Page 192 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Guidance and Counseling

Notes • Appraisal Techniques: The techniques of appraisal include individually administered
measurements of sensory acuity and muscular co-ordination, mental capacity, learning
achievement, and personal qualities.
• Effecting Changes: Changing or removing maladjustive elements in the individual’s
environment, of course, is important. More significant, however, are the desirable changes
that can be effected in his own attitudes and patterns of behaviour. This purpose can be served
best through a series of therapeutic interviews conducted by skilled persons.
• Personal Qualities of the Interviewer: The interviewing phase of counselling for personal
adjustment is an art; for it the interviewer must have certain specific personality qualities,
thorough training, and experience under expert guidance.
• The counselor’s behaviour should be friendly but dignified. He must avoid a sentimental or a
‘kidding’ approach that is supposed to set the counselee at ease. An individual seeking help
from a counselor needs to have sufficient confidence in the latter’s acceptance of him so that
thoughts and feelings can be expressed freely, without fear of recrimination.
• Initial Interview Procedures: Most counselling within a school setting is, in a sense, initial
interviewing. School counselling is not marked by a long series of weekly or biweekly interviews.
The student visits the counselor, for example, in November for one or two interviews, and
they may not have another conference until spring of the following year.
• Preparing for the interview and getting started : Counseling can hardly be expected to be
effective unless both counselor and student are prepared for what is to take place.
• Developing opening structure : The student needs to know who The counselor is, what he is
able to do, and what he expects of the student.
• Establishing the objectives : As a product of his training and experience, the counselor will
be, aware of objectives he can set for himself in counselling.
• Advantages of Individual Counseling
• Even when couples or family counselling will follow, most family counselors will want to see
each partner for at least one session to gather information that can better facilitate future work.
• Individual counselling is useful for identified problems such as those originating in family-of-
origin, for grief and loss, job related stress issues, meaning of life issues.
• Because the individual attends alone, the entire session is devoted to that person (rather than
to a couple or family).
• When a partner or other family member is affected, the counselor is only hearing one person’s
perspective, and will be less knowledgeable in helping the individual identify problems and
setting appropriate goals.
• People often do not understand that relationships, including couples relationships, go through
stages, and when the ‘honeymoon stage’ passes, they often may feel that their relationship is
not salvageable.

17.8. Keywords

Individual : Connected with one person
Counseling : Professional advice about a person
Psychatrist : A doctor who studies and treats mental illnesses

17.9. Review Questions
1. What is individual Counseling ? Explain.
2. How do home and S chool experiences affect the individual ?

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