Essentials of a counsellor

1. ESSENTIALS OF
CAREER COUNSELING
Prof. N.K. Chadha

2. 2
ADOLESCENT YEARS
Early Adolescence
10 – 14 Years Old
Grades 5 to 9
Middle Adolescence
15 – 17 Years Old
Grades 9 to 12
Late Adolescence
(Early Adulthood)
18 – 24 Years Old
Post High School

3. 3
DEFINING
PEER PRESSURE
Positive Peer Pressure
Pressure to do something that IS in your best interest
Negative Peer Pressure
Pressure to do something that IS NOT in your best interest

4. 4
CAREER ISSUES IN
ADOLESCENT
• Many a times, the adolescent is unclear as to the
direction he wants to take.
• The person may be unaware of the means to achieving
the goal.
• The role here would be to help the person find clarity
on both scores.
• Giving information may also be needed in some cases.
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5. 5
PEER INFLUENCE ON EDUCATIONAL
CHOICES
When this group moves on to take admission in colleges, the
educational institutes they flock to are also where academic
performance continues to be low to average, marking the
future career course as well.
A person who has a poor self esteem
tends to make friends with low
performers, and thus has a peer
group that does poorly at academics.

6. 6
PEER INFLUENCE ON CAREER
CHOICES
Another area where negative peer influence can be
seen to have an impact is when the individual
“plays down” his talents and capabilities so as to fit
in with the peer group.
A student who prefers one career choice but his
friends and peers prefer another simply becomes
a robot performing what he is expected to do
rather than what he wants to do.

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PARENTS INFLUENCE ON CAREER
CHOICES
This further pressurizes the child to make efforts to fulfill the
goals set by their parents and not realizing whether that
would be the best choice for them as their aptitude, interest,
knowledge might be fit for some other careers.
The career expectations imposed by
parents from the childhood are generally
the parents’ unmet dreams which they
dream to fulfill through their child.

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04
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CURRENT TRENDS AND INNOVATIONS IN
CAREER COUNSELLING
Consciously enhancing
interpersonal skills
Taking a holistic
approach
Capitalizing on chance
Understanding the client’s
career framework
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9. 9
UNDERSTANDING COUNSELLING
It needs to be recognized that counseling is very different from the usual advice-giving.
The client-therapist relationship
is based on trust, so these
qualities are essential to deal
with a client. Therapy can take
time and persistence, so
patience and tenacity are
important.
Having had some challenging life
experiences is highly advantageous,
because it enhances the counselor's
ability to analyze, interpret and judge
situations accurately. Besides these
basic characteristics, there are some
other which are necessary for the
making of an effective counselor.
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Communication Skills01
Non-Judgmental Acceptance02
Empathy03
Genuine Interest in Others04
Self-Reflection and Self Awareness05
Problem Solving Skills06
Rapport-Building Skills07
Flexibility08
Multicultural Competencies09
Sense of Humour10
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
COUNSELLOR

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Welcome from Dr. Barbara Suddarth!

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Ingredients in the Helping Relationship

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Ingredients in the Helping Relationship
• Acceptance
• Respect
• Understanding
• Empathy
• Trust
• Warmth
• Genuineness

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LISTENING

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SOLER
• S - Face the client squarely
• O - Adopt an open posture
• L - Lean toward the client
• E - Maintain good eye contact
• R - Try to be relatively relaxed

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Attending & SOLER

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REFLECTION
Two key components
• Feeling
• Content

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ENCOURAGING

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CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS
• Advantages
•Easy for clients to answer
•Yield information quickly
•Useful for clarifying information

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•Disadvantages
•Restrict clients to brief answers
•Keep the questioner in control of the conversation
•May make clients feel interrogated
•May be perceived as advice or criticism
CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS

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•Advantages
•Explore clients’ thoughts and feelings
•Give clients some control in the conversation
•Convey your interest in and respect for the client
•Provide information you may not think to ask
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

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•Disadvantages
•May allow clients to wander or to avoid a topic
•May lead to a series of “I don’t know” answers
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

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QUESTIONS

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IDENTIFYING STRENGTHS
• Motivation: client’s level of desire to work toward attaining career
goals
• Education and Transferable Skills: academic, vocational, and
experiential
• Support System - family, community, etc.
• Timing - perception of how much time can be spent in job search
• Decision-making Skills - comfort and experience with decision
making

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IDENTIFYING BARRIERS
• Finances - living expenses and job-search costs
• Transportation - driving and using public transportation
• Childcare and eldercare concerns - needs related to caring
for children and elderly
• Mental and Physical Health Issues - illness that may affect
self-esteem or work

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EFFECTIVE GOAL-SETTING
• Conceivable - can be expressed in words
• Believable - something that clients believe they can attain
• Achievable - can be attained through the client’s effort
• Measurable - can be worked toward in increments
• Desirable - something that the client truly wants

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CASE STUDIES
• Identifying a client’s needs, strengths, and barriers
• What does the client need? May be different than what
they want or what they think they need
• Establishing goals
• Terminating the relationship

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TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTER
TRANSFERENCE
Transference is the feelings or
undertones that a client
possesses, which most likely
began with people in their early
life. It could be feelings based
on prior relationships, such as
parents, and the impact of that
relationship on the client. This
is encouraged in the therapy
process and is where counter
transference comes in.
Transference
Counter transference is what
the therapist “feels”
instinctively about the client. It
can provide important data for
the therapist to use with the
client. However, this also
necessitates the counselor be in
touch with his own feelings,
(both positive and negative) and
be aware of feelings that are
stirred up by irrelevant
characteristics of the patient.
Counter Transference
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SOME GUIDELINES FOR COUNSELLORS
Show interest and follow- up
in the next appointment.
Make homework
assignments clearly relevant.
Collaborate with clients in
formulating assignments.
Keep assignments
manageable.
Graduate the difficulty of
homework assignments.
Make sure that the client has
a written summary of any
instructions.
Begin homework
assignments during sessions.
Anticipate difficulties in
completing homework
assignments.
Emphasize learning.
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TRAINING IN THE AREA OF CAREER COUNSELING
Have as much information as possible about the current
job scenario.
Be aware of the present status of the different courses
available.
Have the knowledge of the various educational institutes
where the different courses can be pursued.

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TRAINING IN THE AREA OF CAREER COUNSELING
The most important thing to remember is that as a
career counselor, helping in giving a direction to the
client’s career is not the only task. Very often, the
counselor may also need to act as a therapist and help
the client to deal with emotional and behavioral
problems as well.
One important thing that the career counselor can do is
to provide a safe and non-judgmental space for the
client to explore his strengths and weaknesses, hurdles
and blockages, and other problems the client may be
having difficulty in dealing.

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TRAINING IN THE AREA OF CAREER COUNSELING
Regular updating of information and training to
enhance the functioning is imperative.
As mentioned earlier, self-awareness and self
enhancement needs to be a continuous process.
Take care of yourself. The counselor cannot give
anything to anyone if his own needs are not met.

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FORMS OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN
COUNSELLING
Claiming expertise one
does not possess
Exceeding one’s level of
professional competence
Violation of confidentiality
01 0402
Negligent practice
03
Imposing one’s values on
a client
05
Certain conflicts of
interest
08
Creating dependency in a
client
06
Sexual activity with a
client
07
Questionable financial
arrangements, such as
charging excessive fees
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Improper advertising
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ETHICAL ISSUES OF CONCERN TO
COUNSELORS
Ethical issues related to self
Counselor’s Fitness to Practice: the psychological, emotional, and physical
status of the counselor.
Ethical issues related to the client-counselor relationship
Confidentiality of the client
Ethical issues related to touch
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03
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CODE OF ETHICS (BAC & ACA)
01 Welfare of the customer
02
Utilization of assessment
techniques
03 Competence
04
Moral and legal
standards
05 Public Statements
06 Client’s rights
07
Pursuit of research
activities
08
Professional
Relationships
09
Professional
responsibility
10
Internet online
counselling
11 Confidentiality
12 Consulting
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Supervisee, student and
employee
14 Private Practice
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Resolution of ethical
problems
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CODE of ETHICS PREAMBLE
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“A code of ethics helps to define professional behavior and serves to protect
the public, the profession, and those who practice within the profession.
Ethical behavior involves incorporating the principles espoused in the code of
ethics into your personal and professional life and using the code to help
determine a course of action.
At the same time, ethical behavior is about transparency. Can your behavior
withstand the scrutiny of others? Will you be embarrassed, ashamed, or
concerned if someone else knew that you did or said something?”

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CODE of ETHICS
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A. The Professional Relationship
B. Confidentiality, Privileged Communication, and Privacy
C. Professional Responsibility
D. Relationships with Other Professionals
E. Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation
F. Providing Career Services Online, Technology, and Social Media
G. Supervision, Training, and Teaching
H. Research and Publication
I. Resolving Ethical Issues

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CODE of ETHICS
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The NCDA Code of Ethics (Code) has been designed as a guide
and resource for career practitioners. While it offers a set of
principles that can be applied to a wide range of settings and
situations, it is not (nor can it be) comprehensive.
If you are concerned about whether or not a particular practice
is ethical, then you should not engage in that behavior without
getting competent advice.

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CODE of ETHICS
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More succinctly, when in doubt—don’t; at least not without
professional consultation. Peer review isn’t always going to give
you perfect advice; but you can take comfort in knowing that you
questioned your behavior before proceeding and allowed others
to comment before taking action.
There is safety and strength in the depth and breadth of opinions
you seek before engaging in activity that may be untried or
questionable.

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ETHICAL CODES
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§ NCDA.org: Look under the tab “Standards”
§ American Counseling Association’s (ACA) Code of Ethics
(Counseling.org)
§ The Center for Credential and Education (CCE) has a brief code
of ethics for Global Career Development Facilitators (GCDF)

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ETHICAL CODE - HOMEWORK
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Develop/adapt a code of ethics for use by ICCC
individuals.

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SOME SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS TO ASK
Did I
review the content of what happened in counseling?
review the process of what happened in counseling?
reemphasize the client’s strengths that were evident in
counseling?
evaluate what went well and what went poorly?
explore things unsaid in counseling?
discuss feelings related to the ending of the counseling
relationship?
provide clear and direct structure for the client’s next
steps?
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