EDU3073

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

FOR CHILDREN

(Many parts of this book/module is copyright of various authors.

Thus this copy is solely for educational & internal use for IPGK students).

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Chapter 1:

Guidance and Counselling

You should be able to:-

understand the history of school counselling in Malaysia
The basic concept of guidance, counselling and psychotherapy
The aims of guidance and counselling
The principles and philosophy of guidance and counselling
The significance of guidance and counselling

1.0Introduction

Students in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia are diverse in both their
backgrounds and abilities. Some are developmentally ready and eager to be in
school. Others are disadvantaged because of physical, mental, cultural and
socioeconomic factors. There are also students in schools carrying the burden
of traumas, such as various forms of abuse, through no fault of their own. They
come from diverse sociocultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. In most
recent times we see many problems highlighted about their psychological and
disciplinary problems due to many reasons. Teachers complain some who like
to mix with their peers while many others choose to be alone. Many students
are so eager and focused on their education and striving to achieve their
dream careers. There are parents who are caring and loving while others
abusive. Therefore, an ordinary teacher in a school will have a variety of
students with mild or severe psychological and disciplinary problems. Thus, the
guidance and counselling services are needed to help these teachers to deal
with various problems of their students in schools.

Schools counsellors have an important role in addressing these concerns and

problems of students. Basically, the focus of most school counselling
programmes is addressing issues related to academic performance, issues
related to career choice, as well as personal and social concerns which have an
impact on the lives of students.

1.1 HISTORY OF SCHOOL COUNSELLING IN MALAYSIA

"The development of counselling services in Malaysia is closely related to the

history of guidance and counselling in the schools" (Suradi and Rafidah, 2005,
p.243). There are records to show that guidance services were introduced by

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the English during colonial Malaysia in 1939 with the publication of a booklet
titled Panduan Kerjaya di Tanah Melayu bagi Ibu Bapa, Guru-Guru dan Murid-
Murid. In 1963, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka published a book titled Perkhidmatan
Panduan di Sekolah. In the same year the Ministry of Education Malaysia, set
up Bahagian Bimbingan dan Kaunselling (The Guidance and Counselling
Section) which was established under the Educational Planning and Researeh
Division (EPRD).

In 1968, the Ministry of Education Malaysia issued a circular (KP5209/30/13)

which directed all State Education Departments to instruct principals in
secondary schools to appoint guidance teachers to make available guidance
and counselling services for students in schools. In 1993, the Ministry of
Education introduced a guidebook titled Panduan Perlaksanaan Perkhidamatan
dan Kaunselling di Sekolah-Sekolah Menengah (Guide towards the
Implementation of Guidance and Counselling Services in Seconday Schools).
The guidebook proposed the following four goals for guidance and counselling
services in schools:

Enrichment services for the overall development of students

Introduce preventive measures
Provide remedial services
Provide crisis counselling services

Schools were required to make available enrichment services for the overall
development of students. Opportunities and facilities have to be made
available in line with capabilities and potential of students. Preventive
measures have to be introduced, especially with regards to discipline
problems, inappropriate behaviours and drug abuse.

In addition, efforts should be made to make available remedial services

especially with regards to helping students with academic problems and career
choice. It was also proposed that schools provide crisis counselling for those
students needing such service.

In 1996, the Ministry of Education Malaysia issued a circular (KP/SB-HEP

8543/60/91) requesting primary and secondary school heads to appoint full-
time counsellors in their schools to better plan and coordinate guidance and
counselling services in schools (Suradi & Rafidah, 2005). The goal was to
achieve a ratio of one counsellor for every 500 students.

The purpose of having guidance and counselling services in schools is to help

students understand themselves and the world around them. It is the process

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of helping students maximise their abilities, capabilities and talents (Suradi
Salim, 1996). This is based on the premise that they are Individuals in our
schools who are unable to realise their potentials and the responsibility of
realising their potentials lies within the individual themselves. The guidance
and counselling services aim to help and not to direct the individuals or make
decisions for them.

The daily lives of people involve making decisions that affect themselves and
others in society. Individuals who fail to make the right decisions and are
unable to adapt accordingly are more likely to encounter problems. For
example, a student who chooses to spend time playing video-games rather
than practice solving assigned mathematics problems is more likely to find it
difficult to cope with the subject. School counselling services in primary,
secondary and tertiary level institutions aim to help individuals make choices
and adapt to the environment.

The field of guidance and counselling can be of interest to you even if you do
not want to become a professional counsellor. It offers tools for understanding,
connecting, and helping that can be used to promote self-awareness and self-
improvement and to enhance all aspects of life, including interpersonal
relations, coping with stress, and problem solving. Guidance and counselling
can more appropriately be understood as a dynamic process involving a
professionally trained counsellor assisting a client with particular concerns. In
the counselling process, the counsellor can use a variety of counselling
strategies such as individual, group, or family counselling to assist the student
client to bring about beneficial changes. These strategies can generate a
variety of outcomes. Some of these are facilitating behaviour change,
enhancing coping skills, promoting decision making, and improving
relationships apart from developing study skills to do better in education.

This chapter provides you a general understanding about the concept,

principles, aims and significance of guidance and counselling services in our
schools. Guidance and counselling of students is an integral component of the
educational mission in any of the schools. Guidance and counselling services
and programs promote the personal/social, educational, and career
development of all students.

1.2 General idea of guidance and counselling

Guidance is a group of planned services that include counselling, it provides
the students with information about career development and counselling to
enhance feelings of responsibility, understand themselves and know their
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abilities. A guidance teacher helps to disseminate information about potential
careers and self-development in a proper way. The guidance and counselling
teachers also ensure activities carried out to provide help for students to feel
better about themselves and grow physically and socio-emotionally. Every one
of us need guidance at one time or the other stage of development right from
the beginning of life till the end. If properly guided, every individual will be
satisfied in life.

Counselling is described first as an art and a science, then from the

perspective of narrative psychology or storytelling. Counselling is the process
of guidance; it is therefore the interaction that comes as a result of the
vocational relationship between a specialised counsellor and his student where
the counsellor assists the student to understand himself and his abilities and
talents to achieve self and environmental compatibility in order to attain the
appropriate degree of mental health in light of the techniques and specialized
skills of the guidance process.

Counselling is essentially both an art and a science. The counsellor, like an

artist, can sensitively reach into the world of the client, yet on some level
maintain a sense of professional and scientific objectivity.

1.3 The Philosophy of guidance

Guidance is universal and the basic principles of the philosophy of guidance
are common to all countries with a slight modification to suit the locally
accepted beliefs and the specific guidance services offered. The eight
principles of the philosophy of guidance are:

1. The dignity of the individual is supreme.

2. Each individual is unique. He or she is different from every other
individual.
3. The primary concern of guidance is the individual in his own social
setting. The main aim being to help him to become a wholesome
person and to gain fullest satisfaction in his life.
4. The attitudes and personal perceptions of the individual are the bases
on which he acts.
5. The individual generally acts to enhance his perceived self.
6. The individual has the innate ability to learn and can be helped to make
choices that will lead to self-direction, and make him consistent with the
social environment.

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7. The individual needs a continuous guidance process from early
childhood through adulthood.
8. Each individual may, at times, need the information and personalized
assistance best given by competent professional personnel.

The Main Goals of Guidance Services

Guidance empowers an individual to charter his life successfully, despite of all

odds.

The main goals are:

1. Exploring-self: The basic aim is to help an individual increase his

understanding and acceptance of self; his physical development, his
intelligence, aptitudes, interest, personality traits, attitudes and values,
his achievements in scholastic and other spheres, his aspirations and
life-style preferences and above all his here -and-now needs which keep
him highly motivated to behave positively or otherwise.

2. Determining Values: The second aim is to help an individual

recognize the importance of values, explore different sets of values,
determine personal values and examine them in relation to the norms
of society and their importance in planning for success in life.

3. Setting Goals: This aim is to help an individual set goal for him self
and relate these to the values determined by him so that he recognizes
the importance of long-range planning.
4. Explore the World of Work: The aim here is to help the individual
explore the World of Work in relation to his self-exploration, his value
system and goals that he has set for himself to achieve success in life.

5. Improving Efficiency: The individual is helped to learn about factors

which contribute to increase effectiveness and efficiency and to
improve his study habits.

6. Building Relationship: The aim is to help the individual to be aware of

his relationship with others and to note that it is a reflection of his own
feelings about himself.

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7. Accepting responsibility for the future: The individual is helped to
develop skill in social and personal forecasting, acquire attitudes and
skills necessary for mastering the future.

The Handbook for Guidance and Counselling Services in Schools (1993) of the
Ministry of Education states the guidance services as follows:-

Provide enrichment services covering the development aspects of the

pupils. This can be done by providing facilities and experience in line
with their capabilities and potential.
Providing preventive services like preventing students from engaging in
discipline problems like misbehaviour, involved in drug abuse and so
forth.
Provide crisis counselling services.
Providing rehabilitation services like helping students overcome
academic problems, improving socialisation skills and guiding towards
chosen careers.

In addition, the objectives of the guidance are also to:

1. Help students make personal adjustment, social, emotional and

academic with the situation in schools, regulations and disciplinary
regulations.
2. Creating opportunity for every student to develop according to their
abilities.
3. Overcome difficulties that interfere with academic achievement of the
students and enhance teacher-student relationship
4. Help students who are less fortunate ability to better performance in
studies
5. Forming positive social responsibility, enthusiastic, diligent, inventive,
self-reliance and civic leadership.
6. Help students understand their abilities, talents, interests and
shortcomings. This understanding is important to lead them in
choosing subjects and courses as well as do career planning.
7. Help students build good work habits. This will enable them to complete
their homework on time.
8. Help students develop a balanced aspect of physical, emotional,
spiritual and intellectual potential.
9. Pupils form a stable emotions and are always in a state of peace and
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happiness.
10. Empowering students to think rationally and avoid any crisis from
happening.
11. Help students understand problems from a wide angle.
12. Help students to acquire specific skills to solve problems.
13. Help students to make wise decisions in life situations.
14. Help students acquire skills to communicate to develop socio-emotional
aspects.
15. Help students switching from primary to secondary school. The program
accelerate the process of adapting to a new situation for the students.
16. Help students gain knowledge and career information to help them
make application to the educational institutions concerned.
17. Motivational camps held from time to time for pupils to enhance pupils
motivation in improving themselves.
18. Partnering with parents about children's progress in academic and co-
curricular activities.

To sum up, guidance empowers a child to be an integrated individual,

actualizing his potential to the fullest.

4.2.2 Guidance Services Program in schools

According to the Schools Division, Ministry of Education (MOE), the proposed

guidance program should encompass:

A comprehensive that emphasise guidance is for all groups of

students in the school.
Emphasize the development, rehabilitation.
Integration and application of guidance elements through the
curriculum and co-curriculum.
Covers various aspects of the individual development as in
cognitive, psychomotor, affective, physical, moral or religious,
vocational or career.
Students a shaped either through individual or group counselling.

1.6 Definition of Counselling

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Let us look definitions given by various experts.

1. Hansen, J. (1972) defines counselling as a process that helps clients

learn new ways to operate and adapt to life situations. Individuals
helped shape the decision-making process, either individually or in
groups. This will enable it to expand its optimum potential and becomes
the individual to function effectively.
2. McDaniel and Shaftel (1956) defines counselling as a series of direct
meetings with the aim to help individuals adapt to the environment.
Thus, the relationship between counsellor and client is very important.
3. Smith, G.E. (1980) says counselling is the process in which a
counsellor helps an individual (client) interpret the facts in connection
with an option, or adaptation and planning to do.
4. According to George, R.L. and Cristiani, T.S. (1995), counselling is a
communication process and also help people make choices and solve
problems.
5. McLeod, J. (2007) described counselling as an activity in which a
person who problematic invite and allow others to build a special
relationship with it. This is intended to enable it to express the problem,
explore, learn and find solutions and enjoy a meaningful life.
6. The American Psychological Association (1956), defines
counselling as a process "to help individuals toward overcoming
obstacles to their personal growth, wherever these may be
encountered, and toward achieving optimum development of their
personal resources".

What is counselling? The world counselling stems from the verb "to counsel"
which has always meant to advice. So it is not surprising that some people still
have this misconception about counselling. Although some forms of
counselling may contain some advice-giving components, counselling is mostly
dedicated to restoring a client's self-understanding, decision-making resources,
risk-taking and personal growth. Telling people what to do can be a
counterproductive remedy. Basically, counselling is a short-term, theory-based,
non-directive, non-judgemental process. During this process, a person called
the client, who is psychologically healthy but faces an adjustment,
developmental or situational problem.

More importantly, the person wants to gain awareness of himself or herself and
to make decisions through the support and assistance offered by another
person called the counsellor.Counselling is not a process of 'doing something to
someone'.

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Counselling is an interaction in a therapeutic setting, focusing primarily on a
conversation about relationships, beliefs, and behaviour (including feelings),
through which the client's perceived problem is elucidated and framed or
refrained in a fitting or useful way, and in which new solutions are generated
and the problem takes on a new meaning (p. 19).

This definition has many aspects to it. First, it describes counselling as an

"interaction in a therapeutic setting". The dictionary meaning of 'therapeutic' is
healing, curative, beneficial or remedial. Second, it is described as a
"conversation about relationships in which clients can be helped to feel
understood and better about themselves and their problem. Third, it is not
about finding solutions to the client's problems but rather "new solutions are
generated". Fourth, the relationship between the counsellor and the client is a
collaborative one rather than that of a superior and subordinate. Fifth, it
assumes that the counsellor is a specialist in therapeutic skills and clients also
have some expertise in the issues and problems that concern them.

Therefore counselling is a process to help clients to explore difficulties which

may include the stressful or emotional feelings that may hinder his growth. In
the process of helping the client see things more clearly, possibly from a
different view-point. This enables the client to focus on feelings, experiences or
behaviour, with a goal to facilitating positive change. During the counselling
session, a relationship of trust is build. Confidentiality is paramount to
successful counselling. Professional counsellors will usually explain their policy
on confidentiality, they may, however, be required by law to disclose
information if they believe that there is a risk to life.

Counselling is not giving advice, being judgemental or attempting to sort out

the problems of the client. It is important to know and understand that a
counsellor cannot expect or encourage a client to behave in a way in which the
counsellor may have behaved when confronted with a similar problem in their
own life. A counsellor should not get emotionally involved with the client and
must not look client's problems from his/her perspective, based on his/her own
value system.

According to Feltham (2000), counselling is generally characterised by an

explicit agreement between a counsellor and client to meet in a certain private
setting, at agreed times and under disciplined conditions of confidentiality,
with ethical parameters, protected time and specified aims. It is widely
accepted that counselling may be a more suitable form of help for a variety of
personal problems or concerns, the most common being depression, anxiety,
bereavement, relationship difficulties, life crisis and traumas, addictions,

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confusion and other negative conditions or it may be more proactively; and
educationally to learn for example how to relax, be more assertive, deal with
stress and lead a more fulfilling life.

There are many types of counselling depending on the issue to be dealt with
and the desired achievements. These include supportive counselling,
educational counselling, career counselling, management counselling, family
counselling, marriage counselling, counselling in medical settings,
rehabilitative and mental health counselling and many new types are
constantly emerging.

Read more at:

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/counselling.html#ixzz2mnaR1vBu

1.7 Counselling Principles

Counselling principles are to ensure smooth and effective counselling services

in schools.

Patterson (1967) put forward the principles of counselling as follows:

1. Counselling is a process aimed at influencing behaviour change

voluntarily client, the client wanted to change his behaviour and ask the
counsellor to help change it.
2. Counselling should provide conditions that facilitate the voluntary
change. The conditions are as an individual right of self-determination
and the rights of individuals to feel free to make changes in behaviour.
3. Client will face limitations in as determined by the actual goal of
counselling is influenced by norms, values and attitudes of a counsellor.
4. The interview was held to facilitate behaviour change although not all
types of interviews can be considered as counselling.
5. Counselling requires a counsellor who listen to the matters dealt with by
clients but not all actions can be characterized as counselling listen.
6. Counsellors strive to understand the client.
7. Counselling conducted confidentially and all materials must be kept
confidential discussion.
8. Typically, the client has psychological problems.
9. Counsellors who are skilled and able to help clients overcome
psychological problems.

Biasco, F. (1966) outlined the following principles:

1. Counselling is for all individuals and not be limited to only those who
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have a problem. The emphasis is more on prevention than repair.
2. Development counselling is to help clients gain knowledge and
understanding of themselves. This leaves a client's cause to accept her
condition in terms of physical, intellectual and affective.
3. Counselling is most effective when systematically planned and
organized.
4. Counselling developments emphasizes the positive aspects of each
individual against the negative aspects.
5. Counselling program would be more effective if there is cooperation
between students, teachers, gum, parents, administrators and school
counsellors.
6. Assuming that every individual counselling, including young children
the right to make decisions self and independent form its own
personality and your own life plan.
7. Counselling emphasizes individual development in terms of time; past,
present and future, and in terms of fields, academic, social and
personal.

McDaniel and Shaftel (1956) also lists the main principles of counselling as
follows:

1. Each client should be accepted as an individual and treated well.

Counsellors should give genuine respect for the rights of the individuals
right to be successful and vice versa. Responsibility for change and
directing his life is located on the client.
2. Counselling is basically a permissive relationship. Permissive conditions
can be seen from two sides. First, relationship between counsellor and
client may be terminated at any time. This means that there is no
element of compulsion. Second, the counsellor cannot persuade the
client receives value or idea. Clients should determine for itself whether
to accept a viewpoint or proposal submitted by the counsellor.
3. Counselling emphasizes client thinking together. Counsellors do not
think or make decisions for the client. Counsellors must think along with
the client, the ideas, suggestions or opinions client should be taken into
account in making a decision for action.
4. Counselling is in line with the ideals of democracy. Counsellors have
right to differ in interests, needs, intellectual ability, emotional stability,
and so on. However, such differences and genuine respect for the rights
of others is in line with the ideals of democracy.

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According to Kamus Dewan, a principle is the base that is the crux of a thought
or action. A set of principles are made to ensure the smoothness and
effectiveness of guidance services in our schools. The following principles will
be the basis of administration of guidance services in schools. Among them
are:

1. Guidance is duty to help students become useful members of society,

and in line with the aspirations of the community and the nation.
2. Guidance is a process of knowledge. Guidance helps a pupil as a whole
with regard to their interests, needs, strengths and weaknesses of the
person. Students are provided guidance namely in improving social,
health, education and career.
3. Guidance is for all individuals irrespective of their family socio-
economic, social status, whether they are smart, talented or weak or
need special help.
4. Guidance is a lifelong process, from primary school to university. At
each stage of the development of a pupil, various types of difficulties
are encountered.
5. More guidance aims to prevent any negative behaviour. Guidance also
helps students understand their weaknesses and vulnerabilities,
emphasis is on developing strength to help the students to achieve
their goal.
6. Students information confidential and shall be maintained by the
development guidance. It is important for students to gain the trust
of coaches.
7. Guidance requires personal details of comprehensive and complete.
Information capabilities, accomplishments, talents, health and family
background needed for effective guidance.
8. Guidance should be open, non-judgmental, patient and easy to find.
9. Each teacher is a guidance teacher. A teacher is to understand the
problems of students and try to help them overcome it.
10. Guidance helps students set realistic life goals consistent with their
abilities, interests and talents.
11. A time period should be sufficient to allow students to express the
problem in full. Complete information should be provided to facilitate
the counselling process conducted.
12. A teacher should be equipped with particular skills in the process of
helping others. He should understand about human nature and human
communication skills.
13. Ensure and develop good relationships between teacher-student,
classroom teachers, parents, neighbours and the students are

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necessary. This facilitates guidance and counselling teacher to collect
information about the student.
14. A counselling room is comfortable, equipped with fans, lights, curtains
and decorations that are necessary to ensure success in implementing
a successful school counselling services. External reference agencies
should be in the knowledge of the school counsellors.
15. A student or client cannot be compelled to share any information or to
receive a decision. A conducive atmosphere and willingness to be
created during each guidance sessions are held.
16. Guidance is conducted in believing that every student is able to grow
and change in a positive direction and will useful.
17. Guidance emphasizes the present and the future.
18. Guidance is to help students adapt themselves to their surroundings
and understood the implications of their actions for the short and long
term.
19. Guidance is catered in accordance and an understanding that each
student is different in terms of abilities, interests, talents and
motivation to learn.

Exercise:

a. Simplify the principles for guidance and counselling in a mind-map.

1.8 The objectives of the Counselling

Following are counselling objectives:-

1. Help clients solve the short term issues or problems.

2. Develop an understanding and insight that can help clients confront
and solve new problems that may arise in other situations in the long
term.
3. Accelerating change behaviour in a positive direction.
4. Enhance clients ability to achieve psychological freedom; the ability to
manage own life.
5. Making wise decisions and to understand the reasons the decision was
made and subsequently willing to take risks as a result of his decision.
6. Act logically and effectively.
7. Help troubled individuals become rational again. For example, Ranjit
feel very disappointed after receiving the results of his Mathematics
test paper. He loses his appetite as he didnt do as expected. He thinks
the world is cruel and mean to him. In such circumstances, the

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counsellor must help Ranjit so he could see that his actions are like
thinking everything is negative it is not a rational act. Rational action is
how to make effective refresher lessons to achieve success.
8. Develop their interests and abilities to an optimum level.
9. Adjust social, personal and intellectual requirements of the school and
the community.
10. Creating healthy relationships with significant results with others such
as parents, siblings, friends and teachers.
11. Help individuals that are at risk and have substance abuse problems.
12. Help individuals involved in drug abuse in order to make them aware of
the dangers of their practice and learn how to stop the practice.
13. Help individuals understand and possess the values of life that are
necessary for a healthy life.
14. Familiarize himself with the maximum disciplined life in order to achieve
the goal of self-development cause.

Exercise:
a. Identify and state the counselling objectives in primary schools.

1.9 The need for guidance and counselling

Majority of students lack a sense of direction, a sense of purpose and a sense a

sense of fulfilment. Some may even need guidance and counselling to change
their destructive behaviour which leads them into social problems and end up
being discriminate over any disciplinary issues in the school and at home.
Therefore, guidance and counselling services is the only answer to help and
guide these students towards a responsible life as a good citizen. The service
provided in schools or in any organisation can help them to be on a path of
academic excellence, personal and social success. rsjit/2013

Today due to rapid developments in and around them, it is nothing new or

something to surprise to know that society at large do face problems to fulfil
their personal and environmental needs. We now face problems in the
changing family status, growing population and number of new cities and
housing areas, conflicts in values, attitudes and moral , the new criticism about
politics, economic factors the changing role of work, new pressure and
demands on school and the problems of the youth all points out the needs for
the counselling services. Guidance and counselling have a challenging role to

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play in our schools, more so with ever increasing pressure of Asian parents
wanting their children do extremely well in their examinations.

1.10 Significance of Counselling

The student life is getting complex day by day. Guidance and counselling is
needed to help students for optimum achievement and adequate adjustment
in the varied life situations. Need analysis of the students in the schools will
show the need of guidance and counselling services in the education,
vocational, social, health, moral and personal areas. It is a simple enough to
say that guidance is an essential service in any education setting.

Reference:
(http://teachereducationguidanceandcounsellin.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-is-
counselling-meaning-need-and.html) rsjit/2013

1.10 The difference between guidance and counselling:

The concept of guidance and counselling reflect a common meaning that

includes awareness, assistance and change behaviour to the better, but still
there is a difference between the two concepts:-

11 Guidance is more general and comprehensive than counselling.

11 Counselling is theory based and structured.
3. Guidance usually precedes counselling and paves way for it.
4. Guidance stresses theoretical aspects while counselling focusses on the
practical aspects in a counselling sessions.
5. Counselling is a relationship between a teacher and or a counsellor with
a student comes in for help.

You should not confuse counselling with guidance.

Guidance is the process of helping people make important choices that affect
their lives, such as choosing which career to pursue or what line of studies to
embark on. Specifically, guidance refers to an expert giving advices and
providing information and knowledge to the person who seeks help in making
the right choice. Many early works in guidance happened in schools and career
centres where an adult would help a student make decisions on subject or

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career choice. The relationship was between two different statuses of
individuals: the adult as the know-all person, and the student as the
inexperienced person. The relationship is often short-term, involving only one
meeting or several meetings until the person who seeks guidance feel satisfied
with the information given and is more confident in making the right choice. In
order to understand what counselling is, it is easier to compare what it is not
by looking first at the definitions of terms such as guidance and psychiatry.

You should also not confuse counselling with psychiatry. Psychiatry is often
associated with mental illness, extreme emotional problems and serious
personal issues. Psychiatry has its roots in the medical and psychological fields
that sec patients who seek professional help as being mentally ill or sick. The
psychiatry process prefers to delve into the patient's past in order to gain
insight into the actual clause of the problems. The psychiatrist is the expert
while the patient is mentally or emotionally a sick person.

Counselling in Malaysia
Counselling is one of the least understood or most understood field in
Malaysia. Most people cannot tell the difference between counselling,
psychology and psychiatry. It is these misunderstandings that gives the field of
counselling a negative image among Malaysians, and consequently discourage
people who may need help from seeking it. Psychology is basically the science
of the human mind; how we think and react to situations. Psychiatry is part of
the medical field, except it specifically focuses on the treatment of mental
disorder. Psychiatry focuses on people with abnormal mental problems.
Counsellors work with normal people who have emotional and psychological
problems, but are still mentally competent to make sound decisions.
Counsellors treat patients by discussing and listening so that patients may see
things in a new light and able to think clearly and positively.

For instance, a person who is suffering from a mental problem by walking

naked in public, would be best treated by a psychiatrist, while a normal person
who, for example is having difficulty dealing with death of a loved one or a
severe case of shyness, would best be treated by a counsellor. A counsellor is a
qualified professional who needs adequate training in psychology and
knowledge of the methods of counselling. With such an assurance, people will
be less hesitant to seek professional help.

[source: Suradi Salim. The Growth and Challenges of Counselling in Malaysia:

Towards a Positive Society. 2004]

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1.11 Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, or "talk therapy", is a way to treat people with a mental

disorder by helping them understand their illness. It teaches people strategies
and gives them tools to deal with stress and unhealthy thoughts and
behaviours. Psychotherapy helps clients manage their symptoms better and
function at their best in everyday life. Psychotherapy aims to help clients gain
insight into their difficulties or distress, establish a greater understanding of
their motivation, and enable them to find more appropriate ways of coping or
bring about changes in their thinking and behaviour.

In short, psychotherapy explore their feelings, beliefs, thoughts and relevant

events, sometimes from childhood and personal history, in a structured way
with someone trained to help them in a safe environment. Depending on the
nature of the problem, therapy can be short or long term.
(http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/article140.html). Many kinds of
psychotherapy exist. There is no "one-size-fits-all" approach. The kind of
psychotherapy a person receives depends on his or her needs.

In a school, counselling services are offered by trained counsellors while in the

clinical situation, a qualified psychotherapist handles the counselling services.

You should next identify the difference between psychotherapy counselling

with respect to the goal / purpose and client type and conditions where the
counselling process is carried out.

1.11.1 Difference of Goals/aims

One goal of counselling is to help individuals manage development tasks.

Someone teenagers who helped to achieve emotional freedom from parents,
career decision-making and preparation will be referred to a counsellor. An
individual in the age of thirty years or who suffer from these problems more
appropriately referred to a psychotherapy.

In the context of the continuum, the goal of psychotherapy involves a

complete change in the character structure of the individual and the service is
long-term. While in counselling, the goal is limited, more focused on the
development of the situation immediately and the service short term in nature.

1.11.2 Differences of terms and client conditions

11
Traditional view of psychotherapy involves the client and the counsellor
neurotic or psychotic individuals familiar with the problem. Members
psychotherapy often work in hospitals and clinics and counsellors typically
offer services in educational institutions such as schools, colleges and
universities.

In conclusion, we can say that the guidance, counselling and psychotherapy

are on a continuum. Guidance in one end and at the end of psychotherapy and
counselling others in the middle.

COMPARING COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

Counselling is more for.. Psychotherapy is more for

Clients Patients
Mild Disorders Serious disorders
Personal, social, vocational, Personality problems
educational, and decision-making
problems
Preventive and developmental Remedial concerns
concerns
Educational and developmental Clinical and medical settings
settings
Conclusion concerns Unconscious concerns
Teaching methods Healing methods
Source: Charles S Thompson, Donna A Henderson (2007) Counselling Children,
Belmont: Thomson Brookes/ Cole.

Distinctions between counselling and psychotherapy may be superficial in that

both processes have similar objectives and techniques. Although this table
summarizes some differences, those features are often lost in the common
ground they share. The key question about each process rests with counsellors
and therapists, who must restrict their practice to their areas of competence.

1.12 Summary

Although the activities of guidance, counselling and psychotherapy sometimes

superposed states, but more guidance associated with services to provide
information and direction in terms of the selection of career education.
Emphasized counselling support activities, problem solving, awareness raising,
and now a short-term problem, while psychotherapy emphasizing rehabilitation
activities, exploration depth, analytical, highlighting past events as well as long
term in nature. In addition, psychotherapy services are offered to individuals
who are experiencing problems that are more serious and profound.

Perhaps the most important outcome for counselling occurs when children
learn how to be their own counsellors. By teaching children the counselling
11
process, we help them become more skilled in solving their problems and, in
turn, they become less dependent on others. In our view, counselling is a
process of re-education designed to replace faulty learning with better
strategies for getting what the child wants from life. Regardless of the
counselling approach, children bring three pieces of information to the
counselling session: (1) their problem or concern, (2) their feelings about the
problem, and (3) their expectations of the counsellor. Failure to listen for these
points makes further counselling a waste of time.

1.13 SUGGESTED READING MATERIALS

History of the Counseling Profession, www.iupui.edu/-flin/overviewnn

What is Counselling? University of South Florida

http://usfweb2.usf.edu/counsel/self-hln/what.htm

History of School Counselling

http://facultv.ashrosarv.ortz/faculty/counseliim/historv hb.htm

History and Trends in Counselling

http://facstaffwebs.umes.edu/kipoole/ediic6Ql 602/historv%20GCCC.htm

What is a Counselling Psychologist?

http://www.div 17.oru/Students/whatis.htm

History of Career Counselling http://www.iupui.edu/~-t1ip/careerpp/sld002.htm

Different types of psychotherapies

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/psychotherapies/index.shtml

1.14 Practice Questions

11 a. State briefly the importance of guidance and counselling services in

schools.

b. Explain in brief the problems faced by guidance and counselling

teachers in providing the service to the primary school students.

2. Prepare a table differentiating counselling and psychotherapy in

perspective of
a. the counsellors role

b. the process

11
Chapter References

Arbuckle , D.S. (1995 ) , Counselling and psychotherapy : An Existential

Humanistic View, Bostan : Ally and Bacon , Inc. .
Belkin , G.S. (1981 ) , Practical Counselling in the Schools, Iowa : C. Brown
Company Publishers .
____, (1975 ) , Counselling : Direction in Theory and Practice , Iowa :
Kendall and Hunt .
Benjamin , A. (1969 ) , The Helping Interview , Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co.
Black , K. (1983 ) , Short - Term Counselling , California : Addision - Wesley
Pub.
Blackham , G.J. ( 1977) , Counselling : Theory, Process and Practice ,
Belmont: Wardsworth Publishing Co.
Board , R.D. (1986 ) , Counselling Skills , England : Wildwood House ,
Hampshire .
Boy , A. & Pine , G.J. (1963 ), Client- Centred Counselling in Secondary
Schools, Boston : Houghton Mifflin.Co .
Brammer , L.M. ( 1973 ) , The Helping Relationship : Process and Skills ,
New Jersey , Prentice-Hall , Englewood Cliffs.
Corey , L.M. ( 1977) , Theory and Practice of Counselling and
psychotherapy, California : Brook / Cole Publishing Co. .
Capuzzi , Gross D.ana , D.R. (2001 ) , Introduction to the Counselling
Profession , Boston : Ally and Bacon , Inc. .
Ed , N. (1999 ) , The World of the Counselor , Pacific Corove , USA: Brooke /
Cole Publishing Co.
_____, (1975 ) , Counselling : Philosophy , Theory and Practice , Bostan :
Allyn and Bacon , Inc. .

Egan , G. (1975 ) , The Skilled Helper : A Model for Systematic Helping

and Interpersonal Relations, California : Brooks / Cole Publishing Co. .
Eisenberg , S. & Delaney , D.J. ( 1977) , The Counselling Process, Chicago :
Rand McNally .
George , R.L. & Cristiani , T.S. (1981 ) , Theory, Method and Process of
psychotherapy, New Jesey : Prentice-Hall , Englewood Cliffs.
Gibson , R.L. & Mitchell (1981 ) , Introduction to Guidance , New York :
Macmillan .
Hackney , H. & Nye , S. (1973 ) , Counselling Strategies and Objectives ,
New Jersey , Prentice-Hall , Englewood Cliffs.
Hansen , J.C. , steric , R.R & Warner R.W. ( 1977) , Counselling : Therapy and
Process, Boston : Allyn and Bacon , Inc. .

11
______, (1984 ) , Guidance and Implementation Guide Counselling , Kuala
Lumpur .
Mc Leod , J. ( 2007) , Counselling Skill , New York : Open University Press.

Thompson., Charles L. (200&), Counselling Children (7th ed): Belmont:

Thomson Brooks/Cole

http://teachereducationguidanceandcounsellin.blogspot.com/2011/03/what-is-
counselling-meaning-need-and.html

What is psychotherapy, downloaded at

http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/article140.html

Psychotherapy and counselling differences, downloaded at

http://www.psychotherapy.org.uk /article140.html

Career beyond Horizon, downloaded at http://rgniyd-career.gov.in

/parentsandteachers/ guidenceandconselling.php

Psychotherapies, downloaded at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics

/psychotherapies /index.shtml

1.15 Glossary

counselling Counselling is a process where the client and

counsellor work together to come up with different
ways to experience various situations. The service
offers client an opportunity and time to talk and
think about some issues or difficulties. It helps them
to explore their feelings and looks at how they may
wish to change things or their behaviour in making
a better life. In the counselling process the clients
learn to resolve problems, making choices, coping
with changes, gaining insight and understand new
things happening in their life, improving
relationships with others, working out difficult
feelings, apart from sharing and acquiring
information. Counselling therefore, is a more
specialized service requiring training in personality
development and handling exceptional groups of
11
individuals.
guidance GUIDANCE is the process of helping an individual to
help himself and to develop his potentialities to the
fullest by utilizing the maximum opportunities
provided by the environment. rsjit/2013
Guidance and A service to guide and counsel students in their
counselling services quest for excellence in education and to help them
overcoming their psychosocial and emotional
shortcomings. In short, it promotes personal/social,
educational and career development to all students.
Need analysis It means of defining as precisely as possible the
student needs, requirements and understanding of
what they think they want from the guidance and
counselling services provided and or from the other
servicers provided in the school. The main purpose
of needs analysis is the user's satisfaction.
psychotherapy It is a way of treating psychological or emotional
problems such as neurosis or personality
disorder through verbal and nonverbal
communication. Patients learn new ways to cope
rather than merely using medication to alleviate the
distress. The immediate goal of aiding the person is
in increasing self-knowledge and awareness of
relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried
out to assist people in becoming more conscious of
their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives.
Psychotherapy's longer-term goal is making it
possible for people to exchange destructive patterns
of behaviour for healthier, more successful ones

11
Chapter 2

Guidance and Counselling Services

You should be able to:-

1. State the vision, mission, philosophy, and objectives of guidance and

counseling services in schools.

2. compare and contrast the different types of counseling and guidance

services;

3. relate the type of guidance and counseling services to service

orientation and their fields;vassessment, placement and follow-up
services, crisis prevention, rehabilitation, and development;

4. elaborate on the Code of Ethics Ethics Counsellor Counselling Teachers,

and

5. Understand the role of the school counsellor and counselling ethics.

2.0 Introduction

This chapter will focus on guidance and counselling services offered in primary
schools. We shall look into different types of guidance and counselling services.
In addition, you shall understand some issues and challenges related to
guidance and counselling services in the schools.

The management and implementation of guidance and counseling services in

schools are generally based on the vision, mission, the philosophy and goals
of guidance and counseling services that are set by the Ministry of Education.

2.1 The Vision

The guidance and counseling services are to be the main instrument for
creating a therapeutic atmosphere in the school.

2.2 The mission

1. Managing programs and counseling activities efficiently and effectively

11
2. Helping school to develop students that have high emotional
intelligence (EQ) and morally strong values.
3. Guiding students to achieve higher performance in academic.
4. Create a favorable learning environment through the implementation
of guidance and counseling programs.
5. Provide integrated career guidance information to students.
6. Foster the spirit of patriotism and leadership qualities among students.

2.3 Philosophy and Objectives of Guidance and Counseling Services

2.3.1 The philosophy

Every student has the potential to be developed through the implementation of

guidance and counseling services are efficient, effectively and ethical. The
service shall be based on internal and external sources available in order to
produce students who are balanced in terms of intellectual, physical, emotional
and spiritual development as well as believe and do righteous deeds.

2.3.2 The objectives

1. Providing facilities and experiential development that caters all aspects of

student self-development that is consistent with the ages, levels of ability
and student potential.

2. Provide preventative service such as awareness for students not to indulge

in activities that are detrimental to their well being like misbehaving and
indiscipline, vandalism, drug abuse, smoking, drinking alcohol, bullying,
joining gangs, involved in sexual abuse and antisocial behavior.

3. Provide help to heal and overcome their personal problems, education,

career and psychosocial disabilities so that they can be competitive and
able to cope with their problems.

4. Provide crisis intervention services to any student who needs, such as

depression and serious mental, extreme sadness and anxiety, including
hysteria and hurting themselves. Cases like tendency towards suicide will
have to be reffered to specialists outside the school counselling unit.

2.4 General Guidance and Counselling Services in Schools

2.4.1 Type of Guidance Services

11
Guidance at school includes the following services:

1. Collecting, recording and updating personal and academic achievement

of the of the student.

2. Conducting surveys and interpreting diagnostic tests that can help

students solve problems.

3. Provide information to teachers about student achievement, progress

and causes of problems relevant to students' learning, in order to help
teachers to plan and carry out rehabilitation activities.

4. Collect, prepare and disseminate career information and training

through brochures and school newsletters, post posters, job fairs and
career days in the school.

5. Manage and organize social and study visits to factories, workshops,

industries and firms, training centers and colleges for students.

6. Provide advice to the students to choose the subjects in the UPSR co-
curricular activities , or elective subjects for future careers.(it is more
evident in secondary schools)

7. Organizing how to do well in exams and career planning, apart from

conducting talks on prevention of drug abuse, motivational camps to
enhance performance or positive self-concept for a group of students.

8. Plans and organizes orientation program for students and their parents.

9. Planning and implementing programs such as peer counselor training

programs.

10. Coordinating guidance and counseling activities between the school and
the District Education Office (PPD), State Education Department (JPN),
Ministry of Education, outside agencies such as the Malaysian
Counseling Association, NGOs, the Labour Department and others.

11. Serving as an advisor to Guidance and counselling Club in school such

as Peer Guidance (Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya or PRS) , Career Guidance
Club and other related clubs and societies.

11
Figure 2.1 illustrates the types of Guidance and Counselling services under four
components implemented at the school level.

2.6 How are students counselled?

Generally there are three ways students come in for counselling services,
voluntary, are invited and or is referred.

i. Clients who volunteer for counselling

In this catergory, a client shall make an appointment and fill up form. Then
they will be called in for a session or can walk in for a guidance and counselling
session. Subsequent sessions can be arranged with mutual consent.

ii. Clients who are referred or invited

Clients are reffered by others or teachers fill Counselling Services Referral

Form, while the invited client fill Individual Counselling Services Form. In
addition, a client also need to take along a note or an attendance
acknowledgement to undergo counselling sessions later. A letter usually is
signed by the subject teacher in the classroom during the counselling session
(if during school hours).

Just as individual counselling, there are also different forms for group
counselling; voluntary, invited or consulted.

11
i. Members of the group volunteer for counseling

The members of this group will fill out an appointment form, then leave it to
the guidance and counselling teacher, or enter into a counselling room for a
session. It is important that students/clients fill the required accurate
information before undergoing counselling session on that day.

ii. A referred group

The class teacher / subject teacher / discipline teacher who wishes to refer a
child to undergo group counselling must fill up Group Counselling Services.
After that they submit themselves to for group counselling on the appropriate
date and time, either during school hours or outside school hours. The group
will need to get the Letter for Group Counselling signed by the class teacher /
subject teacher for the next date and time of group counselling sessions to be
held.

iii. An invited group

Guidance and counselling teachers must complete Group Counselling

Service and or invitation letter to Attend Counselling Services to the group
members. Then meet and forward the letter to the subject teacher in the
classroom if the counselling sessions need to be conducted during school
hours.

2.7 Types of counselling

Generally there are four types of counseling, namely:

1. crisis counseling,
2. rehabilitation counseling,
3. prevention counseling, and
4. Development counseling.

2.7.1 Crisis Counselling

Crisis counselling is used for cases requiring urgent attention and or

counselling. For example : the case of hysteria ; fights in the classroom or
school ; attempted murder, illegal use of drugs ; traumatic events such as
floods , earthquakes , fires ; losing a family member due to an accident, death,
emergency cases such as parental divorce, abuse, rape and so on .

11
2.7.2 Rehabilitation Counselling

Rehabilitation counselling conducted for children at risk, such as skipping

school, smoking, vandalism, fighting teachers, and other disciplinary problems.
They are gathered to undergo individual counselling or group counselling to
seek changes in their behaviour and avoid the crisis.

2.7.3 Prevention counselling

Prevention is more beneficial than treatment. So every effort should be taken

by the guidance and counselling teacher to prevent the onset of a problem
through the implementation of seminars, talks, workshops and lectures. For
example: anti- smoking, illegal drug use via education campaigns. Organising
worshops and seminars for teachniques in answering examnination questions,
hold motivational talks, and so on.

2.7.4 Development counselling

Development counselling is an effort to equip children with the knowledge and

skills and to foster positive attitudes based on their needs. Therefore, guidance
and counselling teachers should help children to understand and accept
themselves and their real life situations. Their perceptions, attitudes and goals
are discussed, their plan of life, choice or anxiety experienced can be
explained. With that, they will be better able to address and resolve problems,
and make decisions for their future.

2.8 Counselling ethics

Just like the members of the medicine, engineering, arehitecture, dentistry,

and law, guidance and counselling teachers are also required to comply with
the code of ethics. There is no doubt that the practice of ethics and law in
guidance and counselling is challenging. They generally deal with various
parties, such as parents, teachers, school administrators, and external
agencies such as government agencies, non-government agencies and others
which constantly wants solutions

Sometimes, due to misunderstandings and misconceptiions there will be

conflict with the requirements of guidance and counselling practiced in school.
In this case, guidance and counselling teachers will experience a certain
11
dilemma. When this happens, the guidance and counselling teachers should
refer to the code of ethics, or discuss with peers and other professionals in
the same field in order to achieve best safe practices.

As budding teachers and future guidance teachers, you should read about the
principles and the code of ethics for guidance and counselling teachers. There
are five principles of ethics for the counselling profession as shown in Table
2.3, namely: autonomy, beneficence, non-malicious, fairness, and honesty.

Table 2.3 Principles of Ethics

Principles Ethics Explanations

Autonomy Respect the client's right to make decisions or take

actions on their own without any reliance on or
disruption of guidance and counselling teachers.
Beneficence Do good to the client;
(Kemurahan) Helping clients achieve positive results in counselling
sessions.
Non-maleficence Do not do anything to hurt, or exacerbate the client or
others
Justice Provide access and service equal and fair to all
children.
Fidelity (kejujuran) Be honest and sincere;
Avoid any fraud or exploitation of a client;
Fulfil agreements or commitments made

2.8.1 Counsellor ethics

a. Code of Ethics for School Counselling teachers

In 1996, the Code of Ethics for school counseling teachers was drafted by the
Ministry of Education (MOE) to meet the needs of the implementation of
guidance and counseling services in schools.

The Code of Ethics contains a Code of Conduct which sets out the responsibility
of the counselor responsibilities as follows:

Counselors should behave to maintain the standards and integrity and

the identity as counselors and the counseling profession.

Counselors should always strive to review and improve the knowledge,

competencies and skills in the field of counseling.

Counselors must perform duties in a responsible manner, in accordance

with objective and honest profession of counseling.

11
Counselors should be monitored and evaluated by the counselling
supervisor through common supervision (regular supervision) and
provided with consulting support.

1. Responsibility to the Client

a. The counsellor puts best interests of the client above self interest.

b. The counselor must respect the rights of individuals and the

confidentiality of all information obtained in counseling seniasa
information unless the client ataypun dangerous people in the
neighborhood.

c. Counselors must understand and respect the socio-cultural

background of the client.

d. During the counseling session, the counselor must maintain the

physical and psychological well-being of the client and not to further
own interest either in a form of financial, sexual, and emotional and
so on.

e. The counselor should guide the client to the formation of personal

responsibility for his behavior. Counselors also must respect clients
self-decision or determination made in the sessions.

f. Counselors must serve with dedication, sincerity, honesty and, to

prove their skills and professional competence.

g. Counselors cannot adopt, endorse or encourage discrimination

based on race, sex, religion, ideology, physical disability, mental or
discrimination in any form.

h. Counselors must explain to clients about the requirements, process

and implications for counseling services.

i. Counselors must reach an agreement with his client in the early

stages of a counseling session about the limitations of
confidentiality element.

j. Agreement between the counselor and the client about

confidentiality may be reviewed and modified by mutual agreement
thereafter.

k. In the case of clearly proven client or others are in danger situation,

the counselor should use discretion to protect the interests of the
client and others involved.

l. The counselor is not encouraged to provide counseling services to

relatives, close friends, or anyone who has a close relationship with
him or have contact with the Administration that will be evaluating
his services.

m. Counselors can not prevent the client to terminate counseling or

want to switch to another counsellor.

n. The counselor should make sure his client is not undergoing

counseling with another counselor at the same time
11
o. If, at the discretion of the counselor the client requires the services
outside of his discipline, the counselor should refer the client to the
relevant authorities.

p. Counselors should provide a comfortable place and environment for

a counseling session. Clients should not be seen by outsiders, no
recorded or videod counseling sessions unless with the permission
and knowledge of the client.

2. Responsibility to other Professional Partners

a. Counsellors should work towards improving the level of professional

competence

b. Counselors must demonstrate respect, fairness and open in his

professional partner.

c. Counselor is responsible to prevent, expose, and correct behavior

unethical counselor friend.

d. Counselors should be prepared to defend, help and defend the

oppressed counselor friend accusations and allegations of unethical.

3. Responsibility to the Community

a. Counsellors need to understand and respect the socio-cultural

elements of the society in which he served.

b. Counselors must comply with state law and perform his duties in
accordance with the law.

4. Responsibility to the organization and employer

a. Counsellors should comply with the agreement signed with the
organization's commitment that he served. ( here organization
refers to the school)

b. Counselors should strive to follow the policies and procedures as

well as improvements to provide the efficiency and effectiveness of
services to the organisation.

c. Counselors must act to prevent discriminations in organizations and

in the implementation of the principle of work practice.

d. Counselors can not abuse the privilege and organizational

resources.

e. The counselor should explain the level of expertise and professional

competence.

f. Counsellors should establish interpersonal relationships and working

agreement with the principal and other staff about counseling
services, particularly for the elements of secrecy, the distinction

11
between public and private facts, the workload and accountability to
the profession.

g. The counselor must inform the principal (administrator) about the

causes of the conflict that impairs or restricts the effectiveness of its
services.

h. Counselors should allow himself to be judged by professionals from

time to time.

i. Councillor shall be liable for career advancement for himself and his
staff.

In summary, the counsellor ethics are:

1. Prioritise the client needs

It is important that counsellors should put their needs aside while
implementing counselling sessions where their full attention is to guide
the client in order to help solve the problem satisfactorily. Counselors
are often reminded not to use the client to meet their own needs.

2. Client Consent Rights

Protect the rights of the client consent is ethical and legal requirements
and as an integral part of the therapeutic process. It includes the right
of a client to be notified of the therapy to make and informed decision
autonomously. Some aspects of the agreement includes the right
information of counseling, the counselor and client responsibilities,
limitations and confidentiality exceptions, ethical and legal parameters
of the relationship, qualifications and background of counsellor(s),
counseling and service expectations, the duration of therapeutic
process, including benefits derived from counseling, risk encountered,
and the possibility of the client will be discussed with a professional
counsellor. Preferably the basic information about the process of
therapy is written on paper to be read by the client, including a
discussion that allows clients to get the maximum benefit from the
counseling process.

3. Confidentiality and Communication Privileges

Client confidentiality and communications privileges is an ethical
concept that must be respected as the privacy of the clients. The client
privileged communications refer legal aspects that ensure that client
information is disclosed in the process of therapy will be protected from
legal procedures. Thus, a qualified counselor should define the extent of
responsibility of confidentiality can be promised. Counselors should
discuss thical and legal responsibility with the client before starting the

11
counseling process; client has a right to know that the case could be
discussed with other therapists or counselling colleagues if any need
arises to do so.

However, under some circumstances, client confidentiality cannot be promised

and should be formally communicated to the parties concerned. Among them
are:
i. When the therapist believes his under-age client is a victim of
sexual abuse, rape or other crime.
ii. When the therapist has determined that the client requires
hospital treatment.
iii. When the information has become known and is an issue in
court.
iv. When the client asked for records to be given to a third party.

Counsellors are also responsible for Measurement and Evaluation

Counselors should provide a complete description of the test so that
the test results will be accepted by the client in the proper
perspective.
Counselors need to be qualified and have administration skils to use
of any tests and then the interpretation of test results. The possible
consequences af a test results be known to others should be
explained to the client unless the client waivers the right and
formally agreed in advance to do so.
Counselors should provide an accurate description of test and
measurement to the public.
Counselors need to monitor and ensure that test results are not
misunderstood or misused.

2.3.1 Some ethical problems faced by school guidance and counsellors

The scenario in Malaysia

In 1996, the Circular No. 3/1996: Appointment of Full Time Counselling

Teachers in School came into effect. In line with the implementation of the
policy, in-service training was held for the training of primary school teachers
who are interested in becoming a guidance and counselling teacher.
Accordingly, various issues and challenges arise among the school

11
administration including (i) the selection of candidates for guidance and
counseling teacher, (ii) provision of special rooms and facilities.

Selected candidates teachers need to attend 14-week In-Service Guidance and

Counseling (KDP 14M B & K) which posed a problem for most schools. First,
lack number of teachers in schools to carry on normal teaching. Second,
teachers who have young children are reluctant to leave their families while
they undergo KDP 14Week courses at a nearby teacher training institute. Third,
the school administration having trouble finding candidates who are really
interested. This is due to no incentive in terms of a teacher's career path as
the course is just for professionalis development. Fourth, not everyone has the
personality, willing and able to help others, even though it will be their own
students in the school.

The requirement to provide guidance and counseling rooms with facilities

created a problem too. School administartors find it difficult to identify a
special room to be used as guidance and counseling room. As it is schools face
lack of classrooms for their growing number of student population.

New schools are provided room for Guidance and Counselling Unit. However
many schools can not solve the problem, has no provision for basic amenities
such as fans, sofa sets, cabinets, bookcases, cabinets and so on.

It is important for guidance and counseling teachers appointed to be aware of

the provision of a conducive environment for the implementation of efficient
and excellent service. Matters relating to the preparation of specifications
including counseling rooms, and spaces in the room.

A. Specifications for a counseling room

An ideal counselling room should have the following conditions:

i. Easily accessible and projects a serene and calm athmosphere ;

ii. Provided with basic furniture such as cabinets, steel cabinet racks,
boards, tables and suitable and confortable chairs;

iii. Appropriate decorations, pictures or words of wisdom that is

appropriate ;

iv. Wall paint with light-colored window curtains ( not dark colours like red
or black) ;

v. If the floor is not tiled, it is sufficient to have rubber mats.

rsjit/ipgk/2013
11
B. Facilities for a counselling unit
Counseling room preferably have:
i. A registration counter for students to make an appointment either for
individual or group counseling sessions ;
ii. waiting area; used to display information related to guidance and
counselling, reading material for children who are waiting for their turn
to meet with the guidance and counseling personel ;

iii. A guidance and counseling room where counselling sessions and client
records are kept apart from records counseling sessions and so on. The
room can have one mirrow, however it must not compromise the
identity of the client in session.

iv. The floor space for group counseling can have rubber mats or carpet ,
and a long table and chairs , and

v. Room of resources (if possible). Used to display the video, slides, see-
through, TV and so on.

Activity: Make an effort to get a counselling room pictures from a

nearby school and discuss with friends about the facilities provided
there.

Issues and challenges related to the special counselling room and basic
amenities can be overcomed with the collaboration and support of all parties
concerned. The PTA and local community can come in and help in providing
these facilities. What is important is their awareness of the importance of
guidance and counseling services in schools.

As a result of the above issues, school counselor today face many challenges.
First, the counselor is aware of the fact that they have to give service to all
levels of the children in school. For this purpose, the most convenient and
effective way is through classroom coaching. However, today parents and the
society at large emphasise on academic excellence and forcing teachers to use
as much time available for teaching and learning academic subjects.
Therefore, counselors have difficulty in accessing the students and the
classroom for the purpose of guidance oriented information.

Second, the ratio of trained counselors to the large number of students cause
problems for counselors to function effectively. They find difficult to give
meaningful service to all existing children in their schools.

11
Third, professional development is an important element for a counselor to
develop their professional image. Therefore, they are recommended to
enhance specific skills (eg, cross-cultural skills, technology and diagnosis) and
clinical supervision. Cross-cultural competency is critical as we have multi-
ethinic and multi-cultural. Furthermore, the school counseling program need to
feature cultural responsiveness. Scheduled clinical supervision can be useful in
helping to realize counselors that lack knowledge or skills in relation to the
implementation of a counseling session. Through post- session discussion, the
counselor will be able to move towards continuous improvement. Thus its
important for counsellors to continue develop and enhance their skills to
provide effective guidance and counselling services.

CONCLUSION

As Malaysia moves forward into 21st century, the education sector is facing
numerous challenges and changes in many areas. In line with these changes,
the guidance and counseling teachers also need to adapt to the context of a
modern school as well as equip themselves with all kinds of skills. These
include the ability to make assessments and use avilable data to identify
barriers or problems between teachers' and the studenty; excellent clinical
skills, skills to be an effective facilitator for group counseling; negotiation skills
and collaboration with other teachers and parents.

In short, guidance and counseling teachers should develop a professional

identity. They are encouraged to join the association counseling in an effort to
increase the professionalism of the counseling profession.

2.4 Practice Questions

1. Mr Ramlan intend to create a filing system to effectively manage the
guidance and counseling services in his school. Explain how you can
help him to do so.

2. You are just appointed as a guidance and counselling teacher in your

school. Prepare a guidance and counselling activities for your students.
Include the objectives, your key index performance and other working
committes to oversee the implementation of these activities.

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Guidance and counseling services is to help students solve the problems of
their lives.
11 List four personal aspects in the field of guidance and counselling for
pupils in the school.

11 Code of Ethics serves as a chorus line or the principles of

implementation. Describe the responsibility of the teacher
counselors based on code of erhics for school counseling.

2.6 Chapter References

Bahagian Sekolah, KPM (1996). Surat Pekeliling Ikhtisas Bil 3/1996.

Dimuat turun pada Mei 28, 2010 daripada apps.emoe.gov.
my/bs/spi/1996/3-1996.pdf

Gysbers, N.C. & Henderson, P. (n.d). Article 41. Comprehensive guidance

and counseling program evaluation: Program +personnel = results.
Dimuat turun pada April 20, 2010 daripada counselingoutfitters.
com/vistas/vistas06/vistas06.41 .pdf

Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. (2009). Panduan pelaksanaan perkhidmatan

bimbingan dan kaunseling di sekolah rendah dan menengah. Bahagian
Pengurusan Sekolah Harian, KPM.

Sciarra, D.T. (2004). School counseling: Foundation and contemporary issues.

Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.

Persatuan Kaunseling Malaysia (PERKAMA). (1994). Kod etika kaunselor

[Online]. Dimuat turun pada Jun 3, 2010 daripada http:// www,eghrmis.
gov.mv/wp content2/polisihr/kodetika/kodetika.htm

2.7 Glossary

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11
Chapter 3

Role of Ordinary teachers as Guidance teacher

You should be able to:-

1. Identify normal teachers role as a guidance teacher

2. Differentiate normal teacher and guidance teachers responsibility in

provoding guidance and counselling services;

3. Play a role in gathering student information with the appropriate

technique

4. identifying children's problems in school

5. Propose strategies to help with the student problems.

3.1 Introduction

Many parents assume that the job of a teacher at the school is only teaching in
the classroom. Very few of them understand the actual role played by teachers
in schools. In fact some of the teachers are also unclear about their role as
teachers in contrast to guidance and counseling teachers.

In general, the roles and responsibilities of all teachers are the same. No
matter whether you are teaching in a primary or secondary school, you are
entrusted to educate the students. All teachers are entrusted with their
specific own duities apart from certain responsibilities by the school
administration. Therefore, there are those among you who are appointed as
teachers, supervising teachers, discipline teacher, house master, sports
secretary or a club or uniformed bodies advisors.

To get a clearer picture of what a regular teacher help implement guidance and
counseling services effectively in their schools, let us refer to the following
figure.

111111

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Figure 3.1 Guidance and counselling service in a school

Teaching and guidance are two major areas of teachers responsibility in a

school. There's no doubt that the teacher in the classroom is to teach. As a
teacher its your responsibility to teach to convey as much information and
provide guidance to your students. You are entrusted to teach and guide your
students in to meet their needs in academic studies, social, personality
development, discipline, exercise and being healthy. As a teacher and a guide,
your role is not in the classroom alone but covers in and out of a classroom
either directly or indirectly in any situation.

Your role as guidance teacher means as a regular teacher you have the
responsibility to assist your students in all aspects. Here guidance means
responsibilities beyond the confines of classroom instruction where the
emphasis is more oriented to the religious and moral guidance, psychosocial
development, cognitive, affective, physical, and vocational and career issues.

How would teachers like you meet the students cognitive demands and to
guide them to excel in their studies? Generally, teachers introduce study skills
workshops where students can practice the speed reading techniques, taking
notes using mind mapping (using I-Think Maps), learning to learn the best way
and get motivation to excel. Students require guidance and advice to help
them to learn in a systematic and effective way. In addition to this, they also
need to meet the psychosocial demands, for example, teachers can train gifted
students to be the best orator in the school debating team, be good athelete or
play in a team events. The support and right guidance will help to mould
students to be competent as outlined in the National Philosophy of Education.

Counselling services are provided by teachers who are specially trained in

counselling. These teachers have gone a formal training before being awarded
a certificate, diploma or degree for guidance and counselling from universities.
There's no denying that there are ordinary teachers who are totally clueless
and completely ignorant about the aims of counselling services and the role of
the school counsellor. Many school administrators and ordinary teachers
assume that counsellors are appointed to do counselling; ordinary teachers
can handle regular counselling sessions! This is contrary to the ethics of
counselling itself as the counselling process can only be operated by a
qualified teachers in the field.

Psychotherapy is usually not handled by school counsellors, as it is highly

specialised field. It is usually handled by trained personnel in hospitals. School
counsellors will recommend students who need these services to respective
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nearest hospitals for further help. This is usually done with the permission from
the students and their parents to avoid any misunderstanding in the future.

As a teacher you should be able to differentiate your responsibility to your

students to ensure they get the best in academic as well as their individual
development as a human being. Bakhtiar (1997) stated, Between teaching,
guidance, counselling and psychotherapy there is a common

The Handbook for Guidance and Counselling Services in Secondary Schools

(1993) states two categories of teachers listed as personnel to help in the
success of guidance and counselling services in every school, they are:

3.1.1 Assistant Teacher for Guidance and Counselling

A teacher is appointed by the school administrator to serve as an assistant to

the guidance and counselling teachers. In some schools, a teacher who have
attended a short guidance and counselling course or has some experience in
guidance and counselling services will be appointed to help in the services.

According to the Handbook for Guidance and Counselling Services in

Secondary Schools (1993), the Ministry of Education has outlined the guidance
and counselling teachers role, which are:

a. Assist in managing students inventory and records

b. Assist in providing information services.

c. Assist in group counselling services.

d. Assist in counselling services.

e. Assist in placement services.

f. To assist in the service of preventing drug abuse

g. Assist in consultation and referral services.

h. Assist in coordinating service and resources.

i. Assist in the evaluation service.

j. Place an order and ensuring enough stock for guidance

materials.

k. To help produce and manage print and non-print guidance

materials like posters, brochures, documents, news, slides and
videotapes.
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3.1.2. Other Teachers

Other teachers here means all the teachers who teach in the school. While
under training to be teachers, all of you are have gone through thorough
training and have learned as well as picked up skills that do qualify you to
assist school counselors implement guidance and counseling programs to all
students. If you use the experience and skills learned, you can certainly help
the school in a more efficient and effective way to enhance the teaching and
learning in the school.

Your experience interacting with students and understanding their needs and
characters, helps you to be better prepared to guide and counsel them when
needed. Help should be rendered to all, irrespective its a preventive, remedial
or personal development for the students. Complicated and difficult students
should be reffered to a school counselor for further action. Usually these cases
involve internal factors such as mood disorders and the child is facing an
emotional disturbances.

Your role and responsibility as educator covers both in and out of a classroom
or school environment. As a trained educator you should not ignore to guide
your students in spiritual, emotional, social and personality development.
Whether a student is in trouble or otherwise, it is your responsibility to guide
them towards adaptation and personal growth, academic excellence, and
being harmonious in cognitive, affective, and social aspects.

3.2 Role of Normal teacher

A normal or a regular teacher teaches in a classroom. However they are also

involved in implementing extra-curricular activities and other school activities.
In addition you as an ordinary teachers will also be entrusted to assist the
guidance and counseling teachers or school counselors to gather student
information. You will also help to implement guidance and counselling activities
that will students.

3.2.1 Assisting in General Guidance and Counseling Services

Ordinary teachers usually assist in the implementation of guidance and

counseling programs planned in the school. Teachers are involved directly or
indirectly in the programmes which can be either held daily, weekly, monthly
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or on a need to basis. For example, teachers are directly involved facilitators in
enrichment activities, training group activities and so foth. Teachers do assist
in in group dynamics simulations or other activities conducted during the
orientation week or motivational camps. Teachers who are interested in social
activities also help counselors by becoming trainers to mentoring programmes.
Ordinary teachers also mentor students who are academically weak in certain
subjects.

There is undeniable constraint on ordinary teachers to carry out their usual

duties as teachers. Sometimes the tasks to be performed versus the time and
family and personl obligations are just too much to bear. As a result, regular
teaching staff fine it difficult to engage in active guidance and counselling
activities. However, these teachers may still cooperate through moral and
mental support to other fellow teachers who implement programs planned by
the school. Every single adult individual in the school play an equal part and
responsible to help and guide the studenbts to be better students and
responsible citizens of the nation.

Trainee teachers also play an important role in giving guidance to their

students during their practicum in schools. As future teachers, you are
responsible to cooperate and assist all parties in the school to provide the
support asnd help to implement the guidance and counselling services to to
fully effective for the students.

3.2.2 Provide Guidance

Teachers are responsible to teach and help moulding the students to be useful
individuals. Its your responsibility to guide and make students to realise their
potential. The National Education Philosophy is a source of guide for teachers
to implement various activities both in and outside the classroom to ensure
each and every student develops a morally strong and a responsible citizen of
this nation.

a. Education guidance

The process of teaching and learning in the classroom requires the teacher
always to be attentive and willing to help students in any situation.
Cognitively weak students require guidance outside of class time. For example,
students who are weak in the multiplication operation should be guided to
master the multiplication tables. The same applies to students who are weak
in language learning, like spelling. Others may have problems in writing and so
on. Various prorammes are being implemented and carried out to help

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students who are academically weak. These weak students also need moral
and movational support. Thus, it is a duty of an ordinary and regular teacher to
refered thse students to a counselor for specific help. This approach is more
efficient because in a regular classroom situation, students are often likely to
be left behind and finally lost interest in the studies. This happens as teachers
are unable to focus on an individual basis or in small groups. However, with the
guidance and motivation from the counselling, these students will be able to
help themselves more efficiently. They will also be helped and guided by
speacially trained teachers who guides these weak students in a smaller
groups to learn the basics and finally rejoin their peers in a normal classroom
learning.

Students are also guided in extra-curricular activities. Many students do

need guide and help to realise their potential and hidden talents. Teachers
need to give encouragement and support so that they can achieve their
potential in any sports or co-curricular activities. The Ministry of Education
launched One Child one Sport to encourage students to be involved in outside
the classroom activities. Successful students not only grow into happy adults
but also bring glory to their respective schools. This enhance their self esteem
and helps them to achieve self-satisfaction, which in turn can be used to guide
and help them in their stuidies.

b. Social guidance

The process of socialization in schools and in the classroom affects the

formation of students' behaviour in the long run. Students that have a positive
learning outcomes are expected to be born cheerful, confident and disciplined.
On the other hand, negative influence will cause students to misbehave which
eventually leads to discliplinary problems in the classroom and the school.

Every teacher is responsible to ensure their students are not influenced by

negative elements. It is a collective responsibility to act before any negative
elements spreads among the students which leads self-destruction. Cases like
students vandalising school property, playing truant and involved in
gangsterism often appear in the print and electronic media - somehow affected
the reputation of the school.

Students have many socio-emotional problems like mental stress and

health problems. In addition, to environmental and surrounding factors, family,
peer pressure, and the society at large too causes many social problems to the
students. So, the teachers have an important role and responsibility to guide
them in the right direction and be accepted by society. For example, if a
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teacher detects a student has a family problem, being a practive teacher the
student is guided and helped to overcome the problem at the earliest stage. If
the problem is allowed to continue, the student becomes a victim that will soon
affect the students performance in the classroom. Teachers with the help and
cooperation of counsellors, can take the initiative to call both parents to
discuss the problems that arise. Efforts like these are much needed to help the
guidance services reach to students so that they can continue to study, live in
peace and happiness like their other friends.

c. Spiritual guidance

Character building, discipline and morale of students actually start at

home. Schools just as second nursery students. Parents are the first people
that are responsible for forming their childrens personality since childhood.
Whatever is being learned and taught at home is then brought into a school.
Parents upbringing do influence a childs behaviour. An example of negative
behavior is being undisciplined and using abusive language when
communicating with fellow students. This is the result of home upbringing
where parents commonly could be using impolite words that will be an
example to their children. So, in our efforts to prevent this negative practice
being continuing, religious and moral activity programmes need to be
increased. Many primary schools hold programmes like qiamullail for their
Muslim students. Apart from that there are other uniform bodies and school
based societies that hold camps and programmes that help problematic and
risky students to learn good characteristic via activities and socialising during
and after the camps or activities. This way, we can make them aware of the
detrimental habits while learning new positive values and noble deeds that will
make these students lead a better life.

3.2.3. Indentify Student Problems

Schools are social institutions that were very influential in shaping character
and personality of students. If students do not have high endurance then space
for meresapnya negative elements into itself is wide open. Sometimes
students do not realize is influenced by the negative actions of friends around.
They include actions such as copying in exams, lying or skipping classes every
day in school.

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It is simple for a teacher to know exactly what troubled students is because
students' problems stem from a variety of physical elements / physical,
emotional / affective, spiritual / moral, intellectual / cognitive, and social
discipline. Moreover, the problems associated with mental and emotional
factors which physical symptoms are quite difficult to see. Only in certain
cases where there is clear evidence or reported by third parties it's now
possible to be taken. In an attempt to obtain information or evidence, there are
several ways that can be practiced by teachers. Among them are:

a. Through observation - Teachers can easily observe the behavior of their

students in and outside the classroom from time to time. During the
observations made, it is likely we will be faced with students who behave in
unusual or abnormal. So we must act quickly so that appropriate assistance
is given or made reference to a counselor.

b. Inventory tools - Feedback from inventory tools can actually help

teachers to get to know their students better. Teachers can ask the school
counselor to conduct tests using appropriate inventories.

3.3 Collecting and Updating of Student Records

Every student in the school has a personal record of each. Usually all schools
001M card for recording data and personal information of students. The task of
recording the information carried by the class teacher or teacher level since
the early years. This record is about to be updated from time to time. . For
example, in the field of personal data such as height, weight belt and health
(eye / teeth / illness), this information is constantly changing with the growth
and development the students. Any change in data in the official record is very
important as a reference to health, social, discipline, welfare and safety of the
child. These records are personal records that are considered confidential and
must be kept at safe location within the school building. Usually they are kept
in the administrative rooms or at times by Student Afaairs teacher and
sometimes by the school counsellor.

5. Referring a Case

There is no doubt that school teachers are not experts in all fields, especially
for matters outside the scope of work and knowledge of the teachers
themselves. So in the face of psychological problems and serious discipline

11
teachers are not allowed to take action alone. They need to work with other
teachers to follow the rules and procedures laid by MOE.

Teachers should maintain good relatiionships with their students. You need to
be proactive and attentive to any problems posed by your students. High-risk
cases that is beyond your scope, should be referred immediately to the
appropriate people like teacher counselor or discipline teacher. For the
counselor, he /she should refer cases that require specific attention or action of
others who are more responsible. For instance at times some cases need
relevant authorities to act immediately; sexual abuse and drug abuse.
However, a word of caution you need to follow guidelines in a counselors act
550 (please get hold of a copy and go through every section in the act). A
student that has been reported by his peers was involved with a drug
addiction, the counselor should act quickly.

In common school pactice, teachers can make refer students to others. One of
them is to refer students to obtain counseling or further guidance from trained
counselors. Reference is made on the grounds that regular teachers do not
have the skills to carry out effective counseling. Most of the students from this
group are those who suffer from psychological problems such as depression or
emotional disorders. While some others may have much more complex
problem thast need special attention. Under this circumstances, the schoo
counsellor may refer this student to a specialist (counselor / therapist) or other
authorities like the police, doctors, hospitals or social welfare officer with the
permission and aknowledgement from the school administration.

Another way is to refer cases of serious discipline to discipline teacher or any

teacher discipline teacher appointed for further action by the school
administration. Usually, heavy cases which may require an immediate action
will be refered to the headmaster. For example, a student that need to be
punished with a cane. (Refer the guidelines by MOE on how and what is
punishable acts in a primary school). This action is necessary because the
caning should only be done by teachers or headmasters or a representatives
who is authorised according to the rules by the MOE.

In some instances, there are cases referred to a counselor prior to any

disciplinary action taken. This move is made in order to allow a student to be
able to obtain counselling and to uunderstand their actions that detrimental to
them and others. However, if the students after acknowledging their
misconduct and keep behaving in a manner that endangers themselves and
others. He /she is then will face the disciplinary board that decides the nect
course of action as laid in the guidelines given to them.
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In any case, as educators, we need to understand that whether that the
counseling approach and or a multtidisciplinary approach, both complement
each other. The approaches have the same ultimate aim to produce students
who are well-balanced in terms of emotional, spiritual, intellectual and socially.

Discussion:
a. What is a counselors reposibility towards his clients under the Act 550?
b. What you should do before making an official reference or a report to
authorities without being on the wrong side of the law?
c. When a counsellor can or cannot report a case to authorities? Give specific
examples with facts.

6. Follow-up plan

Any assistance and guidance given to students takes time to reap results.
Sometimes a little change in the attitude and behavior of students is just a
beginning. The guidance process works and succeeds with the commitment
and cooperation from the students and teachers. If a teacher actively provides
guidance programs but fewer students responded, it means time and effort
being wasted. Some may just regress to their old habist and ttitudens that
actually made them come for guidance and counselling services. It is true that
for every positive reaction from students, they requires supervision at all
times. Thus students under counselling need guidance and must do their
follow-up with their teachers and school counsellors.

Many positive activities can be implemented in different ways. For

example, academic counseling programmes like extra classes held for
important subjects in primary schools have a profound effect on a student. A
teacher that provide effective answering techniques will help students to be
more confident and develops a positive self esteem. If in any case once
students are found to be involved with glue sniffing, drug abuse, vandalising
school or public property, gangsterism and so forth; teachers can provide
supervised activities. Control and supervision of the activities carried out is a
form of preventive counseling that is carried out systematically. Meanwhile the
school authorities need to work with the childrens parents as well as the local
authorities before the issue gets out of control and brings more damage to the
children and the school at large.

In conclusion, teachers need to understand and appreciate their role and

responsibility not only to teach but also to guide young minds towards a
11
responsible way of living. You are responsible conducting guidance programs
to help the students to grow up harmoniously and to provide and ensure a safe
school environment. In addition, you also utilise the proper guidance, give
students the opportunity to demonstrate their talent, potential and capabilities
in and out of the classroom. Guidance is not limited in a counselling sessions,
but is also done in areas of curriculum and co-curriculum activities that
develop students to think critically and creatively and be able to make
decisions and act rationally. This way, the students are more willing to
reevaluate their role themselves why and for what they go to school and where
they would be in future.

3.3 Identify the problems of children

3.3.1 Types of problems

Students in schools do gace various problems. The roblems can be classified

under two main categories, namely academic problems and personal and
social problems.

A. Academic

Generally a class consists of students who has difference in intelligence,

aptitude, physical, interests, talents, and so on. Therefore, there are students
who can learn quickly, and there are students who can only understand a
concept or a skill after being given remedial ativities. In some extreme cases,
there are students who cannot study.

Generally, pupils are always facing the learning problem is composed of

students who have lower IQ. This is due to a number of factors.

Factors for Learning Difficulties

Let us look into some of the factors for learning problems;

11 Curriculum that is not compatible with the cognitive development of

students.
11 Inappropriate strategies and methods of instruction received by
students.
11 Educational materials used are not interesting enough to the students.

Pupils start to lose interest in their learning activities and this leads to frequent
truancy. As a result, these pupils will be lagging far behind in their studies
11
because they could not follow what is being taught by a teacher. Being often
absent from school will put them into problems.

B. Personal factors

Personal factor is closely linked to poverty and social problems. Family poverty
and low social environment factors usually affect the performance of pupils in
the school. There are some students who are poor have a part time job to
supplement the family income so they do not have enough time to learn. Pupils
are also encouraged by their parents. Furthermore, these students interact
with peers who are also facing similar personal problems. They equally have no
strong motivation to learn! Personal problem is a vicious cycle in their learning
process.

ii. Lack of Intelligence Factor

The recovery factor of intelligence is closely related to mental problems.

Students with mental problem is a slow thinker, poor memory, difficult to
understand something, have poor observation and so on. Mental problems
exist among students due to the following:

1. Heridated from parents

2. Complications during birth or premature birth
3. Brain injury due to diseases or accidents.
4. Lack of nutritious food.

iii. Mental Factors

Mental factors in learning disabilities can be shown as the following signs:

1. Not sounding words correctly.

2. Can not put words to construct sentences correctly.
3. Quickly forget what was taught by the teacher.
4. Slow reading rate or could not read
5. Long- time convergence of attention on learning too short
6. Can not remember the sequence, for example, can not memorize
the multiplication of zero.
7. Cannot follow teacher instruction in the regular classroom
8. Weak and limited ability to understand concepts and acquiring skills
9. Laziness, lack of interest and do not have a passion for reading.

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Learning problems can be overcome through remedial education if the pupil
experience mild mental problems. For severe cases, such as mental
retardation, special education aid is needed to teach the students in a special
school.

C. Physical Factors

Physical factors are refered from the aspects of student health. Pupils who are
unwell will have trouble learning in school. Thus learning is closely related to
health factors such as the following:

1. Lack of nutritious food will damage the health of children. They are
usually malnourished tired easily. Therefore, they can not concentrate
on teaching full. They are also less force and enthusiasm to complete
the work assigned by the teacher.

2. Lack of learning also arise because students do part-time work to help

their parents. Students always look tired and less enthusiasm for
reading.

3. Pupils who are unwell susceptible to various diseases. They are often on
sick leave. Their education also affected because they often do not
attend school.

4. Physical disability such as deaf, dumb, blind, stuttering, nasal

congestion, hearing loss, vision is clear, and so on can also hinder
students' learning progress. Hearing problems or poor vision can be
remedied by wearing a hearing aid or glasses. However, for cases such
as the deaf, dumb and blind, they had to be placed in a special school.

D. Psychological factors

Psychological factors associated with emotional problems. Pupils who struggle

with emotion usually have fear, hate, silence, shame, low self-esteem does not
have confidence.

Emotional Problems arise from factors other than learning factor; like personal
issues, mental and physically. For example, the poor may feel afraid and feel
inferiority complex. Students with learning disabilities may hate or dislike the
teacher and school or simply being a shy person. Students who have a physical
disability may be losing confidence in learning activities as well.

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Factors contributing to learning problems discussed above may adversely
affect the performance of students in their learning activities. A student may
have more than one factor for learning disabilities. The task for the teacher is
to detect and try to help these students to overcome their learning problems.

Generally most of the problems described by the children to the guidance and
counseling teachers can be classified into five categories as follows:

Interpersonal Conflict. Children who are having trouble communicating

with parents, teachers , or peers ;

Intrapersonal conflict. Children cope with the problems associated with

making decisions need clarification on solution alternatives and
consequences ;

Lack of information about themselves. Children who want to know

themselves more deeply in terms of abilities , strengths , interests and
values;

Lack of information about the environment. Children need information

about how to achieve success in their academic and career in the world of
work ;

Lack of skills. Children need to learn about one -on-one skills, such as:
how to study effectively, assertive behavior, effective listening skills, and
so on.

3.4 Identify student problems

Student problems can be identified via observation or by using psychological

testings like inventories.

Observation as the primary means of identifying problems in children. In

addition, other methods such as checklists; sosiogram; works of children;
pictures, and audio and video.

The procedure observations are as follows:

Prior to the observation session , determine the objective or purpose of

the observation , the target can be observed , the period of observation
, and recording observations ;

Arrive to class or place in which the children were gathering and

learning activities ;

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Sit in the back of the class or located so as not to disturb the process of
teaching and learning ;

Make a note of the observations as field notes relevant.

Then, the observation is noted in particular the observation forms. The format
for the observation can be prepared with relevant columns. Look up for sample
forms from school counsellors in a nearby schools.

3.5 Collection of Student Information

In a school, the guidance and counselling unit overses the collection and
keeping the student information. The unit:

1. Prepare and file handling guidance for every pupil.

2. Collect and record details related to the evaluation and interpretation of

student interest.

3. Monitor students' attendance figures and patterns referred for

counseling.

4. Coordinate, maintain and update student records

5. Provide information about achievement, progress and overall

performance of pupils' learning, their problemas for the purpose of
rehabilitation.

6. Conduct surveys as may be necessary or useful to help develop pupils.

The unit will also provide services and manages inventory in guidance and
counseling to help students discover their potential and to determine the
direction of future, especially in their chosen line of work in future.

Today, there are various types of inventory tests available for Guidance and
Counseling services. Among them are Inventory for study, Inventory for Career,
Inventory for Self and many more. At the school, the inventory that is often
used and it is kept as confidential.

3.6 Information-gathering techniques

In Guidance and Counselling, students basic information that is needed is a

personal particulars, their academic results and co-curricular activities in which

11
they participate. There testing and test information techniques used to gather
these informations.

3.6.1 Test techniques

A. Students academic achievement as summative and formative

assessment test schools, including UPSR, PMR , SPM and STPM .

Achievement test refers to the test in the classroom generated by teachers to

measure what is known by the children in relation to a subject, such as
reading, math, science, language, and so on. Achievement test designed to
measure following aspects:

The level of learning, namely: high, medium, or low;

The rate of learning, such as: fast, medium or slow;
Comparing performance with other children or own achievement in
other subjects, which seeks to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of academic achievement obtained ;
Predictions about the future of education quality.

Achievement tests are also very useful for identifying the potential child will
face due to learning problems. For example, children who achieve low scores in
oral reading tests do not necessarily know how to read; it could be dyslexia.
Armed with this initial low achievement test scores, the guidance and
counselling teacher can plan relevant interventions such as consulting with
special education teachers, parents, consultants, and so on to help the student
improve in learning.

B. Intelligence tests are used to measure intelligence quotient of

students (IQ) recommended by Terman and Binet. Test bias Talent as
Differential Aptitude Test (DAT).
Interest Test to assess students' interest in an activity or career, such as
the Career Assessment Inventory (CA1), which consists of three areas.
(Look up these in internet) .

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reflects the ability of candidates in terms of

verbal and non- verbal. SAT scores are also used as one of the criteria for
admission to a university or college in most western countries.

C. Interest Inventory
Career interest test can be administered to obtain the initial profile of a group
of children that can be used as material in individual counseling sessions later.
11
Furthermore, when combined with achievement and aptitude test scores, data
on career interest is to help the children to explore education and career
opportunities to get involved later.

The career interest inventory that is commonly used in schools, including

Strong - Campbell Interest Inventory ( SCII ) , Self- Directed Seareh ( SDS ) ,
Ohio Vocational Interest Survey ( OVIS ) , and Kuder Occupational Interest
Survey ( Kois ) .

D. Test and Personality Inventory

Personality Test is used to study the non- cognitive aspects such as affective
aspects, motivation, emotion and attitude of a student.

There two types of approaches that are commonly used to measure

personality, namely:

i. Personality Inventory - Being objective and covers aspects such as

self-concept, social adjustment, problem-solving styles, and other traits
traits. These two personality tests are used to get information for
personal matters as well as values and attitudes. For example: Mooney
Checklist , Myers - Briggs Type Indicator , and so on ;

ii. Projective Techniques this have been more subjective and

unstructured. Example: Thermatic Aperception.

E. Screening tests are used to isolate pupils with less agile intelligent.

Diagnostic tests are used to detect the cause of the weakness or lack of
knowledge in students' learning skills. Results of this type is important for
teachers to plan recovery activities.

H. Special Aptitude Test as Mechanical Aptitude Test, Clerical Aptitude Test,

Aptitude Testing Art and Music Aptitude Test is used to measure the potential
of students in a particular field.

Aptitude " is defined as a feature that shows a person's ability to achieve

success in a particular field, or to acquire specific knowledge and skills in
relation to the field. By tradition, the test is designed to measure a person's
learning abilities called intelligence tests.

11
The aptitude test battery includes a variety of tests to measure aspects such
as verbal reasoning, mechanical aptitude, language fluency, numerical ability,
and so on. For example, the Scholastic Aptitude

3.6.2 Non- Test Techniques for Gathering Student Information

a. Review document containing student information: Bailey (1978)

divides the document for review in two categories, namely primary
documents and secondary documents. The main document consists of
pupil autobiography, anecdote and cumulative card. The secondary
document is a written report based on interviews, observations or
documents of reference. Examples of secondary documents are
biography of pupil, teacher reports and checklists.

b. Questionnaire that has information about the student, families,

homes, health, study time, interests, hobbies , future plans , the activity
of co-curricular activities outside of school, special accomplishments
and how they utilise time, including during school holidays .

c. Observation techniques can be used to identify the characteristics of

pupil development in affective and psychomotor areas , especially in
the subject of Islamic Religious , Moral Education , Music and Physical
Education.
Student behavior observation activities should be held into the conduct
of their time in and out of the classroom. Type of observation tool that is
often used to record student performance through observation are (a)
checklist and (b) the scale of rates. Drug checklist can be used to
identify behavioral characteristics of students who are or are not there.
In the checklist, the characteristics of student behavior must be stated
clearly and easily and arranged in order.

The scale rates, other than to record student behavior has been
observed, shows the degree of achievement of behavior shown by the
pupils concerned. The degree of achievement is usually expressed with
a 5-point, namely (1) very bad (2) bad (3) medium (4) Good (5) best. In
addition to the degree of achievement of a 5-point, the tool scale rates
should incorporate features of behavior and arranged in order. The
degree of achievement of a 5-point usually expressed on each side of
its behavior to be assessed.

11
d. Records Anecdote is a report based on the observation by teachers in
a form of a document in an event. This report is usually recorded about
the pupil behavior or personality are observed, including teachers
comments.
According to Goodwin and Driscoll (1980) anecdote has the following
features:
i. direct observation ;
ii. An accurate record , and specifically about an event ;
iii. Covers the context in which the occurrence of a
behavior ;
iv. Interpretation recorded separately from such events;
v. Focusing normal or abnormal behavior demonstrated by
the student

In practice, ordinary teachers can use anecdotal records to record the

observed behaviour.

e. Sociometry and sosiogram :

Sosiometri refers to a method in researeh that aims to examine the social and
psychological relationships between individuals in a collection of something.
Sosiogram is something kind of tattoo image is formed rather than the results
of researeh into the relationship between students social in something
particular collection.

In terms of education, communication and interaction patterns of students in

the class is seen in a form of to work together; the students who have the
same social level or almost the same, where they are assembled as peers. This
may be identified through the study of sociometry, a technique used to
examine the relationships and patterns of interaction among individuals. For
example, students in a class were told to choose his friends. Their choices are
then recorded or put into a diagram, or an image called sosiogram.

A sosiogram will allow teachers to put students in the appropriate groups apart
from selecting their class monitor and so forth. This will enhance the spirit of
cooperation, and teaching and learning can be fun and administered
effectively.

f. Student information via 001 and 002 Cards

001 refers to the Schooling record, while 002 Card refers to Students Personal
details. These cards were first used 1967 in primary and secondary schools.

11
The 001 card includes items like; personal and family particulars, school and
co-curricular activities, test and exam results, school attendance, financial aid
and or prizes won.

The 002 card contains eight main sections rtion which includes; student
attributes, interests, likes and dislikes, choice of career, intervievs details with
the student, paraents, health records and records of any disease.

Both cards are completed by classroom teachers and kept for students. Every
student has these cards that follow them throughout the schooling life from
primary to secondary school. If students is transferred to another school, the
card is then sent to the new school.

However, beginning 1978, these cards were combined into 001 R(77) for
primary schools and 001 M (77) for secondary schools. .

The aim of these records are to know and understand students academic and
co-curucular from year to year, to understand their interests, health concerns
and family background. These edicts are very important for teachers to guide
them towards developing their potential in terms of intellectual, physical,
social and spiritual thoroughly.

Today, most school use a computerised forms to help them keep vast
information about their students.

g. Students work

Students work includes paintings, collage, writing and projects they carried
out in their life. The work is the product of the original childhood cognitive
ability and creativity. Teacher can see the growth and development which has
been or is not seen in their students development. Students work can be kept
as a scrap book, or it can be shared with other students in the classroom or
with parents.

h. Pictures or Photos

Nowadays, digital cameras have replaced traditional cameras as a medium to

capture emotions during students childhood in any activity. Instead of a large
number of images taken, you may choose at will follow where the image to be
printed; tray which may be stored on CD,

However, you must remember that a good practice is to have parent consent if
you desire to use a picture of their child in any publication.

11
i. Audio and Video recordings

A video requires expertise and some experience to record. Its a medium that
can record for longer period of time. It is important to get the necessary
permission from the school and parents before doing any recording. Some
students a camera and video shy! They could feel threathened or there could
be other problems. Some may even be good actors, and others see it as
natural for them being filmed. Typically you can record school activities like
prize giving day, sports, speech day, open day and so forth to shown in a
classroom or their parents as a form of appreciation. At least parents can see
their child's involvement in school activities.

Its rather obvious that visual and audio recordings do help us to understand
our students better. However, its important that student privacy is ensured
and you need consent from the parents as weel. There are few shortcomings.
First you need to be sure of your objectives, time period and the end results of
these recordings. Second, the sudden disconectivity of electric to the
equipement. Third, is the student cooperative when the recording is carried
out?

Extra reading materials

Look up information regarding school psychological test. Identify the weakness

in collectiong student information.

Practice Questions

1. Techniques for gathering information students can be grouped into test and
not a test. Discuss.

2. Give five types of non-testing techniques that are used to collect

information for students.

Explain their strong and weaknesses.

3. Identy main student probems in primary schools. Suggest intervention

strategies to address these problems of students in schools.

Chapter References

11
Aminah Hashim dan Arthur, P.L., (1996). Bimbingan dan Kaunseling dalam
Pendidikan. Kuala Lumpur: Federal Publications.

Brammer, L.M. (1981). The Helping relationship, Process and Skills. London:
Prentice Hall International

Schmidt, J.J. (2003). Counseling in schools: Essential services and

th
comprehensive programs (4 ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Sciarra, D.T. (2004). School counseling: Foundations and contemporary issues.

Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.

Thompson, C.L., Rudolph, L.B. & Henderson, D. (2004). Counseling children (6th
ed.). Belmont, CA:Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.

Wortham, S.C. (2008). Assessment in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Laman Web

Observing and recording student performance. Dimuat turun pada Julai 12,
2010 daripada parkcoop.kl2.mt.us/.../Microsoft%20Powe

rPoint%20-%200bser\ing%20and%20Recording%20Student%20
Performance.pdf

Methods of recording information. Dimuat turun pada Julai 15, 2010 daripada
www.vetpd.qld.gov.au/resources/pdf/tla/.../ observationsamples.doc

11
Chapter 4

Counselling theories

You should be able to:-

Explain the importance of theory to counseling;
Discuss the three aspects of behaviourist theory: the view of man,
the role of counseling, and techniques / strategies to help clients;
Discuss the Client Centred Theory: the view of man, the role of
counseling, and techniques / strategies to help clients;
Discuss the Rationale Emotive Theory : the view of man, the role of
counseling, and techniques / strategies to help clients;
Compare and contrast between the theoriesl.

4.0 Introduction

Counseling theories are rough foundations that underlie the formation of a

knowledge. Actually each of us have views which constitute a ' theory of
consumption ' of human behavior. Theory of the use of' actually refers to the
beliefs and assumptions that affect our daily lives. Such theories do affect
behavior, particularly the relationship between individuals. Our own Personal
theory, have been influenced by factors such as socio-economic , gender ,
experience , level of schooling , friends and opportunities of personality ,
temperament and self-awareness .

If we are aware of our personal theories, we can see how the theory relates to
the formal theories and practices that help us. To understand some of the
theoretical assumptions that we make, we should try to answer the following
questions:

1. What is man? Are they good or bad? Are they born that way? Are they
controlled or controlling? What moves people?

2. How do people learn something? Are learning different?

3. What personality traits evolve? How personality is inherited or learned?

4. Can people change? How do people change? Does that change comes
from the outside or from the inside?

5. What is a social diversion? Who determines what a diversion (Deviance)

is? What kind of behavior that I cannot accept and cannot accept?
6. Your answers to the questions above may be right or may be wrong.
What is certain is that the answer will surely help you influence the
process will run?

How well do you know that nature will also affect your flexibility which in turn
will influence your work and the environment in which you will work!

4.1Importance of counselling theories

For a career guidance and counselling teacher, counseling theory is important
for the following reasons:

1. Theory is deemed as a frame of reference to help guidance and

counseling teachers understand human behavior, the next plan of
appropriate action plans with clients who reunited. Consistency and
integrity are important in order to achieve goals in the most efficient
and effective way

2. The theory describes the behavior changes as well as it provide

information on the factors relating to communication, counseling
goals , techniques, processes, and outcomes. Information such as this
can serve as a guide to guidance and counseling teachers in
understanding how students work and how the problem exists, then
help the child to manage his life to the growth and healthy
development.

3. Third, knowledge of various theories can help teachers counseling

choose an existing theory, or to form a new theory that is conguren with
values and personality, and suitable for use with a variety of clients who
have different issues. Theory helps inexperienced counselors by serving
as a road map. Novice counselors can rely on theory to provide
direction and help ensure they will be effective with clients. Theory also
helps more experienced counselors by facilitating their integration of
self and external knowledge.

4. Theory is like a metaphor: a succinct way of conceptualizing a problem

or situation, yet broadening understanding at the same time. Theory
provides generalizations that not only clarify our understanding but
may lead us to similar conclusions about other situations. In this way,
theory creates knowledge.

5. Theory is the conduit for researeh. If we didnt have a theory, we

wouldnt have anything to test, so we couldnt do researeh. Without
research, we would have to rely solely on clinical observations to
determine effective interventions. Therefore, we would have no
objective means by which to test our subjective observations.

6. Theory is how humans master nature. To really understand why you are
doing something, you must have thought realistically and thoroughly
(Rousseau, 1968). To do otherwise is akin to driving about blindly; like
driving your car with the lights off. You may accomplish your task, but
you probably wont. Without theory, we are driving blind when we try to
help clients.

7. Action in counseling must be immediate, under circumstances that may

be somewhat unforeseen, complicated, and new. But we dont have to
have all the answers. By utilizing theory we can draw upon the
experiences of others that have gone before us (Whitehead, 1916).

References
Rousseau, H.J. (1968). The impact of educational theory on teachers. British Journal of
Education Studies, 16(1), 60-71.
Whitehead, A.N. (1916). The organization of thought. Proceedings of the Aristotelian
Society, 17, 58-76.

4.2 How a counsellor choose a Theory of Counseling

According to Seligman (in Thompson, Rudolph & Henderson, 2004), there are
about 350 types of counseling and psychotherapy theories that have been
presented by various theorists in the field of guidance and counseling, and
psychotherapy.

A counsellor chooses a theory or few theories that are generally consistent

with the following factors:

Their orientation training during basic counseling guidance and

counseling training ;
His philosophy of life based on the values and beliefs system , and
Experience in conducting counseling sessions

4.3 Which are the effective counselling approaches?

Broadly speaking, theories of counseling and psychotherapy that are available

can be classified into three categories: behavioral, affective, and cognitive. You
have to remember that no single theory can be considered as the most
effective. In contrast, the combination of several theories that focus on a
variety of techniques have been effective to a range of clients with different
types of problems.
Based on a meta-analysis in relation to counseling children and adolescents
conducted by Kazdin, Lambert and Cattani -Thompson (of Thompson, Rudolph
& Henderson, 2004), the conclusion can be drawn are as follows:

Harnessing the intervention counseling is more as compared to no

intervention ;

The positive effect obtained is the same for all the clients , whether a
child, adolescent or adult ;

The positive effects are permanent , and

Improvements can be detected in a relatively short period of time.

However, there is no empirical evidence to suggest that any one approach or

counseling techniques, consistently, is more effective if compared to others.
Instead, Saxton (in Thompson, Rudolph & Henderson, 2004) says that there are
three types of factors contributing to the effectiveness of the counseling
sessions, namely

support factors , such as positive relationships with teacher guidance and

counseling , warmth , and empathy ;
Learning factors, such as that experienced therapeutic experience ; experience
emotional outbursts and mood ;
Factor of action, such as: facing fear, control certain behaviors, gain cognitive
mastery.

BASIC ID model was put forward by Lazarus (in Thompson, Rudolph &
Henderson, 2004). This model describes seven problem areas commonly
shared by the client in a counseling session, as outlined in Table 4.1 below:

Problem Example
B behaviour Behaviour fighting, disturbance, talk without
reason
A Affect Emotion expressions of anger, phobias,
depression
S- Sensation Sensation school headache, abdominal pain
academic failure, the problem of
perception
I - Imagery Imagery nightmares, low self esteem, the
habit of daydreaming
C- Cognition cognitive irrational thinking, decision-
making problems
Table 4.1 Read more at :
http://mucounseling603theories.blogspot.com/2007/11/multimodal-therapy-
chapter-11.html

Keat (in Thompson, Rudolph & Henderson, 2004) also presents a model named
as the outflow. Let us examine what is meant by this second model. Refer to
Table 4.2, which outlines seven areas of problems and example problems for
each area. Compare table 4.2 with the new BASIC ID model introduced above.
To what extent do these two models are equal to or different from each other?

Problem area Example

H Helping. Health issues like sickness, disease
E Emotional Worries, anger. Sadness
L Learning problems Failure, lack of concentration
P Personal Relatioships with elderly people, peers
I Imagination Self esteem, problem solving skills
N Need to know Delinquient behaviour, guidance, actions,
G Guidance
Table 4.2: HELPING Model

In summary, it can be said that having guidance and counseling teachers

identify areas of client problems, he will need to plan and design appropriate
interventions to address specific deficiencies. With this last problem areas can
be prevented from becoming more serious.

The next section will discuss three types of counseling theory that aims to help
teachers guidance and counseling in managing one or more problem areas as
contained in BASIC ID model and / or model Helping. However you should also
understand what theories of child development say before reading the
counselling theories in this chapter.

4.4 Theories of child development

In order to understand the development of therapeutic work with children, we

will now consider contributions to developmental psychology made by the
following:

Abraham Maslow
Erik Erikson
Jean Piaget
Lawrence Kohlberg
John Bowlby.

4.4.1 Abraham Maslow

Maslow (1954) aided our understanding of the needs of human beings by

identifying a hierarehy of needs. This hierarehy was not specifically developed
for children but is very relevant to them and includes the following levels:
Physiological needs as the lowest level (the need for food, water,
rest, air and warmth).
Need for safety.
Need for love and belonging.
Need for achievement of self-esteem.
Need for self-actualization - as the highest level (achievement of
personal goals).
Maslow suggested that if lower-level needs aren't met, then the individual
cannot direct their energies towards fulfilling higher-level needs. This has clear
implications for counselling children because, if we accept Maslow s hierarehy,
it is pointless trying to achieve higher-level needs without first addressing
lower-level needs.

The hierarehy does not need to be viewed or used rigidly. It may be possible to
work on some higher-level needs before lower-level needs have been fully met.
Additionally, particular levels in the hierarehy may assume greater importance
at different developmental stages for the child. Understanding the hierarehy
does help a counsellor to recognize when specific needs of a child have not
been met and should be addressed. For example, a child who has been
physically abused will have a need to work issues of safety before being able
to address issues of self-esteem or self-actualization.

4.4.2 Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson believed that the individual has the potential to solve their own
conflicts, and that competent functioning is achieved through the resolution of
crises occurring throughout the individual's life at particular developmental
stages. He emphasized the importance of the formation of an individual's
personal identity; the personal identity being the way in which an individual
sees themselves.

Specifically, Erikson divided an individual's life-span into eight stages, each of

which is represented by a personal social crisis. He believed that dealing with
each crisis gives the individual an opportunity to strengthen their ego and to
become more adaptive so that life can be lived more successfully.

Erikson's work is relevant to issues relating to self-concept and to the

counsellor's work in helping the child to gain ego-strength through the
successful resolution of developmental crises. It is important for counsellors
working with children to be familiar with, and understand, Erikson's eight
stages (see Erikson, 1967) because these stages illustrate the inevitable crises
which children will meet. Each stage contributes to the ongoing process of
mastery and achievement, making their recognition in the counselling situation
a significant consideration.

4.4.3 Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg

Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg both contributed to the concept of children
acquiring particular behaviours and skills at various stages in their
development. Piaget (1962, 1971) noticed that a child interacts with both
human and nonhuman objects, and the relationships which the child has with
these objects allow them to become progressively more adaptive in their
behaviour. As the child becomes more adaptive, they develop higher levels of
cognition and start to understand their environment in an increasingly complex
way. Recognition of the child's development of cognition and acquisition of
moral values is important for the counsellor when selecting activities such as
games with rules (see Chapter 30).

Lawrence Kohlberg (1969) was interested in the relationship between Piaget's

concepts of cognitive development and the acquisition of moral values. We
invite you, as counsellors, to develop your understanding of the normal
developmental sequence in which children come to understand moral
concepts, because a child's decision-making processes will be based on their
moral understanding and expectations of particular outcomes.

4.4.4 John Bowlby

Bowlby (1969, 1988) placed great emphasis on a child's attachment to their

mother. He believed that the child's behaviours later in life would depend on
the way in which they attached to their mother. He believed that children who
securely attached to their mother were happy and well adjusted; where the
attachment was less secure the child would be likely to become socially and
emotionally maladjusted. He also believed that children who were securely
attached to their mother would find it easier to separate and develop as
individuals. Clearly, Bowlbys theories were culture specific and relate only to
those cultures where primary attachment to the mother is socially promoted.

Ideas about attachment are relevant when counselling children who have poor
attachment histories with their mothers and consequently are unable to form
healthy relationships.

Abraham Maslow Introduced the idea of hierarchy of needs

Erik Erikson Believed that the individual has the potential to solve
their own problems. Postulated 8 stages of development.
Believed that ego-strength was gained through
successful resolution of developmental crises

Jean Piaget Had a concept of children obtaining particular

developmental stages and recognized stages of cognitive
development.

Lawrence Kholberg Looked at the relationship between Piagets concepts of

cognitive development and acquisition of moral concepts.

John Bowly Introduced theory of attachment whereby a childs

emotional and behavioural development is seen to be
related to the way in which a child was able to attach to
its mother.

Table 4.3 provides a summary of the theories of child development

4.5 Counselling theories

There are many theories or approaches adopted by counsellors. Different

textbooks on counselling theories may emphasise certain theories and ignore
others. So, when you read a particular textbook, some theories may be left out.
However, most textbooks will discuss the few popular theories which are often-
discussed due to their wide acceptance among the counselling practitioners.
Also, different authors may classify the various theories differently

Gerald Corey a prominent practicing counsellor and author, identified 11

therapeutic approaches in his book Theory and Practice of Counselling and
Psychotherapy (2005); and grouped them as follows.

4.5.1. The Analytic Approaches

These are counselling approaches focusing on analysing unconscious
motivation, personality development and childhood experiences. Included
under this category are:
Psychoanalytic therapy by Sigmund Freud (will be discussed)
Adlerian therapy by Alfred Adler

4.5.2. The Experiential and Relationship-Oriented Approaches @

Humanistic Theory
These approaches focus on creating a good relationship between counsellor
and client, as well as having good and positive views of human nature.
Included in this category are:
The existential approach by Viktor Frankl, Rollo May and Irvin Yalom
Person-centred approach by Carl Rogers (will be discussed)
Gestalt therapy by Frederick and Laura Perls

4.5.3. The Action Therapies @ Cognitive behaviourial approach

These approaches focus on client's current behaviour and developing a clear
plan for changing unproductive behaviour with a new one. Included here are:

Reality Therapy by William Glaser

Behaviour Therapy by B.F. Skinner, Arnold Lazarus and Albert
Bandura
Rational Emotive Therapy by Albert Ellis
Cognitive Therapy by A.T. Beck

4.6 PSYCHOANALYTIC COUNSELLNG

Sigmund Freud was a psychiatrist in Vienna. He was the originator of

psychoanalysis, introducing new, seemingly outrageous ideas on human
behaviour and development. His ideas related mainly to his own self-
exploration when he experienced emotional problems during his early 40s.
Then, Freud suffered from various illness originated from stress, had many
phobias, and dreams which he analysed and tried to find meaning. He
examined his own childhood experiences and childhood sexual feelings, on
which he based his theories, values, and his mind was was highly creative and
productive, writing profusely until his works fill 24 volumes. Many of Freud's
early concepts of psychoanalytic principles and techniques have been the
foundation of the helping profession and are still used by many professional
helpers.

4.6.1 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF HUMAN NATURE

Following Freud's view of man is that man is selfish. His views are:

1. Freuds view of human nature is very deterministic. According to

Freud, peoples behaviour is determined by irrational forces, unconscious
motivations, biological and instinctual drives, and certain psychosexual
events during the first six years of life. Instincts are central to the Freudian
approach.

2. According to Freud, sexual desire is the primary motivational energy

of human life. The term libido was first used to refer to sexual energy,
but later broadened to include the energy of all the life instincts. Libido,
then, should be understood as a source of motivation that encompasses,
but goes beyond sexual energy.

3. Freud included all pleasurable acts in his concept of life instincts. He

saw the goal of life as gaining pleasure and avoiding pain.
4. Freud also postulated the concept of death instincts which account
for the aggressive drive. At times people manifest their unconscious
wish to die or hurt themselves or others. Both sexual and aggressive
drives are powerful determinants of human behaviour. rsjit/2013

4.6.2 Freuds Ideas

Some of Freud's ideas are directly useful when counselling children today. It
is also important to understand them because some later theorists drew on
his ideas but modified them. Consider the following aspects of Freud's
theories to be the most relevant for counsellors who work with children
today:

Id, ego and superego

Unconscious processes
Defence mechanisms
Resistance and free association
Transference.
Freud believed humans as basically driven by irrational forces, unconscious
motives, and biological drives that mainly evolved during childhood years. The
goal of life is mainly focused on gaining pleasure and avoiding pain. Three
main ideas of Freud are often discussed when describing the psychoanalytic
approach; namely, the structure of personality, the iceberg theory of
unconsciousness, and the psychosexual personality "development.

a. Human personality
b. Conscious and unconscious mind
c. Pschosexual stages of personality development
d. Ego mechanism

A. Human Personality

According to Freud, human personality is made up of three integrating

components. The id is born at birth. The id consists of all human psychic
energy and instincts. It operates according to the pleasure principle, meaning
it focuses on gaining pleasure at any cost in order to satisfy instinctual needs
regardless of moral or logic reasons. The gratification of needs is aimed at
reducing tension and avoiding pain. As one grows up and interact with parents
and significant others, one learns to mediate or balance between instincts calls
and the demands from the environment. This second component of
personality, ego, is ruled by reality principle, where it reasons realistically and
logically and formulate plans on how to satisfy needs in socially acceptable
ways. Superego, the third component of personality, consists of learned
principles of right and wrong in order to control instinctual gratification and
behaviour. It includes a person's ideal moral code, and strives not for pleasure
but for perfection.

Figure 4.1 : Freuds Psychoanalytic Model

(Source: Charles L. Thompson (2007). Counselling Children (7th Ed). Belmont:
Thompson Books/ Cole Pg78)

As noted in Figure 4, the unconscious holds about 85% of the material in our
minds. The concept of the unconscious is the foundation of psychoanalytic
theory and practice. It holds that, in a part of the mind that we are not aware
of, drives, desires, attitudes, motivations, and fantasies exist and exert
influence on how people think, feel, and behave in the conscious area of
functioning. The conscious refers to the part of mental activity that we are
aware of at any given time. The preconscious refers to thoughts and material
that are not readily available to the conscious but can be retrieved with some
effort. Students may struggle to find an answer to a test question lost in the
preconscious. The subconscious refers to those involuntary bodily processes
such as digestion and breathing that have been with the person since birth.
Carl Jung's collective unconscious refers to the vast reservoir of inherited
wisdom, memories, and insights that individuals share with all humankind.

B. Consciousness and Unconsciousness

Another contribution of Freud to the understanding of human behaviour is the
concept of (consciousness and unconsciousness. According to Freud, humans
are unaware of much of their mental processes. The unconscious mind consists
of all the instincts, wishes and experiences that are mainly unacceptable to be
acknowledged, recognised or expressed. Though consciously unaware of these
repressed motives, they influence and sometimes govern behaviours. Only
about ten percent of the mind is above the surface of awareness. The main
idea is that people often do not understand why they behave as they do due to
unconscious motives, which need to be identified through counselling. (Sec
Figure 2.4).

Figure 4.2 The Iceberg Theory of

Unconsciousness

C. Psychosexual Stages of Personality Development

A controversial idea proposed by Freud is known as the psychosexual stages of

personality development. Freud suggested that the desire for sexual pleasure
is a lifelong drive that begins in infancy. Humans go through five stages of
psychosexual development beginning with the oral stage whereby a baby's
oral needs are met by sucking the mother's breast. Anal stage is about
meeting anal needs either by holding or eliminating faeces. During the phallic
stage, children become aware of the genital differences and become attach to
the opposite sex of parents. The latency period is when sexual interest is
relatively quiescent since children get engrossed in school activities and peers.
The last stage is genital which begins at puberty and each gender takes more
interest in the opposite sex. Excessive gratification as well as excessive
frustration at any point of development in any of the stage will result in
fixation, unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up, manifested in a form of
personality problem or disorder.

Oral stage is centered on the mouth as a source of pleasure.

Anal stage is centered on the anus and elimination as a source of pleasure.
Phallic stage is centered on the genitals and sexual identification as
a source of pleasure.
o Oedipus Complex is described as the process whereby a
boy desires his mother and fears castration from the father, in order
to create an ally of the father, the male learns traditional male roles.
o Electra complex is described a similar but less clearly resolved in
the female child with her desire for the father, competition with the
mother and thus, learns the traditional female roles.
Latency stage is a time of little sexual interest in Freuds
developmental view. This stage is characterized with peer activities,
academic and social learning, and development of physical skills.
Genital stage begins with the onset of puberty. If the other stages
have been successfully negotiated, the young person will take an interest
in and establish sexual relationships.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Ego defence mechanism were believed by Freud to protect the individual from
being overwhelmed by anxiety. He considered them normal and operating
on the unconscious level. Some of the ones most often referred to are:
Repression is the defense mechanism whereby the ego
excludes any painful or undesirable thoughts, memories, feelings
or impulses from the conscious.
Projection is the defense mechanism whereby the
individual assigns their own undesirable emotions and
characteristics to another individual.
Reaction Formation is the defense mechanism whereby
the individual expresses the opposite emotion, feeling or impulse
than that which causes anxiety.
Displacement a defense mechanism whereby the energy that
is generated toward a potentially dangerous or inappropriate target
is refocused to a safe target.
Sublimation is a positive displacement is called whereby
the frustrating target is replaced with a positive target.
Regression is the defense mechanism whereby returns to an
earlier stage of development.
Rationalisation is the defense mechanism in which an individual
creates a sensible explanation for an illogical or unacceptable
behavior making it appear sensible or acceptable.
Denial is a mechanism whereby an individual does
not acknowledge an event or situation that may be unpleasant
or traumatic.
Identification is a defense mechanism whereby a person takes on
the qualities of another person to reduce the fear and
anxiety toward that person.

Defence
Cause of anxiety Means of coping Example
mechanism
Emphasise desirable
Anxious about one's Failing to impress the football
traits or try to excel
Compensation real or imagined coach, Amin strives to excel in
in area of weakness
weakness badminton
or in other areas
Faced with painful
Refuse to perceive or A woman refused to accept
Denial or unpleasant
accept reality her husband's untimely death
reality
Shift or let off the
Unable to express Unable to express anger at
emotions to a
Displacement emotions to a her husband, Mei Ling shouts
substitute person or
person at her children
object
Doctors and nurses avoid
Think or talk about
being overwhelmed with
the situation in
Intellectualisati Anxious about a emotions by explaining to
impersonal and
on stressful problem patients and family members
technical or
about illness and death using
intellectual terms
intellectual terms
Anxious about one's Attribute the
Joyce accuses Ali of cheating
own feelings, feelings,
in the exam when in fact she
Projection shortcomings, or shortcomings, or
was the one who committed
unacceptable unacceptable
the offence
impulses impulses to others
Justify the behaviour
Anxious about Kumar blamed the traffic jam
by giving a rational
Rationalisation committing a as the reason for arriving late
and reasonable, but
behaviour for class
often false reason
Prevent dangerous
Having dangerous ideas and emotions Sara lavishes praises on her
Reaction
ideas, emotions or from being expressed younger sister when in reality
formation
impulses by expressing she is jealous of her sister
opposite behaviour
Crying, throwing a tantrum,
Retreat to childlike
Feeling anxious or speaking in childish manner,
Regression behaviour and
threatened yelling, bed-wetting are some
defences
examples of regression
Having Prevent or exclude We try to forget hostile
uncomfortable, the thoughts from feelings toward a family
Repression
painful or entering awareness member, past failures and
dangerous thoughts or consciousness embarrassments
Redirecting or
Having unmet People channel their high level
working out the
desires or of frustration, aggressive or
Sublimation energy in more
unacceptable sexual energy into sports, arts
socially acceptable
impulses or politics.
activities.
Table 4.2 : Psychological Defence Mechanisms as a Way of Coping with Stress
[source: Corey, G. (2005). Theory and Practicc of Counseling and
Psychotherapy. (7th ed.). USA: Brooks/ Cole]
4.6.3 Role of the Counselor

To encourage the development of transference, giving the client a sense of

safety and acceptance. The client freely explores difficult material and
experiences from their past, gaining insight and working through unresolved
issues. The counselor is an expert, who interprets for the client.
4.6.4 Goals of therapy include

a. Helping the client bring into the conscious the unconscious.

b. Helping the client work through a developmental stage that was
not resolved or where the client became fixated.
c. Help the client adjustment to the demands of work, intimacy,
and society.

4.6.5 Psychoanalytic Techniques

The primary goal of counseling within a psychoanalytic frame of reference is to

make the unconscious conscious. All material in the unconscious was once
in the conscious. Once brought to the conscious level, repressed material can
be dealt with in rational ways by using any number of methods discussed in
this book.

Several methods are used to uncover the unconscious. Detailed case histories
are taken, with special attention given to the handling of conflict areas.
Hypnosis, although rejected by Freud, is still used to assist in plumbing the
unconscious. Analyses of resistance, transference, and dreams are frequently
used methods, as are catharsis, free association, interpretation, and play
therapy. All these methods have the long-term goal of strengthening the ego.
The principal counseling methods are catharsis, free association,
interpretation, analysis of transference, analysis of resistance, and analysis of
incomplete sentences, bibliocounseling, storytelling, and play therapy.
However we shall discuss some important ones.

Free Association is a process where the client verbalizes any

thoughts that may without censorship, no matter how trivial the thoughts
or feeling may be to the client
Dream Analysis is a process where the client relates their dreams to
the counselor. The counselor interprets the obvious or manifest content
and the hidden meanings or latent content.
Analysis of transference is a process where the client is encouraged
to attribute to counselor those issues that have caused difficulties
with significant authority figures in their lives. The counselor helps the
client to gain insight by the conflicts and feelings expressed.
Analysis of resistance is a process where the counselor helps the client to
gain insight into what causes form the basis for a hesitation or halting of
therapy.
Interpretation is a process where the counselor helps the client to
gain insight into past and present events.
(Source: http://lcdcexamreview.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/freud-
psychoanalytical-theory-addictions-counseling/)

Check your understanding.

1. Explain briefly from the psychoanalytic perspective, what is the
reason(s) for clients having problems in life?
2. Give the different ideas proposed by Freud in a mind map.
3. What is the goal of counselling according to psychoanalytic approach?
4. As a counsellor, what techniques in psychoanalytic counselling will be
used to help your syudents?

4.7 Behaviourist Theory

This therapy is associated with Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, Beck, Wolpe and
Lazarus. According to therapists, thoughts and feelings are difficult to
measure. Therefore, the focus should be on behavior.

John B. Watson (1878-1958) disagreed strongly with Freud's focus on

unconsciousness and thoughts that cannot be seen nor measured. He once
proclaimed, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed and my own special
world to bring them up and I ll guarantee to take any one at random and train
him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist,
merchant, chief, and yes, beggarman and thief (Watson, 1913).

A Russian physiologist, Pavlov accidentally came across a type of learning

known today as classical conditioning, where humans acquire new
behaviour by associating previously reflexive response with a new stimulus. B.
F. Skinner (1904-1990)) believed that thoughts are not needed in order to
explain behaviour. Behaviour is simply shaped and maintained by what comes
after (consequences) cither in the form of reinforcement or punishment.
Skinner's radical view is known as operant conditioning.

4.7.1 BEHAVIOURAL ASSUMPTION ON HUMAN NATURE

According to the behavioural approach,

The human is seen as simply reacting to the environment. What one learns
from the environment determines behaviour - changing the environment
will change behaviour.

Humans are neither good nor evil. Anybody can become good or bad
depending on what he or she learns from the environment.
Thoughts and emotions are not the main factors influencing behaviour. The
past is not dealt with too deeply, only to the extent that it helps clarify how
the current behaviour comes to be acquired.

Clients have learned to acquire a maladaptive or inefficient behaviour

through association, or consequences. It is the result of conditioning, the
stimulus response (S-R). The reaction to a stimulus depends on
experience ;

Able to respond to a stimulus is appropriate and what they have learned

only;

Keep the pattern of behavior, and then repeat the pattern of the future, if
needed

Given that human behavior can be learned, then it can also be removed and
replaced with new behaviors. However, the old behavior is still to be learned
again later. For example, James, a 8 year old student often tell lies. Through
counseling interventions, he was made aware of the evils of his negative
behaviour. He was determined to change. However, no one can guarantee that
James will continue to remain with his change of behavior to tell the truth
forever.

In summary, you should remember that behaviourist emphasis is on the

negative behavior that can be observed, and should be eliminated. In short,
this school is very concerned about the learning process and the elimination of
a particular unwanted behavior.

Counsellors holding on to behavioural tenets are active when conducting

sessions, compared to insight therapies. Second, behavioural counsellor focus
on changing clients' behaviour rather than - exploring thoughts and feelings.
Third, counsellors using the behavioural approach work within a short time
frame of sessions, with clear-cut goals to achieve in a defined time limit.
Whereas (Insight-oriented counsellors believe on thoughts and feelings,
behavioural counsellors focus on observable and measurable behaviours. They
believe that behaviour is learned, thus it can be changed. The focus of
counselling and therapies is often on changing the behaviours, thoughts and
feelings in such a way that the change can be observed and measured.
Figure 4.3 Pavlov's Experiment on Classical Conditioning

Read at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/classcnd.html

In order to understand the views of behavioural approach towards human, a

brief description of the theories is presented here. Two main theories are
discussed: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning!

a. Classical conditioning refers to what happens prior to learning that

creates a response through pairing. A key figure in this area is Ivan
Pavlov who illustrated classical conditioning through experiments with
dogs (see Figure 3.1). Placing food near a hungry dog induces
salivation, which is respondent behaviour. When food is repeatedly
presented with some originally neutral stimulus, such as the sound of a
tuning fork or bell, the dog will eventually salivate to the sound of the
tuning fork alone. However, if the tuning fork is sounded repeatedly, but
not paired with food, the salivation response will eventually diminish
and become extinct.

Through classical conditioning, clients acquire new behaviour or response

through the concept of association. For example, before learning to become
afraid of cats, humans have natural fear (reflexive) for pain. If a client got
scratched by a cat causing pain during childhood, he or she may grow up to
fear cats. Loud shouts, scary tales and scolding from parents in relation to
objects, animals or events often resulted in various kinds of phobias that may
extend into adulthood.
Figure 4.5 : Principles in Operant Conditioning

Classical conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered and

studied within the behaviorist tradition (hence the name classical). Skinner
renamed this type of learning "respondent conditioning" since in this type of
learning, one is responding to an environmental antecedent.

Major concepts

Classical conditioning is Stimulus (S) elicits >Response (R) conditioning since

the antecedent stimulus (singular) causes (elicits) the reflexive or involuntary
response to occur. Classical conditioning starts with a reflex: an innate,
involuntary behavior elicited or caused by an antecedent environmental event.
For example, if air is blown into your eye, you blink. You have no voluntary or
conscious control over whether the blink occurs or not.

The specific model for classical conditioning is:

1. Unconditioned Stimulus (US) elicits > Unconditioned Response (UR): a

stimulus will naturally (without learning) elicit or bring about a relexive
response
2. Neutral Stimulus (NS) ---> does not elicit the response of interest: this
stimulus (sometimes called an orienting stimulus as it elicits an
orienting response) is a neutral stimulus since it does not elicit the
Unconditioned (or reflexive) Response.
3. The Neutral/Orientiing Stimulus (NS) is repeatedly paired with the
Unconditioned/Natural Stimulus (US).
4. The NS is transformed into a Conditioned Stimulus (CS); that is, when
the CS is presented by itself, it elicits or causes the CR (which is the
same involuntary response as the UR; the name changes because it is
elicited by a different stimulus. This is written CS elicits > CR.

In classical conditioning no new behaviors are learned. Instead, an association

is developed (through pairing) between the NS and the US so that the animal /
person responds to both events / stimuli (plural) in the same way; restated,
after conditioning, both the US and the CS will elicit the same involuntary
response (the person / animal learns to respond reflexively to a new stimulus).

The following is a restatement of these basic principles using figures of

Pavlov's original experiments as an example.

Before conditioning

In order to have classical or respondent conditioning, there must exist a

stimulus that will automatically or reflexively elicit a specific response. This
stimulus is called theUnconditioned Stimulus or UCS because there is no
learning involved in connecting the stimulus and response. There must also be
a stimulus that will not elicit this specific response, but will elicit an orienting
response. This stimulus is called a Neutral Stimulus or an Orienting
Stimulus.

During conditioning

During conditioning, the neutral stimulus will first be presented, followed by

the unconditioned stimulus. Over time, the learner will develop an association
between these two stimuli (i.e., will learn to make a connection between the
two stimuli.)
After conditioning

After conditioning, the previously neutral or orienting stimulus will elicit the
response previously only elicited by the unconditioned stimulus. The stimulus
is now called aconditioned stimulus because it will now elicit a different
response as a result of conditioning or learning. The response is now called
a conditioned response because it is elicited by a stimulus as a result of
learning. The two responses, unconditioned and conditioned, look the same,
but they are elicited by different stimuli and are therefore given different
labels.

In the area of classroom learning, classical conditioning primarily influences

emotional behavior. Things that make us happy, sad, angry, etc. become
associated with neutral stimuli that gain our attention. For example, if a
particular academic subject or remembering a particular teacher produces
emotional feelings in you, those emotions are probably a result of classical
conditioning.

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/classcnd.html

b. In operant conditioning, humans learn to repeat a behaviour if it gets

reinforced, and stop a behaviour when it gets punished. Parents scold,
cane or punish children with the hope that their children will stop
misbehaving. At other times, we smile at, praise or reward good deed or
behaviour so that the behaviour is repeated in future. The principle is
when you present a reinforcer, the desired consequence is for the
behaviour to be increased or repeated in future. If you present
punishment, the desired consequence is for the behaviour to decrease
or stop in future (see Figure 3.2).

c. Positive reinforcement: When your child cleans his room, give him a
small reward that he likes so that in future he will remember to clean
his room.

d. Negative reinforcement: When your child cleans his room, do not

spank him (you have warned him about getting spanked if he does not
clean his room). Hopefully in future he will remember to clean his room.

e. Positive punishment: When your two children fight with each other,
give them both a spanking so that in future they will not repeat the
behaviour.

f. Negative punishment: When your two children fight with each other,
do not take them shopping. Hopefully they will stop fighting becausc
what they really want is to go to shopping.

A question often asked is whether reinforcement is the same as reward? The

answer is no.

g. It is not accurate to use the term reward because in actuality, reward

does not always result in an increase of a particular behaviour. Parents
and teachers often reward children with the hope that they will repeat a
targeted behaviour. What if the reward is not something favoured by
the receiver? It is no use rewarding your child with a chocolate bar if he
or she does not like chocolate. Similarly, it is no use punishing your
child with time-out (asking him to stay in his room for a certain time),
when in fact he likes being in his room - there's lots of things to
entertain him there! The point is to know and be aware of likes and
dislikes of the person you want to reinforce or punish in order to get the
desired outcome. There are many more aspects about operant
conditioning, which is not the scope of this chapter. If you wish to know
more about the principles of reinforcement and punishment, any
introductory text on psychology will help to enlighten you.

4.7.2 Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura propsed Te social learning theory, perhaps the most influential
theory of learning and development. While rooted in many of the basic
concepts of traditional learning theory, Bandura believed that direct
reinforcement could not account for all types of learning.

His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new
information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational
learning (or modeling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide
variety of behaviors.

4.7.2.1 Basic Social Learning Concepts

There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. First is the
idea that people can learn through observation. Next is the idea that internal
mental states are an essential part of this process. Finally, this theory
recognizes that just because something has been learned, it does not mean
that it will result in a change in behavior.
People can learn through observation.

4.7.2.2 Observational Learning

In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn
and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. The children in
Banduras studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When
the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they
began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed.

4.7.2.3 Bandura identified three basic models of observational

learning:

1. A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or

acting out a behavior.
2. A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and
explanations of a behavior.
3. A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying
behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media.

2. Mental states are important to learning.

Intrinsic Reinforcement
Bandura noted that external, environmental reinforcement was not the only
factor to influence learning and behavior. He described intrinsic reinforcement
as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of
accomplishment. This emphasis on internal thoughts and cognitions helps
connect learning theories to cognitive developmental theories. While many
textbooks place social learning theory with behavioral theories, Bandura
himself describes his approach as a 'social cognitive theory.'

4.8 Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in behavior.

While behaviorists believed that learning led to a permanent change in

behavior, observational learning demonstrates that people can learn new
information without demonstrating new behaviors.

a. The Modeling Process

Not all observed behaviors are effectively learned. Factors involving both the
model and the learner can play a role in whether social learning is successful.
Certain requirements and steps must also be followed. The following steps are
involved in the observational learning and modeling process:

b. Attention:
In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your
attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the
model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more
likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.

c. Retention:
The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning
process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to
pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

d. Reproduction:
Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is
time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the
learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement.

11 Motivation:
Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be
motivated to imitate the behavior that has been
modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in
motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so
can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment?
For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being
to class on time, you might start to show up a few minutes early each day.

Bandura's social learning theory has had important implication in the field of
eduction. Today, both teachers and parents recognize the importance of
modeling appropriate behaviors.

4.8.2 PURPOSE OF COUNSELLING ROLE OF THE COUNSELLOR

The goal of behavioural counselling is for the counsellor and the client to
mutually agree on counselling goals. Since behaviourists focus on observable
and measurable behaviour, the main emphasis in counselling would be to see
and observe a change in behaviour, and such desired change is documented in
a form of a contract. Goals are stated in terms of specific behaviour change
that can be measured and can be reasonably achieved by /clients. In other
words, the client will get involved in deciding on what to change and how to
change.

The counsellor holding a behavioural perspective is active, acting as a

consultant, teacher, advisor, reinforcer and facilitator. The counsellor may
instructor teach or supervise clients on the steps or techniques of changing the
desired behaviour. The client is a willing student practicing or going through
the steps in order to change his or her behaviour. The behavioural counsellor
focuses on helping clients modify maladaptive behaviours and acquiring
healthy ways of behaving.

4.8.3 COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES

Goal Setting

The collaboration between the client and the counsellor in goal setting:

Counsellor provides a rationale for goals, explaining the role of goals in

counselling, the purpose of goals, and the client's participation in the
goal-setting process (e.g. the client wants to stop smoking, to get angry
quickly)
Client states what he or she wants to change from the counselling.
Focus is on what the client wants to do rather than what the client does
not want to do.
The client is the person seeking help, and only he or she can make the
change.

The client and counsellor then decide to continue pursuing the selected
goals.

[Source: S. Cormier & P. Nurius (2003). Interviewing and change strategies for
helpers.

Counselling techniques are based on the various principles of learning,

proposed in the behavioural approach. By using operant conditioning
principles, undesirable behaviour may be decreased or eliminated through
using reinforcement or punishment, either operated by clients themselves, or
by significant others in the clients' environment.

To learn new behaviour or skill, the counsellor will use shaping technique,
where the target "skill is broken down into smaller, achievable units so that
clients can accomplish one small change at one time until they acquire the
whole new behaviour. Rehearsal is a major technique for clients to practice
new behaviour.

Using classical conditioning principles where fear or phobia has been

acquired, a technique called systematic desensitization can be applied. In
this technique, instead of feeling fear or anxiety about an object, person or
animal, clients are taught to feel relax and calm at various small steps
approaching the main feared figure. Modelling is another technique where
clients observe a model demonstrates the desirable behaviour. The model can
be the counsellor, a peer or a family member.

There are numerous other techniques or procedures introduced by

professionals using behavioural theories. Behavioural techniques gained
popularity among trainers and helpers due to their easy application to many
day-to-day behavioural skills. Some of the popular ones include assertive
training, anger management, and stress management. The main aspect
in all the behavioural techniques is to identify the desired new behaviour, v
develop a plan or steps to change, and implement the change.

Specifically, if the counsellor evaluates your behaviour as being learned

through the classical conditioning, she may use a number of procedures to
change the behaviour such as aversion therapy, systematic desensitization
either through vicarious desensitization or virtual reality exposure. If the
acquired behaviour is learned through operant conditioning principles, the
counsellor may teach clients any technique suitable for changing the
behaviour, using the principle of positive reinforcement, non-
reinforcement, extinction, punishment, shaping, stimulus control or
time-out.

4.8.4 Techniques used based in Classical conditioning

These techniques are used one way to alter behavior, and a number of
techniques exist that can produce such change. Originally known as behavior
modification, this type of therapy is often referred to today as applied
behavior analysis.

Flooding: This process involves exposing people to fear-invoking objects or

situations intensely and rapidly. It is often used to treat phobias, anxiety, and
other stress-related disorders. During the process, the individual is prevented
from escaping or avoiding the situation.

For example, flooding might be used to help a client who is suffering from an
intense fear of dogs. At first, the client might be exposed to a small friendly
dog for an extended period of time during which he or she cannot leave. After
repeated exposures to the dog during which nothing bad happens, the fear
response begins to fade.

Systematic Desensitization: This technique involves having a client make a

list of fears and then teaching the individual to relax while concentrating on
these fears. The use of this process began with psychologist John B. Watson
and his famous Little Albert experimentin which he conditioned a young child
to fear a white rat. Later, Mary Cover Jones replicated Watson's results and
utilized counterconditioning techniques to desensitize and eliminate the fear
response.

Systematic desensitization is often used to treat phobias. The process

follows three basic steps. First, the client is taught relaxation techniques. Next,
the individual creates a ranked list of fear-invoking situations. Starting with the
least fear-inducing item and working their way up to the most fear-inducing
item, the client confronts these fears under the guidance of the therapist while
maintaining a relaxed state.

For example, an individual with a fear of the dark might start by looking at an
image of a dark room before moving on to thinking about being in a dark room
and then actually confronting his fear by sitting in a dark room. By pairing the
old fear-producing stimulus with the newly learned relaxation behavior, the
phobic response can be reduced or even eliminated.

Aversion Therapy: This process involves pairing an undesirable behavior with

an aversive stimulus in the hope that the unwanted behavior will eventually be
reduced. For example, someone suffering from alcoholism might utilize a drug
known as disulfiram, which causes severe symptoms such as headaches,
nausea, anxiety, and vomiting when combined with alcohol. Because the
person becomes extremely ill when they drink, the drinking behavior may be
eliminated.

4.8.5 Techniques used based on Operant Conditioning

Many behavior techniques rely on the principles of operant conditioning, which

means that they utilize reinforcement, punishment, shaping, modeling, and
related techniques to alter behavior. These methods have the benefit of being
highly focused, which means that they can produce fast and effective results.

Token Economies: This type of behavioral strategy relies on reinforcement to

modify behavior. Clients are allowed to earn tokens that can be exchanged for
special privileges or desired items. Parents and teachers often use token
economies to reinforce good behavior. Kids earn tokens for engaging in
preferred behaviors and may even lose tokens for displaying undesirable
behaviors. These tokens can then be traded for things such as candy, toys, or
extra time playing with a favorite toy.

Contingency Management: This approach utilizes a formal written contract

between the client and the therapist that outlines the behavior change goals,
reinforcements and rewards that will be given, and the penalties for failing to
meet the demands of the agreement. These types of agreements aren't just
used by therapists teachers and parents also often use them with students
and children in the form of behavior contracts. Contingency contracts can be
very effective in producing behavior changes since the rules are spelled out
clearly in black-and-white, preventing both parties from backing down on their
promises.

Modeling: This technique involves learning through observation and modeling

the behavior of others. The process is based on Albert Bandura's social
learning theory, which emphasizes the social components of the learning
process. Rather than relying simply on reinforcement or punishment, modeling
allows individuals to learn new skills or acceptable behaviors by watching
someone else perform those desired skills. In some cases, the therapist might
model the desired behavior. In other instances, watching peers engage in the
sought after behaviors can also be helpful.

Extinction: Another way to produce behavior change is to stop

reinforcing a behavior in order to eliminate the response. Time-outs are a
perfect example of the extinction process. During a time-out, a person is
removed from a situation that provides reinforcement. For example, a child
who starts yelling or striking other children would be removed from the play
activity and required to sit quietly in a corner or another room where there are
no opportunities for attention and reinforcement. By taking away the attention
that the child found rewarding, the unwanted behavior is eventually
extinguished.

Self check exercise.

1. Who are the founders of the behavioural approach?

2. From a behavioural perspective, what is the reason(s) for clients having
problems in life?

3. Identify and use mind map to show the different ideas proposed by
behaviourists.

4. What is the goal of counselling according to behavioural approach?

5. Discuss the implication of Banduras approach in teaching and learning

apart from its usage in counselling sessions.

4.9 Client Centred or Person Centred

Theory
Client-Centered Therapy (CCT) was developed by Carl Rogers in the 40's and
50's. It is a non-directive approach to therapy, "directive" meaning any
therapist behavior that deliberately steers the client in some way. Directive
behaviors include asking questions, offering treatments, and making
interpretations and diagnoses.

Rogers' theory later evolved into client-centred counselling or client-centred

psychotherapy as known today. The approach is applicable to numerous types
of counselling, be it individuals, groups, or families. He was dubbed the father
of "client-centred therapy" and his approach appeals to many professionals
today because of its simple and acceptable ideas which can be easily applied
by new counsellors. The job of a counsellor is to reflect the counselee's
responses back to him and, thus, set up a catalytic atmosphere of acceptance.
Such an environment is supposed to allow the client to get in touch with the
innate resources within himself or herself for successfully dealing with life and
developing self-esteem.

Rogers believed that every person can achieve their goals, wishes and desires
in life. When, or rather if they did so, self actualization took place. This was
one of Carl Rogers most important contributions to psychology and for a
person to reach their potential a number of factors must be satisfied.

Self Actualization

"The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize,

maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism (Rogers)

Rogers rejected the deterministic nature of both psychoanalysis and behaviorism and
maintained that we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our situation . "As
no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves."

Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one basic motive, that is the
tendency to self-actualize - i.e. to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest
level of 'human-beingness' we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full
potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its
environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their
environment is good enough.

However, unlike a flower, the potential of the individual human is unique,

and we are meant to develop in different ways according to our
personality. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and creative.
They become destructive only when a poor self-concept or external constraints
override the valuing process. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve
self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence.

This means that self-actualization occurs when a persons ideal self (i.e. who
they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image).
Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning person.
The main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized is childhood
experience.

The Fully Functioning Person

Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goals wishes, and
desires in life. When they did so self-actualization took place. For Rogers (1961)
people who are able be self-actualize, and that is not all of us, are called fully
functioning persons. This means that the person is in touch with the here and
now, his or her subjective experiences and feelings, continually growing and
changing.

In many ways Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an ideal and one
that people do not ultimately achieve.

It is wrong to think of this as an end or completion of lifes journey; rather it is

a process of always becoming and changing.

4.9.1 CARL ROGERS' VIEWS ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

According to Carl Rogers, humans are rational, likes to socialize, forward-

looking, and realistic. For further explanationed the human traits such as the
following:

1. Having self self esteem and dignity, and must be respected;

2. Capacity or the ability to achieve self realisation and make wise
judgments, if only given the chance;

3. Able to choose own values

4. Able to learn how to perform the responsibilities in constructive manner

5. Able to handle handles feelings, thoughts and behavior, respectively;

6. Potential to make constructive changes and personal developments

towards a fulfilling life.

According to Rogers, if humans are positively regarded and allowed to develop

freely, they will grow to be fully functioning. Because of the positive views
towards human nature, Rogers' approach came to be known as a humanistic
approach. According to him, fully functioning persons have the potential to
achieve self-actualisation, which refers to using the maximum or highest
potential existing in oneself through striving, maintaining and enhancing one's
life experiences.

Rogers believed that in order for a healthy self to develop, a person needs
unconditional positive regard, which means unconditional love, warmth,
respect and acceptance. However, in real life, parents, teachers and peers
often offer conditional regards. The person will be accepted, loved or cared for
if he or she is good, pretty or clever, to give some examples. Rogers also
proposed that each person has a self, which is central to the being. The self
encompasses all values, beliefs and perceptions one has about oneself,
acquired through interactions with significant others as one goes through his or
her life.
As a person grows and develops, he or she becomes aware of the differences between
the self and others. A person will develop a real SELF (what the person is) and an ideal
self (what the person hopes to become). Humans always try to maintain consistency
between ideal self, true self, and self-image. Self-image is the total subjective
perception of one's body and personality. It a person receives or perceives information
from others that are inconsistent with his self-image, incongruent occurs. The
incongruent person becomes contused, vulnerable, dissatisfied or seriously
maladaptive. A person tends to feel worthy only when fulfilling or conforming to others'
wishes or expectations that might not be congruent with the person's values, beliefs
or perceptions. Incongruences between the real self and the ideal sell makes a person
becomes maladjusted, thus developing unhealthy self (See Figure 4.6)

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Figure 4.6 The three self

Incongruence occurs when there is a mismatch between any of these three

components or the self: the ideal self (what you would like to be), the self-
image (what you think you are), and the true self (what you actually arc). Self-
esteem is negative where if there is incongruence between ideal self and self-
image. Anxiety and defensiveness occurs when there is incongruence between
self-image and true self. Consistency between ideal self, true self, and self-
image results in a positive self-image.

4.9.2 GOAL OF COUNSELLING AND ROLE OF THE COUNSELLOR

The goal of person-centred counselling is to encourage clients to be brave

enough so that they are able to explore, identify or confront any fears,
perceptions or issues that have been burdening them. In a condition full of
positive regard and empathy, clients become increasingly willing to change
and grow. As clients become more fully functioning, they will have greater
acceptance of their self.

The role of the counsellor is to provide a safe and trusting climate or

conditions wherein the client will feel safe enough to explore his or her self. In
contrast to the others in the real world that accept the clients only with certain
conditions, the counsellor instead creates a nurturing condition that
encourages the client to discover his or herself.
The counsellor acts as a facilitator who knows how to guide the client through
the process of self-discovery by hearing, observing and reflecting client's
verbal and nonverbal language. The counsellor is not directive in the sense
that he does not suggest or interpret why clients feel as they do or what they
should do. By using verbal techniques such as reflection, asking questions and
rephrasing, the counsellor will assist clients in becoming more aware of their
feelings and thought, thus gain insights to their own experiences and find their
own self.

4.9.3 COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES

Carl Rogers is best known for his contributions to therapy. His therapy has
gone through a couple of name changes along the way: He originally called it
non-directive, because he felt that the therapist should not lead the client, but
rather be there for the client while the client directs the progress of the
therapy. As he became more experienced, he realised that, even as "non-
directive" as he was, he still influenced his client by his very "non-
directiveness". In other words, clients look to therapist for guidance, and will
find it even when the therapist is trying not to guide. So he changed the name
to client-centred. He felt that the client was the one who should say what was
wrong, find ways of improving and determining the conclusion of therapy. His
therapy was still very "client-centred" even while acknowledging the impact of
the therapist.

One of the phrases that Rogers used to describe his therapy is "supportive, not
reconstructive," and he uses the analogy of learning to ride a bicycle to
explain: When you help a child to learn to ride a bike, you can't just tell him
how. He has to try it for himself. And you can't hold him up the whole time
either. There comes a point when you have to let him go. If he falls, he falls,
but if you hang on, he'll never learn. In client-centred counselling, the quality
of the relationship between the counsellor and the client is itself a technique.
Rogers believed that the counsellor should create a therapeutic condition for
the client which emphasises empathy, positive regard, and congruence.

Empathy refers to the counsellors' ability to feel with the client and convey
this understanding back to the client. When the client perceives the counsellor
as being understanding and appreciative of his or her predicament, then only
will the client proceed with his or her self-exploration.

Respect or Positive Regard where the client will feel safe when the
counsellor genuinely and positively accepts the client as a person regardless of
what the client is telling the counsellor. Such positive regard will make the
client feel valued regardless of how bad or negative his or her self is.

Congruency refers to the counsellor's genuine behaviour and non-verbal

language that is free from pretension.

Some of the methods to promote the therapeutic relationship include

extensive use of silence, acceptance, immediacy, active and passive listening,
reflection of feelings and thoughts, clarification, summarization, confrontation,
and leads. Reflection is the mirroring of emotional communication.

If the client says "I feel like great!" the therapist may reflect this back to the
client by saying something like "So, life's getting you down, hey?" By doing
this, the therapist is communicating to the client that he is indeed listening
and cares enough to understand.

Often, people in distress say things that they do not mean because it feels
good to say them. Carl Rogers relates the case of a woman who came to see
him. She said. "I hate men!" He made her reflect by saying "You hate all men?"
Well, she said, maybe not all. She did not hate her father or her brother. Even
with those men she "hated," she discovered that the great majority of them
she didn't feel as strongly as the word hate implies. In fact, ultimately, she
realised that she didn't trust many men, and that she was afraid of being hurt
by them the way she had been by one particular man. Reflection must be used
carefully, however. Many beginning therapists use it without thinking (or
feeling), and just repeat every other phrase that comes out of the client's
mouth. They sound like parrots with psychology degrees! Reflection must come
from the heart - it must be genuine and congruent.

How Does Client-Centered Therapy Work?

Mental health professionals who utilize this approach strive to create

a therapeutic environment that is conformable, non-judgmental
and empathetic. Two of the key elements of client-centered
therapy are that it:

Is non-directive. Therapists allow clients to lead the discussion and do

not try to steer the client in a particular direction.

Emphasizes unconditional positive regard. Therapists show

complete acceptance and support for their clients.

According to Carl Rogers, a client-centered therapist/counsellor needs three

key qualities:
1. Genuineness:
The therapist needs to share his or her feelings honestly. By modeling
this behavior, the therapist can help teach the client to also develop
this important skill.

2. Unconditional Positive Regard:

The therapist must accept the client for who they are and display
support and care no matter what the client is facing or experiencing.
Rogers believed that people often develop problems because they are
used to only receiving conditional support; acceptance that is only
offered if the person conforms to certain expectations. By creating a
climate of unconditional positive regard, the client feels able to express
his or her emotions without fear of rejection.

Rogers explained:
"Unconditional positive regard means that when the therapist is
experiencing a positive, acceptant attitude toward whatever the
client is at that moment, therapeutic movement or change is more
likely. It involves the therapist's willingness for the client to be whatever
feeling is going on at that moment - confusion, resentment, fear, anger,
courage, love, or prideThe therapist prizes the client in a total rather
than a conditional way."

3. Empathetic Understanding:
The therapist needs to be reflective, acting as a mirror of the client's
feelings, thoughts. The goal of this is to allow the client to gain a clearer
understanding of their own inner thought, perceptions and emotions.
By exhibiting these three characteristics, therapists can help clients
grow psychologically, become more self-aware and change their
behavior via self-direction. In this type of environment, a client feels
safe and free from judgment. Rogers believed that this type of
atmosphere allows clients to develop a healthier view of the world and a
less distorted view of themselves.

EXERCISES:

1. State Carl Rogers' assumptions of human nature?

2. Briefly outline the goal of counselling according to the client-centred
approach?
3. Discuss the general techniques used in client-centred counselling?
4. Rani is appointed as a guidance and counselling teacher in SK Berjaya.
How can she create an athmosphere where students are happy to meet
to discuss their concers?
5. Silence is one of the technique used by a counsellor in client centred
tharapy. Discuss its pro and con in perspective of a client in a
counselling process.
6. Give the characteristic of an effective counsellor according to
Rogerian theory.

4.10 RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (REBT)

a) Introduction

REBT is based on the premise that whenever we become upset, it is not the
events taking place in our lives that upset us; it is the beliefs that we hold that
cause us to become depressed, anxious, enraged, etc. The idea that our beliefs
upset us was first articulated by Epictetus around 2,000 years ago: "Men are
disturbed not by events, but by the views which they take of them."

Rational Emotive Therapy was developed by Albert Ellis. According to him

human being is both rational and irrational.Irrationality is the cause of
emotional problems, such as guilt, anxiety, anger and depression. Emotional
problems cannot be separated from ideas. Ellis thinks that the mistake most
people make us rating themselves.against other people and then labeling
themselves.This prevents them from accepting their natural fallibility and
almost always result in self contempt or in a defensive pose of superiority.The
goal of rational emotive therapy is to show the client how his misinterpretation
of events are causing him problems and to teach him to see things in a more
rational manner and aid him in the process of adjustments. According to Ellis
every human being who gets disturbed really is felling himself a chain of false
sentences.

Ellis has developed his own made of behaviour which is called A, B, C model.
A is the activating event Vis the belief system and C is the emotional
consequence. Here made A is not the cause of Crather W is the cause of C.
According to Ellis every human being who gets disturbed really is telling
himself a chain of false sentences. That is the way humans seem almost
invariably to think in words, phrases and sentences and it Is these sentences
which really constitute his neurosis.

1. It is absolutely essential for an individual to be loved or approved by

every significant person in his environment.
2. It is necessary that each individual be competent, adequate and
achieving in areas of interest if the individual is to be worthwhile.
3. Some people are bad, wicked or villainous and these people should be
blamed and punished.
4. It is terrible and catastrophic when things are not in the way an
individual wants them to be.
5. Unhappiness is a function of events outside the control of the individual.
6. If something is dangerous or harmful, an individual should constantly be
concerned about it.
7. It is easier to run away from difficulties and self-responsibility than it is
to brace oneself up to learn on.
8. Petty events in an individuals life determine present behaviour and
cannot be changed.
9. .An individual should be every concerned and upset by other individual
problems.
10. There is always a correct and precise answer to every problem and it is
catastrophic

4.10 The Goal

Regardless of what happened to the individual in the past, the therapist

assures that the person is solely responsible for the way he feels about himself
and this is responsible for his happiness. The goal of rational emotive therapy
is to show the client how his misinterpretation of events is causing him
problems and to teach him to see things in a more rational manner and aid him
in the process of adjustments.

4.9 The role of counselling

The role of theory-oriented counseling is rational emotive cognition

restructuring of clients, including thoughts and irrational beliefs that clients
have a view and philosophy of life in a more positive and rational.

According to Crawford and Ellis (in Thompson, Rudolph & Henderson, 2004),
irrational beliefs can be classified into five categories, namely:

i. the failure of belief in nature that prevents the achievement of the

individual concerned ;
ii. a rigid and dogmatic beliefs that lead to the intention of the less
realistic ;
iii. anti- social belief that destroys a person's social relationships ;
iv. unrealistic beliefs that give a false impression of reality , and
v. The opposite belief stems from a false premise.
In accordance with the categories of irrational beliefs on, Waters (in
Thompson, Rudolph & Henderson, 2004) has presented a number of examples
of irrational beliefs in children as follows;

a. Irrational belief in children

It is sad if people do not like me ;
I called a bad person if I make a mistake ;
I must achieve my expectations ;
I must easily fulfil all my requirements ;
The world must be fair to all mankind and wicked must be punished
accordingly ;
An adult can not make any mistakes ;
There is only one right answer ;
I must win ; If I lose I will be very disappointed;
I do not have to wait to achieve what I want.

Try to compare the above list with some examples of irrational beliefs in
adolescents. Identify the extent of both lists the same or different from each
other.

b. Irrational beliefs among adolescents:

It is sad if I did not like my friends , and I was the one who always fail ;
I should not make mistakes ;
Parents are to blame me for my suffering at the moment ;
I cannot change my current situation. I shall abide by such conditions ;
The world should be fair and equitable ;
It is sad if I do not achieve what I want ;
It is better to avoid yourself from facing challenges than open to accept
the risk of failure ;
I must submit to my peers ;
I can not accept any criticism ;
Other people should always be responsible in all respects.

4.10.3 The process

In the initial interview the responsibilities of the counsellor and the client are
defined. The client is responsible for practicing any learning acquired during
the counselling sessions. Practicing means home work.
However, most teachers do not have the guidance of the theory of rational
emotive experience using biasany a problem to detect irrational thoughts
found in client counseling session. Here are the guidelines that can be used as
a reference to solve the above problems.

Identify generalizations made by the client.

Example: "I have achieved a grade F for testing recent history. Course I
will get low grades for all subsequent test history. "

Identify the categorization of black - white " made by the client to

decide between good and bad.
Example: "I failed to achieve a grade of A for all subjects. Therefore I
can not be an excellent student. "

Identify the client's tendency to focus on negative events.

Example: "I had twice passed the Math test, and almost failed one time.
Accordingly, I would fail the math to come. "

Identify the client's tendency to exaggerate and minimize errors in

achievement.
Example: Im lucky just to have achieved an A in math ago.

Identify the client's use of words such as should, must, always,

must, never.
Example: "I should not make mistakes."

Identify the client's statement of aggravating something or

someone
Example: "He should be sentenced to a rat. Should not he fined
RM5000 only. "

Identify the client forecast negative.

Example: "I know my friends will not be happy in my birthday party

4.10.4 Techniques / Strategies for Helping Clients

The theory of rational emotive counseling or oriented elements are didactic
teaching, and directing. Thus, Ellis suggested that three types of techniques
are used, namely cognitive, emotive and behavioral.

Rational therapists use a wide verity of techniques to correct the illogical and
self defeating goals and beliefs of the client. These include persuasion,
confrontation, challenge, command, even theoretical arguments. They
do not baby their clients .He may go so far as to give home work
assignments encouraging the clients to risk arguing with their boss .patting a
dog that frightens them directive.

a. Cognitive techniques

Some of the techniques commonly used include:

Restructure the irrational thoughts and beliefs through the use of

the acronym ABCDE ;
Defining the negative situation to become more positive ;

Conceptualise a problem in holistic and comprehensive manner into

small parts of the area.

b. Emotive technique

Among the suggested techniques which focuses emotive affective or emotional

domain clients are;

Humour element help clients to see their situation in perspective, and

not to look down on themselves;
Guide the client to establish the pattern of positive emotions. Example:
describe how to overcome fears or phobias ;

Training attack shyness / shy help clients not to get too disregard for
other people's perception of them.

c. Behavioral techniques
Among the behavioral techniques that are commonly used to help the client
achieve the goals of counseling are:

Techniques such as operant assertiveness training , formation ;

classical techniques such as systematic desensitasi ;

Self- management including self-monitoring ;

Assignment homework help clients try and practice what they have
learned in counseling sessions in their daily activities.
In summary, the theory of rational emotive aims to teach clients to think and
behave rationally. However, they are free to choose between negative behavior
and positive attitudes. In other words, they are taught to take responsibility for
their own thoughts and consequent

Exrtra reading
The ABC Model

Albert Ellis and REBT posit that our reaction to having our goals blocked (or
even the possibility of having them blocked) is determined by our beliefs. To
illustrate this, Dr. Ellis developed a simple ABC format to teach people how
their beliefs cause their emotional and behavioral responses:

A. Something happens.
B. You have a belief about the situation.
C. You have an emotional reaction to the belief.

For example:
A. Your friend falsely accuses you of taking money from her purse and
threatens to break-up with you.
B. You believe, She has no right to accuse me. She's a liar!
C. You feel angry.

If you had held a different belief, your emotional response would have
been different:

A. Your friend falsely accuses you of taking money from her purse and
threatens to break-up with you.
B. You believe, I must not lose your temper. That would be unbearable.
C. You feel anxious.

The ABC model shows that A does not cause C. It is B that causes C. In the first
example, it is not your friends false accusation and threat that make you
angry; it is your belief that she has no right to accuse you, and that she is a
liar. In the second example, it is not her accusation and threat that make you
anxious; it is the belief that you must not lose your temper, and that losing
your temper would be unbearable.

The Three Basic Musts

Although we all express ourselves differently, according to Albert Ellis and
REBT, the beliefs that upset us are all variations of three common irrational
beliefs. Each of the three common irrational beliefs contains a demand, either
about ourselves, other people, or the world in general. These beliefs are known
as "The Three Basic Musts."
1. I must do well and win the approval of others for my performances or
else I am no good.

2. Other people must treat me considerately, fairly and kindly, and in

exactly the way I want them to treat me. If they don't, they are no good
and they deserve to be condemned and punished.

3. I must get what I want, when I want it; and I must not get what I
don't want. It's terrible if I don't get what I want, and I can't stand it.

The first belief often leads to anxiety, depression, shame, and guilt.

The second belief often leads to rage, passive-aggression and acts of violence.

The third belief often leads to self-pity and procrastination. It is the demanding
nature of the beliefs that causes the problem. Less demanding, more flexible
beliefs lead to healthy emotions and helpful behaviors

Disputing

The goal of REBT is to help people change their irrational beliefs into rational
beliefs. Changing beliefs is the real work of therapy and is achieved by the
therapist disputing the client's irrational beliefs.

For example, the therapist might ask, "Why must you win everyone's
approval?"
"Where is it written that other people must treat you fairly?"
"Just because you want something, whymust you have it?"

Disputing is the D of the ABC model. When the client tries to answer the
therapist's questions, s/he sees that there is no reason why she/he
absolutely must have approval, fair treatment, or anything else that s/he
wants.

Insight

Albert Ellis and REBT contend that although we all think irrationally from time
to time, we can work at eliminating the tendency. It's unlikely that we can ever
entirely eliminate the tendency to think irrationally, but we can reduce the
frequency, the duration, and the intensity of our irrational beliefs by
developing three insights:

1. We don't merely get upset but mainly upset ourselves by holding inflexible
beliefs.

2. No matter when and how we start upsetting ourselves, we continue to feel

upset because we cling to our irrational beliefs.

3. The only way to get better is to work hard at changing our beliefs. It takes
practice, practice, practice.

Acceptance
Emotionally healthy human beings develop an acceptance of reality, even
when reality is highly unfortunate and unpleasant. REBT therapists strive to
help their clients develop three types of acceptance: (1) unconditional self-
acceptance; (2) unconditional other-acceptance; and (3) unconditional life-
acceptance. Each of these types of acceptance is based on three core beliefs:

Unconditional self-acceptance:
1. I am a fallible human being; I have my good points and my bad points.
2. There is no reason why I must not have flaws.

3. Despite my good points and my bad points, I am no more worthy and

no less worthy than any other human being.

Unconditional other-acceptance:

1. Other people will treat me unfairly from time to time.

2. There is no reason why they must treat me fairly.

3. The people who treat me unfairly are no more worthy and no less
worthy than any other human being.

Unconditional life-acceptance:

1. Life doesn't always work out the way that I'd like it to.
2. There is no reason why life must go the way I want it to

3. Life is not necessarily pleasant but it is never awful and it is nearly

always bearable.

http://www.rebtnetwork.org/whatis.html

A major aid in cognitive therapy is what Albert Ellis called the ABC Technique
of Irrational Beliefs.
The first three steps analyze the process by which a person has developed
irrational beliefs and may be recorded in a three-column table.

* A - Activating Event or objective situation. The first column records

the objective situation, that is, an event that ultimately leads to some type
of high emotional response or negative dysfunctional thinking.

* B - Beliefs. In the second column, the client writes down the negative
thoughts that occurred to them.

* C - Consequence. The third column is for the negative feelings and

dysfunctional behaviors that ensued. The negative thoughts of the second
column are seen as a connecting bridge between the situation and the
distressing feelings. The third column C is next explained by describing
emotions or negative thoughts that the client thinks are caused by A. This
could be anger, sorrow, anxiety, etc.

Ellis believes that it is not the activating event (A) that causes negative
emotional and behavioral consequences (C), but rather that a person interpret
these events unrealistically and therefore has a irrational belief system (B) that
helps cause the consequences (C).

For example
Gina is upset because she got a low mark on a math test. The Activating event,
A, is that she failed her test. The Belief, B, is that she must have good grades
or she is worthless. The Consequence, C, is that Gina feels depressed.

After irrational beliefs have been identified, the therapist will often work with
the client in challenging the negative thoughts on the basis of evidence from
the client's experience by reframing it, meaning to re-interpret it in a more
realistic light. This helps the client to develop more rational beliefs and healthy
coping strategies.

A therapist would help Gina realize that there is no evidence that she must
have good grades to be worthwhile, or that getting bad grades is awful. She
desires good grades, and it would be good to have them, but it hardly makes
her worthless.

If she realizes that getting bad grades is disappointing, but not awful, and that
it means she is currently bad at math or at studying, but not as a person, she
will feel sad or frustrated, but not depressed. The sadness and frustration are
likely healthy negative emotions and may lead her to study harder from then
on.

REBT is based on a few simple principles having profound implications:

1. You are responsible for your own emotions and actions,

2. Your harmful emotions and dysfunctional behaviors are the product of
your irrational thinking,

3. You can learn more realistic views and, with practice, make them a part
of you,
4. You'll experience a deeper acceptance of yourself and greater
satisfactions in life by developing
a reality-based perspective.

REBT distinguishes clearly between two very different types of difficulties:

practical problems and emotional problems. Your flawed behavior, unfair
treatment by others, and undesirable situations, represent practical problems.
Regrettably, your human tendency is to upset yourself about these practical
problems, thereby unnecessarily creating a second order of problems--
emotional suffering. REBT addresses the latter by helping you:

Take responsibility for your distress. The first lesson in healthy

emoting and relating was stated by the Roman philosopher Epictetus
more than 2000 years ago: only you can upset yourself about events--
the events themselves, no matter how undesirable, can never upset
you.
Recognize that neither another person, nor an adverse circumstance,
can ever disturb you--only you can. No one else can get into your gut
and churn it up. Others can cause you physical pain--by hitting you over
the head with a baseball bat, for example--or can block your goals. But
you create your own emotional suffering, or self-defeating behavioral
patterns, about what others do or say.
Identify your "musts." Once you admit that you distort your own
emotions and actions, then determine precisely how. The culprit usually
lies in one of the three core "musts:"

"Must" #1 (a demand on yourself): "I MUST do well and get approval,

or else I'm worthless." This demand causes anxiety, depression, and
lack of assertiveness.

"Must" #2 (a demand on others): "You MUST treat me reasonably,

considerately, and lovingly, or else you're no good." This "must" leads
to resentment, hostility, and violence.

"Must" #3 (a demand on situations): "Life MUST be fair, easy, and

hassle-free, or else it's awful." This thinking is associated with
hopelessness, procrastination, and addictions.

Ascertain what you're demanding of yourself, of your significant others,

or of your circumstances. Not until you have discovered the "must" can
you then go on effectively to reduce your distress.

Dispute your "musts." The only way you can ever remain disturbed
about adversity is by vigorously and persistently agreeing with one of
these three "musts." Thus, once you've bared them, then relentlessly
confront and question your demands.

Begin by asking yourself: "What's the evidence for my 'must?' " "How is
it true?" "Where's it etched in stone?" And then by seeing:
"There's no evidence." "My 'must' is entirely false." "It's not carved
indelibly anywhere." Make your view "must"-free, and then your
emotions will heal.

Reinforce your preferences. Conclude, therefore:

o Preference #1: "I strongly PREFER to do well and get approval,
but even if I fail, I will accept myself fully,"

o Preference #2: "I strongly PREFER that you treat me reasonably,

kindly, and lovingly, but since I don't run the universe, and it's a
part of your human nature to err, I, then, cannot control you,"

o Preference #3: "I strongly PREFER that life be fair, easy, and
hassle-free, and it's very frustrating that it isn't, but I can bear
frustration and still considerably enjoy life."

http://www.threeminutetherapy.com/rebt.html

4.10 Conclusion
Ellis says human being is both rational and irrational. Irrationality is the cause
of emotional problems, such as guilt, anxiety, anger and depression. Ellis has
identified eleven irrational ideas. The goal of rational emotive therapy is to
show the client how his misinterpretation of events is causing him problems
and to teach him to see things in a more rational manner and aid him in the
process of adjustments.

http://teachereducationguidanceandcounsellin.blogspot.com/2011/03/rational-
emotive-behaviour-therapy-rebt.html

EXTRA KNOWLEDGE:

4.12 ADLERIAN COUNSELING

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) was the founder of Adlerian approach, also known as
Individual psychology. He was a sickly child and had difficult relationship with
his younger brother. Against his parents and teachers' expectation, he rose to
the top of his class and went to study medicine at the University of Vienna,
later specialising in neurology and psychiatry. Adler wrote his book in 1959
titled Understanding Human Nature which was a bestseller. He wrote, spoke
and demonstrated his work in Europe and the United States until his death in
1937.

Alfred was a colleague of Sigmund Freud, and along with Carl Jung developed
the school of psychodynamic thoughts. He disagreed with Freud's extreme
emphasis on biological and deterministic views toward human. Adler proposed
a more optimistic, hopeful and positive theory on human development,
stressing on subjective feelings and social interest. He focused on unity of
personality, believing that humans can only be understood when viewed as
complete beings. Humans develop a unique life style that is created by them.
They have created their own personality and therefore can choose to change.
Clients are encouraged to value their strengths and to acknowledge that they
are equal members of society who can make a worthwhile contribution. After
Adler's death, Rudolf Dreikurs was the most significant figure bringing Adlerian
psychology to America, applying its principles to education, individual, group,
and family therapy.

4.12.1 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS of HUMAN NATURE

The following are sonic assumptions of human nature stated by Adler:

Holistic:

Adler argued that people's actions, thoughts and feelings had to be seen as a
whole. He held that "no life expression can be viewed in isolation, but must
always be regarded in relation to the total personality" (1956. p. 75).
Personality is not made up of separate parts, but rather, the person as a whole
orientates himself or herself to the surrounding.

The lifestyle of people and how they behave in the world is determined by the
ideas and beliefs they have chosen. For example, a person may choose to
believe that he should be better than others or that he should be liked by
others. Adler did not place importance on genetic factors but more importantly
how the person used what he or she inherited in responding to the
environment.

Social

Adler further suggested that people were social in nature. So, their behaviour
had to be interpreted in a social context. If this be the case, then it is important
to examine:

how people behaved in their family,

how they behaved in their school,
how they behaved as adults in the workplace,
how they behaved with their friends and
how they behaved in intimate relationships.

The human baby is born in an inferior position, quite helpless and dependent
on others for survival. The feeling of inferiority, whether real or imagined, may
last well into the teenage years. Some people become so engrossed in their
feelings of inferiority that they become emotionally and socially paralysed and
develop an inferiority complex. Humans are always trying to overcome
physical weakness by striving for perfection and significance as well as
developing a sense of superiority. Such effort is called compensation. This does
not mean being overly more powerful or more significant than others, it simply
means moving from a perceived lower position to a higher one, from feeling
neglected to feeling accepted, and from perceiving weaknesses to achieving
strength, the unique ways in which an individual achieves his or her superiority
is what meant by individuality.

PARENTING
Wise parenting will enable children to grow to feel that they arc social equals.
In other words, they are equal in their families, have equal rights, equal
respect and share equal responsibilities. Children expect to be treated equally
and expect their views to be taken into account.
- Alfred Adler

According to Adlerian counselling, humans are mainly motivated by social

interest, meaning people feel connected to society that treats them
as equal and they see themselves as belonging to society. People who
possess social interest are responsible for themselves and those in their
society. They have an opportunity to change their beliefs and their behaviours.
Adler considered that each person has chosen to be the person that he or she
is; we are the authors of our own creations of ourselves. People can change if
they wish. However, change is not easy for an adult; we are all good at being
our old selves and will have to struggle at being a different version of
ourselves.

Teleological

Teleological comes from the Greek word teleo which means goal. Adler felt that
human behaviour was guided by a purpose. To understand human nature, you
have to know what is guiding a particular behaviour. For example a person who
is always late. What is the purpose of being late? Perhaps the person is often
late to show others that he or she is busy.

Alternatively, the person wants to show to others he or she is in control and

nobody can tell him or her to be on time. Adler calls the beliefs that
underlie people's goals of behaviour as private logic; to the person it is
logical to behave in such a way.

BIRTH ORDER

Another major idea of Adler was his emphasis on birth order. Birth order is the
ordinal position an individual is born into his or her family. Adler proposed that
people who share the same ordinal birth positions share similar
characteristics. This is because the psychological situation of each child is
different from each other depending on his or her birth order. Adler focuses on
five positions with each sharing similar unique characteristics: the oldest, the
youngest, the second horn, the middle, and the only child. Birth order and the
interpretation of this position influence one's interactions within the family and
with others outside the family. Individuals tend to form their unique personality
from the first years within the family, reacting to their siblings and family
dynamics. Thus, the family environment is also seen as important to a person's
development, especially the first six years of life. A negative family
environment may be rejective, authoritarian, suppressive, materialistic,
overprotective or pitying. A positive family environment may be democratic,
accepting, open, authoritative, and social. (See Figure 2.6).

Birth order

General
Influenc
e on
Personali
ty
Develop
ment
First child often receives much attention and is lavished with love.
She is seen as unique and special. She tends to be dependable, hard
Oldest working and try to keep ahead. When the second child arrives, the
child first child finds herself dethroned and slightly neglected. She is no
longer the centre of attention and must share the spotlight with the
newcomer.
This child finds that she is an addition to the family, and share the
spotlight with another person that comes before her. She strives to
Second
gain attention and to be better than the older sibling. She competes
born
with the oldest, striving for achievement in different areas. The
second born is often the opposite of the first-born.
This child often feels left out since the first and second has already
team-up. This child may adopt the "poor me" attitude and creates
Middle
problem to gain attention. In problematic family, however, the middle
child
child may become the peacemaker, the person who holds things
together.
The youngest is often the baby of the family and becomes the centre
of attention. He may be pampered and spoilt. He has to strive and
Youngest
become at least as good as the others ahead of him. Youngest
child
children tend to develop in a unique ways, different from the older
siblings.
The only child shares some characteristics with the oldest child since
she is also the centre of attention and strives to become the best.
Only She is also pampered and spoilt. She may crave being in the
child spotlight all the time, even with those outside her family. She may
have problems sharing or cooperate with people of her age, yet get
along well with adults.
Figure 2.6: Birth Order and Its Influence in Personality Development

4.12.3 GOAL OF COUNSELLING and the ROLE OF THE COUNSELLOR

The goal of Adlerian counselling is to help clients develop a healthy, holistic
lifestyle. This is achieved through an equalitarian relationship between the
counsellor and the client. Clients are assisted in identifying, exploring, and
disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions associated with feelings of
inferiority. These feelings might result from any negative effects of birth order,
negative family environment or lack of social interaction and correction of the
faulty lifestyle, goals, and assumptions.

Ultimately, the counsellor will help the client foster social interest and start
contributing to society, overcome feelings of inferiority and acquire a sense of
equality with others, modify clients' views and goals, and change clients' faulty
motivation. Within clients' lifestyle encourage clients to be brave enough so
that they arc able to explore, identity or confront any fears, perceptions or
issues that have been burdening them. In a condition full of positive regard
and empathy, clients become increasingly willing to change and grow. As
clients become more fully functioning, they will have greater acceptance of
their self. In conclusion, clients are ultimately responsible for their own lives.

The role of the counsellor is to diagnose, teach, and model the desired
behaviours. The main taslc oF the counsellor is to assess clients' level of
functioning by gathering information on their family constellation, including the
birth order, the parents, siblings and others living at home. Clients' early life
experiences are also explored. The counsellor then interprets clients'
situations, putting assumptions on clients' areas of problems that need to be
worked out.

4.12.4 ADLERIAN COUNSELLING TECHNIQUES

Adlerian counselling follows FOUR phases of therapy:

1. Establishing a Relationship

The counsellor establishes an equal partnership with the client with equal
respect, rights and responsibilities. The counsellor accepts the client without
any conditions and encourages the person to point his or her strengths and
abilities. Focus is on the fact that the client can make a change if he or she
wishes to. The client must feel safe, especially if he or she is to reveal his or
her inner thoughts. The counsellor should be straight with the client and not
'play games'.

2. Gathering Information

Gather information about the client by observing the way he or she enters the
room, sits, speaks and behaves in the counselling sessions. The counsellor will
analyse the clients' lifestyle by examining their birth order and family
environment, early memories especially during the first few years of life. Early
recollections are used as a diagnostic tool to evaluate clients' present attitudes
and current lifestyle. The counsellor asks directly why the client has come and
much can be learned by what he or she tells and does not tell. The counsellor
will ask about the client's place of work, family, friends and relationship with
siblings. For example, is the client the eldest who was often bullied by his
younger brother?
Or was the client a pampered child? The client will also be asked to recall
earlier experiences. According to Adler, people remember events that reinforce
the beliefs and ideas in their private logic.

3. Giving Insight

Counsellors will help clients gain insight into their present behaviours. Adlerian
counsellors use mainly verbal techniques to assess, evaluate arid interpret
clients' lifestyle. The counsellor can use confrontation where he challenges
clients' private logics. Asking the "what if" questions encourage clients to
explore possibilities. By now the counsellor will have some idea about the
clients' view of themselves, their view of the world and their unconscious
decisions about how to move through life. These guesses will have to be
confirmed by the clients: agree or disagree. Agreement on the counsellor's
assessment of the client may be conveyed verbally or non-verbally (by
gestures and body language). For example, the client may recognise how
private logic has restricted him and may want to change his behaviour. If the
client is a person who likes to be better than everyone else, then it is likely
that he or she will be lonely and without real friends.

4. Encouraging Reorientation

This is the most difficult phase where the Counsellor guides and encourage the
client to find a way to change. The counsellor will point out the client's
strengths and encourage the client to find a way to move on. Tasks which are
achievable are set for the client; especially those that challenge private logic
and are hindering the person from changing. To acquire new behaviour is an
uphill task, and the counsellor should make an effort to congratulate
achievement, the counsellor may make reference to earlier counselling
sessions where certain issues were discussed that may be helpful to the client
at this phase of the counselling process. The counsellor may end the sessions
by assigning tasks if appropriate.

The Adlerian approach requires the clients be able verbalise their thoughts and
so language is essential. Even if non-verbal situations such as drama or art are
used, clients need to talk about and understand what they discover
themselves. The Adlerian approach is based on the belief that people want to
belong as equals and are keen to develop their full potentials. The Adlerian
approach is appropriate for people who are able to accept responsibility for
their behaviour and who are willing to make changes.

Practice questions

1. Discuss briefly the Adlerian approach and its view of human behaviour?
2. a. From the Adlerian perspective, what is the reason(s) for clients
having

Problems in life?
b. What is the goal of counselling according to Adlerian approach?

3. What are the techniques used in Adlerian counselling?

4. a. What is your birth position?
b. Do Adlers characteristics defined for your birth position reflect in
your personalities?

Suggested reading
Read up on GESTALT theory
Reality Theory and its uses
Solution focussed theory

Chapter References
REBT
(http://teachereducationguidanceandcounsellin.blogspot.com/2011/03/rational-
emotive-behaviour-therapy-rebt.html)

BASIC ID; http://knowwhatubelieve.blogspot.com/2012/04/lazaruss-multimodal-

basic-id-
concept.html
Theoritical perspectives, At http://iws2.collin.edu/lipscomb/16_week_course
/theoretical_ perspectives_outline.htm

Gilliland, B.E. & James, R.K. (1998). Theories and strategies in counseling and
psychotherapy (4th Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Gilliland, B.E. & James, R.K. (1998). Theories and strategies in counseling and
psychotherapy (4Ih Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Lazarus, A. (n.d.). Lazarus-Multimodal-Therapy. Retrieved February 6, 2012,
from Psychotherapy.net: http://www.psychotherapy.net/video/lazarus-
multimodal-therapy
Nystul, M.S. (2003). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective
(2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Nystul, M.S. (2003). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective
(2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Rousseau, H.J. (1968). The impact of educational theory on teachers. British
Journal of Education Studies, 16(1), 60-71.
Whitehead, A.N. (1916). The organization of thought. Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society, 17, 58-76.
Sciarra, D.T. (2004). School counseling: Foundations and contemporary issues.
USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Sciarra, D.T. (2004). School counseling: Foundations and contemporary issues.
USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Thompson, C.L., Rudolph, L.B. & Henderson, D.A. (2004). Counseling children
(6th ed.). USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Thompson, C.L., Rudolph, L.B. & Henderson, D.A. (2004). Counseling children
(6th ed.). USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
Wagner, W.G. (2003). Counseling, psychology, and children: A
multidimensional approach to intervention. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall.
Wagner, W.G. (2003). Counseling, psychology, and children: A
multidimensional approach to intervention. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall.
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Carl Rogers. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html

Glossary

Assertive Activities/ programs designed to teach self esteem and self

training expression in intimidating interpersonal situations.It is used
also as a therapeutic technique in treatment
of dysfunctional behavior such
as dependent personality disorder.
Congruent Congruence is about being genuine being yourself in your
relationships with other people, without any pretence or
faade. When we are congruent, how we act and what we say
is consistent with how we are feeling and what we are
thinking.
Defence A tactic developed by the ego to protect against anxiety.
mechanism Defense mechanisms are thought to safeguard the mind
against feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for the
conscious mind to cope with. In some instances, defense
mechanisms are thought to keep inappropriate or unwanted
thoughts and impulses from entering the conscious mind.
Extinction Extinction is the disappearance of a previously learned
behavior when the behavior is not reinforced. Extinction can
occur in all types of behavioral conditioning, but the term is
most often associated with its occurrence in operant
conditioning.
Flooding Flooding is a form of behavior therapy based on the principles
of respondent conditioning. It is used to treat phobia and
anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder. It
works by exposing the patient to their painful memories with
the goal of reintegrating their repressed emotions with their
current awareness In order to demonstrate the irrationality of
the fear, a psychologist would put a person in a situation
where they would face their phobia at its worst. Under
controlled conditions and using psychologically-proven
relaxation techniques, the subject attempts to replace their
fear with relaxation.
Ideal self Ideal self This is the person who we would like to be. It
consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is dynamic
i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in childhood is not the
ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
Insight Insight learning is a kind of learning or problem solving that
occurs suddenly through understanding the relationships of
the different parts of a problem rather than through test and
error. It is when something happens all of a sudden after you
have understood the relation of the various parts.
Modelling A process where a client/ student learns by imitating without
any verbal direction by the therapist or others
Negative Think of negative reinforcement as taking something negative
reinforcement away in order to increase a response. Imagine a teenager
who is nagged by his mother to take out the garbage week
after week. After complaining to his friends about the
nagging, he finally one day performs the task and to his
amazement, the nagging stops. The elimination of this
negative stimulus is reinforcing and will likely increase the
chances that he will take out the garbage next week.
Neurosis A functional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, obsessional
thoughts
compulsive acts, and physical complaints without objective evi
dence of disease, in various degrees andpatterns, dominate th
e personality.
Personality Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic
patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, a person's unique
behavioral and cognitive patterns; OR, a person's unique
consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. For
example, some peoples are shy and introspective while others
tend to be outgoing and extroverted.
Positive Think of it as adding something in order to increase a
reinforcement response. For example, adding a treat will increase the
response of sitting; adding praise will increase the chances of
your child cleaning his or her room. The most common types
of positive reinforcement or praise and rewards, and most of
us have experienced this as both the giver and receiver.
punishment Punishment refers to adding something aversive in order to
decrease a behavior. The most common example of this is
disciplining (e.g. spanking) a child for misbehaving. The
reason we do this is because the child begins to associate
being punished with the negative behavior. The punishment is
not liked and therefore to avoid it, he or she will stop behaving
in that manner.
Rational belief Healthy, productive and adaptive beliefs that are consistent
with social reality, and are stated as preferences, desires and
wants. rsjit/2013
Reframing To reframe, step back from what is being said and done and
consider the frame, or 'lens' through which this reality is being
created. Then consider alternative lenses, effectively saying
'Let's look at it another way.' Challenge the beliefs or other
aspects of the frame. Stand in another frame and describe
what you see. Change attributes of the frame to reverse
meaning. Select and ignore aspects of words, actions and
frame to emphasise and downplay various elements.
Thus, for example, you can reframe:
A problem as an opportunity , A weakness as a strength
An impossibility as a distant possibility, A distant
possibility as a near possibility
Oppression ('against me') as neutral ('doesn't care about
me')
Unkindness as lack of understanding
reinforcement The term reinforce means to strengthen, and is used in
psychology to refer to anything stimulus which strengthens or
increases the probability of a specific response. For example, if
you want your dog to sit on command, you may give him a
treat every time he sits for you. The dog will eventually come
to understand that sitting when told to will result in a treat.
This treat is reinforcing because he likes it and will result in
him sitting when instructed to do so.
Self worth A person who has high self-worth, that is, has confidence and
positive feelings about him or her self, faces challenges in life,
accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with
people.
Shaping A teaching technique by which a child is rewarded for
successful approximation of a target skill. If a child is learning
to write his or her name, say "Alex," a teacher would shape
the responses by starting with the letter A, and providing the
other letters: _lex. The next step would be perhaps for the
child to write the first and last letters independently. The
process would continue until the child can write his name
independently.
Stimulus Something that incites or rouses to action; an incentive
Systematic technique used in behavior therapy to treat phobias and
desentization other behavior problems involving anxiety; client is exposed to
the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the
anxiety reaction is extinguished
Unconditional Unconditional Positive Regard means 'a basic acceptance and
positive and complete support given to a person regardless of what he
regard or she says or does'. Rogers believed that it was essential for
therapists to show unconditional positive regard to their
clients. He also suggested that individuals who don't have this
type of acceptance from people in their life can eventually
come to hold negative beliefs about themselves.
Unconditioned The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that
response occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. For
example, if the smell of food is the unconditioned stimulus,
the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the
unconditioned response.
http://allpsych.com/psychology101/sensation_perception.html

http://www.apa.org/research/action/glossary.aspx
Chapter 5

Basic Counselling Skills

At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

Understand some counselling misconceptions;

describe the stages and process of counseling;
master the skills to build relationships with students, entertain and hear
in counseling;
acquire skills in interpreting non-verbal behavior;
identify the cause of the problem and suggest a wide range of solutions,
and
Acquire skills in implementing interventions.

5.0 Introduction

5.1 SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT COUNSELLING

For some people, seeking professional help is out of the question. Counselling
is thought to be for losers, not people who are strong and capable. However,
the vast majority of people who seek counselling do so because it takes great
courage and strength to work on their own issues and become proactive in
improving their life. How do you view counselling? The following are some
misconceptions about what counselling is and how it works:

Counselling is only for people who have serious emotional or mental

problems.

You don't have to be in a crisis to go for counselling. When your vehicle isn't
running properly or as well as it should, it doesn't necessarily mean it needs a
major overall but rather a tune-up. The same could apply to you; counselling
could be used only as a tune-up for problems you may be facing. Why wait
until you can no long function at home, school, work before seeking help.
When you are not feeling well physically, you seek the help of a physician. The
same principle applies too if you are not feeling good about your life or some
aspects of it.

Counselling is for people who are too weak to overcome an

addiction or have some other types of inadequacy in dealing with
problems on their own.
An individual is not psychologically impaired or weak if he is going for
counselling. Confronting and addressing your problems through counselling
take courage, self-discipline and motivation. It is a proactive, smart decision to
address issues before they start affecting you negatively. The main purpose of
going for counselling is to get good advice.

The counsellor will teach you how to cope with your problems.

Counselling helps to draw out answers within yourself and identify your beliefs,
values, and thoughts which affect how you act and feel.

Counselling can teach you how to express repressed feelings of anger, joy,
guilt, etc. Counselling is essentially a safe way for an individual to explore his
life and get help to process his thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc. This is not to say
that counselling is not a place to find solutions. Yes, finding solutions that make
sense to the client is critically important! But it can be much more.

A good counsellor will provide you with a quick solution to your

problems with little to no effort on your part if you ask him.

The counselling process requires some patience. The process may seem slow
and drawn out at times. Counselling is not an instantaneous answer to all
problems. It can take a lot of self-exploration. Before things can get better,
they forgotten get worse because old wounds are being opened up and looked
at in order to deal with them in an effective manner.

When in counselling, the counsellor does most of the talking and

you listen.

People tend to have two different views about this. Some people seem to think
that all counsellors do is sit and listen to clients with no input at all. Other
people think that counsellors do all the talking and that clients are going to get
lectured to. Counsellors are listeners, but the process of working through a
person's problem is a collaborative one. Counsellors need to go at the "speed"
of the client and need to custom-fit their way of working to suite the needs and
desires of the client. This means that there will be an interaction that involves
participation of both the client and the counsellor.

Counsellors will work towards changing your beliefs and values to

conform to the right way to feel and act.
Counsellors help you draw out answers from within yourself. Each person is
different and dealing with problems takes personal evaluations and self-
discovery in order to deal with the problem effectively.

If you choose to seek professional help, you are considered mentally

unhealthy.

Quite the contrary, confronting and addressing your problems through

counselling takes courage, self-discipline and motivation. There are many
reasons for seeking professional help, the following are some of them:

feel depressed, sad, downhearted, hopeless and don't understand why

or what to do to change the way you feel.
Have no purpose or direction in your life.

Going through a personal or professional transition.

Feeling stressed due to work, school, family or financial problems.

is or has been a victim of abuse, whether physical or mental.

Cannot control your anger, becomes resentful and says/does things you
regret later.

Have lost someone close to you and feel you cannot go on with your
life.

Feel alienated from yourself, from others.

Not able to make friends.

arguments with spouse almost never result in an efficient compromise,

Time spent gambling is taking away from my family life.

In the process of ending a relationship.

Have problems communicating with your parents.

Counselling doesn't stay and end in the counselling room. The skills you learn
can be applied to many aspects of your life, to empower and enrich your
relationships at home, at work and in your community, as well as provide you
with increased well-being to becoming the person you were meant to be and
always wanted to become. The skills and growth you experience will be carried
with you in your everyday life.

Counselling is painful, unpleasant and serious!

As much as issues can be painful and hard to face, the counselling relationship
can be very pleasant. There can be times when there is a lot of humour within
the counselling room. Some people become relieved that they can simply be
themselves within the counselling room and once they experience that it is a
safe place for them, they relax and enjoy working on improving their life. They
learn that the counsellor is not there to judge them or make them feel bad.
Once safety and trust have been established, counselling can be the best
investment you ever make in yourself!

Can it really be confidential?

No information disclosed (even the fact that you walked in the door) by you
can be divulged to any third party without your written permission to do so. As
a matter of fact, even if you gave your written consent, you have the power at
any point in time to revoke your consent. In other words, you arc the one in the
"driver's scat" with regards to who you wish to have and not have your
personal information. If you have any questions regarding confidentiality, ask
your counsellor about it.

[source: Misconceptions about counselling. Tumbler Ridge Counselling Services

http://www.nris.bc.ca/trcs/whatscounselina.html l

Check you understanding.

Read the above list of misconceptions about counselling.

a) Which of the above misconceptions you had about counselling?
b) What led you to have these misconceptions?

5.2 Counselling stages

You have learned that counseling is a process that is experienced by a person

at any time, and not necessarily during a crisis or any change in daily life.
Counseling sessions includes few stages, namely : ( i ) Defining the problem ,
(ii ) Explain the expectations of the child , (iii ) to explore children's efforts to
solve problems , ( iv ) exploring and indentifying ways towards problem solving
, ( v ) Obtain commitment from the children to try a solution that has been
identified , and ( vi ) Terminate the counseling sessions ( Thompson , Rudolph
& Henderson , 2004).

However, if you refer to other books, chances are you'll find the other words
used to describe each of these. The important thing is that the consent of all
theorist about the dynamics that occur in each stage of the counseling process
is similar.
Describe briefly what happens in the above situation. Why?

Stage 1: Build relationships Identifying childrens problem

In anticipation of efforts to define the problems of children, it is important for
guidance and counseling teachers to build relationships with the children in
question. For the first meeting, is not surprising if the child is not yet ready to
share things about a personal or significant people in his life. Or they are not
sure if your guidance and counseling teachers are willing to listen to what is to
be told.

As a result, guidance and counseling teachers should strive to build a

relationship that is professional and seeks to create an atmosphere conducive
to travel further counseling.

Among the things that may be recommended include the following:

Greet children at the door with a smile and a friendly appearance;

invite the children to their seats before the teachers guidance and
counseling area
Start the session with the issues and is not endangered like, "What?"
It's eat?" And so on;

When a guidance and counseling teachers found that children are comfortable,
he will start the session with restructuring of the session. Structuring sessions
will involve an explanation of the items below:

the purpose of counseling ;

length of time the session ;
the number of sessions ;
the role of children and counselors , and
Conditional confidentiality.

The restructuring aims to explain to children about such things as listed above
so that it will be clear about what will take place in counseling. This will
prevent your child from having the wrong impression of the counseling
process, thus creating expectations that are too high and unrealistic for a
counseling session.

When structuring the session is finished, guidance and counseling teachers will
continue to step defining the problem. He will identify emerging issues and
create opportunities for children to explore the above issues. For that purpose,
guidance and counseling teachers can refer to the guidelines below:

Ask the children what are the goals and objectives to be achieved through
counseling sessions. If such goals and objectives are quite difficult to
achieve, guidance and counseling teachers should guide children to make
up the goals or objectives that are more realistic. If the child is not sure
what he wanted to achieve at the end of counseling, guidance and
counseling teachers should also pay careful guidance. The key is that the
child and , instead of guidance and counseling teachers who determine the
goals and objectives of counseling ;

Encourage children to tell about what he wants to share. Guidance and

counseling teachers do not have to censor what is notorious ;

Allow the child to speak and do not be quick to intervene. Avoid making
personal penalties on the issues described.

Just like any other client, when the children are reunited in counseling began to
discuss concerns or problems, it is recommended that guidance and counseling
teachers listen actively seeks to identify the elements as follows:

i. The existence of a problem to be solved ;

ii. The feeling of being connected with the problem , and

iii. Expected child of what needs to be completed by guidance and

counseling teachers.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of guidance and counseling teachers to

respond to this statement:

"In other words, you feel because .you want to

Such feedback will enhance more effective communication between the two
sides earlier, in addition to defining the problems faced by children.

Practice active listening preferably continuous throughout a counseling

session. When children realize that guidance and counseling teachers really
pay attention to the problem, the counseling sessions will be further to the
next level.

Stage 2 Exploration the possible causes for the problems

In this stage, the counsellor strive to get a clear picture of the problems
students face. At this stage, counsellor/ teachers should master skills like using
the open-ended questions that can push students to express his feelings.
For example:

Can you tell me why you did not say about your mathematics, who likes to
teach you?

The students may be silent and would not answer the question immediately!
Therefore, you should be patient and give the student some time to think and
organize the answer.

If the silence is longer than a reasonable time, the teacher counselor can
change the question to be simpler, such as using a series of questions. For
example:

Do you love mathematics teacher?

Why? How? And so on.

To elicit information and to understand the feelings of students, teachers and

counselors must also acquire skills such as interview skills where you have
too show your concern and genuine attention by looking face to face , you
should be able to capture the non-verbal skills such as head nods , smiles ,
signaling and also do some encouraging or a praise. These are basic skills for
achieving the counselling objectives.

In view of this, it is recommended that guidance and counseling teachers to

pay attention in sessions in an effort to encourage the children to make deeper
exploration. These include:

Use basic counseling skills such as listening skills and attending;

interpret non-verbal behavior; skills to respond, skills, identify problems,
how to implement intervention skills. These skills will be further discussed
in the next section ;

Focus on behavior , not physical or personal aspects of the child;

Be objective and non-judgmental ;

Show enthusiasm to help children ;

Avoid conflicts with the child ;

Help the children think of the alternatives solution, but donot give any
suggestions.

To begin the exploration, guidance and counseling teachers can use this
statement:
When you are ready, we will start by looking at the extent of your efforts to
solve your problems.

This statement will encourage the child to think, and then generate a list of
actions that have been taken or behavior shown until now as an alternative
solution. For those who have yet to write efficient, guidance and counseling
teachers can post the answer set.

Based on the above, the parties will identify the advantages and
disadvantages of each alternative so that the child can

Stage 3 Goal Setting / Identifying the Cause of the Problem & looking
for alternative solution

After the students have spoken about their problems, counsellor together with
the client identify the cause of problems. Here the counselors should use the
questions planned to change problems identified in the first session, further
explain the specific problems from different angles. For example, a common
problem is that students do not like math classes. Teachers and counselors can
ask why questions, to continue guiding the student with a series of
structured questions to identify the true cause of the problem.

Stage 4. Finding Alternatives (also known as selection of Strategies

and Take Action)

During this stage, students are helped to look for alternatives to solve the
problem, Counsellors are required to trigger students to use thinking skills to
generate ideas in discussion and problem-solving techniques, find different
alternatives or choices based on the causes of the problems that have been
identified. In other words, you must master the skills of counsellors to
compare, analyze, evaluate, examine and decide to help students find an
alternative that can solve the problems encountered.

Here there would be a brainstorming session in which the counselor

encourages the child to develop as many problem-solving alternatives as
possible. Counselors encourage children to generate as many alternatives as
possible and to withhold judgment until the list is finished. Quantity of ideas is
more important than quality in this first step. After the brainstorming list is
complete, children are asked to evaluate each alternative in light of its
expected success in helping them get what they want

It is important to know that whether students will be willing to accept your

recommendations, solely depends on the techniques used in these sessions.
This means that the success of achieving the objectives of counseling
depended on the efficiency of the teacher counselors using the principles of
client centred counselling, especially to create a feeling of empathy, which is
important to comprehend and understand the feelings or emotions of the
students. When students realize their feelings are consistent with teachers
counselors and many others also have similar problem like theirs, they are
ready to the possibility of receiving an alternative to solve their problem. In
other words, empathy is a critical skill for the success in the counselling
sessions. The other skill is communication and listening skills. Using suitable
communication skills enable counselors to convey the message or information
accurately, while the listening skills them to understand exactly what is told by
the student/client. A proper use of these skills will ensure any
misunderstanding, conflicts or doubts that may arise betwwen the student and
the counselor.

Stage 5 ending the session

Summarising is the final stage in the counseling sessions, in which students

may be asked to determine and choose the alternative that is considered
appropriate to address problems encountered. At this stage, the teacher
counselor should use reinforcement techniques with the aim to increase the
ability and ensure they actually implement the chosen alternative.

In order to terminate the counseling session, it is important for guidance and

counseling teachers to follow the following:

Summarise what has happened during the last counseling session, for
example: the results of the childs choice of alternative solutions, the child's
ability to manage the next life, and so on;

- Getting agreement to end child counseling;

Plan for follow-up (if necessary), eg refer the child to a psychiatrist, medical
doctor, and so on

However, if the child found that all the alternative solutions that have been
tried are less effective or fail to solve their problems, the session can be
restarted by making new appointments.

We now can conclude that the counseling of children is an art and a science. It
is an art because you as the guidance teacher, should master basic counseling
skills including active listening skills, as well as caring and empathetic nature.

As a science, the guidance and counseling teachers should use a variety of

techniques or strategies designed to gain an understanding of an objective in
each stage of the counseling process. To recall, the questionnaire used to
measure the effectiveness of activities, questions to assess guidance and
counseling, including the counseling services offered. In order to build rapo
early in the counseling process, guidance and counseling teachers must be
genuine, empathetic in nature and practice unconditional positive acceptance
of children as suggested by Carl Rogers in Client Cenred Theory.

Finally, counseling can be summed up as a dynamic process in which

guidance and counseling teachers continually adapt seeks to accommodate
the client's needs are unique and changing.

WHEN SHOULD COUNSELING BE TERMINATED?

How does a counselor decide when to end counseling? Does the counselor or
the client decide? How does either party know the client is ready to stand
alone? If the counselor and client have clearly defined the problem brought to
counseling and the goal to be accomplished, the termination time will be
evidentwhen the goal is accomplished. The counselor may also want tQ took
for any of the following signs:

Is the child more open?

Does the child accept responsibility for feelings and actions?

Is the child more tolerant of self and others?

Is the child more independent and self-directing?

Is the child less fearful, less unhappy, and less anxious than when the
counseling relationship began?

Termination may be difficult for children, who usually find the sessions to
be a time when a caring adult gives them undivided attention. Mutual
attachments may be formed between counselor and child, and the child (and
possibly the counselor) does not wish to end this pleasant relationship. To ease
the break, client and counselor can discuss a possible termination date several
weeks ahead of time. Plans can be made and rehearsed about how the child
will react should problems recur. The child learns that the counselor still cares
and will be available should trouble arise. Counselors may even consider
building in a follow-up time when they ask their child clients to drop them a
note or call to let them know how things are going. The counselor may want to
schedule a brief follow-up visit. Any informal method of showing the child that
a counselor's caring does not end with the last interview can signal the
counselor's continued interest in the child's growth and development. Most
successful counselors use a plan for maintaining the gains their clients have
achieved

5.7 BASIC SKILLS for COUNSELING

Guidance and counseling teachers need to master a wide variety of basic

counseling skills to use in certain levels/stages in the counseling process. We
will be learning basic counseling skills like the following categories:

1. Attending and listening skills

2. interpretation skills of non-verbal behaviour
3. Responding skills
4. Skills to identify problems
5. Implementation of intervention skills

5.7.1 LISTENING SKILLS & Attending client

Both skills to entertain and listen very important to build the foundation of a
strong relationship between teacher guidance and counseling, and children
who meet during a counseling session. Through these skills, guidance and
counseling teachers to convey the message that he is ready physically and
psychologically secaia to what is being said and done by the children later.

5.7.2 How to entertain students

A guidance and counseling teacher should greet the children at the entrance
counseling room with warmth, thus ensuring friendly athmosphere. A
conducive environment will make the child feel safe and reassuring to seek for
the help he/she came for.

There certain skills youo need to master and these are contained in the
acronym, SHOVELER as described below:

S (Face the other squarely) : Look directly at children;

H (Head Nods) : nod the head;

O (. Adopt an Open Posture): open body position;

V (Verbal Following) : Detection of verbal abuse;

E (Speech) : Conversation;

L (Lean toward the other) : body leaning forward;

E (Make Eye Contact) : Contact points;

R (Be Relatively Relaxed) : Located in releks.

[Sumber: www.psvch.umn.edu/courses/.../basic%20counseling%2 Oskills.pdfl

Based on these acronyms, quite clear that treats skills include both verbal and
non-verbal behavior.

5.7.3 How to Listen In On

Guidance and counseling teachers who wish to listen actively in counseling

children should display such characteristics.

For further clarification, here are four tips for cultivating the next active
listening skills:

i. Efforts to understand the client before trying to be understood by the

norm , we would like to understand. It is more effective in counseling
guidance and counseling teachers should not talk but listen. It is better
to collect before providing any information desired by the child
concerned;

ii. Nature does not punish

Empathetic listening means not giving penalties on what is being said.
These behavioral characteristics associated with the receipt of
unconditional positive you have learned in client centred theory.
For example , guidance and counseling teachers should avoid punishing
the children who regularly miss school in the early stages of counseling
sessions until the client has explained the reasons behind his practice ;

iii. Give full attention

Ernest Hemmingway, a novelist said, When people talk, we must listen
carefully. Extremely rare to meet people who really listen to the fullest.
During a counselling sessions, children want guidance and counseling
teachers not only to listen, but do active listening, and be caring and
sensitive to their concerns.

iv. Use silenc

Silence is an invaluable tool in counseling. Therefore, you should never

interrupt or intervene when a child is speaking. As the proverb says,
silence is golden", then the silence is especially noticeable counsellors
gather information about the situation being experienced by the
children in counseling.

In general, active listening skills can be divided into two types, namely:
basic skills and advanced skills. Basic skills in order to understand the
client, includes open-ended questions, paraphrasing, reflection of
feeling, minimum responses, ask for clarification, formulate and revise
perceptions. The advanced skills are used for smooth running
counseling sessions, and include the restructuring and eliciting.

5.7.4 Basic Listening Skills

There are seven small skills embodied in basic listening skills as listed above:

a. Open Questions

Open-ended questions are questions that can not be answered with a Yes or
No", but encourage children to describe what is talked.

Example: What you want to tell them?

How is the situation at home affect you?

b. Parafrase ( is also reflection of content)

Paraphrasing is used in counseling sessions last for a period of time. It aims to

inform the child that he is not only heard but understood what was said. In
paraphrasing, use one or two keywords the client and combine with other
words of the same meaning. In addition, the use of words such as: It seems,
Is it possible... is an easy way at that can be understood by the client.

Using this skill, the counsellor literally does not just parrot or repeat word for
word what the child has said but instead paraphrases it.This means that the
counsellor picks out the most important content details of what the
child has said and re-expresses them in a clearer way and in their own
words rather than in the child's. It is important to note that reflection does
not necessarily occur during conversation with children but can happen during
the therapist's observation of the child in play. The following are some
examples of paraphrasing.

Example one
Child statement: 'My Mum and Dad are always working. My Dad leaves home a lot to
go to work, he goes to Cairns and all over the place. Mum is the boss
where she works and has to stay back sometimes and tell other
people what to do.'
Counsellor response: 'Sounds like your Mum and Dad aren't around very much for
you.'

Example two (child playing with miniature animals in the sand tray)

Child statement: 'Come on dinosaur, jump over the fence; it's nice over here.
Come on, watch me, look, come on Spiky, come over here, I'll
help you, I'll come back and get you, look.'

Counsellor response: 'Looks like your animal wants Spiky to come and join
him.'

Example three (child playing in the doll's house, with the doll's family)

Child statement: ' I told you not to make that mess on that floor.You'd better clean
it up.
You've put stuff all over the floor, you naughty boy.'
Counsellor response: 'That mother wants the little boy to clean up the
mess.'

c. Reflecting feelings

These skills to convey the message to the child that guidance and counseling
teachers not only understand but empathize with his feelings. Reflecting
feelings, means sensing feelings of which the person may be scarcely aware. It
means helping the person name feelings and experiences that they have not
yet put into words. It means letting them know that you are truly entering into
their world: This involves reflecting back to the child information about
emotional feelings that the child is experiencing. When a child is involved in
play, reflection of feelings can also be used in relation to emotional feelings,
which the child attributes to imaginary people, symbols or toy animals involved
in the play.

Reflection of feelings is one of the key counselling skills because it raises the
child's awareness of feelings. It entourages the child to deal with significant
emotional feelings rather than to avoid them.

It is important for a counsellor to be clear about the difference between

thoughts and feelings and not confuse the two. If we were to ask you, the
reader, to tell us the difference between thoughts and feelings, what would you
say? If we said,'We feel that caring people make better counsellors' we would
be expressing a thought; it would have been better if we had said,'We think
that caring people make better counsellors'.

Thoughts generally require a sentence to describe them, whereas feelings

usually only need one word. Feeling words such as the following describe an
emotional state:

happy sad angry

confused disappointed surprised
despairing overwhelmed frightened
worried contented insecure
rejected betrayed helpless
responsible powerful
Source: Katryn Geldard.(2013) Counselling Children

Reflecting feelings should always be done tentatively owned as your own

perceptions. Be ready to accept that sometimes your perceptions will be
inaccurate.

Example 2: :
Client: It has been often Maniam (a classmate) tarnish the name of my future
classmates. He accused me of copying the Maths answers and taking
stationery without permission

(Reflection)

Counsellor: Maniams actions cause to be really angry?

If a counsellor is able to reflect the feelings of the child, the counseling

sessions will be smoother. The most important is to use words that conform to
the feelings of children.

Hence, it is recommended that guidance and counseling teachers generate a

list of words that describe the childrens feelings like the following example:

Reflecting feelings involves making statements that include 'feeling' words,

such as 'youre sad,'You seem to be angry', or 'You look disappointed'. The
following are some examples of statements made by children with the
appropriate reflection of feelings by the counsellor.

Example one

Child statement: 'Every time I ask Mum if I can go to Aunty Karen's, she says
"No".
Kelly's going this weekend, and it was my turn.'

Possible counsellor responses:'You're disappointed' or'You sound angry.'

(The correct response would depend on the context and on non-verbal cues.)
Example two (child's brother was killed in a car accident)

Child statement: 'My brother didn't even have his favourite dog with him
when the car was hit.'
Counsellor response: 'You're very sad' or 'You sound very sad.'

Example three (child is involved in imaginary pretend play)

Child statement:'Let's get out of here before they find out. Quick, they're
coming.' Counsellor Response: You sound scared.'

Example four (child is playing in the doll's house, with the doll's house family)

Child statement:'I told you not to make a mess on that floor. You'd better
clean it up.
You've put stuff all over the floor, you naughty boy.'
Counsellor response: 'That mother sounds very angry.'

Frequently, children will try to avoid exploring their feelings because they want
to avoid the pain associated with strong emotions such as sadness, despair,
anger and anxiety. However, getting in touch with feelings usually means
moving forward to feeling better emotionally and then to being able to make
sensible decisions.

Sometimes children will tell us directly how they are feeling. For example, a
child might say,'I'm very angry with my brother.' However, usually children will
not tell us directly how they are feeling emotionally, but instead will give non-
verbal cues and will talk indirectly about their situation.

If you, as a counsellor, attend closely to a child, your own feelings will begin to
match those of the child and it will become easier for you to identify what the
child is feeling. With practice, it is possible to notice feelings such as distress,
sadness or anger from the child's posture, facial expression, and movements
and play behaviour.

Be aware that if you correctly reflect a child's feelings, then the child is likely to
get more fully in touch with those feelings. If the feeling is a painful one, the
child may start to cry. As a counsellor, sometimes difficult; certainly, it is
important for counsellors to be able to deal with the feelings generated in
themselves by children's tears.

Reflecting back anger to a child can sometimes have a dramatic outcome. If

the counsellor reflects back the anger by saying,'You're angry' or perhaps 'You
sound very angry', then the child may respond by angrily snapping back,'I'm
not angry', followed by a period of acting out in the play room. If this happens,
the counsellor may feel alarmed; however, the child's reaction reflects their
ability to express anger, which they did not wish to own openly. The counsellor
may then encourage the child to direct their anger more appropriately through
the use of media.

In summary, reflecting feelings allows the child to fully experience their

emotions and to feel better as a result of releasing these feelings. Once
feelings have been released, the child is then able to think more clearly and be
able to consider constructive options and choices about the future. Reflection
of feelings is therefore one of the most important of the counselling skills.

d. Minimum reponse

Minimal response are small signals that let the client know you are listening
and understanding words like uh-huh, yes, no, mmm, and little
actions like nodding that show you are engaged in listening. This will
encourage the client to talk, with minimum interruption or influence by the
counsellor. Once the client begins to talk, the listener uses well-placed
responses that are unobtrusive enough to not interrupt the speakers thoughts,
but which encourage them to reveal more.

Minimal responses such as nods, non-words like mmm, and yes & no are
usually used while the client is speaking, with words and short phrases being
used in-between
Using minimal response is a skill that requires you to listen actively and give
your full attention. Too few responses or using them formulaically dropping
them in without regard to what theclient is really saying is likely to
discourage them from talking and wil give the impression of not listening or
not caring. Using them appropriately is likely to encourage talking and help the
client feel they are being listened to, heard and understood.

e. Ask for Clarification

When the teacher guidance and counseling did not hear or understand what is
talked about children, he will ask for clarification. This situation occurs because
the sound of children that are too slow, or the language used is very difficult to
understand. Guidance and counseling teachers who do deliver the message to
the child that he would really like to understand what it is to be served.
Some example sentences / questions in the form of request for clarification is
as follows:

"I do not understand. Could you explain? "

"Can you repeat what you described earlier? I am not clear.

f. Summarising

"Based on what you tell us in this session, I found that you seem dissatisfied
with your performance in the UPSR exam attempts. Dissatisfaction grows more
serious as you fail to meet the expectations of parents are quite high. They
fully expect you to obtain excellent performance in UPSR later. I understand
your situation at the moment. issue do you want to focus next ? Issues which is
more critical and need to be sorted out? "

6. Checking perceptions

Checking out occurs when the counsellor is genuinely confused about his or
her perceptions of the client's verbal or nonverbal behaviour or when the
counsellor has a hunch that bears trying out. Examples are "I feel that you're
upset with me. Can we talk about that?" "Does it seem as if . . . ?" and "I have
a hunch that this feeling is familiar to you." The counsellor asks the client to
confirm or correct the counselors perception or understanding, in contrast to a
clarifying request, which elicits a deeper, clearer understanding. If the client
continues to correct our reflections, then the key is to repeat the clients exact
words sincerely so that he feels joined. If then he still corrects our reflection, he
is really correcting himself and struggling with his own inner conflict that may
be part of a pattern of conflict with others that can be explored.

The client will then respond to the reflection by elaborating more, by correcting
the reflection, saying, No, that's not quite what I said. Whatever his response
is, we can respond by saying, Can you say a little more about that? after he
has elaborated. We can pretty well carry on an entire session with just
reflections and invitations to say more.

"... I understand your situation at the moment. Which issue do you want
to focus on next? Or some other more critical issue and needs to be
sorted out first? "
For a better understanding of small skills contained in basic listening
skills, see Table 5.1
.
Interpreting Verbal Behaviour

Verbal

Effective verbal or spoken communication is dependant on a number of factors

and cannot be fully isolated from other important interpersonal skills such

as non-verbal communication, listening skills and clarification. Clarity of

speech, remaining calm and focused, being polite and following some basic

rules of etiquette will all aid the process of verbal communication

Non verbal

According to various researchers, body language is thought to account for

between 50 to 70 percent of all communication. Understanding body language
is important, but it is also essential to remember to note other cues such as
context and to look at signals as a group rather than focusing on a single
action. Learn more about some of the things to look for when you are trying to
interpret body language.
During counselling sessions, giving attention does not usually
refer to oral communication alone. Mehrabian (1971) showed the
importance of communication in percentage::

Verbal communication can be divided into several components; body

style (posture) , gestures , facial expressions , eye contact , and tone
of voice .

1. Body style: It refers to how one is sitting, moving and walking. For
example, when someone just walk into a room without knocking the
door (indicating or seeking permission to enter) and heads for a chair
and sits there! This usually indicates a problem that is being faced on
something bothering on his mind. As a result the client is indecisive. So
to encourage the client, the counsellor will have to probe the client in
safe way :

2. Gestures: According Ekman et. al. (1972), there are 76 motion cues
commonly used and can be understood. As councelors, it is important
not to give much attention to the gestures, but you should try to
understand the meaning of the signs highlighted. For example, a client
sits in tense and clutching her body. This gesture demonstrated that she
is very angry. A smile shows interest, like being kind, approval and
sympathy, and shrivel shows anxiety or a sense disagreeing.

3. Eye contact: Important for counsellors to use eye contact with the
aim of showing he is listening and paying attention to the words of his
clients. Clients who triy to evade eye contact usually indicates he is
trying to hide something from the counsellor.

4. Tone of voice: According to Argyle (1983), a tone of voice has deep

powerful emotions that is usually indicatd by a highor low tone of voice.
For example, people who are feeling sad usually speak with a low voice
and slowly ; worried people usually speak fast.

All about the head, face and neck

Here's a list of all the body language signs you might want to take
notice of. They are within your field of vision when youre having a
conversation:

General movement in facial muscles - involuntary or

deliberate, for example grimacing, twitching, smiling or frowning.
Lifting or dropping of the eyebrows may indicate surprise,
questioning, wondering or disbelief.
Frowning - it can mean: discomfort, physical pain (why exactly at
that moment, you might ask yourself or indeed your partner),
anger, suspicion or listening intently

Smiling but notice which facial muscles are moving. Is it a real

smile that involves all the facial muscles? An artificial smile would
involve only the muscles around the mouth. It leaves no trace of
any pleasure and it could be an attempt to hide displeasure,
disagreement and/or discomfort.

Nodding - this can mean all kinds of things. It could simply be an

encouragement for you to say more, or an agreement. It could
also be masking negative feelings, even though you might think it
implies agreement. It could even be an automatic movement -
implying 'I am listening', but the listener has really switched off.

Eye contact and movement of the eyes - avoiding your gaze at

one end of the scale and staring at the other. Both could mean the
same: "I am uncomfortable, but I don't want to let on". Looking
away can be a way of discouraging communication. Its well-
known, though, that couples in love maintain eye contact for longer
than average. We all know about the lifting of eyes to the ceiling
too: "Oh for goodness sake" - usually with along with a bit of
'tutting'

Winking which is sometimes hardly noticeable. Winking may

simply be a habit someone has developed to communicate comfort
or kindness. It can also mean "you and I know whats going on" or
"I like you"

Size of the pupils - abnormally large may mean shock or absolute

terror. It can also be associated with medication or drug use

Neck youll see someone swallowing when they are anxious.

What you can't see is that its because their mouth is dry. When
someone is feeling uncomfortable they may stroke their neck to
soothe themselves. Covering the windpipe can be seen as a
defensive movement, implying protection of the self
Silence - as a counselling tool

Shostrom (1968) demonstrated that silence has various meanings. Studies

shows being silent provide a space for clients to think and make a reflection.
For example, a student who met counsellor for the first time, usually keep
silent and then continue speaking. An experienced counselo will wait for about
a minute and then break the silence. This way the counsellor projected
empathy and will be detected by the client. This eventually encourages the
client to open up and discuss the problems they are facing.

It is important for the counselling personel to use the silence in sessions to

allow clients some soace for themselves to reflect. However, if the silence is
too long, you may have to break the silence. In the midst of silence, the
counselor should practice empathy skills to demonstrate the understanding of
the clients distress feelings, as to encouge the client to be stable in emotion
and mind. This will help the client to be able disclose their inner thoughts and
feelings more freely.

It is important for counselors to assess what silence has a meaning to the

client. Sometimes, silence is to reflect the issues discussed at earlier time. At
other times it may indicated being scared, angry, tired, respect, grief or
shame! To interpret the meaning of this silence, it is better for the counselor to
observe non-verbal communication. Sometimes a counselor may his worries
about the client situation seems like being worried, feeling angry or sad. This
might persuade the client to speak more. St times, it is necessary to ensure
the confidentiality of their communications with a counselor, to allow them to
feel safe to continue the conversation. Counsellors need to acknowledge
clients cilence, by doing so it breaks the client being shy. For example:

You find difficult to continue speaking because you lack confidence or do not
believe me? Or You dont want to speak because you are called to see me? Is
this what you feel and think? "

Responding Skills

1. Minimum response
2. Paraphrasing and reflection
3. ask for clarification
4. confrontation
Basic counseling skills like responding should be mastered by guidance and
counselling teachers. These skills require you to pay attention to the feelings
and statements made during a counseling session. When these skills are
combined with the skills you've learned before, the child will be motivated to
continue sharing problems, and more self- disclosure.

How to Provide a Positive Response

Among the positive response guidance and counseling teachers to information

provided by the child include the following

Provide motivation;
Provide encouragement;
Challenging positively;
Give praise
nod your head and minimal encouragement such as " urn ...
hmm ";
Ask questions like, "So, what will happen then? "
Apart from the above techniques, some of theorists who believe that
confrontation, interpret, and skills support is also included under the skills to
respond.

Interpreting skills

For additional information, read the guidelines below on how to respond.

i. Give the reaction when requested by the child in question. This shows
that he is ready to accept any comments, criticism , etc.;

ii. Focus on the positive things and / or are in control areas set out from
children. If the guidance and counseling teachers had to focus on the
negative, start with the positive first. Make sure the child has a mental
and emotional endurance to accept and be able to change the
characteristics of the negative behavior

Example:

"It seems that you have the characteristics of leadership. Yet, you also
need to give consideration to the idea of group members"

(iii) Provide specific responses and konkirt.

Example:
"I noticed you do not seem able to adapt to your classmates. " (Too
general )

Until now, you have told me your opinion about your conflicts with the
other four members of the group to prepare a presentation. What
exactly do you want? (Specific)

iv) Not to be judgmental or evaluatative. Instead, give reinforcement to the

client in order to solve the problem.

Example:

While the record shows that you did not go to school for 30 days till March, but
from April, you just appeared for two days per month. Nizam, these is not a
good practice".

(v) Check the client's reactions to the responses given by submitting the
following questions:

"Did I meet comment mean?"

What is your response you for ...
"Did you mean ...?

Supporting skills

Sometimes the guidance and counseling teachers found that children's

problems may be quite serious and not commensurate with the still young
age . Children that need extra help in the form of support in order to overcome
the fear or resistance to counseling services.

The following statements can be used to convey your support:

Yes, there is time, we certainly need the help of other people, although only up
to talk to someone who will listen without criticise us.

"It's an indication that our wisdom increases when we ask for help from others.

Ask for help from others really need the courage and strength of a person.

Counseling Services is to help children like you. Try to identify its effectiveness.
"

Uncertainty in our lives sometimes cause anxiety and stress.

3 Requesting Clarification
Request for clarification will enable less information will be focused more
sharply. These skills can be used to explain keliruan but it should be used only
when absolutely necessary. If the skills are often used in love hearts, it will
affect the smoothness of the counseling relationship dalani dialogue.

When using clarification, the counselor has the client clarify vague or
ambiguous thoughts, feelings or behaviors by asking the client to restate
what s/he has just said or by stating to the client what the counselor has
understood the client have said.

Clarification;

Can be either a paraphrase of the client's most recent statement or a

question to the client about the content of what has just been said.

it is a request for the client to make more clear what has

already been said, whereas a probe requests information that has
not yet been stated.

Differentiated from a paraphrase by its purpose: to gain clarity about

vague or ambiguous material, whereas a simple paraphrase intends to
communicate to the speaker that the counselor is listening, has
understood what has been just said, and involves an invitation to
continue speaking without interruption.

Client: "I and my sister always go together. He says I am being selfish and not
willing to help. "

Here, clients who say he, mother or sister, is not clear. So to ask for
clarification, counselors can ask by saying: Are you saying Mother or
an older sister?

Sometimes, it is better to ask for clarification as counselor:

"I do not know say a can hear the akhiryang events occurring after your
parents back home. Could you repeat it once? , Or "Hey, you said to
feel confused on the teachers pay less attention to yoo. Does this mean
that all teachers? "

Question: Explain briefly the importance of clasrification skill to a counsellor.

4 Confrontation

Guidance and counseling teachers use confrontation when they detect there is
a mismatch between the speech, nonverbal communication exhibited and
feelings expressed by the student/ client.
The purpose of using confrontation is focused on the fact of what is said or
done , which draws attention to the discrepancy between what was said and
what is shown in nonverbal communication .

In counseling sessions, confrontation is not meant to challenge students

negatively, or threathen them! This type of reaction is used in conjunction with
other skills like active listening, and asking for an explanation; it smoothes the
process of counseling. Hence in the process of doing so, we obtain solutions or
alternatives to the problems put forward.

Read the guidelines makes confrontation as follows:

1. Step 1:
Discuss with children the statement inconsistent, confusing issues, conflicts
that are not congruent.

2. Step 2 :
Childrens attention to things that are not compatible, then help them
manage the conflicts that arise until resolved.

3. Step 3 :
Identify the positive impact of confrontation that has been made on the growth
of children.

4. For clarification, read the suction counseling sessions, and trying to

understand how guidance and counseling teachers make confrontation.

Exercise: Look up some examples for the above skills. Discuss with your lecturer.

Intervention skills

Under the context of counseling, intervention is a technique used in therapy

sessions. Thus, interventions are often applied to deal with severe personal
problems, including substance abuse, eating disorders, self-harm , abuse
computer or watching television in extreme activities , and especially mental
and emotional disorders .

Interventions can be divided into intervention in langsungdan indirect

intervention. Intervention directly using individual or group counseling
techniques, and indirect interventions involving collaboration client families to
encourage them to help client solving the problem.

(a ) Summarising Skills
Summarising involves taking what someone has said over a
prolonged period and putting it in a nutshell a sentence or a few
sentences that condense what might have taken a few minutes or
longer to say.

So if I can summarise what youve been telling me, youd like to have your
mum for Christmas, and would feel guilty if you dont ask her. On the other
hand your partner doesnt get on with her and you feel its unfair on him to ask
her to stay. You also realise that your brother never invites your mum to stay
with him and his family and you resent that youre usually the one who does
it.
Some therapists are fonder of summarising than others. Personally, I use it
sparingly, perhaps if the client has come with a lot of issues, and I want to be
sure Ive taken them all in.

Summarising at the end of a session carries the danger that it feels like
youre putting everything back in the box, before the client leaves. Much of the
work of therapy is the processing done in the 6 days 23 hours between
sessions, so to encourage the client to shut down, rather than leave still in
touch with the feelings that he or she needs to work-through can be unhelpful.

So, Summarising is different to paraphrase or reflection, though both

elements may be included in a summary. Summary gives structure to what has
been said, and is usually used to focus the important facts or conclusion by
focusing on the key points that were discussed.Summarising skills are highly
dependent on the skills to interpret, especially the use of reflective thinking
skills. Features reflective thinking is involved in the solution of a problem,
critically and creatively, recollection -related experiences as well as an
evaluation of the possibilities of settlement. Figure 5.3 The following briefly
describes the stages of reflective thinking that occurs during the process of
resolving a particular problem.

2 Paraphrasing (reflection of content)

Paraphrasing involves repeating whats said by putting it in your own
words:
Client: Im having a tough time in my job
You: Things feel really difficult for you at work

Paraphrasing and summarising can be useful:

For letting the client know theyve been heard and understood.
To let the other person clarify without you directing them
For helping the client clarify to themselves whats going on
For helping the client find the words theyre looking for:
Client: I felt a bit cross.
You: You were angry.
Client: Yes, actually, I was angry.
Summarising can be used to review towards the end of sessions.

( c ) Decision Making Skills : suggesting solutions

Under the context of problem solving, reflection is a process of a person who

strives to remember and reflect on the problems that have thought or
experienced, analyze and evaluate its impact, including repair and planning to
figure out how to modify it to be used more effectively in the future.

Making the decision is the final stage in the process of problem

solving. It is defined as a technique or process of thinking skills and creative
and reflective thinking to consider the selection of the best of the possibilities
of alternative solutions proposed in the problem solving process. The main
strategies used in the decision-making process is the use of critical thinking
skills and creativity, including reflective thinking through graphical
management yourself or brainstorming, to compare, analyze, evaluate and
predict the effects and consequences of each choice from a wide range of
possible troubleshooting solution, so choose only the best decision with the
aim of achieving the objectives of effective problem solving as well as
perfect....

Extra reading materials

Practice Questions
Chapter References

Gibson, R.L. & Mitchell, M.H. (1995). Introduction to counseling and guidance (4th ed.).
Englewood Clifs, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Mehrabian, A. (1972). Nonverbal communication.Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.

Nystul, M.S. (2003). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective (2nd ed.).
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Thompson, C.L., Rudolph, L.B. & Henderson, D.A. (2004). Counseling children (6th ed.).
USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.

Wagner, W.G. (2003). Counseling, psychology, and children: A multidimensional

approach to intervention. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Internet

Active listening. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at

http://www.state.goV/m/a/os/65759.htm

An analysis of counselling/counselling skills as a therapeutic intervention. Downloaded

on 13 Nov 2013 at http:// ivythesis.tvpepad.com/term paper topics/2009/07/an-
analysisof-counsellingcounselling-skills-as-a-therapeutic-intervention. html#ixzz
15FFdAcje

Attending skills. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at

http://www.thecounsellorsguide.co.uk/attending-skills.html

Basic counseling skills. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at

www.Dsvch.umn.edu/courses/.../basic%20counseling%20 skills.pdf

Counseling and psychotherapy: Commonly used counselor skills in therapy sessions.

Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at http ://w ww. suite 101 .com/content/counseling-and-
psychotherapv-a171602#ixzz 15FCfEDu A

How to identify, assist and refer students with personal problems and/or disruptive
behavior. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at http://pc.brooklyn.cunv.edu/FACRFRL.HTM

Listening and responding skills course manual. Dimuat turun pada November 3,2010
daripada www.securethefuture.com/publications/ listening.pdf

Responding and reflective skills. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at

http://www.thecounsellorsguide.co.uk/responding-reflective-skills.html
Responding skills. Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at http:// ivythesis.tvpepad.com/term
paper topics/2009/07/ an-analysisof-counsellingcounselling-skills-as-a-therapeutic-
intervention. html#ixzz 15FDEJW55

What is nonverbal communication? Downloaded on 13 Nov 2013 at

http://www.soapboxorations.com/ donnellking/nvcom.htm

Glossary
Chapter 6

Intervention in Counselling for children

At the end of the lessons of this chapter, students will be able to:
describe the concept, types and characteristics of play in child counseling
interventions;
describes the implementation steps play therapy;
describe the concept, types and features stories, painting, music, and
determine implementation measures storytelling therapy, art and music,
respectively;
describe the concept of context Biblio under child counseling interventions,
and lists the implementation steps Biblio therapy, and
Master the skills to integrate various therapeutic interventions to
implement effectively.

Introduction: The concept of Intervention

Intervention is a technique used in therapy sessions. Thus, interventions are

often applied to deal with the excessive socio-emotional, physical issues, and
emotional disorders.

Types of Intervention

Interventions divided into direct and indirect intervention. Direct intervention

use individual or group counselling techniques. Indirect interventions will
involve the cooperation to promote their client families to help the clients
resolve the problems encountered.

Types of counselling interventions

At present, there are several types of therapies used in the intervention

kaunseling childhood.

1. Play Therapy

From birth, play a major aktiviti in the development of childhood fizikal

aspects, intellectual, social and emotional.
Definition of Play Therapy

(A) The Association of Play Therapy mentakrifkan play therapy as the

systematic use of models tereotikal to form interpersonal process. This is done
when playing a trained therapist uses the therapeutic power of play to help
clients prevent or resolve psychosocial problems and achieve optimum growth
and development.

(B) According to Carmichael (2006), play therapy is a structured approach to

therapy and theoretical berasaskan normal communication and learning
processes of childhood.

The therapist uses play therapy to help a child by getting them to express their
feelings and emotions through non-verbal language. In play therapy, toys and
objects becomes a child language. Through play, the therapist (or a counsellor)
can help the child learn positive behavior when they experience the emotional-
social skills deficits. It is important to build a positive relationship between
therapists and the child to elicit the experience of positive emotions that are
need for recovery. In addition, play therapy may also be used for developing
childrens cognitive aspects and contribute to the depth of perception to
resolve conflicts within a childs negative thoughts.

Usefulness of Play Therapy

According to Carmichael (2006), play therapy is especially suitable for a child

aged 3 to 12 years. However, play therapy has now expanded to teenagers
and adults as well.

Play therapy is used as a basis for various mental interventions, such as

processing anger, grief, trauma, modification of behavioral disturbances, such
as indecision, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
autism, cognitive development, social and unfavorable physical issues ,
through learning and behavior problems.

Play therapy is often used as a tool for diagnosis. For example, a client
noticed play therapist play with toy objects to determine behavior disorders.
According to the psychodynamic view, a child who involve themselves in the
main obstacle to deal with uncertainties and depth. In this way, play therapy
may be used as a self-help mechanism, for a child there is structured play but
it should be free play.

Play Therapy Approach

An approach to treatment through the use of play therapy is the process of
systematically desensitizasi or original learning to change behavior disorder of
childhood.

Often, after a child runs using its own means of solving problems, they face
problems. Then the therapist uses play to assess or understand the child and
tries to apply play therapy to help them. The counsellor tries recognize mental
disorders and their problem solving techniques.

Benefits of a Play Therapy

Play therapy brings many benefits to children who face mental disorders. He
has helped a child:

Become more responsible and establish more memorable strategy.

Build new and creative settlement to the problem.
Cultivate respect and self acceptance, and others.
Learning experience and emotions are expressed.
Cultivate empathy and respect the thoughts and feelings of others.
Learning new social skills and relational skills with family.
Establish self efficacy and increase confidence.

Concept of play therapy

Play therapy is one-dimensional models in various conceptualization based on

the following concepts:

11 through play, a child better understand the world;

ii. The process is repeated along the developmental continuum shuttle ;
during therapy the child is given the the opportunity to meet and explore
their identity
iii. The child via the elements of symbolic play gives them the opportunity
to assess and test their imaginative options

Story telling

Key Concepts

The theorists assume storytelling is an effective way to build rapo and

recognize children with more friendly. When they presented their stories, the
children share important information about themselves and their families, as
well as to express the pent. As a result, guidance and counseling teachers to
better understand children's conflicts and their family dynamics.

Through the theme that manifests or repeated during the analysis of children's
stories, the guidance and counseling teachers to understand their feelings and
struggles closer.

Storytelling as a Therapy

As the moral values contained in the story, and the children had the intrinsic
motivation of love to listen to stories, storytelling therapy is a most effective
approach to counseling
Children who have behavioral problems. Through storytelling embodied moral
values related, children can learn how nienyebabkan problem, as used by the
main character.

Use for Therapeutic Stories

1. The story reflects the inner emotional ups

Stories include emotional experience. They provide children with the necessary
words to express feelings and a context to help them understand those
feelings. Thus, by listening to stories, children are becoming more confident,
creative and vibrant when facing everyday problems.

2. listening to provide experience before

Effective storytelling techniques or involve whole mind, the senses and the
emotions of listeners, lifelike often with the story world. As a result, listeners
are better prepared to face similar situations in life.

3. The story teaches creative problem solving

Typically, the story contains a problem or conflict to be resolved. The story
brings the listener to appreciate every step to resolve the problem or conflict.
In this way, the story teaches creative, resourceful and perseverance.

4. The story shows the action and akihat

The story gives examples of failures and successes, sorrow and joy. They
reflect the character of the consequences of each decision, whether positive or
negative. This provides guidance to the children to make positive decisions in
the future.

5. The story reflects the universality of the human condition

Through structured emotional events, emotional story to the listener's

perception and experience, and reminds listeners even though there are
differences between each other, all men face the same obstacles of life.

Helen Keller, in "The Story of My Life'' wrote: listening to stories is the most
easy and natural for children to master the language that allows them to
organize, structure, manipulate, think and perceive the world in a rational
manner.

Use Stories to Children's Therapy

1. Having problems with more confidence

2. Better prepared to face future
3. Taught by creative, intelligent and perseverance
4. Gaining experience obstacles
5. Think and perceive the world in a rational

Storytelling Therapy Techniques

The goal of storytelling therapy allows children who suffer from traumatic
experiences recounted processing experience. This is in order to learn the
nature of belief and the feeling of security with the use of modeling or
imitation prose. However, the aim of this talk therapy can only be achieved
under the condition of no defensive or awareness of children that the stories
presented are related to the character of the child itself. Children who perceive
the main character for overcoming similar obstacles would encourage the
belief that success can be achieved and positive change is realistic. Therefore,
effective storytelling therapy techniques are:

1. Should be sensitive: Experienced therapists will use a technique that

story is not like a situation similar to that experienced by the client. In this
regard, it is good to use animals as the main character or characters
change gender, such as female to male self.

2. Get creative: The story must be presented creatively and with passion
and feeling that attracts the attention of the child to hear. In this regard,
use an impassioned tone when delivering stories to arouse appreciation of
children: preferably use the statues and pictures of the support storytelling.

3. Must be positive: Always end the story with a positive and successful
event addressing similar character facing children.

4. Encourage their children the story: After hearing the story, children are
encouraged to theme their similar story is told by his therapist. Their
purpose is to add to this story where the children/ students have the
confidence to solve their own problems.

Guiding Principles for Storytelling Skills Mastery

To master storytelling skills, teachers must understand and adhere to the

following guiding principles:

a. The teacher should choose a story that fits with their interests, abilities,
ages and experience of students and the objectives of the lesson.

b. Prior to starting a storytelling session, teachers have to memorize the

contents of the material contained in the story.

c. Teaching aids such as word cards, picture cards, statues or masks that
can attract the interest and attention of students should be prepared
before the session started telling stories. Questions for follow-up
activities should also be included.

d. Prior to commencing storytelling, make sure all students were ready to

hear the story.

e. Teachers can sit or stand during the story, as long as all students can
clearly see the teacher's face and expression.

f. Start the story with an interesting voice and with great emotion.

g. Opinion of the students continue to face alternately. This highly

effective way to engage students in the focus of the stories presented.

h. Ensure clear and loud voice teacher. Stimulus variation skill should be
used for varying the tone and intonation of teachers according to the
characters and story content.
i. the word cards and pictures should be used to help students
understand the story more clearly.

j. During the storytelling session, the teacher can ask questions to

encourage students to predict the development of ceiita sehnjutnya.
This way not only to attract the attention of the students but also to the
expansion of their imagination.

k. Make sure that the words and phrases used to tell a story can be
understood by the pupils. The purpose of storytelling is to deliver its
content and not teach difficult words.

l. Fill in the story should be presented to the student with the movements
naturally. Activities acting teacher should be avoided.

m. After the story, follow-up activities should be conducted, for example, a

question and answer activity about the theme and the moral contained
in the story. Teachers can also provide masks available to students to
undertake acting.

Storytelling : Planning and Management

Storytelling activity usually consists of three main stages, namely planning and
preparation, storytelling and cover. In the planning and preparation, teachers
select appropriate stories, memorize the important content and providing
relevant teaching aids. During storytelling, teachers begin by introducing the
title story, then use storytelling techniques and deliver content with an
attractive voice. Level cap is used for follow-up activities, such as discussion of
the theme of the story and the moral contained in the story.

Planning and Preparation

In the first stage, the teacher began selecting the appropriate title of the story.

The theme of the story should contain pure moral values. Fill out the story to
be interesting and the words used should be appropriate to the student
experience. Long-short story should be commensurate with the provisions of
the storytelling.

After the story is selected, the teacher should try to memorize and practice on
their own without telling listeners, at least once. In addition, teachers need to
provide teaching aids such as word cards, picture cards or masks to be used
for the students to act after the talks. Several questions must be prepared to
test the understanding of students after the storytelling.

Before starting to tell a story, the teacher must organize student seating to
ensure that every student can hear and see the expression of the teacher.
Place of storytelling should be adorned with musical instruments like the
pictures correspond to the content of the story to bring students into situas-like
nature of the story.

Storytelling Session

The planning starts with an interesting set of induction and nothing to do with
the story that is to be served. Teachers can use the voice, style and teaching
aids that will attract the attention and help students to understand the content
of the stories presented. Make sure each student has full attention when the
teacher talks. Teachers can engage students in a storytelling session by using
the questions to guide them in the development of the story from the
beginning until the closing stages.

Ending the story

The purpose of the ending storytelling help students strengthen their moral
values embedded in the body of the story. There are many activities that can
be used in the closing session of this story. Among them are:

a. Questioning students about the content of the stories presented.

b. Asking the students to repeat the substance of the story in their

own words.

c. Talk to the students about the values in the story.

d. Guiding students to act based on the content of the stories

presented.

e. Asking students to write essays based on the contents of the

story heard

ART THERAPY
As we all know, art therapy began in the prehistoric era in which humans have
drawn on cave walls to express their ideas. Visual art forms that are commonly
used include drawing, area, and crafts.

Based on the above, art therapy can be defined as a form of expressive

therapy that uses color media, chalk, pencils and markers, integrated with
theory and techniques psikoterapeutik creative process, especially the use of
various art materials affektif components to diagnose the cause of the
problems faced by its clients. In other words, art therapists use drawing and
other art processes for diagnosing and treating clients who have a mental
disorder, cognitive, physical, and development potential. Based skills
assessment and psychotherapy, art therapists choose materials and
interventions artistic needs of clients and their therapy sessions to achieve the
therapeutic goals and objectives.

Art therapy operates under the belief in the creative process of painting can
contain therapeutic effect of treating individuals who have a mental disorder. It
is an approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes the art of painting and other
artistic expression as an aid in communication issues, emotions and conflicts.
Art image becomes significant in enhancing the effectiveness of verbal
exchange between therapist and client to solve problems, create new
perceptions, which in turn bring about positive change, growth and recovery.
View through the integration of art therapy art therapy with psychotherapy,
drawing can be a healing process and that art products produced
communication of relevant information is essential for therapy.

Figure 6.1 below illustrates the emotional joy, fear, sadness and anger from
children's drawings.

PURPOSE OF ART THERAPY

The main purpose of art therapy is similar to other therapeutic modalities,

namely: improving and maintaining mental health of individuals.

In addition, art therapist helps the client to identify the true thoughts and
feelings through his paintings that not only allows the client to obtain the
perception and evaluation of his behavior, but also get a more accurate
understanding of the self and how the interaction with the surroundings.

According to Malchiodi (2006): the process of drawing can be perceived as an

opportunity for self-expression in the imaginative, authentic and spontaneous,
an experience within leading emotional healing, transformation and self-
actualization. The creative process is intended to bring about health
improvement and development experience.

Key Concepts

The main concept of art therapy include the following:

1. Art is regarded as the sublimation of which will not be aware of the children
fulfilled;
2. Have a visual symbol like painting that can be used as a diagnostic tool;

3. Encourage expression of positive and negative thoughts about themselves,

their families and the world;

4. Produce uniqueness, and creativity of children.

Procedures and Results

The origins of art therapy typically associated with Freud's theory of

psychoanalysis. Lately, this very popular type of therapy used by guidance and
counseling teachers oriented Gestalt theory, behavioral, and cognitive.

Art therapy is used in conjunction with cognitive theory is very important in the
development and assessment of cognitive processes. For example, Silver (in
Nystul, 2003) describes how the concept can be developed through a
sequence of drawings. Jung (in Nystul, 2003) explains how color can be
attributed to the perception and judgment: the yellow color associated with
intuition; red with passion; sensation green, and blue with reflection.
Meanwhile, Kenny (in Nystul, 2002) argues that the choice of color is closely
related to the emotional state of a person; black and gray represent
depression, while white signifies emotional rigidity.

By custom, the three types of drawings used in art therapy, namely:

(I) self-portraits;
(Ii) Free or spontaneous painting, and
(Iii) Drawing families.

Preparing to implement Art Therapy

Just as play therapy, counseling and guidance teachers who wish to use art
therapy as an intervention in counseling children need to make preparations
such as choosing a basic art materials.

Selecting Art Materials

Ideally, art therapy should be performed in a special room with a sink

dibeklakan, aprons, trusses, and tables are easy to clean. In addition, materials
or media art needed is supplied including:

Crayons (various colors and sizes);

Finger paint (green, blue, yellow, purple, black and brown;
marker pens (various colors and sizes);
tempura paint (various colors);
Clay;
Play Dough; (discussed IN Detailed)
Paper (various sizes and types such as paper tears, drawing paper);
Scissors;
Glue, and so on.

How to interpret childs art

According to most of the theorist, the interpretation of the works of art therapy
involves the following:
Media selection of children's art;
The creative process is traversed to produce a work of art in question;
The nature and content of the timely results.

Table 6.2 below contains guidelines for interpreting the artwork of children. As
a reminder, the interpretation outlined a generalization only, and can not be
fully utilized due to the uniqueness of the child element.

For additional information, it is recommended that you visit a particular

website to read more about how to interpret works of art therapy in children

Table A guide to interpret clients art

Dimensi Art Interpretation
Type
Small or very small
Size and
items/objects located in a
the inadequate and or not safe
small corner of the drawing
location
paper.
Sadness
Darkened Dark face
Feeling shy due pimples
areas Sun is black
etc
dark Blue Serene/ peaceful;
Colours Yellow Loving/ happiness
RED Anger, energetic
full view with love Loving
Tersingkir akibat kasih
My dear mother, mother hates
sayang dan kemesraan ibu
Content me, etc
yang tidak konsisten.
Tools like hammer, knives, and
Anger or agresif but timid
so on

Download article on interpreting children artwork.

www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/.../ InterpretingChildren'sHumanFigureDrawin
gs

http://www.childrenyouthaspeacebuilders.ca/pdfs/interpreting-
art.pdf
Drawing a tree can reveal a personality at
http://voices.yahoo.com/what-drawing-tree-reveal-personality-
11391486.html?cat=72

MUSIC THERAPY

Music therapy is considered as one of the oldest art forms that are used to
treat patients. In ancient times, songs and chants used by primitive people to
get the help of God. Music therapy helps in a healthcare profession that uses
music to keep the needs of the individual physical, emotional cognitive, and
social.

By the definition of the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy is

the clinical music interventions to accomplish individual goals under DONE
therapeutic relationship by a therapist who has been trained and successful in
the music therapy program acknowledged.

Music therapy is a therapeutic intervention in the form of non-verbal

communication which is best suited for individuals who applied to
communication problems and found it difficult to express his feelings verbally.
Thus, music therapy interventions can be used to:
Manage stress
Restoring health
Mengekspres feeling
Improve memory
Improve communication
Encourage physical rehabilitation

But those who benefit from music therapy is that children, adolescents, adults,
and elderly people who have mental disorders and learning problems,
Alzheimer's disease, abuse problems, brain injuries, chronic pain, physical
disability, including maternity.

The role of therapists assess emotional health, physical and social functioning,
communication abilities and cognitive skills through musical responses,
planning music sessions for individuals and groups based on client needs using
music improvisation, music listening with an open heart to write a song, lyric
discussion, music and imagery, muzil performance and learning through music,
treatment planning, evaluation of on-going, dti action.

Key Concepts
Music therapy has the following key concepts:
In intrinsic, music is part of our culture;
Music can give children a chance to get to know their thoughts and
feelings are hidden;
Music has a basic structure such as rhythm, melody, pitch, and tempo can
restructure the thinking of children who not congruent

Music Therapy with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism, a complex mental disorders due to genetic factors, maternity, home
environment and climate problems of parents, or disruption of brain growth.
Autistic spectrum disorders include problems such as social behavior like being
alone, passive, active but odd than formal, stilted and awkward. Most
communication problems such as speech problems, including verbal
comprehension. Music therapy is the most effective intervention for children
with autism. Alvin (1992), using the power of music to penetrate and raise
consciousness and awareness responses of autistic children, with the aim of
not only musical message received, but also to help them respond. Jemikian
way, music can play a two-way communication.

Brown (1994) describes music therapy as a therapeutic tool is very useful for
people with autism. According to him, the elements of music can be used to
establish social relations, and it sounds like the tone (pitch), rhythm and tempo
(rhythm) can diinterprestasi by therapists as a useful emotional
communication. The Franco (2002) wrote an Autism various aspects of
communication that uses music to reflect his emotions in the vocals.

Recently, music therapy integrated approach to storytelling as a

therapeutic approach to childhood interventions Autism. Based on the
study Brownnell (2002), adapted social stories in music therapy to help autistic
children understand social situations or events, and this raises the spirit to
strive to learn social skills formally.

In children's services, music therapy is used at present as a diagnostic tool in

the field of autism. Wigram and De Backer (2002) concluded: Music therapy
can play a significant role in the evaluation of children who have
communication disorders, because of its non-verbal and music is the medium
used in communication systems praverbal.

Basic Criteria for Treatment using Music Therapy

Toigo (1992) suggest three criteria based, primary care for an autistic person.
Among them are:
1. There should be an overall picture of the structure of music with his
session.
2. Intervention music should reflect the physical movement, tone, or
emotional voice quality in order to bring acceptance and understanding
of Autism.
3. Music therapy should be integrated with sensory integration theory,
effective because music brings an appropriate auditory stimulation,
proprioceptive, tactile and vestibular for autistic people.

Procedures and Results

As we all know, the music therapist uses music and experience the therapeutic
relationship to enhance the well-being of children. Experience music refers to a
variety of activities, including modifying, performing, composing, and listening
to songs.

Fleshman and Fryrear (in Nystul, 2003) says that music therapy consists of four
activities:
i. Experience-oriented recreation and entertainment to foster the process
of socialization;
ii. therapeutic group listen to enhance group cohesion;
1111 Activities that are similar to psychotherapy aimed at stimulating the
emotions, stimulate discussion, fostering self-understanding, and
enhancing social relationships;
iv. Music therapy in individual and group leading to client problems, such
as requesting client duet to nurture cooperation.

General strategy for Music Therapy

11 Structure refers pictorial timetable shows that attract the attention of

the client to attend therapy sessions with the right music.
11 Therapeutic relationship: Requirements mengkomprehen therapist
and predict the development of interpersonal relationships with clients,
and ensure a consistent means of communication in all therapy
sessions.
11 Music Interaction: Interaction music can be started with existing
music or transformer. Information therapists should include skills
development, praverbal interaction, such as a period of time,
interaction through eye contact, including session initiation techniques.
Most importantly, the therapist must master the skills retention musical
interaction that his client would not withdraw before the last therapy
session is completed.
11 Emotional Control: The therapist uses music appropriate framework
to regulate the child's emotional Autism when he let go of emotions
that are not normal
11 Sensory Integration: For Autistic clients who are having problems
with the processing of sensory information, the therapist hams
integration with other suitable approach to reduce behaviors that
hinder their ability to focus and communicate with others.

The process of planning and implementation of Music Therapy

Client consent to treatment plans and interventions ethics.

Arranging for clients attending the therapy room to inspect its

facilities available.
Organize the evaluation period to determine the strategy and
structure of therapy sessions.
Record the details of all the activities undertaken each therapy
session, including feelings and thoughts of the therapist.
Reflection or action of therapies held after each session(to prepare
intervention techniques to modify and improve in the next session)
Telling the client and guardian about the plans and subsequent
treatment sessions.
Therapy session with the appropriate technique and allow sufficient
time for the client to understand.

Biblioterapy

Bibliotherapy can be defined as the use of books to help people solve

problems. A more precise definition is as a technique to structure
bibliotherapy interaction between the therapist and client, facilitator and
participant based on mutual partnership with the idea of literature being read.
This concept is applied in practice treatment, particularly after World War II as
many wounded soldiers do reading sessions during the recovery period. Read
considers military personnel can help faster recovery.

Actually, the idea of recovery through reading is not something new. This idea
can be traced from the time of the Greeks established the first library for more
than 2000 years ago.

Biblioterapy Ideas include reading material selection for a client who has
relevant experience with a situation that is written therein. It starts
from the human tendency to identify with others through expression in
literature and art. For example, a child who is upset when read (or read) stories
of other children who lost their mother will feel less lonely in his world. In this
regard, bibliotherapy include storytelling therapy approaches that have been
discussed in more detail in the beginning of this chapter.

Key Concepts
Fleshman and Fryrear (in Nystul, 2003) argues that the concept of counseling
bibliotherapy derived from the theory of Freudian psychoanalysis, as follows:

Elements of universality. Clients will be able to minimize feelings of

guilt, shame and isolation if they find someone who will listen to the
problems of life;
Identification. Clients can identify with a character in a book to be role
models in terms of attitudes and values;
Catharsis. Clients have the opportunity to make a self-disclosure and
catharsis (expression of feelings without limitation), then see how the
characters will solve the problem;
Insight. Clients acquire insight after reading and comparison to
alternative solutions are used by characters.
Troubleshooting. This will take time to achieve and occurs gradually
as the child will try alternatives until they successfully complete
solution of the problem being faced.

Goals when using books and stories

There are a number of goals that can be achieved by using books and stories.
These
Include general goals, goals specific to the use of story books, goals specific to
creating
Stories, and goals when using books for educational purposes.

General goals when using story books or when creating stories

To help the child to recognize their own anxiety or distress by
identifying with characters or situations in a story.
To help a child to discover themes and related emotions which recur in
their life from time to time. For example, the child may discover that
they have a fear of being left alone, a fear of betrayal or excessive
feelings of responsibility for others. By becoming aware of such
feelings, the child can deal with them and move towards a resolution of
related issues.

To help a child to think about and explore alternative solutions to

problems.This goal can be achieved by changing stories so that they
have different outcomes.

Goals specific to the use of story books

To help a child to normalize events in their life by letting them know

that others have had similar experiences.This goal can be achieved by
reading stories which have themes similar to their own experiences.
To help reduce stigma related to socially unacceptable experiences.
Children who have experienced sexual abuse or domestic violence feel
better about themselves when they know that other children have been
through similar experiences and have had similar feelings. They can
discover this by reading stories about other children having similar
experiences.

To help the child to recognize that some events are unavoidable. For
example, a child who has become ill and has to go to hospital may be
helped by reading a book about another child going to hospital and may
thus identify with some of that child's fears and hopes.

Goal specific to creating stories

To help a child to express wishes, hopes and fantasies. This is

particularly useful for children who are experiencing painful life
situations and are telling untrue stories to avoid the pain of facing
reality. For example, a child who has no parents might be ashamed of
being different from their friends and might find it too painful to tell
them the truth. Consequently, they might tell their friends that their
parents are famous people who are working overseas. By using
storytelling, the counsellor is able to help the child to recognize that
their stories are not true, but may be expressions of wishes.

Goal when using books for educational purposes

To help educate children in appropriate beliefs and behaviours. Books

commonly used in this way are those related to protective behaviours,
anger management and social skills.

Materials needed when working with books and stories

We make use of a variety of story books which cover different themes and
situations, including the following:

Making friends
Families
Rejection
Magic
Monsters
Fairytales
Fables.

We also have story books which are useful for helping children to identify and
own their feelings. For example, we have books on cheating, bullying and
temper tantiums. Additionally, we have a collection of books which we use for
educational purposes on topics such as:

The development of skills which reflect self-esteem issues

Sexual abuse
Protective behaviours

Type of Books Used in Counseling Bibliotherapy

In implementing bibliotherapy counseling as an intervention in counseling,
pernulisan materials that can be used can be classified into several categories
of personnel, namely: a short story (fiction), biographies (non-fiction), fairy
tales, picture books, and self-help books. Also includes autobiography,
biography, and personal diaries.

Short story
The stories describe the conflict-specific inclusions and was a concern that
arises is the best option of all. When children read or hear the story, they
would be associating themselves with the characters in the story, and be
empathetic to the situation last bitter character. Next, children will better
understand and deal with their own conflicts.

Biography
Some biography tells how the children are being adopted to address the
problems they face, or take care of siblings as typical children. If biography is
read corresponds to the situation of children are concerned, he will be able to
learn how the characters in the story of resolving conflicts, difficulties and so
on.

Self-Help Books
In recent years, the books self-help special children already in the market. The
scope of these books are quite extensive - motivation, effective communication
skills, decision making skills, social skills, and so on. It is therefore vital for
guidance and counseling teachers acquire these books for your use and
reference in the future.

Fairy tales
Fable was well loved by the children to be able to serve their fantasy world. In
addition, stories like this also tells us about the ways to solve the problems of
life based on their imagination.

Picture Books
By custom, the child was very fond of a little picture book that contains the
words but the pictures are colorful and clear. Most of this book reflect the
thoughts and feelings of children. As this book based on their experience, it is
easy for children to identify with the character in question, thus interpreting
the message.

Just like other creative art therapy, counseling bibliotherapy can be used as a
stepping stone in group counseling where children can be used as a general
discussion. In the following sessions, discussion group members may be more
specific to a member in need of further study.

Implementation
Bibliotherapy involves reading only, or complemented with discussions or play
activities. Children who struggle with mental disorders are asked to draw a
scene, after which identifies the character that has similar features.

Reasons for Intervention Bibliotherapy

1. To foster a positive self-concept of the individual.
2. To improve the understanding of human behavior and motivation.
3. to foster individual self-assessment and reflection in good faith.
4. Arouse interest in individuals with events occurring around.
5. To relieve emotional or mental stress.
6. Show the individual that is not his only or the first to face the problem.
7. To show the individual that there is more than one solution into a problem.
8. Helping individuals are happy to discuss the problem.
9. Helping individuals to plan constructive action to solve the problems they
face.

What is the nature of students who need to be treated with therapy Biblio?
Implementation Procedures Bibliotherapy? Whether therapists choose
individual or group approach, the basic procedure is the same bibliotherapy
implementation as follows:

1. Starting therapy sessions with individuals motivated to participate in the

activities of identification.
2. Is there enough time to read the relevant material?
3. Allowing time of reflection and evaluation.
4. Provide follow-up time for discussion facilitation techniques to guide the
client or group of clients remember all the content is read by the
application, analysis, synthesis, interpretation and evaluation.
5. Implementation of assessment and direct the individual to cover that
covers assessment and self-assessment of individual therapists.

How to use books and stories

Storytelling is an interactive process between the child and the counsellor. Usually,
children don't like writing in counselling sessions. Many of the children who come to
speak to counsellors could have previously had unsuccessful experiences when
attempting to be creative by writing stories. Because of this, we try to make story
writing an easy, enjoyable and positive creative experience. Usually, as a child develops
a story, we write the story down using a felt pen and a large sheet of paper. Sometimes
we also use a tape recorder to record the story.

Children generally need some modelling by the counsellor before they fully
understand the process of story making. We usually begin by saying to the olhild,
'Today we are going to be telling stories to each other', and 'I will begin, and sometimes
I might stop, and when I stop, I would like you to fill in the gaps.' This allows the
counsellor to choose a theme and to encourage the child to explore pertinent issues for
themselves.

The counsellor can then continue by saying, 'The story will have a beginning, a
middle, and an end', and 'I will begin. Once upon a time there was a prince and this
prince liked

The counsellor can then stop in mid-sentence and invite the child to say what it was
that the prince liked. The child might respond by saying 'to ride his horse in die
country'.The counsellor could then continue 'As he rode around the countryside, be
realized that

Once again the counsellor can stop in mid-sentence so that the child fills in the next
part of the story. The storytelling can continue in this way until there is an outcome or
an end.

When the story is complete (it has usually been taped) we like to play it back and to ask
the child to identify with any character in the story by asking,'Who would you like to be
the most in this story?'

The child can be further encouraged to explore their own behaviour if we ask,'If you
were a prince, would you have done the same as him or something different?' and
'What would you have done?'

Finally, the counsellor can then thank the child for the story they have told.

An alternative is to encourage a child to tell stories about a picture they see. The
counsellor might present the child with a picture from a magazine, or a photograph, and
ask the child to tell a story about the people, animals or objects in it. It is useful, once
again, to remind the child that stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. However,
these stories can be short and brief.

For children who find it difficult to make up stories, it is better to use story books,
fairytales or fables initially.This can help to familiarize the child with the way in which
stories develop and can help them to recognize the way in which stories can relate to
their own personal experiences.
The classic fairytales and fables such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little
Pigs and Hansel and Gretel, ( in Malaysian context, we use local stories that
are suitable) although very dated, can sometimes be useful. Caution is needed
though in using such stories as they may be troubling for some children. However,
when they are deemed suitable they encourage the child to work projectively in the first
instance and then to talk directly about themselves, their family and significant others.

The tale of Little Red Riding Hood can be very useful when used with some children
because it raises issues of disempowerment, fleeing, helplessness and rescue. We
might read the story to the child and then invite them to identify with one of the
characters. After this, we might invite the child to think of alternative solutions to
different situations in the story. For example, after reading Little Red Riding Hood, if the
child identified with Grandma we might ask, 'How could Grandma have been more
powerful so she could have outwitted the wolf and not have been pushed into the
cupboard?'

We might then encourage the child to think of several different alternatives by asking,
'What else could Grandma have done when the wolf tried to push her into the
cupboard?' and 'If you had been Grandma, what would you have done?'We might then
be able to affirm the child's bravery, courage and resourcefulness.

Story books written around topics such as domestic violence or sexual abuse can be
used to help a child to understand that other children have similar experiences.This
enables a child to feel the same as some other children and to feel less of a victim.
Such stories allow the child to identify with, or to reject, similarities between
themselves and characters in the story. They may also invite the child to disclose more
information about their own experiences.

We often use books as a way of educating children with regard to important beliefs
and behaviours. Books can be used to address a wide range of issues such as protective
behaviours, stranger danger, secrets and inappropriate touching. They can be used by
the counsellor to help the child to explore choices and options about future behaviour.
For example, a book might encourage a child to say 'No' to a stranger. The counsellor
can then check out whether the child believes that they have the ability to say'No', and
can help the child to practise saying'No' in a loud voice. The child and the counsellor
can then engage in role plays that teach appropriate behaviours.

When using books for educational purposes, we like to give the child a copy of the
book to take home and to share with family members or care-givers.

DRAMA THERAPY
Moreno is the founder of psychodrama. It is the earliest type of drama that is
used as a therapeutic tool. Then, drama therapy emerged as an alternative
that considers more appropriate than the psikodrama because it is less verbal,
less structured and less oriented theater.
Johnson (in Nystul, 2003) defines play therapy as the use of creative drama
that seeks to achieve the goals of psychotherapy, the integration of
emotional and physical symptoms appear treatment, and personal growth. In
short, drama therapy include whatever kind of play a role in the related
creative use of theater as a medium for self-expression.

Sosiodrama is a pretend play activity that involves a lot of group interaction,

where each member plays a different role in the group. It is a play deemed as
an extension to a symbolic or pretend play. According to Piaget (1962), playing
a pretend self-play is solitary play - when a child may share his/her fantasy
world themselves with toys or imaginary friends. Besides playing by
themselves, a parallel play can happen too. Here the child involves interaction
with friends as a player, and eventually transform into a sosiodrama play.

Garvey (1972) identifies three types of common role played by preschool

children in play sosiodrama. The role of role-play in sosiodrama can be:

1. The role of the family, which plays the role of a mother, father,
sister, brother, sister, and sometimes act as a cat or other animal
that is advocated.
2. Role models like superman, spiderwoman, warrior, creature from
space, or people who have been celebrated.
3. Functional roles such as cooks, teachers, drivers, firemen,
policemen, workers, and so on.

In the sociodramatic play, Ruth E. Hartley, a psychologist, identifies a number

of functions. Among the main functions of sosiodramatic is:
1. Through role-play as an adult, children are able to understand their role
in the reality of life.
2. Giving children a chance to vent their feelings about the relationship of
family members and the experience of living in their home.
3. A channel to vent unauthorized in real life.
4. Provide an opportunity to demonstrate his self-respect, for example to
play a mentoring role with the nanny or pour love for toys, animals
reared or small children who didampingnya.

Sosiodramatic play benifits children to engage in play, and improves the

potential of children in terms of affective, intellectual, and social development
as a whole.
Key Concepts
Currently, drama therapy is characterized by the following key concepts:
Drama gives children the opportunity to learn from experience, whether
real or in their imagination;
Drama provides opportunities for expression of feelings, thoughts,
impulses and actions;
Conflict emotions more easily understood when transferred in action
through drama.

Procedures and Results

Some of the techniques commonly used in drama therapy process include:
Play a role in spontaneous is the lifeblood of drama therapy;
Movement, mime and puppet toys engage children in action where
internal conflict can be expressed and be easier to understand.

DANCE THERAPY
The statement, the body says what words cannot, is attributed to American
modern dance pioneer Martha Graham.

Dance therapy originated from a very famous modern dance in the 20th
century. Dance/movement therapy is an expressive psychotherapy that combines
the theories of psychoanalysis and early child development to facilitate and foster
positive psychological and emotional growth for an individual. This therapeutic
approach incorporates movement expression into everyday action to provide a place for
self-exploration, self-awareness and overall well-being. The wonderful thing about
dance therapy is that you don't need to speak the same language because movement
reveals so much without words

Key Concepts
Dance therapy has three main concepts as follows:
The most basic concept is the integration or reintegration right mind with the
body;
Operations may reflect the mood clients while showing them the flexibility or
rigidity;
Self Expressions of children born in the form of dance.

Procedures and Results

When used as a dance therapist in the counseling intervention, children can

dance solo, or with others. In addition, the dance can involve structured
movement or spontaneously. The dance is presented, guidance and counseling
teachers will observe the message conveyed, or discovered by the child in
question. Also how the child interacts with others, making them aware to the
existing space, and how dance is related to a problem.

Fleshman and Fryrear (in Nystul, 2003) identified the goal of dance therapy
as follows:
1. Improve motor skills;
2. Improve the relationship between the child and teacher guidance and
counseling;
3. Adding a collection of children's movement to create a mood, attitude
and their ideas;
4. Giving children the opportunity to express aggressive impulses
sublimation;
5. Inducing interpersonal relationships;
6. Stimulating, energizing, and soothing body of children.

SAND PLAY
Sandplay therapy is a recognized therapeutic modality for both children and
adults, based on the psychology of C.G. Jung and developed by the Swiss
psychotherapist and teacher Dora Kalff. It is particularly useful for identifying
and reconciling internal conflicts that manifest as anxiety and depression, as
well as penetrating the depths of personality to experience the Self directly.

Sandplay therapy establishes a safe and protected space, where the

complexities of the inner world are explored and integrated into the psyche for
emotional healing. Clients place miniature figurines in a small sandbox to
express confusing feelings and inner experiences. This creates a visual
representation of the psyches contents and reveals unconscious concerns that
are inaccessible any other way. As materials contained in the unconscious
emerges visually and symbolically, it is integrated into a persons sense of self
and can be activated to elicit behavioral change.

The effectiveness of sandplay therapy comes with an understanding of Jungian

psychology, as well as the archetypal and personal symbolism that appear in
the sand. Knowledge of symbolic language creates a foundation not only for
sandplay therapy, but also for dream analysis and all non-verbal therapies
involving art and play. It provides a way for material from the unconscious to
become visible, healed, and integrated into the consciousness, thus allowing
life to be lived in a more conscious and authentic way

Sandplay Therapy provides:

a means of self-discovery, healing and integration

a transformation or redirection of blocked energy
access to the childhood world of imagination and play, re-awakening
our own creative nature

a means by which children and adults, unable to articulate their feelings

and experiences, can find expression and integration

safe entry into the deeper archetypal, mythic and transpersonal realms
of the psyche

an activation of our natural, self-healing capacity

an opportunity for a creative non-rational experience, as a balance to

society's overemphasis on the ego's intellect

Sand therapy is rapidly evolving as a technique with radically diverse

applications. Useful with clients throughout the life span, sand therapy can be
a deeply transformative experience for the client and for the clinician
Alternative theories used to understand sandtray.

http://www.anniecreativetherapy.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/5718?
opendocument&part=4

What happens in sandplay or sand tray work?

The sandplay process involves inviting the client to choose from among
hundreds of miniatures and then to make a picture in the sand. You will
find an incredible assortment of figurines and objects: wizards,
goddesses, buddhas, trees, monsters, wild animals, shells, aeroplanes,
sea creatures, crystals, marbles, dragons, buildings, phoenixes,
furniture, babies, birds, snakes, domestic animals, fences, religious
artifacts, bridges, cars, all manner of people, spaceships, rocks, stones,
superheroes, boats, feathers, and on and on and on ...

The picture they create represents their world: their issues, their
feelings, their relationships, or possibly a dream. The therapist provides
a safe and protected space sitting quietly nearby. Some clients choose
to talk, while others work (play) in silence. Sandplay is like another
language, a non-verbal way of communicating and expressing inner
feelings, conflicts, fears and problems. There is no right or wrong way to
do sandplay or sand tray work.

Because it is a process, unknown material may be being expressed, and

we dont have to search for immediate interpretations. We dont need
to analyse and understand every sandplay, for you are effectively
allowing communication from your unconscious and this can take time.
Because you are accessing unconscious material, this allows healing to
take place at a deep level.

Many clients find this an enjoyable, creative and powerful way to work
in therapy. It is always the clients choice as to whether or not they
work in the sand.

While sandplay therapy appears to be quite simple it is a highly

complex therapeutic modality and has profound potential. Qualified
sandplay therapists undergo extensive training, personal process and
supervision in preparation for practice.

Process

Sandplay therapy is a creative psychotherapeutic approach which can

be used with children, young people and adults. It was developed by
Dora Kalff, a Jungian Analyst in Switzerland in the late 1930s and is based on
Jungian psychology which believes that we have within us the resources to 111
bring about wholeness, thus enabling us to find peace within ourselves and 111
relate better to the outside world. 111
11111

Sandplay therapy is a non-verbal way of communicating and expressing

inner feelings, conflicts, fears and problems, by accessing the
unconscious and working at a deep level of the psyche. It is three
dimensional and concrete, characterised by the use of sand, water and
miniatures in the creation of images within a free and protected space of the
therapeutic relationship and the sand tray. In the presence of a trained
professional, the client can make whatever they feel like creating in the sand
tray which is generally done in silence, with no judgement made by the
therapist.

The trained therapist makes the inner exploration for the client safe by
anchoring the work into reality, whilst being respectful of the clients process.
For adults and children, sandplay bypasses thinking about issues and directly
accesses the conflicts. In addition sandplay is a form of play natural to
children.

Sandplay works gently, in a simple, yet profound way to bring about emotional
healing and change. A series of sandplay images portrayed in the sand tray
creates an on-going dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious
aspects of the clients psyche, which activates a healing process and the
development of the personality.
In the creation of three dimensional pictures in the sand there is a total
involvement of body, mind and soul. The bringing of psyche and soma
together in the act of creation can have a powerful healing effect. Sandplay
therapy often reaches a deeper level which often cannot be experienced in
verbal therapy alone.

http://www.counselling-solutions.co.uk/sandplay-therapy/

The use of sand and miniatures gives us a symbolic way of

expressing our feelings and viewing our lives. Sandplay provides a fun,
non-threatening approach to the unconscious, and a safe space in
which to explore feelings and life situations that may feel
overwhelming. The client may not have a particular focus in mind,
however, playing with the sand, making a landscape, and adding
symbols from the shelves, enables the psyche to find its own bearing,
free of the ego's influence. Using the sandtray, we are able to play out
our fantasies, and to externalize the inner world.

"Sandplay heals wounds that have blocked normal development. It

enables the constellation and positive activation of the Self and the
emergence of a stable ego capable of relating equally to the outer
material and the inner spiritual worlds - to life in the here and now, and
to the transpersonal dimension. At its best, sandplay therapy is a prime
facilitator of the individuation process. At its least, it is an invaluable
adjunctive modality." - Estelle Weinrib 'Images of the Self-The Sandplay
Therapy Process'

Important for children

Children often have difficulty expressing their feelings and experiences

in words. A childs natural way of communicating is through play. Play is
critical for brain development, attachment and healthy growth and is
often used in counseling children. Play therapy gives children a natural
means for self-expression. Play allows them to express feelings that
might otherwise be overwhelming. Children are drawn to playing in the
sand because it is a soothing sensory experience and it stimulates
fantasy and imaginative play. Children have always delighted in playing
in the sand, bringing their inner and outer worlds together through
imagination. Sandplay therapy is a non-verbal method of counseling
that is used with children that has been shown to help children share
experiences and feelings that have been frightening or hurtful and too
difficult to put into words. It combines play, art and sensory activities.
Sandplay therapy is a simple and effective play therapy that can be
used with all age groups of children. Children who have difficulty
drawing may be more comfortable with making a picture with toys.

Sandplay provides the children distance from their feelings and allows
them to express their feelings through the toys. In other words, children
use play to safely disguise their own feelings. The counselor is trained
to understand the metaphorical and symbolic meaning of the sandplay
picture and relate it directly to childrens feelings and experiences. The
counselor also acts as a guide in In addition, children can make a
picture that shows frightening experiences and problems without telling
on others that may be hurting them. This is important for children who
do not feel safe to directly talk about their abuse or that may have been
threatened not to tell anyone. Sandplay is also used with childrens
groups and families to improve communication and to learn problem
solving skills. Sandplay is helpful in working with the wide variety of
cultures and languages spoken

in order to express some of the thoughts, feelings or stories that would

otherwise stay hidden in their subconscious mind or dreams.

The Sand Play therapist creates an inviting space, respects the clients
attempts at expression, and intervenes as little as is necessary, to allow
his or her free expression to flow.

As in any form of art, SandPlay allows clients to move beyond words

alone, as a means of expression. In SandPlay however, artistic skill is not
important and there is freedom to mold, to burrow, to bury, to break down,
or to embellish our creations as little or as much as they choose.

Molding the sand with their hands to create images and

structures, encourages clients to access their insights and intuition.
While their ideas and stories may have felt inexpressible before, they
become more real and tangible in the sand tray.

What reaction is a child (or adult) likely to have when introduced to

the sand-tray for the first time?

When introduced to SandPlay well, most clients enjoy the experience of

switching off their disturbing thoughts or difficult emotions, and allowing their
hands and creative imaginations to take over. Most children and young people
find it easier to engage with their SandPlay therapist when there is something
in front of them to talk about.
Most adult clients become more relaxed as they are given an activity which
reminds them of a time when life was simpler, and many troubling issues were
resolved through play.
How does SandPlay help with anger, grief, anxiety, depression,
attention deficit (ADD) etc?
When work in the sand-tray work is facilitated well, the thinking-mind is by-
passed, and clients describe a freeing or unburdening experience.
http://www.aswegrow.com.au/services/sandplay-therapy/

How Sandplay Therapy Works

The clients work in the sand tray is image based and pre-verbal. It accesses
the right hemisphere, allowing the client to bypass left hemispheric rationality
and to deal directly with the image, symbol and feeling-rich content. Clients
will frequently comment that they have no idea why they did what emerged in
the sand tray. Some will say, My hands just led me. We now know from
current research in neuroscience that all learning and development occurs first
in the right hemisphere and is subsequently integrated into the conscious
knowing of the left hemisphere.

Researchers at the Boston Change Study Group determined that the words
exchanged in psychotherapy have very little effect on the clients healing and
development. Rather it is the understanding exchange between the mirror
neuron circuits of client and therapist that effect therapeutic change (2010
Siegel, D.) In sandplay the right hemisphere guides the selection and
placement of the images and symbols that the client chooses from the
collection. They thus become three dimensional and concrete in the sand tray.
In addition they are witnessed by the sandplay therapist. The sandplay client
and therapist jointly see and experience the symbolic creation in the sand tray.
This facilitates a powerful circuit of reinforcement feedback between the mirror
neuron networks of client and therapist. Thus the therapists non-verbal
recognition of the clients pre-conscious work affirms its reality and thus fixes it
in place to become conscious to the client.

A little boy deals with loss

When the client works in the sand tray the psyche begins its work at its point
of arrest. For example this may be a trauma that occurred in the past. I recall
one little 4.5 year old boy I worked with who had suffered many losses
including divorce in the family, the destruction of the house by fire, death of
his favourite grandmother and his mothers mortal illness.
His sandplay work began with themes of cooking and food preparation. His
psyche gathered fuel for his journey ahead. He then began to access inner
strength and power. I recall one tray where he buried a pair of silver swords.
Following this he was able to symbolically confront the loss of his home and
the death of his grandmother.

I recall a phase of his grief expressed through a prominent garbage can with a
witch flying above it. He had cleverly hung the witch from a tall hook. In the
left portion of the tray was a large tornado form and on top of the hook was a
silver trophy. Symbolically he acknowledges the destructive forces beyond his
control, the tornado, the evil and unfair nature of it, the witch, and develops
the capacity to contain the losses, the garbage can. Underscoring his healing
and growth the young client placed the young boy atop the ox from the
Zen Ox Herding Pictures to the left of the trash can. This is picture six from
the Ox Herding series, symbolizing the return home after a successful journey.
His new growth is also reflected in his prominently placed trophy which stands
above the entire scene.

Practicing Sandplay Therapy

On the surface sandplay appears deceptively simple. However it is one, if not

the, most powerful form of psychotherapy when practiced by a well
trained and experienced clinician. In order for sandplay to be effective and
safe, the therapist must be able to understand and safely contain the clients
symbolic work in the tray (Weinrib, E.L., 2004.) This requires extensive study of
theory and practice of sandplay, undergoing the sandplay process as a client,
and a rich understanding of the cross cultural symbolism from anthropology,
fairy tale, mythology, religious traditions and rituals.
Treatment Applications for Sandplay

Sandplay therapy has shown to be beneficial across a broad spectrum of

clinical presentations. There are highly experienced clinicians in this area
who do use sandplay to help schizophrenic patients become more grounded in
their material reality (Turner, B.A. 2005.) Sandplay is an excellent medium for
treatment of trauma and early childhood wounding. Sandplay can be very
effective in cases of endogenous depression or anxiety disorders in
conjunction with proper medical management.

http://www.sandplay.co.za/course-dates.html
http://appliedjung.com/jungian-themes/sandplay

Sand-Tray Work

Sand-tray work can be very useful in helping a child to tell their story.

The sand tray may be made of wood or plastic. Ideally, it is square with sides
of about 1 metre in length and about 150 mm high. Wooden sand trays require
a waterproof lining.

It is best if the sand is clean, washed sand. We have discovered from our own
practical experience that it is a mistake to use very light fine sand. It can
create a miniature sandstorm in the room when used by active children. A
good depth of sand in the tray is about 75 mm, with a 75-mm space between
the surface of the sand and the top edge of the tray. This makes it easy to work
in the sand without the sand spilling out of the tray.

Sometimes, access to water is useful, although this is not essential. Wet sand
can be used to make caves, tunnels, hills and other shapes. We keep our sand
tray on the flooi and sit, with the child, on the floor beside it.

Symbols

The symbols used in sand-tray work consist of a variety of small objects which
are chosep because they have properties that enable them to easily assume
symbolic meaning.The symbols may be used to represent concrete things such
as roads, houses, schools, shopping centres and individual people.

A useful set of symbols might include the following items:

General items A key \iper flags A padlock

Rocks, stones and pebbles
A torch battery
Feathers
A crystal ball Buttons
Wood
A horseshoe
Marbles
Gold stars Plastic trees

A pencil Planes

A large nail Boats

Shells Figurines and superheroes

Small boxes with lids Toy soldiers Catwoman

Candles Old jewellery Paper Power Rangers

Ornaments A tin of spaghetti Male and female figurines

A small mirror Beads Medieval knights Batman

A small pyramid Toy animals

A notebook Farm animals Jungle animals

A chain Dragons Zoo animals

Small toys Domestic animfcls

Toy fences Objects which have

universal symbolic meaning,
Trains for example, those which are
fumy, frightening,
Cars endearing, magical or
religious, make ideal
symbols.

Goals of sand-tray work

Sand-tray work provides the child with an opportunity to use symbols, withim a
defined space, to tell their story. While telling their story, the child has an
opportunity to re-create in the sand tray, and in their imagination, events and
situations from their past and present. The child may also explore possibilities
for the future or express their fantasies in the sand tray. Consequently the child
is enabled to do all, or any, of the following:

1. Explore specific events - past, present and future.

2. Explore themes and issues relating to these events.

3. Act out those things which are not, or were not, acceptable to them.

4. Gain a cognitive understanding of the elements of events in their life and

thus gain insight into those events.

5. Integrate polarities.
6. Alter their story, as created in the sand tray, by projecting their fantasies
on to it.

7. Experience a sense of power through physical expression.

8. Gain mastery over past and current issues and events.

9. Think of what might happen next.

10. Find resolution of issues through the development of insight.

How to use the sand tray

Because of the tactile and kinaesthetic experience of working in the sand

tray, most children seem to engage readily in the task. We usually start by
inviting the child to use any of the symbols they wish to make a scene or
picture in the sand. In inviting the child to make their picture, we take into
account goals for the counselling session. Here are several different examples
of instructions which might be useful when starting sand-tray work.

Example one

Sometimes we leave the child with freedom to make whatever picture they
choose without any specific direction. This non-directive approach can be
useful because it allows the counsellor to observe the way in which the child
engages in the task and constructs the picture. The counsellor can then look
for any themes and issues that emerge during the creation of the picture so
that these can be discussed with the child. Osing this approach : the counsellor
might start the sand-tray work by saying, Id like you to use these things
[symbols] to make a picture in the sand.'

Example two

In some cases, the counsellor may suspect that the child's issues concern
relationships with others.The counsellor can then be more specific and might
say,'Make a picture about all the people that you know.'
As the picture develops, the counsellor can notice the qualities of the various
relationships, taking particular notice of strengths, weaknesses, distances,
closeness and boundaries. Additionally, the counsellor can note any absences
of significant others from the picture. The use of feedback statements by the
counsellor will then help to raise the child's awareness of their situation so that
they can deal with related issues.

Example three
Some children present with a very high level of anxiety. With these children it
can be useful to give them the following instruction: 'Make a picture about the
things that frighten you most.'
Later, as the picture develops, the counsellor might say, 'Find something that
reminds you of ... [ghosts, spiders, or whatever is relevant].'
These instructions can be useful for the child because by concretizing the
fear itself, the child can then deal with it symbolically. For example, the child
might bury it or put it outside the sand tray.

Example four

Some children who have been emotionally deprived when younger present
with issues related to rejection and abandonment. It is important for these
children to explore their perceptions of the way in which they were nurtured.
In such cases the counsellor might say, 'Make a picture about what it was like
when you were a baby.'
Through constructing the picture, the child may be enabled to recognize and
experience the pain associated with not having had closeness and nurturing as
a young child. By owning and experiencing this pain, the child may, with help
from the counsellor, be enabled to discover ways to nurture themselves.
Sometimes, in cases where a mother has been absent or neglectful, the child
may recognize that another person did provide some nurturing. After dealing
with the pain related to their mother's behaviour, the child may be able to gain
positive feelings as a consequence of recognizing the nurturing they received
from the other person.
As a result of the counsellor's instructions, the child is likely to begin to
create a miniature picture, in the *and tray, of their perception of part of their
present, or past or future world. While this is happening, the counsellor stays
quietly alongside the child, without interrupting the child's story unnecessarily.
As a counsellor, be aware of the developing story and support its evolution. Try
not to interpret, but instead try to recognize the symbolic representation in the
way that the child understands it.

Sand-tray work is powerful because it provides a visual structure in the form

of a sand-tray picture, together with feedback from an observer (the
counsellor). Hence,

Counselling skills when using the sand tray

When intervention is necessary while the child is telling their story, the
counsellor can make use of the counselling skills described in Part 3. The skills
detailed below are most useful and relevant to sand-tray work:

1 Observation
2 Use of statements

3 Use of questions

4 Giving instructions

5 Termination skills when using the sand tray.

Observation

A counsellor can learn a great deal afcout a child, the child's life and the c n
issues by observing the child as they tell their story while working in the san

The counsellor can use the observed information by making feedback

statements to the child so that the child is able to get more fully in touch with
troubling issues and developments in their life.You might find it useful to bear
in mind the following, while making your observations:

1. 1 Notice which symbols the child chooses.

2. Identify the special qualities and meanings which the child attributes to
the symbols.

3. Be aware of any commonly used or collective meanings of some

symbols and consider whether these are relevant.

4. Observe the placement of symbols in the sand tray: which are in the
middle and which are at the edges of the sand tray. Notice which
symbols are separated from others and which symbols are close to
others. Take note of any symbols which are buried and of any symbols
which are in dominating positions.

5. Notice any vacant spaces in the sand tray because these may be
significant.

6. Observe how the child works. Do they work spontaneously, hesitantly,

lethargically, aggressively or forcefully?

7. Observe the way in which the symbols are chosen. Are they chosen
thoughtfully and carefully or are they snatched and carelessly placed?

8. Identify emerging themes such as nurturing, secrecy, disintegration,

victimization and power.

9. Observe inconsistencies in the child's story.

Use of statements

Sometimes, while a child is working on their picture, they will talk about it
spontaneously generally, the counsellor observes quietly as the child creates
their picture. However, if the child does not talk about what they are doing,
after observing for a while it is appropriate for the counsellor to indirectly invite
the child to talk about their story by using a statement to feed back what the
counsellor has observed. For example, the counsellor might say,'You've been
very careful when making your picture', or 'Your picture looks very crowded', or
'Your picture is very busy'.

These statements are non-intrusive and are likely to encourage the child to
talk about the picture, without directing them to one particular part of the
picture. Sometimes, however, statements like the above are not sufficient and
a question may be needed.

Feedback statements not only allow the child to talk about the picture, but
also raise the child's awareness of their internal processes as they construct
the picture.

Their awareness of issues, thoughts and feelings is intensified and

consequently they are able to bring these into focus so that they may be
addressed.

Use of questions

Before asking questions, it is important for the counsellor to remember to sit

quietly and to observe, rather than to interrupt the natural flow of the child's
process. Flowever, at appropriate times, during pauses, questions can be used
to help the child to explore more fully or in more depth certain parts of their
picture or story.

Here are some examples of the use of questions:

When using the sand tray it can be helpful to ask a general question such
as, 'Can you tell me about your picture?'
If there are empty spaces in the sand tray, the counsellor could draw
attention to Thes by pointing to an empty space and making a comment
such as,'I wonder what's happening over here?'

If the sand-tray picture contains symbols and figures which are big and
strong, the counsellor might say to the child,'These things look big and
strong. Do you ever feel big and strong?'

Giving instructions

Earlier in this chapter we gave examples of instructions which may be used to

invite the child to start to create a picture or to tell by using the symbols in the
sand tray. During the process, other instructions may be inquired. Consider the
following examples.

Example one
A child might develop their story by making verbal suggestions about what
might happen next. However, they may not move the symbols in the sand tray
to illustrate the change. For example, the child may have set up a scene where
children are prlaying in the park. Later, they may talk about the children going
home. However, the child may have left the symbols set up the way they were
when the children wtre playing in the park. In this case the counsellor might
say,'Show me what happens when they go home.' The child is likely to
rearrange the symbols and to continue telling their story. As a consequence,
new and important issues might emerge which otherwise could have been
missed.

Example two
If a child were to show more interest in, or to concentrate on, a particular part
of then picture, the counsellor might ask 'Tell me about what is happening
here', or 'Tell nu about this shell [where the shell is in the relevant part of the
picture]'.

Termination skills when using the sand tray

The counsellor judges when the time is appropriate for ending a piece of work
in die sand tray. Good indications of this are if:

the child stops work spontaneously;

the child is unable to develop the story any further; or

the time allocated for the counselling session is drawing to an end.

PUPPET PLAY
Puppets and Soft Toys

When working with young children, puppets and soft toys can be useful at any
phase.The way we use puppets and soft toys is to invite the child to create and
direct a drama in which the puppets and soft toys are the characters. In the
drama, the child projects their own ideas onto the puppets and soft toys, gives
them their personalities, chooses their behaviours and puts words into their
mouths.

Children enjoy using puppets and soft toys because they are easy to
manipulate. They require very little preparation and are familiar toys for most
children.
It is important for a new counsellor to understand the difference between the
drama created when using puppets and soft toys and the drama involved in
imaginative pretend play. In imaginative pretend play (see Chapter 29), the
child role-plays, identifies with, and effectively becomes a character, or some
characters, in the drama. By contrast, when using puppets and soft toys, the
child uses stories and other dramatic events and projects ideas from these
onto the puppets and soft toys. The child sees them as separate from, and
external to themselves, and can, without restraint, attribute to the puppets and
soft toys, beliefs, behaviours and personalities which they believe are quite
different from their own.

There are also differences between the use of puppets and soft toys
and the use of stories. Stories give the child an opportunity to express
fantasies and to explore conflict situations. They also enable the child to deal
with important issues and feelings even when it is too difficult for the child to
talk about these directly. Puppets and soft toys are similarly useful and also
add an extra dimension to storytelling. Through puppets and soft toys, the
child becomes directly involved in creating and speaking the dialogue of the
story and in manipulating the puppets and soft toys to act out the story. By
doing this the child becomes involved in and personally connected with the
story. This enables them to more easily make the link between their own
emotional feelings and those of characters in the story.

The dramatic sequences when using puppets and soft toys provide children
with a way of dealing indirectly with issues which might be difficult for them to
own as personally theirs. The indirect approach of puppetry protects the child's
inner pain from direct exposure; instead it is disguised as belonging to the
puppets or soft toys. At the same time, the child can gain confidence in talking
about relevant issues and has the opportunity to develop the courage to
directly own and confront those issues when ready to do so.

The drama allows the child to project their beliefs, behaviours and
personality characteristics, and those of significant others, onto the
puppets and soft toys. For example, the child creates the dialogue of the
drama, they can replicate the personality and behav-tc-iours of a hated person
or of a loving friend from whom they may have been separated. Consequently,
puppets and soft toys provide a safe outlet for the expression of fantasies with
regard to the interactions of others and the child's own interactions with them.

During the drama the counsellor can intervene to help the child to express,
understand and work through their issues, thus bringing about change. Some
individual puppets and soft toys have inherent symbolic attributes. For
example, wolves can be dangerous, monkeys can be entertaining and
mischievous, and policemen may be helpful or authoritarian. Teddy bears are
soft, cuddly and nurturing, or may need to be nurtured.

Goals when using puppets and soft toys

Puppets and soft toys can be used to achieve the following goals:

1. To gain mastery over issues and events.

2. To be powerful through physical expression.

3. To develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.

4. To develop social skills.

5. To improve communication skills.

6. To develop insight.

1. To gain mastery over issues and events

When using puppets and soft toys, the child has an opportunity to re-enact
unpleasant experiences. Through doing this the child can gain mastery over
the experience. For example, in the actual life experience the child may have
been passive and diseimpow-ered. In the re-enactment, the puppet or soft toy
onto which the child projects their experience may behave in a more powerful
and active way.The drama can be rept:<lte^ several times, with the puppet
becoming progressively more successful in dealing the situation, until the child
becomes satisfied.

By using puppets and soft toys in combination with familiar fables, lairytales
and' stories, the child can restructure past events so that victims are
empowered, conse quences are just and opportunities are given for issues and
feelings to be expressed. This process is useful to the child psychologically: it
moves them from a psychological space where they feel helpless and
powerless into a new space where they have a sense of their own inner power
and a sense of an improved ability to col' triol their own actions and responses.
Thus the child moves from being disempow' towards empowerment.

2. To be powerful through physical expression

An ideal way for the child to express feelings of power and strength is through
the selected characters or puppets. Unlike with puppets, we cant change the
facial expresses of soft toys. However the puppets do have the advantage that
it is easy to use several of them at the same time. It is useful to have a variety
of puppets and soft toys so that different types of characters.

family figures suitable for representing a mother, father, grandmother,

sibling, baby uncles, and so on;
fantasy figures, including a devil, a ghost, witches, fairies and a
magician;wild animals, farm animals and domestic animals; for example,
wolves, sharks, bears elephants, horses and rabbits; and

Some soft toys which have a degree of disguise. These might include a
masked person a clown and a faceless person.

How to use puppets and soft toys

Because we use puppets and soft toys similarly, we will only refer to puppets in
the following discussion, although this discussion applies equally to soft toys.
There are four ways of using puppets:
1. Allowing the child to use the puppets spontaneously.
2. Inviting the child to create and direct a puppet show.

3. Combining the use of puppets with well-known fairy stories or fables.

4. Using puppets in dialogue with the counsellor.

1. Allowing the child to use the puppets spontaneously

We usually begin by letting the child know that we are going to play with the
puppets We invite the child to select whatever puppets appeal to them. This
can give valuable information. For example, children tend to pick up most of
the puppets and then to discard them after checking out their shape, size and
other features. When the chilcj has selected some puppets, they will usually
spontaneously start up a dialogue between some of them. If they don't, we
model this by selecting a puppet and talking through the puppet to the child.
For example, when counselling a child called Samantha, we might select the
puppet bear, speak as though the bear were talking and say, Hollo, Samantha.
Have you come to play with me today?'We can then invite the child to begin
their puppet show by introducing the characters. We might ask. Why dont you
show me all of the characters in your play and introduce them to me one by
one.

As the child introduces the characters, the counsellor can engage in

conversation ^ each character is presented. For example, the counsellor might
say, Flello Teddy, Jour looking forward to this show. Are you?' or 'Hello Teddy,
nice to meet you. I like^om-big red bow tie.this participation by the counsellor
helps the child to feel more <-onto fortable about the activity, sets the scene
and allows the child to project themselves the characters.

Some children find it easy to make up a story and to act it out. Others find it
more difficult. With these children we usually suggest themes for them to use,
which are likely to address issues or events relevant for the child. For example,
we might suggest themes concerned with being moved from the family home
into care, or regarding access visits with an absent parent, or themes which
reflect helplessness, fear or abandonment.

With some children we use a more formalized puppet show approach as

discussed in the following paragraphs,

2. Inviting the child to create and direct a puppet show

We start to create a puppet drama by saying to the child, 'Together, we are

going to make up a play using these puppets and soft toys.You can choose the
characters in the play. One of the characters is very lonely, frightened and
uncertain about what is going to happen to him. Another character is strong
and powerful and the boss. There are three other characters in this play. Would
you like to choose the characters now?'

After the child has introduced the characters (as discussed previously), the
counsellor can then help the child devise a theme and to start the puppet
show. The content of the story that emerges will give clues about the child's
preoccupations and their ways of dealing with these.

We usually invite the child to act out their puppet 'show', or puppet 'play', on
a table with the child sitting on the floor behind the table, which serves as a
miniature stage. Some children like to use props in their drama such as sticks,
balls, pillows and blankets. However, too many props can lead the child into
dramatic imaginative pretend play (see Chapter 29) instead of helping the
child to focus on projecting ideas onto the puppets or soft toys.

Generally, we sit opposite the table like an audience watching the child's
dramatic play. Naturally, we intervene to ask questions, make comments and
to assist with the creation of the drama, when appropriate.

At different times during the drama, the counsellor might intervene and talk
directly to one of the characters in an attempt to discover more about that
character's behaviour within the play. For example, the counsellor might ask
the bear,'What does it feel like to be left outside the house while the others are
having a party?'
Children will inevitably project different aspects of themselves onto the
various characters. For example, a child may project the mischievous part of
himself onto the monkey who causes trouble between others, and at the same
time project his wish to magically change the situation onto the wizard. During
the process the counsellor might encourage the characters to persevere with
particular behaviours so that the child becomes aware of the way in which
other characters respond. For example, the counsellor might say, 'Wizard, do
that again because I think it might work this time.'This gives the child an
opportunity to evaluate the consequences of particular behaviours and to
make decisions with regard to suitable responses for other characters in the
play.

An alternative to the above idea is for the counsellor to suggest a change in

the behaviour of one of the characters. For example, the counsellor might say
to the wizard,'Wizard, I don't think that what you are doing is working. I wonder
what else you could do.'

Some children resent intrusions from the counsellor and with these chidren
the counsellor may need to watch a puppet show without interrupting.
However, following completion of the show, the counsellor might discuss with
the child vuious parts of the drama, or aspects of the drama. A discussion such
as this could be startelihv the counsellor asking questions such as,'Who, of all
the people or things in the story, would you most like to be?' or 'Who in the
story would you not want to be?'ilt\wauld not be helpful to ask a child 'Who are
you in this story?' Such a question could be confusing because clearly a child
will project parts of themselves on to all of the characters. Sometimes, asking
a child what happens to the characters in the story after the play has finished
can be useful in helping a child to look at outcomes.

3. Combining the use of puppets with well-known fairy stories or

fables

With some children, when using puppets, we make use of well-known fairy
stcforjes fables to directly address specific issues. When doing this, the child is
invited to puppets to act the story out. We then help the child to restructure
the story so that it is more satisfactory outcomes are achieved. For example, a
victim may become empowered, or alternative solutions to a problem situation
may be discovered. A 'counsellor might get a child to act out the story of Little
Red Riding Hood using puppets or soft toys. After the drama has finished, the
counsellor might ask,what else could Grandma have done when the wolf
decided he was going to eat her?'The child might suggest that Grandma could
have run out of the house to seek help. The counsellor can then encourage the
child to act the drama out once again using this alternative idea.

4. Using puppets in dialogue with the counsellor

Sometimes, by using a technique of dialogue between a puppet and the

counsellor, a child may be enabled to discover solutions to their own problems.

Soft toys and puppets can also be used in direct one-to-one interaction with
a child. We sometimes use a particular teddy bear, which we describe as being
wise, experience, knowledgeable and magical. This soft toy can be helpful to a
child who is having difficulty discussing certain issues. For example, a child
may be frightened about going to school for fear of being bullied, but not feel
comfortable enough to talk about this. We can suggest to the child that Teddy
is often pretty good at knowing what children, are thinking. We might say,
'Teddy sometimes knows what children are thinking. If he sits on your lap, he
might be able to tell me about the things that are troubling you.

We can then ask the child to hold the bear on their lap and direct the
following comments to it:'Teddy, Jenny is having some problems. I wonder if
you know what they are.' The child is then invited to respond on behalf of the
bear: 'Jenny, can y>u tell me what Teddy is saying?'

Some children may not feel comfortable doing this. In this case, the
counsellor can hold the bear so that its mouth is close to their own ear and
pretend to be listening to the bear.The counsellor can then repeat what the
bear is supposed to have said and might say, 'Teddy says that he thinks that
your problem might be about going to school. I wonder if he's right or if he's
wrong?'

The child can then be encouraged to engage in ongoing dialogue between

the counsellor, the bear and themselves. The child can be asked to listen to
the bear and to repeat what he 'tells' them. Thus they become the voice of the
bear and are enabled to say what they would like through the bear.

Suitability of puppets and soft toys

Puppets and soft toys are useful when working with pre-school and primary
school children. Interestingly, some early adolescents find them appealing;
however, they are generally more suitable for the younger age group.
Puppets and soft toys are ideal to use in individual counselling sessions, but
can also be used in groups where each child selects and characterizes a
particular puppet or soft toy. Using puppets and soft toys allows the child to
explore and expand their thinking and encourages them to be interactive and
sometimes adventurous. Puppets and soft toys can also be used to convey
moral messages and to educate: for example, concepts of protective
behaviours can be explored.

Suggested Readings:
How Puppet Therapy Can Help a Child Recover from Sexual
Abuse at http://voices.yahoo.com/how-puppet-therapy-help-child-
8873041.html?cat=25

Puppet therapy for children at

http://www.recoveryconnections.ca/puppet-therapy-for-
children.html
Adlerian play therapy intervention at ;
http://plaza.ufl.edu/ttbailey/Adlerianplaysessions.html
Fifteen effective play therapy techniques at ;
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~drbryce/Play%20Therapy
%20Techniques.pdf

Chapter References

Nystul, M.S. (2003). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective (2 nd ed.).
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Orton, G.L. (1997). Strategies for counseling with children and their parents.
California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company

Slate, C. N., & Scott, D. A. (2009). A discussion of coping methods and

counseling techniques for children and adults dealing with grief and
bereavement. Dimuat turun pada November 6, 2010 daripada
counselingoutfitters. Com/vistas/vistas09/Slate-Scott. doc

Storytelling 101 for funders & neighborhood leaders. Dimuat turun pada
November 3, 2013

Storytelling and research. Dimuat turun pada November 5, 2010 daripada

alumni.media.mit.edu/~brooks/storybiz/Storylistening Effect.doc

Thompson, C.L., Rudolph, L.B. & Henderson, D.A. (2004). Counseling children
(6th ed.). USA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.

www, grassroots grantmakers. or g/FileDownload.cfm?file= Storytelling

101...
Glossary
Chapter 7

Group counselling
At the end of the lessons of this chapter, you should be able to:
o describe the basic concepts of clusters and choose the appropriate group
to group counseling;
o identifying the types of groups;
o describe the process of group counseling;
o describe the concept nad the role of facilitating group counselling;
o identifying the characteristics of group dynamics
o determine appropriate strategies for group counseling;

7.0 Introduction

When deciding whether or not to use group work, the personalities of the
children concerned, the nature of their problems, and their own and their
family's preferences are important considerations. It is important for leaders to
be aware of the advantages of group counselling, and have a conviction that
group work can be used to foster healthier functioning and development and
become a catalyst for growth (Kymissis, 1996). Because groups can mirror the
wider social environment they are often able to promote change, which may be
difficult to achieve through individual counselling.

7.1 Advantages in counselling children in groups

Where a counsellor has a number of children as clients who have similar

problem* or have had similar experiences it can be advantageous to work
therapeutically with them in a group setting. By working in a group setting the
children discover that are not alone but that other children have also
encountered similar problem* or experiences. This discovery can be very
empowering in enabling the children to open up and talk freely with their peers
in the group about their personal issues. This can be very useful
therapeutically.

Establishing a group of children with common problems or experiences is

usually not difficult, because among children who come for counselling there
are certain to be children who have had similar experiences. For example,
there will be those who have experienced family dysfunction, family break-up,
domestic violence, the problems of blended families, the loss of significant
others through death or separation, or who have suffered neglect or physical
or emotional abuse. Including children who all fit into one of these categories
in a counselling group enables them to share with each other, learn from each
other, and learn from the input of the counsellors who are leading the group.

Another significant advantage of counselling children in a group is that a

group provides a social setting which helps the children to learn from their
social interactions within the group. This can be particularly useful for children
who have problems with social skills, as they can receive feedback from the
other children in the group and from the group leaders about the effect of their
behaviours on their interactions, and thus learn to use more helpful
behaviours. Although some gains can be made through individual counselling
in helping a child to improve their social skills, the benefit of learning social
skills through practising new behaviours within a group setting has
considerable advantages. In our experience it is likely to produce change more
quickly and more effectively than working individually with a child who has
poorly developed social skills.

Like working with children who have social skills deficits, counselling groups
can be used to facilitate personal growth in children who have a poor self-
image, low self-esteem, or particular behaviour problems. Groups can be
particularly useful in addressing self-esteem issues, because poor self-esteem
is often the result of a child's failure to interact positively with peers. The
intended outcome of groups targeting self-esteem is to enable the children to
identify with others in the group, to value and enhance their personal abilities,
strengths and skills, and to learn more effective ways of relating. A group can
provide the opportunity for a child to experiment with new behaviours in a safe
and supportive environment, and then to experience success in interacting
positively with other children. As such a group develops it is likely to provide
the participants with a sense of belonging, and this can have a positive effect
on the children's feelings of self-worth.

Counselling groups can also fulfil a supportive role for children who live in
difficult situations. Examples of children who might benefit from belonging to a
counselling support group are the children of alcoholics, latch-key children,
children in foster care, and children with parents who have mental health
problems.
Limitations of group work with children

Unfortunately, group work may be unsuitable for particular groups of children,

for a variety of reasons. Certainly, counselling children in a group setting would
be problematic for children who lack impulse control and cannot control their
exuberance and aggressiveness (Kraft, 1996), and for children who quickly
display aggressive behaviour and are destructive to property. Additionally,
working in a group is unlikely to be successful with children who suffer from
psychotic disorders which might predispose them to decompensate as a result
of the stress of the social exchanges required in a group, or those children who
have expressive or mixed receptive-expressive language disorder and may
have difficulty expressing their frustration other than with aggressive outbursts
(Gupta et al., 1996).

Another limitation of the work is that it is not feasible to spend a significant

amount of time addressing the individual and personal needs of one child in a
group. Children who have high levels of emotional disturbance are likely to
need individual counselling, although in some cases it can be useful to include
a child in a group programme while concurrently counselling them individually.

111 Basic group

Types of counselling groups for children

There are two common types of counselling groups for children, depending on
the particular membership needs and aims of the group. One type of group is
basically a therapy group, which aims to bring about change through the use
of the group. Such groups enable the participants to work through troubling
emotional issues by talking about them in the group setting, and engaging in
activities which allow them to express their feelings and then change their
thinking and behaviour. The other type of group aims to bring about change
primarily through the use of psycho-educational input. Additionally, there are
those groups that combine group counselling with the psycho-educational
input, followed by group discussion of the input.

Therapy groups

Therapy groups are particularly useful for those children who have been
diagnosed with a mental health disorder or are suffering from severe emotional
distress and/or psychiatric disturbance; for example, children suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder (Shelby, 1994), children with schizophrenia
(Speers and Lansing, 1965), children with anxiety disorders, depressive
disorders, disruptive behaviour disorders, conduct disorder, oppositional
defiant disorder and specific developmental disorder (Gupta et al., 1996).

Therapy groups are also useful for those children who do not have severe
emotional distress or psychiatric disturbance but are experiencing some
difficulty in coping with the stressors produced by life's challenges. In these
groups the primary focus is usually on the exploration and resolution of
troubling issues. These groups enable the children involved to get in touch with
and release disturbing emotions, and then modify their beliefs, attitudes and
behaviours. Such groups are extremely useful for preventing the development
of more serious problems, as participants have the opportunity to share their
personal experiences, thoughts and feelings, before major issues develop.
They may receive support, encouragement and feedback, relating to their
issues, behaviours, beliefs and attitudes, as a result of which they may
discover more about themselves and realize that they have more choice than
they imagined with regard to changing attitudes and behaviours.

As when counselling children individually, counsellors running therapy

groups for children will usually make extensive use of media and activity to
engage the children in ways that enable them to talk about difficult issues.

Pycho-educational groups

Other counselling groups tor children might be more specifically psycho-

educational in nature. The purpose of these groups is to provide the children
with information, which will help them adjust their responses to their lite
situations and to behave in more adaptive ways. Because psycho-educational
groups emphasize the acquisition of information and knowledge, these groups
are generally more structured than therapy groups. They may develop content
in accordance with a structured curriculum. They usually have specifically
defined goals and explicit expectations of group members. Although the focus
is on learning, the process usually involves group interaction, with members of
the group sharing and discussing thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes,
beliefs and values, particularly as these relate to relevant topics.

As with therapy groups, counsellors running psycho-educational groups for

children will usually make extensive use of media and activity to engage the
children and to help them in their discussion of the psycho-educational
material presented.

Planning to run a group

Before planning to run a particular children's group, a decision needs to be

made as to whether running a group for the children concerned will be more
appropriate than working individually with each child. Some children are best
helped individually whereas others will benefit more by participating in a group
programme, or by simultaneously engaging in individual counselling and
counselling and a group programme.

Before planning to run a particular children's group, a decision needs to be

made as to whether running a group for the children concerned will be more
appropriate than working individually with each child. Some children are best
helped individually whereas others will benefit more by participating in a group
programme, or by simultaneously engaging in individual counselling and a
group programme.

When counselling a child individually a significant relationship is purposefully

developed between the child and the counsellor. Although such a relationship
is helpful for children who can cope with a degree of intimacy with an adult,
other children may act out, much as they would in other close relationships.
For such children group counselling may be the best option, as it diffuses the
intensity of the relationship with the counsellor. Strong relationships do
develop in a group, but for many children these tend to be directed more to
peers than to the leaders (Swanson, 1996).

Some parents worry about their child entering into a one-to-one relationship
with an adult in a situation where they are not present themselves. In these
cases the parent's anxiety is likely to be an obstacle to effective outcomes. In
such cases it may be advantageous to include the child in a group, as a similar
level of parental anxiety is less likely to occur in this situation.
Sometimes it can be useful to include a child in a counselling group while
personal counselling for the child is also being undertaken. This can enable the
child in the individual counselling sessions to deal with emotional issues which
might arise for them as a result of the group interaction. Often such issues
might be too difficult for the child to raise within the group setting.

It is important for counsellors who plan to run groups for children to have a
very clear idea of the needs of the children, the aims of the group, and make
decisions about the therapeutic process to be used. If appropriate, a specific
programme of topics and activities can be designed to run over a series of
sessions.

Planning to run a counselling group

Initially, when deciding to run a group, it is important to make decisions about

how many children will be involved in the group, the location, the length of
individual sessions, and the overall duration of the group programme.

There is no general rule regarding group size, because this will depend on the
goals of the programme, the age of the children, degree of acting out,
manifestation of disturbance and the activities that are planned- Rose and
dleson (1987^. "Referring to therapy groups, suggest groups usually range in
size from three to eight children, as larger groups make it difficult for every
member to get their needs met a group session. However, it is fairly difficult to
work with fewer than four children in a group, because with three children
there may be joining between two of the children to the exclusion of the third.

Considerations for setting up the group room include: sufficient space and
furniture to allow the planned activities to be carried out; free from visual and
auditory distractions from outside; and free of materials which could be
distracting or be a danger to the children.

The length of each group session will depend on the needs of the target group,
the activities to be undertaken, and the age range. Schnitzer de Neuhaus
(1985) suggests that generally young school-age children can only handle 45
minutes in a group, while for older children 60 to 90 minutes may be
acceptable. While agreeing that this may be true for those groups which rely
heavily on verbal interaction with little activity, we have found that, for most
children, one-and-a-half hours or even two hours can be a comfortable length
for a group. We believe this is true provided that the group programme is
designed appropriately to include the use of media and activity, and allow for
appropriate changes in tasks for the children, and changes to the pace at
which the group is operating.

For most counselling groups with children we find that eight to ten weeks'
duration seems to be the minimum useful period for a group if they meet for
one or two hours each week. This timeframe allows for the development of
group processes such as the establishment of group cohesion, and maximizes
the opportunity for group processes to contribute to positive outcomes of the
group.

Designing a group programme

Once the needs of a particular target group of children have been recognized,
it can be both useful and satisfying for counsellors running groups to design
specific programmes to meet the needs of the particular target group in
question. In this process, we suggest starting by developing an overall
programme for a series of group sessions and then designing specific
programmes for each individual session.

A number of authors including Malekoff (1997) and Rose (1998) support our
belief that, as with counselling children individually, it is important to use
activities and media when counselling children in groups. The range of media
used might include art materials, games, worksheets, puppets, miniature
animals, videotapes or DVDs, craft materials, clay and construction materials.
Activities might include free play, playing organized games with rules, and role
play. The use of media and activity helps to engage the children's interest and
can promote a sense of competence, a sense of belonging to the group, self-
discovery, invention and creativity. As a result of the children's interactions
while engaged in an activity, they can learn about the way their behaviours
affect their personal relationships with their peers, provided that the group
leader uses the appropriate counselling skills.

An important point to remember is that it is not the particular activity or

outcome from the activity that is important in a group, but rather the way the
activity is processed in terms of resulting behaviours and emotions. Skills for
processing an activity will be discussed in Chapter 18.

Counselling skills and facilitation skills required in children's groups

Counselling children in groups is clearly very different from counselling children
individually. The counsellor not only draws on knowledge about how to use
those particular counselling skills which are relevant for use in a group
situation, but also knowledge on how to facilitate the group process. An outline
of information relating to group facilitation and group counselling skills is
provided in Chapter 18.

KEY POINTS

Where a number of children have similar problems or have had similar

experiences it can be advantageous to work therapeutically with them in a
group setting.
Group work is particularly useful for children with social skills problems as
a -group piovides a safe environment in which the child can experiment
with, practise, and 'ream ways* of relating.

Counselling groups can fulfil a supportive role for children who live in
difficult situations.

Therapy groups are particularly useful for many children who have been
diagnosed with a mental health disorder or are suffering from severe
emotional distress. They are also useful for children who do not have these
severe problems but are experiencing difficulty in coping with the stressors
produced by life's challenges.

Psycho-educational groups are useful in providing children with

information that will help them to adjust to life situations and behave in
more adaptive ways.

As when counselling children individually, counsellors running children's

groups will usually make extensive use of media and activity.

The suitability of a child for inclusion in a particular group can be assessed

through clinical observations and/or psychometric measures, or both.

Planning to run a counselling group includes consideration of goals for the

group, programme design, group composition, group size, length of the
group sessions, and the suitability of the environment in which the group
is to be held.

7.4 Selecting group members

The most relevant variables in forming groups are age, gender, problem, and
size of group. Some counselors prefer a balance of boys and girls in the same
group unless the presence of the opposite sex would hinder discussion. Other
counselors prefer to eliminate tension by holding same-sex groups.
Homogeneity may be desirable for common-problems groups, such as children
whose parents are divorced. However, a homogeneous group of underachieves
or drug users probably would be counterproductive because no peer model
and peer reinforcement for improved behaviors would be present. Riva and
Haub (2004) also caution that a group format may increase the likelihood of
early adolescents learning deviant behaviors unless more socially adept young
people are also included in the groups. Parents and adult caregivers should
also be part of that type of treatment. For children who act out or withdraw, a
heterogeneous group provides active discussion and role models.

The counselor should seriously consider the possible consequences of

including children with highly dissimilar interests or maturity levels and
extremely dominating, manipulative, gifted, or mentally retarded children.
Children with extreme behaviors may be better candidates for individual
counseling, especially during the initial stages of therapy. Riva and Haub
(2004) suggest that extremely shy or anxious young people may find the group
format too stressful.

7.4.1 FORMING A GROUP

Counselors may begin by recruiting members for groups. Ritchie and Huss
(2000) suggest that counselors avoid labeling groups with names that imply a
diagnosis or dysfunction. Children may be identified by offering adults
behavioral checklists, having children volunteer, or from responses to needs
assessments. Corey and Corey (2006) remind counselors that some children
are not ready to be members of groups. Counselors need to establish clear
criteria for all group participants.

Some reports of people being verbally attacked and hurt in groups that use
extreme methods may leave parents or children with reservations about
participating in a group. Counselors should explain fully the purpose of the
group and the experiences planned to ally fears.

SIZE OF GROUP

The number of children in the group depends on age, maturity, and attention
span. Young children ages 6 and 8 years have very short attention spans and
are unable to give much attention to others' concerns. Counselors may want to
limit group size at this age to three or four and to work with the children for
only short time periods at frequent intervalsfor example, 20 minutes twice a
week. Counselors can work with a larger number of older, more mature
children for longer periodsfor example, six children, ages 10 to 12, for 30
minutes twice a week. The maximum number of children in a group that
functions effectively seems to be eight. However an ideal group counselling
members should not exceed 8 members per group.

Stages in group counselling

Gladding (2003) and Corey (2000) have identified four stages of group
counseling. The initial stageorientation and explorationis one of getting
acquainted, determining the structure of the group, and exploring the
members' expectations. Group leaders focus on creating a safe environment
for the participants. Members are somewhat tentative and reserved at this
point; therefore, the leader should focus on making sure they feel included and
on developing trust. The leader and the group establish ground rules and
group procedure. In almost all groups, the leader should clarify the purpose of
the group and the responsibilities of the group members. The leader should
emphasize the need for confidentiality and other crucial guidelines. Some
common procedures for groups with children include having only one person
speak at a time, listening to the speaker, taking turns, and not making fun of
each other. During the beginning of the group, the goal is for members to build
rapport and to learn to participate in the group. In summary, the early stage of
group process involves getting acquainted, warming up to other members,
learning about expectations, and building trust. Jacobs and Schimmel (2005)
recommend that group leaders pay attention to the ways group members
relafg 8 each other, as well as their connection with the purpose and content
of the group in this and all other stages of the group.

The transition phase of the group involves members testing each other.
They experiment with the new relationships and with the process of the group
to determine who and how much to trust. Corey (2000) characterizes this
phase as one of dealing with resistance, in which feelings of anxiety may
increase and the group leader may be challenged. The members will test the
leader to determine whether the counselor can be trusted and decide whether
to get involved. The leader structures the group, clarifies the purpose, and
models trust.

As the members begin to accept each other, they move to the working
stage. This is the stage of cohesion and productivity. During this stage the
members focus on identifying their goals and concerns, and they are willing to
work both in the group and outside to address these concerns. As they focus
on the issues on which they are working, they explore and clarify the concerns,
set goals, and practice new behaviors.

The last stage of group work includes the members evaluating what has
been accomplished and then exiting the group experience. The final stage=
consolidation and terminationis extremely important, according to Corey
(2000), because consolidation of learning takes place and members must be
able to transfer what they have learned to other situations outside the group.
There may be some anxiety and reluctance to terminate; therefore, the leader
must deal with these feelings and any other unfinished business, and then
prepare members to use their new skills in their daily lives. The leader should
make arrangements for some follow-up and evaluation of the group process to
determine the effectiveness of the group and its effects on the member. A final
group session, an individual session, or a questionnaire may be used for this
purpose.

GROUP SETTING

A room away from noise and traffic is the best setting. In addition, children
should not fear being overheard if they are expected to talk openly about their
concerns. Groups should be conducted with all members sitting in a circle so
that everyone can see everyone else's face. Some counselors prefer to have
the children sit around a circular table; others think tables are a barrier to
interaction. Many counselors prefer to have groups of children sit in a circle on
a carpeted floor, which provides easy access for counselors to move the group
into play therapy.

GROUP STAGES

The iintenctions in groups change as participants continue to meet. Several

authcors have explained these different group stages and most include a
move-mentt thnugh stages of beginning, transition, working, and leaving.

Skills for Counselling Children in Groups

Counselling children in a group requires additional skills to those required when

working with children individually, as the counsellor has to facilitate the group
process as well as attending to the needs of individual children. Thus the
counsellor has to do several things simultaneously while the group is running.
While facilitating group activities they have to observe, notice and respond to
issues concerning the group as a whole, while continuing to attend to the
iindivjd mal needs of group members. Consequently it is certainly preferable,
and we think ^essential, to have two group leaders who work together in each
counselling group.

Leadership

Two leaders offer two sets of observations, two perspectives and a broader
experience may complement each others strengths and weaknesses, and their
relationship can serve as a successful role model for relationships for the
children (Siepkership Kandaras, 1985). Having two leaders is especially
sensible for those groups where there is a high degree of disturbance in a
group. It is a necessity for groups where there the possibility of disruptive or
violent behaviour. For children's groups in general, the are considerable
practical advantages in having two leaders, as one can attend to the bole
group while the other attends to individuals with specific needs.

Leaders and sweepers

Where there are two leaders, before the start of a group session it is essential
that they agree about their individual roles and responsibilities. Our preferred
model is for one leader to take the primary role of leader and the other to take
the role of sweeper. Each time the group meets the leaders can, if they wish,
reverse roles, so that the group does not associate the primary leadership with
one person. We believe that this is particularly important when the co-leaders
are of opposite gender.

The leader's role involves directly organizing and processing group activities.
It is the leader who makes decisions about what to do next, and is generally
seen to be in charge. The sweeper s role is different, but equally important.
The sweeper's role includes being supportive of the leader, attending to
individual problems when these cannot be dealt within the whole group
setting, fetching and carrying materials, and attending to issues that may arise
as a result of a group process. An example of an issue which might be dealt
with by a sweeper is dealing with the difficult behaviour of one individual, if
dealing with this in the whole group setting might be counterproductive for the
child concerned, or might seriously intrude on an important group process.

Leadership style

Every leader will have their own personal leadership style, but that style is
influenced by the counselling model to be used. For example, when running a
group using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, the style of leadership will tend to
be didactic and directive, whereas when running a group using a
humanistic/existentialist counselling approach the leader will be more likely to
focus on the use of reflection and feedback of observations.

The leadership style also takes into account the needs of the particular group
of children involved. For example, when running a group for children with
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), leaders may need to contain
behaviours and be predominantly authoritarian, whereas when running a group
for anxious children a gentler approach might be more suitable.

Whatever style is used, the leader's role is to take action to ensure the
emotional and physical safety of group members and to maximize the
potential for achieving change.
It is important for leaders to take account of their own personality traits so that
the style of leadership they use is authentic and genuinely matches their
individual personalities. They can choose to use a predominantly democratic,
or authoritarian, or laissez-faire leadership style. However, we prefer to use a
proactive approach involving a combination of these. In the proactive
approach, the leader is flexible, so that spontaneous movement from an
emphasis on one style to another occurs. Thus, during a group session, and
over the life of a group, we vary our style to maximize opportunities occurring
in the group, and also to suit the mood and activity of the group at any
particular time.

Usually our proactive approach to leadership will make use of a democratic

leadership style as the predominant style to allow individuals in the group to
feel free to make choices within limits set by the group, while at the same time
providing safety. However, being proactive allows leaders to be authoritarian
when appropriate, in order to ensure compliance with group rules, and to
ensure that goals are met. At other times leaders may deliberately use a
laissez-faire style for a while to allow children in the group more freedom.
During this period of freedom, they can observe the group's interactions,
behaviours and social skills, which can then be discussed or 'processed', as
described later.

Debriefing and supervision

Naturally, when there are two leaders, it is essential that they have a good
working relationship with each other. To achieve this, it is good practice to talk
through any negative feelings which arise. Debriefing also enables leaders to
provide feedback and support tor each other and to deal with issues with
regard to group processes. During debriefing leaders can discuss the emerging
needs of the individual children and changes which may be required in the way
the group is facilitated to meet these needs.

As applies for counselling generally, it is essential for leaders to have

ongoing supervision from an experienced counsellor.

Group facilitation

While attending to issues which develop for the whole group, leaders also
attend to the issues of individual children. Some individual children may have
unexpected and excessive to a group programme. For example, they may
demonstrate high
Levels of anxiety, become dissociative, regress, and/or withdraw as a
consequence of the programme content and/or the responses of other
children. For some of these children, it may be possible to attend to their needs
in a whole group setting by using appropriate intervention strategies and
counselling skills. For other children this may not be possible. I this case while
the leader continues to address the needs of the group, the co-leader (the
sweeper) may need to attend separately to the

Group facilitation

While attending to issues which develop for the whole group, leaders also
attend to the issues of individual children. Some individual children may have
unexpected and excessive responses to a group programme. For example,
they may demonstrate high levels of anxiety, become dissociative, regress,
and/or withdraw as a consequence of the programme content and/or the
responses of other children. For some of these children, it may be possible to
attend to their needs in a whole group setting by using appropriate
intervention strategies and counselling skills. For other children this may not
be possible. In this case, while the leader continues to address the needs of
the group, the co-leader (the sweeper) may need to attend separately to the
child in question by exploring that child's personal feelings and issues which
have been triggered by the group programme. As a consequence of such an
intervention, the child may be able to readjust to the group programme, or the
child's membership of the group may need to be reassessed.

When running a group, it is sensible to plan the group programme in

advance so that activities can be deliberately selected to encourage the group
to interact in ways that will promote the achievement of specific goals.
Examples of group programmes for children in specific target groups are given
in our book working with Children in Groups: A Handbook for Counsellors,
Educators and Community Workers (Geldard and Geldard, 2001).

During group sessions the leaders observe and influence the group
processes so that goals for individual children and the group can be met.
Central to a leader's role is the orchestration of the group programme in such a
way that the children experience a process which has a natural and
comfortable flow as they participate in meaningful activity and discussion.
Effective facilitation creates an atmosphere of safety and containment so that
the children become free to explore, express themselves and gain from their
experience. The group leader gives directions and instructions, introduces and
organizes activities, facilitates discussion, gives support to individual children
when required, teaches, gives advice, and models appropriate behaviour.
Additionally the leader also deals with group issues as they arise. For example,
when a child drops out of a group or a new child joins the group the leader's
role is to help the group to readjust.

During group sessions the leaders observe and influence the group
processes so that goals for individual children and the group can be met.
Central to a leader s role is the orchestration of the group programme in such a
way that the children experience a process which has a natural and
comfortable flow as they participate in meaningful activity and discussion.
Effective facilitation creates an atmosphere of safety and containment so that
the children become free to explore, express themselves and gain from their
experience. The group leader gives directions and instructions, introduces and
organizes activities, facilitates discussion, gives support to individual children
when required, teaches, gives advice, and models appropriate behaviour.
Additionally the leader also deals with group issues as they arise. For example,
when a child drops out of a group or a new child joins the group the leader s
role is to help the group to readjust.

Recognizing and dealing with confidentiality issues

In counselling groups for children the participants need to be able to trust that
there will be some level of confidentiality. If this is not so, they may not be
willing to participate freely and to disclose information which relates to their
issues.

The confidentiality issue is complicated, as parents or carers have the right

to information about their children. It is therefore sensible for leaders to
discuss the issue of confidentiality with parents at the stage where the child is
being assessed for suitability for inclusion in the group as discussed in Chapter
10. Also, it is important to acknowledge that group leaders cannot ensure that
children in a group will respect the confidentiality of others.

When counselling children in a group there is a possibility that group

members may disclose abusive behaviours by parents or others. If this
happens, the information may have to be reported to parents/carers, and/or
the appropriate authorities, to ensure the ongoing safety and protection of the
child. In particular, it is imperative that any legal requirements regarding
reporting are observed.

When discussing issues of confidentiality with children in a group it is

important to be open about the limits to confidentiality, and early in the group
programme to be clear about any conditions and exceptions that might apply
with regard to confidentiality.
Introducing and organizing activities

When activities are organized or introduced it is important for group leaders to

explain clearly what is expected. Often, some children in a group will be
familiar with a particular activity, whereas others will not. While introducing
activities, it is usually sensible to explain how the activity relates to the
purpose of the group.

Facilitating discussion

To facilitate discussion, a leader's role includes guiding the verbal exchanges

between and among the children in the group. While a discussion is taking
place the counselling skills described later can be used to provide the children
with the opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas on relevant
topics. Leaders may need to deal with monopolizing behaviour and
interruptions, and to encourage children who are not participating to
contribute. Leaders may also need to deal with diversions and inappropriate
contributions from children.

Counselling skills for use igbfn children's groups

The counselling skills selected for use when running a group will depend on the
type of group and the theoretical approach of the leaders. However, the
counselling micro-skills most commonly used in counselling groups for children
include;

Observation

Active listenin
Summarizing
Giving feedback
Using questions
Confrontation
Giving instructions
Processing skills.

Observation

When using observation skills, leaders may usefully observe not only current
behaviours and social skills, but also changes in these over the life ot the
group. The group programme may then be adjusted, if necessary, to meet
changes in perceived needs.

Active listening

Active listening skills include non-verbal responses, minimal responses,

reflection of content and feeling, and summarizing. These skills are particularly
useful when encouraging children to self-disclose and share personal
information with a group.
Summarizing

The skill of summarizing is especially useful when working in groups as it

enables a leader to feed back to the group a concise synopsis of what has
been discussed, so that the children are able to grasp the central themes of
the discussion. Sometimes, where a child has rather poor communication skills,
or has made a lengthy statement, it can be useful to summarize the content of
what the child has said so that it becomes clear to other members of the
group.

Giving feedback

GivjGiving feedback helps individual members and the group as a whole

become aware of the behaviours that are occurring in the group. Feedback
may be given to the group as a whole by using a comment such as,'I notice
that there is a lot of interrupting in the group', or, by say saying to an
individual,'Annette, you are very active'.

Sometimes, feedback will be given with the intention of drawing attention to a

group process, which may be affecting two or more people. For example, a
leader might say,' Aminah, I notice that whenever Jasmine says anything, you
give a big sigh.this might allow Aminah to talk about her feelings towards
Jasmine, might encourage Jasmine to look at own behaviour, or might give
other members of the group the opportunity to comment on their perceptions
and feelings related to the group process.

Rose amid Edleson (1987) provide sensible guidelines for giving feedback to
children who have been rehearsing new behaviours by role-playing.They
suggest giving positive feedback first so that the child receives reinforcement
for engaging in the role play and is then more open to receiving criticism. It is
important for feedback to be specific, and that criticism is couched in terms of
actions or statements that could have been used as alternatives. For example,
a leader might begin by saying,'Mary, you did well in that role play; it was
difficult but you managed it", and then follow up by saying,you used a gentle
approach by hinting at what you wanted. An alternative to what you did would
have been to have asked Jimmy directly for what you wanted. That might have
been more effective.'

Using questions

Whereas questions are best used sparingly when counselling children

individually, they can be very useful in group work, where a range of suitable
types of question from a number of different theoretical approaches can be
employed. Examples of these are:
Questions to heighten a child's awareness: These questions help the child
to recognize and own feelings and thoughts. Examples are: 'What are you
feeling emotionally right now?','What is happening inside you right now?' and
'What are your tears saying?'

Follow-up questions to elicit more information: Questions such as,'Can

you tell me more?' and 'Is there anything else you can tell me about ...?' are
useful in encouraging children to continue in the disclosure of information
which might otherwise be censored.

Circular questions: Circular questions are directed to one child, but ask that
child about the thoughts or feelings of another child or other children. Thus,
they invite individual group members to think about other children, and their
behaviours, thoughts and feelings. Often, the use of circular questions will
promote useful discussion between children and this may enhance group
cohesion. Examples of circular questions are: 'Glenda, what do you think Tom
feels when April ignores him when he is talking to her?' and 'Keith, if you had a
guess, what do you think Billy might be thinking now that he's handed over the
leadership of his team to Kate?'

Transitional questions: Transitional questions help children return to the

content of a previous discussion which has been interrupted.They are
particularly useful in children's groups where children easily deflect away from
topics which may be difficult to talk about. Examples are:'Earlier, Brenda, you
talked about your Mum and Dad separating; I wonder how you feel about that
right now?' and 'A while back, Eric was telling us about the time when his
brother attacked his father with a knife. Has anyone else in the group had a
frightening experience like that?'

Choice questions: These questions are useful when processing the outcomes
of incidents which arise in a children's group. Examples are: 'What would have
been a better choice for you to have made at the time when Hannah snatched
your pencil?' and 'If the same situation arises again, what do you think you will
do?'

Cheer-leading, accenting and amplifying questions: These questions

recognize and affirm that desirable behavioural change has occurred. They
make the change newsworthy so that Confrontation

At times it is necessary for leaders to be confronting. They may wish to draw a

child's, or the groups attention, to incongruities between what is being said
and what is being done or being expressed non-verbally. They may also need
to confront a child or the group with regard to unacceptable behaviour.
A rule of thumb when confronting is that, before confronting a child, a leader
tries to ensure that the confrontation is done as a conscious deliberate act
rather than as a knee-jerk response to unconscious triggers (Spitz, 1987). It is
important that confrontation be designed to achieve a specific result, usually in
the 'here and now'. Appropriate confrontation is simultaneously tough and
tender, in an empathic atmosphere of genuine concern and caring (Rachman
and Raubolt, 1985).

Giving instructions

When children join a group they are naturally uncertain about their leaders'
expectations of them. In order to feel safe, they need to be confident that
someone is in charge, and that the person in charge will take control and give
directions and instructions when necessary. It is also important for children to
be clear about group rules and responsibilities and issues related to
confidentiality.

Processing skills

We think that processing interactions and activities is an essential part ot

group work. You may be wondering what we mean by processing, so we will
explain. Processing; an activity, or an interaction or discussion between
members of a group, involves verrbally exploring what each child, and the
group as a whole, experienced while engaged in the activity, interaction or
discussion. Processing is an intervention that is deliberatelly used by a leader
in order to bring into focus what has occurred in the group, and tto raise the
children's awareness of their emotional feelings, thoughts, opinions and
belitefs with regard to what has occurred.

Processing usually involves the use of counselling skills. What the leader
does, to process an activity or interaction, is to ask questions and use feedback
of observations to discover what emotional feelings, perceptions, thoughts,
opinions and beliefs, each child experienced while engaged in the activity or
interaction.

Additionally, processing may bring into the open factual information about
behaviours or group and/or individual processes. Through processing, children
learn to take notice of their feelings and thoughts and to recognize the
influence of these on their beliefs, attitudes, cognitive processes and
behaviours. With this increased awareness, changes in beliefs, attitudes,
cognitive processes and behaviours may occur. Importantly, children may
recognize the influence of behaviours, thoughts and feelings on themselves
and others.This, in turn, may influence the ways they communicate and their
relationships with others. Processing not only offers the means for group
members to learn about themselves as individuals but also to learn about
themselves as members of a group (Ehly and Dustin, 1989).

Practice Questions
Chapter References
Glossary
Chapter 8

Career and Understanding Students own self

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

Explain the career path and other trelated terms

Explain the concept of lifestyle based on several theories

Relate lifestyle with career choices;

Clarify the role of interest in future career planning;

Compare and contrast between different types of career interest test;

Explain the role of values in future planning and carrer

Identify the value of a career in career selection

Introduction
8.1 The concept of building a lifestyle
8.2 Exploring career interest and values
8.3 Individual evaluation by applying individuals psychological inventory
8.4 Role of counsellors in schools
8.5 Basic programmes in schools
8.6 Inventories used in schools
8.6.1 Free
8.6.2 Licenced
8.7 Conclusion

8.1 BUILDING LIFESTYLE CONCEPT

This chapter will focus on how children build their concept of lifgestyle and how it helps in their career. To
some it is career, and others see it as career development- they are all just a term. You need to
understand what is lifestyle, and then look at the relationship between the concept of building a career
and a lifestyle.

Career Concepts and Career Development

A career means work that we do throughout the life span (Hoyt, in Sciarra,2004). In the context of the
working work, career refers to a person's overall work experience in a particular job category. For
example, teaching, accounting, medicine, engineering, sales, management, and so on.
In recent times, we find the importance of guidance and counseling services as a source of imformation
to career development. In fact, career education is starting to be absorbed in the formal curriculum at
the primary school level.

Building a lifestyle concept

1. Logic Personal and Individual Lifestyle

According to Alder (1870-1937), private logic here refers to the ideas and beliefs, experiences of an
individual. An individual builds his lifestyle based on his unique perceptions, unique interpretation which
describe the personality and behavior of himself. This means that individuals act based on what they
believe based on previous experiences. Individuals develop their self-concept and the concept of life
which can provide them guidance and lifestyle patterns. In short, the behavior is determined by the
perception of which they believe to be true .

Adler believes that Individual lifestyles are formed by the children at the age of 5 years. He opined that
this lifestyle is a strategy where individuals organize and use them to deal with their inferiority complex.
Individual then can be shaped into being artistic or intellectual, dominate or bully, malingering as a
weapon to get attention and affection, and so on. According to Alder, personality development is
influenced by an individual's position in the family, including family size and the means of child care by
their parents.
There are several factors that contribute to negative self concept, like physical illness, negelect, lack of
extreme love abd affection during childhood.

1. Inferioriti Complex with individual Lifestyle

Inferioriti complex materialises when ideas and feelings arise in response to an individuals shortcomings
in life. (Adler) The term inferiority complex is widely used to represent the feelings of worthlessness,
including shortcomings that led to disastrous loss of self esteem or aggressive behavior. Individuals who
are poor, do not socialise will strive to motivate themselves to gain self esteem or superior to
compensate for the shortcomings. However if these efforts fail, the individual then suffer inferioriti
complex.

2. Interests and Social Values of Individual Lifestyle

Social interest like the value of altruism is lush and nurtured in the family. Children who do not have a
social interest face social and emotional problems, including depression. Many people who seek
counseling services consist of individuals who frequently feel lonely and sidelined by others.
Mental health is measured by the quantity of social values belonging to an individual. In addition, the
characteristic of mental health is working with others as a member of the community, the confidence to
interact with any group or social situations, and be able to contribute to her community interaction,
including the value of courage. Based on the Adlers terms, courage include the social activities and
interests. Individuals who have social interest are sually encouraged to act with social interests. So they
have dignity and self-confidence because of their actions are based on social interest and not self-
interest. Based on the discussion, individuals with stable mental health and social interests will be
conceptualized themselves as equal social standing and ready to make a meaningful contribution to the
family,

8.2 Exploration of Working Interests and Values Career

Career concepts

Career is the whole area of work that is managed by an individual throughout his life. Career
development is a comprehensive development in the aspects of what he learned, and prepare the world
for him to enter the field of employment as an employee. Careers are work activities or tasks performed
by an individual at a particular time. The career education is the experience of education and job skills to
progress until the individual is ready to enter the world of their chosen profession or occupation.

Theories of Career

Selection Career Development Theory: Ginzberg and Super

Behavioral Theory of John Krumboltz

Structure Theory: John L. Holland

1. Career selection Development Theory

Ginzbergs Theory prioritise career period in the development , progression and Supers theory of self-
concept and its implementation.

a. Ginzbergs theory

Ginzberg noted that the process of selecting one's career includes three stages, namely fantasy, trial or
tentative, and realistic.

The Fantasy (6-11 Years)

In early years, a boy would do career selection based on the nearest adults ooccupation to him without
understanding the real situation.

The Trial / Tentative (11-18 Years)

The student begin to make a selection based on what they are passionate about. They think about
whether it's appropriate chosen career or not. Between the ages of 15-16 years, they began to relate
selections existing career interests and values. SPM students start thinking about the selection of either
continuing education matriculation, or sixth, or pursuing professional courses to suit their ambitions.

The Realistic (17-20 Years)

At this stage, the Form Sixth students or diploma students would consult a teacher or counselor for the
purpose of information and experience that will help them to make choice of careers.

Ginzberg (1972) reviews the theory and found that the process of career development does not stop at
the age of 20 years. Instead, it is lifelong process.

Super Self Theory

Donald E. Super found three elements in the selection of the career development process. The process
starts from the childhood and continues until the time after retirement. Each element in the development
process of career choice are:

Development of Self Concept

The process of formation self-concept occurs when a person appreciate the difference himself and
others , such as identifying people who often visited the house along with their role . This provides
experience to build their self-concept .

Translating the Self Concept of Employment Terms

Identify the role of people nearby and becoming aware of the ability in a job.

Realization of Self Concept of Career

They are aware of the needs of the professional training of a selected career. For example , a career in
teaching requires one to attend teacher training in Teacher Traiining Instituites and so on.

Development Stages Career Selection

Growth Stage ( 4-14 Years )
# Fantasy (4-10 years)
# Interests ( 11-12 years)
# Ability ( 13-14 years)
At this stage, an individual's self-concept is formed to make career choices.

Exploration Stage (15-24 Years )

# While ( 15-17 years)
# Transition ( 18-21 years)
# Trial ( 22-24 years)

At this stage, the individual is exploring himself to know the world of work . First career choice? They
would talk among friends to search for information about a chosen career. In the transition stage, they
begin to realize the prospect of a real career path and strive to set a career they choose.

Reinforcement stage ( 25-24 Tahunj

* Trial (25-30 years)
* Stability (31 -44 years)

At this stage, problems will occur because individuals will try to get a more secure career. It is possible
that individuals will change jobs. Selecting suitable job becomes more apparent, then the efforts to
develop and strengthen themselves in job will take.

The retention or preservation (45-64 Years)

At this stage, an individual's position in a career is stable. Therefore, he will try to maintain his career.
Generally, at this stage, the individual may have reached the perfection of self -actualization. However,
Individuals who have not reached stability in a job at, may experience frustration.

The decline and deterioration ( 65 years)

* Descending (65 years)

* Descending rapidly (65-70 years)
* Retired (71 years)

At this stage, the physical and mental process will be slowing down due to age. An individual begins to
change his job as doing part-time work. There are also individuals who have a lot of difficulty and
frustration of not being able to face the retirement with being more useful.

Super also pointed out that the decision of a lifetime career choice relates to the determinants of
economic, social and psychological. The economic determinants such as economic changes, changes in
technology and warfare. Social factors are like socio-economic status, education, nationality, race,
religion and gender. Psychological determinants include heritage breed intelligence, special talents,
interests and values.

This development process not only involves external factors between individual and the world of work,
but also the internal compromise between the needs of individuals , parents and cultural influence .

John Krumboltzs Behavioral Theory

Krumboltz (1928 ) social learning relates to fulfilling ones education and then decision-making process
of courses and careers.

Factors Influencing the Process of Making decisions

(a ) Genetics and Special Abilities

i. Genetic dispositions and special abilities will limit the selection of an individual seducation and
employment.

ii. Environmental Condition

iii. Environmental conditions including employment, training opportunities, changes in technology

and education system.

iv. Learning Experience

v. The learning experience includes instrumental learning experiences that emphasize the
strengthening of the ideas and experiences of learning. These individuals will be watching all the
real behavior, either in accordance with the desired career .

vi. Skills Approach Tasks

vii. Skills include values clarification task approach , information problem , alternatives , information
search , alternative evaluation , selection and planning alternatives .

The counselling implication

The choice of a career is a process that involves interaction and the influence of various elements in long
run. The role of career counselors is to help clients to make dcareer choices decision-making by
exploration and self assess their potential, capabilities, abilities.

3. Theory of Structures: Theory Dr. John L. Holland

This theory emphasizes matching individuals with jobs. John L. Holland suggested four assumptions in
the theory, namely :
i. All individuals can be categorized into six types of personality, which is realistic, intellectual,
artistic, social, industrial and conventional

ii. There are six types of models of the environment is closely linked to six types of personalities.

iii. Individuals explore nature that allows them to develop the skills, attitudes, values and
personality.

iv. Individual behavior is determined based on the interaction between personality type and
characteristics of the environment.

Lately there have been a number of instruments on the market that can be used as a career assessment
profile in order to obtain a robust and comprehensive planning and selection of a career. There are
psychological instrument in the form of inventory, where an individual are able to evaluate themselves ,
including interests, values, and personality traits in relation to career fields of interest and what to get
involved later.

One such instrument is the Self- Directed Search ( SDS ), which was created in 1971 by Holland
Vocational Preference Inventory based on [ VPI ] , an inventory that assesses personality career . SDS can
be considered as a catalyst to stimulate the person concerned to make active career exploration.

For Holland , SDS has two functions as follows :

a. assessment instruments , and

b. career interventions , also known as simulated counseling .

SDS is a career inventory are self-governance that can be taken online. Based on the scores obtained,
the interpretation will be made by experts for the purpose of preparing a detailed report. This report is
sent to the person concerned for further action.

SDS scores based on six human personal style, also known as career themes, namely:

Realistic ( R ) ;
Investigative ( I) ;
Artistic ( A) ;
Social ( S ) ;
Initiative ( E ), and
Conventional ( C )

Career Interest Inventory

Interest is the result of individual efforts to modify or audience - tasikan need to achieve a certain level of
self- satisfaction. Darley & Hagenah (1955) stated that an interest in the job is part of an individual's
personality development. Holland (1997) argues that career interests are similar to the selection of a
career that can be interpreted as an expression of individual personality. Thus, interest inventories can
be interpreted as a personality inventory.

According to the theory of career development, interest in the work, including the work, the needs and
traits, personality traits of an individual will determine the involvement, concentration, and retention in
employment on the basis of a field goal kendirinya satisfaction.

Career Interest Inventory

There are different types of career interest inventory designed to measure individual career interests.
Among the most commonly used are:

1. Self- Directed Search (SDS)

2. Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)

Both inventory, SDS and VPI, was built by John L. Holland.

Self Directed Search (SDS) is a career interest inventory consists of 192 items by using the response " Yes
"or " No, to gauge ones interest in work or personality type. The items are then grouped into 6 main
categories , namely : Realistic ( R ) , investigative ( I) , Artistic (A ) Social ( S ) , Enterprising ( E ) , and
Conventional ( C ) .

Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) is a career interest inventory containing 160 names of jobs to
identify vocational interests and personality traits, individual traits .

Responses to the items comprising the primary scale and scale Sounders.
Primary Scale is used to measure six personality types and areas of interest in the job , the realistic ( R ) ,
investigative ( I) , Artistic (A ) Social ( S ) , Enterprising ( I) , and Conventional ( C ) .

Meanwhile , the secondary scale is used to measure Self- Control ( SC ) , masculinity - Feminiti ( MF ) ,
Status ( ST ) , Infrequency ( INF ) , and Acquiescence ( AC ) .

Inventory for Self Understanding Pupil 1 . Personality Inventory

Personality Inventory is a testing tool used to identify traits - traits or characteristics of an individual's
personality.

Kathleen (1978) personality inventory classify individuals into two categories, namely:

1 Projective personality inventory.

2 Non - projective personality inventory

Projective personality inventory is a subjective test that mengguflakgfl pictures and drawings to
identify the personality of the individual.
Meanwhile, non - projective personality inventory is an objective test because it uses the responses
to those items that are built with features or traits, personality traits. Andres (1983 ) argues that non -
projective personality inventory is an objective test because it contains two specific features , namely :

It uses two clear response, which is: Yes and " No" only.

It is designed based on the characteristic or trait, personality traits accurate and generally
accepted.

Personality Inventory

There are many different types of personality inventory developed based different needs. .

a. Sidek Personality Inventory ( SRI )

Sidek Personality Inventory (PEI) using a rational approach was developed by Dr. Sidek Mohd Noah in
1987. IPSs response to items identified individual personality traits - traits is Yes or " No" only.

Mooney Problem Check list (Mooney Problems Check List)

Mooney Problem Checklist is designed to identify the problems that interfere with young people at the
High School. The problems are divided into 11 categories and contains 220 items. For example, here is
the Mooney Problem Checklist modified by Tang Chee Yee (1996) and adapted by Mok Soon Sang
(2007).In this checklist, Mooney (1950 ) divides the problems that interfere with young people at the
High School into 11 categories, each category consists of 20 items , as revealed in the form of
delinquency record on the following pages .

Uses Mooney Problem Checklist

1. To assist counselors counseling session with students after seeing the list of problems and give
proper attention to the problems to be discussed.

2. Understand the problems of students and identify students in need of counseling and career
curriculum development purposes.

3. Used as the basis for a career cluster and program orientation

4. To stimulate students to quickly understand and analyze its requirements.

5. To improve understanding of classroom teachers on the problems of pupils in his class.

6. Conduct research in the problems of students in the school.

7. To identify the changes and significant differences in terms of age, gender, social background,
patterns and other interests.

8. To measure the changes resulting from the reduction program implemented pupil problems
Step Checklist Managing the Questionnaire

Determine the objectives of the questionnaire

Determine the respondents in the study
Prepare an inventory of tools and questionnaires.
Distribute checklist followed by a presentation on the respondent to answer.
Collect back and do a mental checklist
Provide a report with recommendations to overcome the parties concerned.
Follow-up

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER
Among the key points discussed in this chapter are as the following
Career refers to the overall experience of one's work in a public job categories

Adler defines lifestyle as basic orientation of the individual to his life and cover assembly patterns
recurring theme throughout the life span
Theme lifestyle advocated by Adler composed of Interest - owned social; By : Charge ; Want
recognition , and Be careful .
Adler asserts that indirectly reflect or represent keijaya a whole lifestyle.

Career Interests reflect five components: personality; motivation or encouragement; view of self-
concept or identification; breed, and environmental influences.
Careers that we serve is consistent with the values we hold to the satisfaction and well-being

There are cutting across various types of career interest test and the career that you can take online.

According to Holland , the man and the work environment can be divided into six types, namely :
Realistic ( R ) , investigative ( I) , artistic (A ) , social ( S ) , enterprising ( E ) , and Conventional ( C ) .
The better the match of personal style with the work environment, the more satisfying work
environment.
Test Self- Directed Search (SDS) is a career inventory are self- governance that can be taken online in
some test centers.
SDS consists of three essential ingredients, namely: ( i ) Interpretation of the Book (Form R ) , (ii )
interpretation report , and (iii ) Job Search .
Guidance and Counseling for Children
Model Holland Hexagon is a six - border geometric shapes are used to show the similarities and
differences between the six themes of work and RIASEC.
Follow-up action should be taken based on the interpretation of the resulting report seeks to obtain
additional information important in establishing educational and career planning to get involved later.

Practice Questions
Chapter References
Gibson, R.L., & Mitchell. M.H. (1995). Introduction to counseling and guidance (4 th ed.). Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Leong, F.T.L., Hartung, P.J., Goh, D., & Gaylor, M. (2001). Appraising birth order in career assessment:
Linkages to Holland's and Super's models. Journal of Career Assessment, 9(1), 25-39.
Nystul, M.S. (2003). Introduction to counseling: An art and science perspective (2 nd ed.). Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
Sciarra, D.T. (2004). School counseling: Foundatioms and contemporary issues. Belmont, CA: Thomson
Brooks/Cole.
Watkins, C.E., Jr. (1993). Psychodynamic career assessment: An Adlerian perspective. Journal of Career
Assessment, 7(4), 355-374.
Watkins, C.E., Jr. (1984). The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: Toward an Adlerian vocational theory.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 24, 28-47.
Laman Web
An exploration of Adlerian lifestyle themes and alcohol-related behaviors among college students.
Dimuat turun pada November 23,
2010 daripada http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi 0199-5353453/ An-exploration-of-Adlerian-
lifestyle.html
Factors affecting career choice. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/factors-affecting-career-choices-3053543 ,html#ixzz
16pTM6B72: http://www.ehow.com/list 6685028 factors-affecting-career-choices, html
Godot, D. (20\0).Adleriancareer assessment and counseling. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010
daripada http://chicagopsvchology. org/adlerian/adlerian-career-assessment-counseling/
Hansen, Jo-Ida C. (1995) Interest sssessment. ERIC Digest. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010
daripada http://ericae.net/edo/ ED389961.htm
Holland, J.L. (1985) Making vocational choices (2nd ed.) Odessa, FL.: Psychological Assessment Resources,
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Interest inventoy - Vocational test, test, vocational, activities, occupational inventories, and scales.
Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada
http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/343/Interest-Inventorv. html#ixzz 16vz4S71D
Jackson Vocational Interest Survey. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada
http://www.sigmaassessmentsvstems.com/ assessments/jvis.asp
McKay, D.R. Identifying your work values. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada
http://careerplanning.about.com/od/ selfassessment/a/work values.htm
Other factors affecting career choice. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada
www.econ.ed.ac.uk/pdf/factors.pdf
Lifestyle. Dimuat turun pada November 23, 2010 daripada http:// www.thefreedictionary.com/lifestvle
Self-Directed Search. Dimuat turun pada November 24, 2010 daripada http://www.self-directed-
search.com/