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Unit 17: Counseling Services: Individual Counseling

Man could become an automation. He could be made to behave in a preconceived way—as did Notes
many persons under the Hitler regime. But the potential for good is also there, not because someone
can preconceive that good but because certain conditions can make men capable of exercising choice
and assuming responsibility.
Rogers values man in a process of becoming—of achieving worth and dignity through the
development or potentialities, of becoming so self-actualized that he reacts creatively to new and
changing challenges. The counselor accepting these values, deals with the counselee as an unique
individual and engages in a genuine relationship of caring. He accepts the individual in his various
moods and is so emphatic that he sees the world through the counselee’s eyes.
Counseling, by whatever name it might be called, has as a major purpose the changing of one’s
view of himself, others and the physical milieu. Counseling in some instances is perceived to be
synonymous with psychotherapy, while to others such a notion is anathema. To these latter
counselling may be a matter of giving information or instruction. Much vocational counselling falls
into this category.
Super has taken cognizance of the many concepts of counselling and suggests the possibility of the
emergence of a field of applied individual psychology or consulting psychology. In this Super
envisions the practitioners consulting with people in a variety of situations as they deal with a
variety of adjustment problems.
Counseling is perceived as a form of teaching; but, let it be clear that teaching is not synonymous
with counselling. It is a developmental process. Presumably in counselling, as is the case with a
sportsman’s guide and the hunter, the counselor knows more about the goals and conditions than
does the counselee. This does not mean that he knows more about the person being guided than
does the person himself.
Therefore the counselor must not be too sure of the next step. He must be willing to change his
hypotheses and how to interrupt, when to intervene, and in what ways to influence as the counselling
sessions progress and provide better mutual understanding. The counselor, like the master teacher,
is involved not just in a teaching situation but in a teaching-learning process. The counselor must,
be aware of the assumptions he is making in each situation at every moment. One must be able to
confront danger if he is to counsel.
Counseling deals with a variety of problems, a variety of teachiques, a variety of degrees of difficulty,
and has a variety of outcomes—including both failure and success.

17.2 Need of Individual Counseling

Following situations are more serious, requiring individual counselling by skilled counselor.
An individuals need for assistance in making decisions, planning courses of action, and making
adjustments to life situations may be centered in any of his present or future areas of experience.
Very few problems are confined to one area. An individual’s attitude toward situations requiring
decisions and his ability to meet them usually are the result of many factors.
The physical and the mental health status of the person are important, for example. Anyone who
possesses a healthy physical constitution and who, consequently, does not suffer aches and pains or
is not unduly concerned about the possibility of contracting a disease usually is able to meet ordinary
annoyances or disappointments with a reasonable degree of adjustment. Similarly, a boy or girl or
a man or woman who has developed an objective, relatively unbiased attitude toward himself in his
relation to others probably will be able to excercise self-control.
Home and school guidance, however, has not yet been successful in developing these desirable
qualities in all individuals. Even those who believe they possess a fair amount of emotional stability
sometimes come to grips with that proverbial “last straw.”
The purpose to be served by counselling is directly related to the age, interests, and experiences of
the counselee. Moreover, one of the responsibilities of the counselor in individual counselling

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