MODULE 03

Professionals and Practioners in Counseling

Welcome!
This module introduce you the roles, functions and competencies of counselors. It will
also present the areas of specialization where counselors work and career opportunities
for counselors. Finally, it will tackle the rights, responsibilities and accountabilities of
counselors.

Objectives:
At the end of this module you will be able to:
1. Show understanding of the roles and functions of counselors.
2. Identify specific areas in which counselors work.
3. Identify career opportunities for counselors.
4. Value rights, responsibilities, and accountabilities of counsellors

Please be reminded that at the end of this module you should comply the following:
1. Activities
2. Answer a 10-item quiz.

Preliminary Activity

Review of the previous lesson

Word Association
Write words as many as you can, which are connected/ can be associated to the word
COUNSELING

COUNSELING
 Development of the Lesson

To understand fully the coverage of this lesson, read silently the material.

Roles and Functions of Counselors

According to Gibson and Mitchell (2003) a helping profession is composed of
members “who are especially trained and licensed to perform a unique and service for
fellow human beings”.
Roles / Functions Description
Individual Assessment Seeks to identify the characteristics and
potential of every client ; promotes the
client’s self-understanding and assisting
counselors to understand the client better
Individual Counseling Considers as the core activity through
which other activities become meaningful.
It is a client –centered process that
demand confidentiality. Relationship is
established between counselor and client.
Group Counseling and Guidance Groups are means of providing organized
and planned assistance to individuals for
an array of needs. Counselor provides
assistance through group counseling and
group guidance.
Career Assistance Counselors are called on to provide career
planning and adjustment assistance to
clients.
Placements and Follow -Up A service of school counseling programs
with emphasis on educational placements
in course and programs.
Referral It is the practice of helping the clients find
needed expert assistance that the referring
counselor cannot provide.
Consultation It is the process of helping a client through
a third party or helping system improve its
 service to its clientele.
Research It is necessary to advance the profession
of counseling; it can provide empirically
based data relevant to the ultimate goal of
implementing effective counseling.
Evaluation and Accountability Evaluation is a means of assessing the
effectiveness of counselor’s activities.
Accountability is an outgrowth of demand
that schools and other tax-supported
institutions be held accountable for their
actions.
Prevention This includes promotion of mental health
through primary prevention using a social
– psychological perspective.

Competencies of Counselors
Seven distinct competence areas of counselors. There might be other areas but
we will focus on the input of McLeod (2003).
1. Interpersonal Skills –counselors who are competent display ability to listen,
communicate ; empathize ; be present ; aware of nonverbal communication; sensitive to
voice quality , responsive to expressions of emotion, turn taking, structure of time and
use of language .
2. Personal beliefs and Attitude- counselors have the capacity to accept others,
belief in potential of change, awareness of ethical and moral choices and sensitive to
values held by client and self.
3. Conceptual ability – counselors have the ability to understand and assess
client’s problem; to anticipate future problems; make sense of immediate process in
terms of wider conceptual scheme to remember information about the client.
4. Personal Soundness – counselors must have no irrational beliefs that are
destructive to counseling relationships, self-confidence ,capacity to tolerate strong of
uncomfortable feelings in relation to the clients, secure personal boundaries, ability to
be a client ; must carry no social prejudice, ethnocentrism and authoritarianism.
 5. Mastery of Techniques – counselors must have a knowledge of when and how
to carry out specific interventions, ability to assess effectiveness of the interventions,
understanding the rationale behind techniques, possession of wide repertoire of
intervention
6. Ability to understand and work within social system – this would be
compromise of awareness of family and work relationships of client the impact of
agency on the clients, the capacity to use support networks and supervision ; sensitivity
to client from different gender, ethnicity , sexual orientation, or age group.
7. Openness to learning and inquiry – counselors must have the capacity to be
curious about client’s backgrounds and problems; being open to new knowledge

Career Opportunities and Areas of Specialization of Counselors

1. Marriage and Family Counseling – refers to the efforts to establish an

encouraging relationship with couple or family and appreciate the complications in the
family system.
2. Child and Adolescent Counseling – is a developing area of expertise in
counseling profession. The counseling strategies focus on helping children and
adolescents acquire coping skills through promotion of resiliency, positive attachment
relationship, emotional and intellectual intelligence, and other qualities that promote
optional development.
3. Group Counseling – is the dynamic field in the counseling profession. Group
counseling as a practice can be located in most counseling programs and became the
essential part of counselor’s system. Group counseling offers the following :
opportunities to members to learn from observing other group members ; can functions
as helpers and helps ; opportunities to discover that you others have similar concerns ;
members are encouraged to offer help to others ;opportunities to enhance interpersonal
skills; the therapeutic climate created similar as the client’s family origin.
4. Career Counseling –is an evolving and challenging counseling field. This type
of counseling aids individual on decisions and planning concerning their career. The
counseling approach includes integrating theory and practice. Adopted Savickas (1996)
as cited Nystul ( 20003 ) adopted the model of Wagner ( 1971) on structural analysis of
personality to the realm of vocational psychology. The model consist of vocational
career services, occupational placement , vocational guidance , career counseling ,
career education , career therapy, and position coaching.
5. School Counseling- refers to the process of reaching out students with
concerns on drugs, family and peers or gang involvement. The job requires sensitivity to
individual differences and considers diversity in enhancing educational perspective. The
job requires skills on consultation, counseling’s exceptional students and with the ability
to handle problems such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, divorced or single parents,
dropping out of school.
6. Mental Health Counseling - is manifested in the challenges posed by its
clientele with mental disorders. Mental disorders include serious depression,
schizophrenia, and substance abuse. Mental health counselors have to be inventive,
and creative to address these problems. The job requires patience, humility, kindness
and compassion
.
Rights and Responsibilities, and Accountabilities of Counselors
Code of ethics helps counselors to remind them of their rights, responsibilities
and accountabilities in the counseling profession. The rights, responsibilities and
accountabilities of the counselors are based on the counselors associations of Code of
Conduct.
The code of ethics of the counselors is divided into seven sections, namely , (a)
counseling relationship, (b) confidentiality (c) professional responsibility (d)
relationships with other professionals , (e) evaluation, assessment, and interpretation,
(f) teaching ,training and supervision (g) research and publication.( Gladding , 2000 ).
We shall only presenting in details three of the seven areas, namely, counseling
relationships, confidentiality, and professional responsibility. The following three tables
below provide a sample code of ethics of the American Counseling Association.

Areas Description
The Counseling Relationships
1. Client welfare Counselor’s primary
 responsibility is to respect the
dignity and promote the welfare
of clients. They are also
expected to encourage client’s
growth. Counselors and clients
are expected to work together in
crafting individual counseling
plans consistent with the client’s
circumstances.
2. Respecting Diversity Counselors do not engage in
discrimination based on age,
color, culture, disability, ethnic
group, gender, race, religion,
sexual orientation, marital status
and socio economic status.
Counselors shall respect
differences and understand the
diverse cultural backgrounds of
their clients.
3. Client Rights Counselors shall disclose the
purposes, goals, techniques,
procedures, limitations, potential
risks, benefits of the services to
be performed and other
pertinent information to the client
throughout the counseling
process. Counselors offer clients
the freedom to choose whether
to enter into a counseling
relationship and determine
which professional will provide
counseling, except when the
 client is unable to give consent.
4. Clients Served by others In cases where the client is
receiving services from another
mental health professional, with
clients consent, inform the
professional person already
involved to develop an
agreement.
5. Personal Needs and values Maintain the clients and avoid
actions that seek to meet their
personal needs at the expense
of the clients. Counselors shall
be aware of their values,
attitudes, beliefs, and behavior
and how these apply in a
diverse society and avoid
imposing their values on clients.
6. Dual Relationships Counselors are aware of their
influential position over their
clients avoid the exploiting the
trust and dependency of the
clients. Counselors should not
accept as superiors or
subordinates clients’.
7. Sexual Intimacies with Clients Counselors should not have any
type of sexual intimacies with
clients and do not counsel
persons with whom they have
sexual relationship. Counselors
should not also engage with
sexual intimacies with their
former clients within a minimum
 of two years.
8. Multiple Clients In cases where counselors
agree to provide counseling
services to two or more persons
who have a relationship,
counselors clarify at the outset
which person or persons are
clients and the nature of
relationship they will have with
each other involved person.
9. Group Work Counselors screen prospective
group counseling / therapy
participants to determine those
with compatible needs. In group
setting, counselors take
reasonable precautions to
protect clients from physical or
psychological trauma.
10. Fees Prior to entering the counseling
relationship, the counselors
clearly explain the clients all
financial arrangements related
to professional fees.

Source: Gladding, 2000

Areas
Confidentiality
1.Right to Privacy  Counselors respect a client’s right to
privacy and avoid illegal and
unwarranted disclosures of
unwarranted information.
 The right to privacy may be waived by
the clients or their legally recognized
 representative.
 The general requirement that the
counselors keep the information
confidential does not apply when
disclosure is required to prevent
clear and imminent danger to the
client or others or when legal
requirements demand that
confidential information is be
revealed.
 Counselors who received information
confirming that a client has a disease
known to be communicable and fatal
is justified in disclosing information to
an identifiable third party, who by
his/her relationship with the client is
at high risk of contracting the disease.
 When court orders the counselors to
release confidential information
without client’s permit, counselors
request to the court that the
disclosure should not be required due
to potential harm to client or
counseling relationship.
2. Group and Families  In group work, counselors clearly
define confidentiality and parameters
for the specific group being entered,
explain its importance, and discuss
difficulties related to confidentiality
involved in group work.
 In family counseling, information
 about one family cannot be disclosed
to another member without
permission.
3. Minor Incompetent client  When counseling clients who are
minors or individuals who are unable
to give voluntary, informed consent,
parents or guardians may be included
in the counseling process as
appropriate.
4. Records  Counselors maintain necessary
records for rendering professional
services to their clients and as
required by laws, regulations, or
agency or institution procedures.
 Counselors are responsible for
securing safety and confidentiality of
any counseling record they create,
maintain, transfer, or destroy whether
the records are written, taped,
computerized, or stored in any other
medium.
 Counselors recognized that
counseling records are kept for the
benefits of the clients therefore
provide access to record and copies
of record when requested by
competent clients unless it contains
information that may be misleading or
detrimental to the clients.
 Counselors obtain written permission
from clients to disclose or transfer
records to legitimate third parties
 unless exception to confidentiality
exists.
5. Research and Training  Use of data derived from counseling
relationships for purposes of
training ,research , or publication is
confined to content that is disguised
to ensure the anonymity of the
individuals involved. Identification of
the client involved is permissible only
when the client has reviewed the
material and has agreed to its
presentation or publication.
6. Consultation  Information obtained in consulting
relationship is discussed for
professional purposes only with
persons clearly concerned with the
case. Before sharing information,
counselors make efforts to ensure
that there defined policies that
effectively protect the confidentiality
of information with other agencies
serving the counselors clients.

Source: Gladding, 2000

Areas Description
Professional Responsibility
1. Standards Knowledge  Counselors have a responsibility to
read, understand, and follow the
Code of Ethics and Standards of
Practice
2. Professional Competence  Counselors practice only within the
boundaries of their competence
 based on their education, training,
supervised experience, state and
national professional credentials and
appropriate professional experience.
Counselors will demonstrate a
commitment to gain knowledge,
personal awareness, sensitivity, and
skills pertinent to working with
diverse client population.
 Counselors practice specialty areas
new with to them only after
appropriate education, training, and
supervised experience. While
developing skills in new specialty
area, counselors take step to ensure
the competence of their work and to
protect other from possible harm.
 Counselors accept employment only
for positions which they are qualified
by education, training, supervise
experience, state and national
professional credentials, and
appropriate professional experience.
 Counselors continually monitor their
effectiveness as professionals and
take steps to improve their skills and
knowledge.
 Counselors refrain from offering or
accepting professional services when
their physical, mental, or emotional
problems are like to harm clients or
 others.

Analysis, Application and Exploration

Based on what you have read about accomplish the following activity

Name:_________________________________________Date:_________________
Grade & Section: ________________________________Score:_________________

Answer the following questions:

1. How do you see the importance of the roles and functions of counselor?
2. Do you think that counselors have unique roles and functions than other
professionals? Why do you say so?

Name:_________________________________________Date:_________________
Grade & Section: ________________________________Score:_________________

Activity 2:
Count Me In, Count me Out: Will I Give up My Job or Not?

Instruction:

1. In the area of counseling relationships of the Code of Conduct, it states

that “Counselors should not have any type of sexual intimacies with clients and do
not counsel persons with whom they have sexual relationship. Counselors should
not also engage with sexual intimacies with their former clients within a minimum of
two years.”
2. What if you are counselor and you have fallen in love with your client and
the client has also fallen in love with you. Since, it is unethical to pursue the
relationship; you will quit your job. Your job is also important to you. Now, what will
be your decision?
 3. Which is more ethical? Why is it more ethical? Support your answer
.Explain your answer.

Generalization

In summary, counselors have different roles, functions and competencies. Counselors

also have areas of specialization as well as career opportunities. Furthermore, they also
have rights and responsibilities and accountabilities. Lastly, counselors, must follow
their code of ethics

Assignment

For your assignment, research the following:

Name:_________________________________________Date:_________________

Grade & Section: ________________________________Score:_________________

Give at least five clienteles/audiences in counseling. Identify their characteristics and

needs.
 Clienteles/Audiences Characteristics and Needs

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Congratulatory Note

CONGRATULATIONS on reaching the end of this module!!

Keep up the good work!!!

Reminder:
All exercises and activities done should be submitted before start of the succeeding lesson/s. You may now
proceed to the EVALUATION of the lesson covered in this module!
 References

Dela Cruz et al. Disciplines and Ideas in the Applied Social Sciences. Phoenix
Publishing House. Quezon City: 2016
Sampa, E.M., (2017) Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences. Rex Book Store, Inc

Name:_________________________________________Date:_________________
Grade & Section: ________________________________Score:_________________

Quiz No. 3

Test I

True or False

Write true if the statement is correct and false if incorrect.

1. The counselor does not deal with a mixture of people with different
concerns and issues.

2. The guidance and counseling services deals with students’ concern, most
of which are behavioural.

3. The counselor deals with individuals who suffered from mental

illness/problems.

4. The counselor can assess and assist any kinds of problems and concern of
individual and group.

5. The Guidance Counselors can also work in partnership with other members
 of the school community.

Test II
Identification
Identify which clienteles and audiences in counseling is being referred by the following
statements.
1. There is an increase in the number of battered wife during the community
quarantine.
2. Alfred has been using drugs for almost three years.
3. The husband of Mary Jane, always go home drunk.
4. Jhearl wanted to go out of his closet and show the world that he is a gay.
5. Michael wanted to stop smoking but he find it hard to stop smoking.