Stress is inevitable in many jobs but can harm performance and health if excessive. Counseling helps employees manage stress through exploration of feelings, objective perspective, and generating options. The counselor acts as a skilled listener to help clarify issues and make independent decisions. The six key activities of counseling are advice, reassurance, communication, release of emotional tension, clarified thinking, and reorientation. Managing stress through counseling benefits physical and mental health.

1. Learning in an
Organizational System
ROLE OF COUNSELLING IN
MANAGING STRESS

2. What Stress Is??
Stress is the general term
applied to the pressures
people feel in life. The
presence of stress at work
is almost inevitable in
many jobs. However,
individual differences
account for a wide range
of reaction to stress.

3. Stress
When it becomes excessive, employees develope various
syptoms of strees that can harm their job performance and
health;
-Physiological: Ulcers, Digestive problems, Headaches,
High blood pressure, Sleep disruption.
-Psychological: Emotional instability, Moodiness,
Nervousness and tension, Chronic worry,
Depression, Burnout.
-Behavioral: Excessive smoking,Abuse of alchol or
drugs, Absenteeism, Aggression, Safety problems,
Performance problems.

4. What is Counselling ?
•-The provision of professional assistance and guidance in resolving
personal or psychological problems.
-Professional relationship to help with personal problems
•-The process that occurs when a client and counsellor set aside time in
order to explore difficulties which may include the stressful or
emotional feelings of the client.
-Not like usual physician help model - trap for medico’s: to pronounce
‘cure’ after Q. & A.’s of ‘diagnosis’. Counseling is usually less directive

5. What do the Counsellor do ?
Rather than just informing or giving specific advice, counselors serve as
skilled listeners (“the best counselors are dumb”)
Help person
-explore feelings, thoughts, experiences
-see things more objectively - can help person deal with problems more
calmly / less anxiously
-clarify issues, generate options - based on shared understanding of
issues - so person can solve problems on their own &
make own decisions from available choices, so more self-sufficient (not
dependent on counselor)

6. Stages of Counselling
•1. Explore
•2. Understand
•3. Act
1. Explore
2. Understand
3. Act

7. Need for Counseling
-The need for counseling arises from a variety of employee problems,
including stress. When these problems exist, employees benefit from the
understanding and guidance that counseling can provide.
-Most problems that require counseling have some emotional content.
Emotions are a normal part of life. Nature gave people their emotions and
these feeling make people human. On the other hand, emotions can get out
of control and cause workers to do things that are harmful to their own
best interests and those of the firm. They may leave their jobs because of
conflicts that seem large to them or they may implement morale in their
departments. Managers want their employees to maintain good mental
health and to channel their emotions so that they will work together
effectively.

8. 6 Activities of Counselling
-The general objectives of counseling are to help employees grow in self-
confidence, understanding, self control and ability to work effectively.
-The counseling objective is achieved through one or more of the
following counseling functions. The six activities performed by
counseling

9. 1-Advice 2-Reassurance
-Many people view
counseling as primarily
an advise-giving activity
but in reality this is only
one of several functions
that counseling can
perform.
-The giving of advise
requires a counselor to
make judgments about a
counselee’s problems and
to lay out a course of
action.
-Counseling can provide
employees with reassurance,
which is a way of giving them
courage to face a problem or a
feeling of confidence that they
are pursuing a suitable course
of action.
-One trouble with
reassurance is that the
counselees do not always
accept it. They are smart
enough to know that the
counselor can’t know that the
problem will come out all
right.

10. 3-Communication
4-Release of
Emotional Tension
-Counseling can improve
both upward and downward
communication. In an
upward direction, it is a key
for employees to express their
feeling to management.
-Counseling also achieves
downward communication
because counselors help
interpret company activities
to employees as they discuss
problems related to them.
 An important function of
nearly all counseling is release
of emotional tension; this
release is sometimes called
emotional catharsis. People
tend to get an emotional release
from their frustrations and
other problems whenever they
have an opportunity to tell
someone about them
 They are more relaxed and
their speech is more coherent
and rational.

11. The case of Irwin also illustrates
another function of counseling,
that of clarified thinking.
Clarified thinking tends to be a
normal result of emotional
release but a skilled counselor
can aid this prosess. In order to
clarify he counselee what is right.
The result of any clarified
thinking is that a person is
encouraged to accept
responsibility for emotional
problems and to be more realistic
in solving them.
6-Reorientation
Another function of counseling
is reorientation of the counselee.
This is more than mere
emotional release or clear
thinking about problem.
Reorientation involves a change
in the employee’s psychic self
through a change in basic goals
and values.
The manager’s job is to
recognize those in need of
reorientation before their need
becomes severe so that they can
be referred to proffissional help
in time for successful treatment.
5-Clarified Thinking

12. Benefits of Stress Management
-Physical health gets better
-more energy and stamina
-Emotions stabilized
-positive attitude
-hopeful/happier
-Ability to focus improved
-able to learn and achieve