How does Counselling differ from other Helping Roles? | Academy for Distance Learning (2024)

FAQs

How does Counselling differ from other Helping Roles? | Academy for Distance Learning? ›

Counselling skills support a person's decision-making or capacity to feel better, without the counsellor imposing his or her own view on what the individual should do or even feel. This is in contrast to what a parent, good friend or colleague might do.

Psycho educational skills are taught, as well as emotional and psychological growth facilitated. Giving advice is telling someone what you think they should do. Counseling, at its best, is asking questions to help the person being counseled figure out for themselves what they should do.

Counseling's core focus is on client growth, development, and wellness. Counselors are positively orientated and approach clients with a humanistic and holistic perspective. They try to develop skills and competencies to help clients create a regimen to improve and maintain their own mental wellness.

For these people, counselling skills are embedded into how they carry out their jobs and help improve standards. They use their counselling skills within their day to day role as they meet the people they care for. A counsellor, however, uses counselling skills, but counselling is their primary professional role.

The intention of a counselor is to help you answer your own questions. However, the goal of most advice-givers is to provide you with a definite answer (or a plan of action) to your problem, sometimes without even identifying what the problem really is.

Counsellors adopt a more person-centred approach, says Dr Snell. 'If you went to see a psychologist, they would probably do quite a comprehensive assessment to begin with, whereas a counsellor would begin by listening and discussing what your goals are,' he says.

The relationship between a counsellor and client is based on a one-sided discussion. It is the counsellor's job to actively listen and gently challenge the client, where appropriate. It is not a counsellor's responsibility to offer advice, unless the client specifically asks for it.

Counseling provided by trained professionals can make a profound impact on the lives of individuals, families and communities. This service helps people navigate difficult life situations, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, natural disasters, school stress and the loss of a job.

Counsellors are a type of mental health professional who can help you work through issues in your life. Counselling can help with many issues, such as relationship problems and mental health challenges. Counselling sessions can be done individually, with specific people or in a group.

Career counselling is more focused on getting to the bottom of what inhibits an individual's progress, and delves into the individual's past to find out the reasons why their career has stagnated or why good opportunities are slipping away or what is preventing the individual from going after their career goals, and ...

What is the role of a helper in counselling? ›

A person using counselling skills, as opposed to a counsellor, is called a helper and the person they are helping is the helpee. The helper uses specific skills such as active listening, including verbal and non-verbal communication in response to the helpee in an accepting and non-judging way.

The ability to be a good 'helper' or counsellor depends on knowing your own feelings and thinking deeply about how you behave. This handbook tries to provide some basic counselling skills – like listening, asking questions and reflecting.

They work to help their patients address similar issues, and often provide the same advice that counselors might. However, a key difference is that therapists often seek to go deeper by helping the patient understand the how and why behind a challenge.

Therapists do not typically give advice. They play a more nuanced role in fostering self-discovery, being an objective listener, and providing expert guidance. Instead of advice-giving, they focus on empathetic listening, reflecting, clarifying, and skill-building to support their clients' growth and autonomy.

Counselors also work with faculty and staff as consultants and trainers. An academic advisor is a professional staff or faculty member trained to assist students with academic planning. Advisors make referrals for various student concerns to counselors or other campus services.

But in real life, most therapists don't give advice. In fact, giving advice can go against the ethical codes they follow that warn them not to impose their own values or beliefs on their clients. Good therapists know that giving you advice doesn't help you that much—and that it can even hurt you.

Roles of counselors refer to their specific positions or jobs, like providing individual or group counseling. Functions relate to actual duties performed in those roles, such as helping clients understand life's challenges and promoting mental health.

A helping profession is a job focused on providing timely care, support, advocacy, and outreach to others in need with the intent to improve a part or the overall well-being of an individual.

Counselling history can be traced back to tribal times where people would came together in a group and share their experiences and sometimes their dreams. As civilisation developed, religion offered a type of counselling, usually by priests who would listen and advise parishioners on their problems (they still do).