually results

in a behavioral change.

• Effectiveness in counseling depends largely on the

readiness of the client to make changes and the therapeutic
relationship with the counselor.

• The counseling relationship is confidential.

 Factors that Influence Change on The
client
• The counseling process is • Structure
influenced by several • Setting
characteristics that help it
become a productive time • Client Qualities
for the client & counselor. • Counselor
Not all characteristics Qualities
apply to all situations, but
generally, the following
help bring about positive
results.
Structure
• The “joint understanding between the
counselor & client regarding the
characteristics, conditions, procedures, and
parameters of counseling”

• This give form to what the formal process

will look like. Many clients come to
counseling with no idea what to expect.
Counseling moves forward when client and
counselor know the boundaries of the
relationship and what is expected.
• Physical Setting.

• Counseling can happen

anywhere, but the
professional generally
works in a place that
provides -
• Privacy,
• Confidentiality,
• Quiet and
• Certain comfort
 S.O.L.E.R.
• When working with a client, you
want to send a message that you
are listening.
• This can be done by being
attentive both verbally (responding to
the client) and non verbally.

• SOLER is an acronym which

serves to remind us how to listen.
• S: Face the client squarely; that is, adopt a posture that indicates
involvement.
• O: Adopt an open posture. Sit with both feet on the ground to
begin with and with your hands folded, one over the other.

• L: As you face your client, lean toward him or her. Be aware of

their space needs.

• E: Maintain eye contact. Looking away or down suggests that

you are bored or ashamed of what the client is saying. Looking at
the person suggests that you are interested and concerned.

• R: As you incorporate these skills into your attending listening

skills, relax.
• Readiness or Reluctance or Resistance.
• Readiness can be thought of as the motivation that
the client brings into the session. How motivated
are they to work? Their interest
• Reluctance is generally seen in those clients who
are referred for help by a third party and are
unmotivated.
• Resistance is generally seen in those clients who
are forced into counseling. They bring a motivation
to cling to their issues through various sorts of
actions.
Client & Counselor Qualities.
• Counselors generally like to work with
clients who are most like them. We are
influenced by the physical characteristics of
the client. It is important to be aware of how
you work with all clients and offer your best
work to all clients.
• Clients, depending on culture, initially like
to work with counselors who are perceived as
experts, attractive, trustworthy.
 Counseling for the Worker’s
Perspective
• Three phases of counseling: the components
of problem-solving approach
– Building a relationship
– Exploring problems in depth
– Exploring alternative solutions with client and
selecting ac purse of action
 Gathering Information
• Types of Questions:

– Probes—a questions which begins with a

who, what, where, how, or when.
• What do you plan to do to complete your
project?

– Requests for Clarification—Asking the

client for more information.
• Help me understand what this relationship is
for?
 Gathering Information &
Building the Relationship
• Restatement/Content Paraphrasing.
– A re-statement of what you heard the client
say in slightly different words.
• Reflection of Feeling.
– Similar to a re-statement, but you are
concentrating more on the emotional aspect
& the non-verbal communication.
 Gathering Information & Building the
Relationship

• Summary of Feelings.
– A simple summary paraphrase of several
feelings which have been verbalized (non-verbal
and verbal).

• Acknowledgement of Non-verbal
Behavior.
– You are noting to the client what you are
seeing. You are not interpreting the non-verbal
content.
 Gathering Information & Building the
Relationship

• Summary of Feelings.
– A simple summary paraphrase of several
feelings which have been verbalized (non-verbal
and verbal).

• Acknowledgement of Non-verbal
Behavior.
– You are noting to the client what you are
seeing. You are not interpreting the non-verbal
content.
 Gathering Information & Building the
Relationship

• Summary of Feelings.
– A simple summary paraphrase of several
feelings which have been verbalized (non-verbal
and verbal).

• Acknowledgement of Non-verbal
Behavior.
– You are noting to the client what you are
seeing. You are not interpreting the non-verbal
content.
 Gathering Information & Building the
Relationship

• Summary of Feelings.
– A simple summary paraphrase of several
feelings which have been verbalized (non-verbal
and verbal).

• Acknowledgement of Non-verbal
Behavior.
– You are noting to the client what you are
seeing. You are not interpreting the non-verbal
content.