Context for the Use of Counselling Skills (Research Paper Sample)

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Context for the Use of Counselling Skills
Counselling is a process that involves a client and counsellor whereby the counsellor facilitates a discussion to explore the emotional and stressful situations in the client’s life. In this case, the facilitated discussion gives the client a better understanding of the situation; provides different perspectives in relation to the problem (Sanders 1-12). In reference to that, within a school environment, students face career, social, personal, and academic development challenges that necessitate the presence and guidance of counsellors. In this respect, counsellors are an integral part of any problem solving strategy (Pearce and Sewell 291-292).
Counsellors are responsible for guiding their clients. The reason for that is that they are always in direct contact with their customers. In this case, they focus on delivering direction, which means creating plans and formulating responsive services for their clients. In this respect, a counsellor must have a number of skills that include: questioning, listening, clarification, and reflection skills. In reference to that, confidentiality is guaranteed in all counselling sessions, though the counsellor may be legally compelled to disclose some counselling results. In this regard, considering that students face an increasingly complex society that is full of social problems that strain their development, one must agree that they require the services of counsellors to help them meet the challenges. In other words, counselling helps the students develop moral, physical, social, and intellectual capacities in the face of developmental strains (Sanders 14-18).
A qualified counsellor is an individual who has received formal training on counselling and has been certified and licensed to provide guidance. In this case, such parties can handled all their clients’ needs by planning, executing, assessing, and improving counselling programs that stimulate or enhance individuals’ development (Sanders 18, 59). Within a school setting, a qualified or trained counsellor applies collaboration, advocacy, and leadership to promote access and equity for all students. Conversely, this does not mean that trained counsellors are the only ones who can provide counselling services; there are individuals who, though not trained as counsellors, find that by virtue of their positions – such as principal, gym teacher, science teacher, and so on – they are required to provide counselling services (Pearce and Sewell 291-292; Sanders 113). However, their counselling skills are restricted due to the fact that they have insufficient knowledge or qualifications. Consequently, they can only handle minor cases and thus are obligated to refer major counselling cases to trained counsellors (Sanders, Frankland and Wilkins 247).
Qualified counsellors must ensure that they observe the principle of self-respect as part of their counselling and psychotherapy duties. The reason for that is that an individual who has ample self-respect is in a better position to offer counselling and psychotherapy services than one who does not have the same (BACP). In this case, in conforming to the principle, the counsellors should apply justice, non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and fidelity in all professional endeavours. To be just, an individual must be fair in all dealings and have respect for human dignity and rights. In relation to non-maleficence, people must not desire to injure others. In regard to beneficence, an individual should promote others’ well-being. Finally, autonomy requires that people respect others’ right to self-government, while fidelity requires that individuals remain trustworthy (BACP).
Teachers too are required to observe the principle of self-respect. In this case, the requirement applies to all activities that they carry out involving students, other teachers, parents, and other school stakeholders. In this respect, they are also required to apply justice, non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and fidelity in all their dealings to ensure that they remain equipped to engage in teaching activities. Therefore, teachers are comparable to counsellors given that they both observe the principle of self-respect as part of their professional obligations (Biotechnology Learning Hub; Pearce and Sewell 291-292).
It is the obligation of the counsellors to defend and maintain the integrity of the counselling link between them and their clients. In other words, they should ensure that the counselling services that they provided are beneficial to their clients. In this respect, the counsellor is responsible for making available effective treatment and referral to the client, subject to the customer’s financial needs and educational background (Sanders, Frankland and Wilkins 247). In this respect, the counsellor is obliged to provide the client – student – with comprehensive and truthful information on the subject and be open about the extent of their counselling relationship. The reason for that is that the counsellor is likely to come across exploited and vulnerable clients. In such instances, the counsellors should not exploit the relationship, for example, by recommending unnecessary sessions in order to increase their income. Conversely, on a personal level, they should cultivate their clients’ self-esteem. In this regard, the counsellor should only provide the level of care acceptable or necessary for the situation – any additional care can be provided by referral (Sanders 87-110). Also, the counsellors must be cognizant of their obligations to the society at large – promote morality and so on– and any particular legal responsibilities that may, on specific instances, supplant their obligation to the clients such as a criminal investigation that requires disclosure of some secrets.
In the process of counselling, clients must be afforded enough time and space to explore their problems and thus understand how the issues are matters of concern. Hence, the counselling environment must provide a platform or give clients an opportunity to share their distinct understanding of their problems. Additionally, they should have the liberty to decide on how to proceed, that is, by either accepting their problems as they are or resolving them over time. In other words, the counsellors must create an environment that allows all involved parties to feel safe. In this case, this can be done by addressing the physical weaknesses of the clients and their hygiene requirements (Sanders, Frankland and Wilkins 13-17). Also, the environment must enable proper and suitable sessions to take place and thus ensure that the counselling conforms to professional requirements (Sanders 139). In this respect, the counsellor must be respectful, knowledgeable, capable of observing confidentiality, and competent at providing counselling services. In relation to confidentiality, private settings that guarantee the secrecy of the counselling sessions can be maintained if deemed necessary (Sanders 87).
One of the ways of ensuring professional conduct during counselling – especially in relation to confidentiality– is through casework supervision. In this case, supervisors shadow counsellors while they deal with clients to ensure that the counselling approach adopted is both effective and ethical and thus the clients are eventually empowered to overcome their problems. For that matter, casework supervision is conducted in a formal setting and hence the supervised counsellor has an opportunity to discuss the chosen approach in details with a more knowled...