Human beings are complex beings by nature, with a plethora of problems, issues, and serious pressing issues bombarding their existence on a daily basis. At some point in their lives, everyone seeks out some kind of suggestion or advice in order to make good decisions. As a result, guidance and counseling have been practiced informally since time immemorial, and it is now well established.
Guidance and Counseling provides a platform for solving these massive problems and providing long-term solutions. Its goal is to assist individuals in better understanding themselves and their surroundings, as well as mobilizing their resources to solve problems and/or change attitudes and values so that they can function effectively in society.
In a nutshell, Guidance and Counseling assists the client in achieving self-actualization through a professional counselor who has been specially trained to provide such services without regard to age or gender on both the counselor and the counselee’s part.
Counseling psychology is a branch of psychology that studies and applies research in a variety of areas, including counseling process and outcome, supervision and training, career development and counseling, and prevention and health. A focus on assets and strengths, person–environment interactions, educational and career development, brief interactions, and a focus on intact personalities are some of the common themes among counseling psychologists.
Personal, social, vocational, empowerment, and educational concerns are all addressed through counseling. Counselors only work in areas where they are knowledgeable. Intra- and interpersonal concerns about school or college adjustment, psychological health, aging, marriage/family issues, employment, and rehabilitation are examples of these areas.
Counseling is given to people who are considered to be functioning within the “normal range.” Clients have issues with adjustment, development, or situational concerns, and their issues require immediate attention. They are referred to as “stuck” rather than “ill.”
They may simply require information, but more often than not, they are looking for a way to clarify and apply the information they already have. Counseling is a theory-based process that takes place in a structured environment. Counselors use a variety of theories and work with a variety of individuals, groups, and families in a structured environment, such as an office.
Counseling is a process in which clients learn to make decisions and develop new behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. Counselors concentrate on the objectives that their clients wish to achieve. Clients examine their current levels of functioning as well as the changes that must be made in order to meet personal goals.
As a result, counseling entails both choice and change, progressing through stages such as exploration, goal setting, and action. Counseling is a broad term that includes a number of subspecialties. School or college counseling, marriage and family counseling, psychological health counseling, gerontological counseling, rehabilitation counseling, addiction counseling, and career counseling are just a few of the subspecialties available.
Practitioners must meet specific educational and experimental requirements for each. As a result, counseling can be more precisely defined as the process of assisting people who are psychologically healthy in resolving developmental and situational problems over a relatively short period of time through interpersonal, theory-based processes.
Counseling activities follow a set of ethical and legal guidelines and progress through several stages from start to finish. Personal, social, vocational, and educational concerns are all addressed, and the profession is divided into several subspecialties. A master’s or doctoral degree is required for practice.
Difference between Guidance and Counselling
Guidance focuses on assisting people in determining what they value the most, whereas counseling focuses on assisting them in making changes.
According to Arbuckle, guidance focuses on educational, vocational, and occupational issues, whereas counseling focuses on the individual’s social, personal, and emotional issues.
Counseling is a collaborative process that brings together the counselee who seeks help and the counselor who has been trained and educated to provide that help (Perez, 1965).
“Counseling has also been defined as a process that occurs in a one-on-one relationship between an individual beset by problems with which he cannot cope alone and a professional worker whose training and experience have qualified him to assist others in reaching solutions to various types of personal difficulties” (Hahn and Maclean).
Goals of Counselling Psychology
Developmental Goals of Counselling Psychology
Developmental goals are those that help the client meet or advance his or her expected levels of human growth and development (that is socially, personally, emotionally, cognitively, physical wellness and so on).
Preventive Goals
In this case, the counselor assists the client in avoiding a negative outcome.
Enhancement Goals
If the client has any special abilities or skills, they can be identified or developed with the help of a counselor.
Remedial Goals of Counselling Psychology
Remediation entails assisting a client in overcoming and/or treating a negative life development.
Exploratory Goals
It entails weighing options, assessing skills, and experimenting with new and different activities, as well as environmental relationships.
Reinforcement Goals of Counselling Psychology
Clients who resort to appropriate ways of doing things, thinking, and/or feeling are rewarded with reinforcement.
Cognitive Goals
Cognition entails mastering the fundamentals of learning and cognitive abilities.
Physiological Goals of Counselling Psychology
Physiological goals ensure that you learn the fundamentals of physical health and develop healthy lifestyle habits.
Psychological Goals
It entails learning good social interaction skills, emotional control, and a positive self-concept, among other things.
Gibson, Mitchell, and Basile (Gibson, Mitchell, and Basile, 1993).
Further Reading:
