DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES

Copy for HUMSS 12

I. Meaning
 Counseling is basically an art and a science wherein you endeavor to weigh the objective and subjective facets of the counseling
process. (cited Nystul, 2003)
 As Art: as the subjective dimension of counseling, it upholds a flexible and creative process whereby the counselor modifies the
approach to meet the developing needs of the clients. It is also associated with the act of giving oneself and being compassionate in
counseling process.
 As Science: as the objective dimension, it is about counselors who are discerning and possesses skills to formulate objective
observations and inferences.
 Practical term: counseling happens when a person who is distressed asks for help and permits another person to enter into a kind
of connection with him/her.
 Formal helping: a type of relationship where a counselor-counselee relationship is established as it is indicative of someone in
search of counseling requests for time and attention from a person who will listen, who will allow him/her to speak and who will not
condemn and criticize him/her.
 Informal helping: akin with formal helping in some ways such as presence of good listening skills, empathy and caring capacity.
Nevertheless, this has lesser degree of confidentiality and objectivity compared to formal helping.
 As defined by the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004: guidance and counseling is the profession that implicates the
application of “an integrated approach to the development of a well-functioning individual” through the provision of support that aids
an individual t use his/her potentials to the fullest in accord with his/her interests, needs and abilities.
 As defined by the American Counseling Association (ACA) Conference (Pittsburgh, March 2010): counseling is a professional
relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education and career
goals.

II. Goals
 Primary goal: to help people utilize their prevailing social skills and problem-solving skills more functionally or to cultivate new
surviving and coping skills.
 Expansive goals (cited Gibson and Mitchell, 2003): aims to empower the client by helping him/her make critical decisions in life,
develop ability to cope, enhance effectiveness and improve quality of life.
1. Development goals – assist in meeting or advancing the client’s human growth and development including social, personal,
emotional, cognitive and physical wellness.
2. Preventive goals – helps the client avoid some undesired outcome.
3. Enhancement goals – enhance special skills and abilities
4. Remedial goals – assisting a client to overcome and treat an undesirable development
5. Exploratory goals – examining options, testing of skills, trying new and different activities, etc.
6. Reinforcement goals – helps client in recognizing that what they are doing, thinking and feeling is fine
7. Cognitive goals – involves acquiring the basic foundation of learning and cognitive skills
8. Physiological goals – involves acquiring the basic understanding and habits for good health
9. Psychological goals – aids in developing good social interaction skills, learning emotional control, and developing positive self-
concept
 Expansive goals (cited McLeod, 2003)

1. Insight – understanding of the origins and development of emotional difficulties, leading to an increased capacity to take
rational control over feelings and actions
2. Relating with others – becoming better able to form and maintain meaningful and satisfying relationships with other people: for
example, within the family or workplace
3. Self-awareness – becoming more aware of thoughts and feelings that had been blocked off or denied, or developing a more
accurate sense of how self is perceived by others
4. Self-acceptance – development of a positive attitude toward self, marked by an ability to acknowledge areas of experience that
had been the subject of self-criticism and rejection
5. Self-actualization - moving in the direction of fulfilling potential or achieving an integration of previously conflicting parts of self
6. Enlightenment – assisting the client to arrive at a higher state of spiritual awakening
7. Problem-solving – finding a solution to a specific problem that the client had not been able to resolve alone. Acquiring a
general competence in problem-solving
8. Psychological education – enabling the client to acquire ideas and techniques with which to understand and control behavior
9. Acquisition of social skills – learning and mastering social and interpersonal skills such as maintenance of eye contact, turn-
taking in conversations, assertiveness, or anger control
10. Cognitive change – the modification or replacement of irrational beliefs or maladaptive thought patterns associated with self-
destructive behavior
11. Behavior change – the modification or replacement of maladaptive or self-destructive patterns of behavior
12. Systematic change – introducing change into the way in that social systems operate
13. Empowerment – working on skills, awareness and knowledge that will enable to client to take control of his/her own life
14. Restitution – helping the client to make amends for previous destructive behavior
15. Generativity – inspiring in the person a desire and capacity to care for others and pass on knowledge and to contribute to the
collective good through political engagement and community work
DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES
Copy for HUMSS 12

III. Scope
 Issues covered by Individual Counseling: depression, sexual abuse, anxiety, gender, relationships, spirituality,
ideology, adolescent issues, loss, anger, stress, vocation, studies and others.
 Issues covered by Family Counseling: divorce, family dynamics, transitions in life, miscommunication, jealousy,
money matters, parenting, remarriage and others.
 4757-15 Scope of Practice for Licensed Professional Counselors:
1. Afford counseling services to individuals, groups, organizations or the general public comprising of: clinical principles,
methods, or procedures to assist individuals in realizing effective personal, social, educational or career development
and adjustment.
2. “Apply clinical counseling principles, methods, and procedures,” means an approach to counseling that emphasizes
the counselor’s role in systematically assisting clients through all of the following: assessing and analyzing emotional
conditions, exploring possible solutions, and developing and providing treatment plan for mental and emotional
adjustment or development. It may include counseling, appraisal, consulting, supervision, administration and referral.
3. Engage in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders when under the supervision of a
professional clinical counselor, psychologist, psychiatrist, independent marriage and family therapist, or independent
social worker.
4. Provide training supervision for students and registered counselor trainees when services are within their scope of
practice, which does not include supervision of the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.
IV. Core Values and Ethical Principles
 Ethical Principles:
1. Autonomy of Individuals
- Based on the right to freedom of action and freedom of choice in so far as the pursuit of these freedom does not
interfere with the freedom of others; counseling cannot happen unless the client has made a free choice to
participate
- Personal autonomy is not a simple one and not sufficient as a guide to action and good practice in all
circumstances
2. Principles of Nonmaleficence
- Refers to instruction to all helpers or healers that they must, above all, do no harm
- Beneficence refers to the order to promote human welfare
- Both nonmaleficence and beneficence occur in the prominence in codes of practice that counselors must
warrant that they are trained to an appropriate level of competence, that they must monitor and maintain their
competence through supervision, consultation and training and they must work only within the limits of their
competence
- One of the areas of concern is the riskiness of the therapeutic technique; the principle of autonomy might
suggest that if the client has given informed consent for the intervention to take place, then the client has the
responsibility for the consequences
- Moral dilemmas like beneficence are often resolved by recourse to utilitarian ideas; might depend on whether it
could be predicted that, on balance, the benefits of the therapy outweighed the costs and risks
3. Principles of Justice
- Concerned with the fair distribution of resources and services, unless there is some acceptable reason for
treating them differently
- For counseling, the principle has particular relevance to the question of access
- Commitment to be fair goes beyond that of the ordinary person; in view of the agreement to promote worth and
dignity of each individual, counselors are required to be concerned with equal treatment for all individuals
4. Principle of Fidelity
- Shares to the presence of loyalty, reliability, dependability and action in good faith
- The rule of confidentiality reveals the importance of fidelity; entering into a contract means to stay with the client
and give the case his/her efforts
 General Moral Theories:
- The BACP (British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy) Ethical Framework for Good Practice
identified a set of personal qualities practitioners should possess: empathy, sincerity, integrity, resilience,
respect, humility, competence, fairness, wisdom and courage.
DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES
Copy for HUMSS 12

Activity 2. On the Meaning, Goals and Principles of Counseling

1. If something is bothering you about life matters: academics, relationships, family, identity, and financial concerns, with
who will you share your problem? Will you pursue a formal help or a nonformal help? Why or why not? Explain your
answer.
2. John McLeod (one of the founders of humanistic psychology) contends that: “counseling aims to empower the client by
helping him/her make critical decisions in life, develop ability to cope, enhance effectiveness, and improve quality of life.”
Do you accept or support this statement? How will this statement empower you?
3. Among the ethical principles, namely, principle of autonomy of individuals, principle of nonmalifecence, principle of
justice and principle of fidelity, which will you choose to tackle? Why this principle? What aspect of the principle
influences you? Please explain.