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COUNSELING SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES 7. SCHOOL COUNSELING SKILLS & TECHNIQUES
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COUNSELING SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES 7. SCHOOL COUNSELING SKILLS & TECHNIQUES
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COUNSELING SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES7. SCHOOL COUNSELING SKILLS & TECHNIQUES
7.1. Background Theories
The professional school counselor provides responsive services through the
effective use of individual and small group counseling, consulting, and referral
skills. There are three major theories that have shaped how counselors provide
therapeutic interventions in schools. The first of these is based on the theoretical
foundation provided by psychoanalysis, first defined and elaborated by Sigmund
Freud. These approaches include those that can be described as neo-Freudian and
those that contain elements first identified in Freud’s writings. Eric H. Erikson,
Alfred Adler, and Otto Rank have built models for practice based on these
approaches and theories. The early behaviorists provided the second theory that
guided approaches to therapeutic interventions. Behaviorism was first defined in
psychological laboratories with carefully controlled experiments to look into how
individuals learn and respond to their environments. These approaches to therapy
include William Glasser’s reality therapy and choice theory. Related theories
describe goal setting and brief solutions-focused counseling, strengths based
counseling, cognitive therapy, behavioral counseling, and cognitive behavioral
techniques. Each of these methods is based on helping clients learn new ways of
thinking, processing information, and responding to their environments. The third
major theoretical basis in counseling is a uniquely American approach devised by
Carl R. Rogers. His person or child centered approach is one that does away with
the notion that a counselor is going to fix a problem the student is having. The
approach is one that helps the student better understand his or her own thinking
and find a resolution within. School counselors have also adopted an abbreviated
approach for providing student focused interventions that are time efficient and
highly effective. Central to these solutions focused methods are strength-based
school counseling and narrative therapies.
7.2. Ground Rules for School Counselors
When a new school counselor begins a career, he or she must build a practice.
Schools will have referral systems and children will be “sent to see the counselor”;
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, however, an effective counselor soon develops a practice built on trust that has
been earned. Students know the genuine thing when they see it, and a counselor
who is trusted will have a reputation that is spread by word of mouth throughout
the building and beyond into the community. This can happen only if the school
counselor has the personal warmth, integrity, and skills to create a counseling
environment in which students know they will be listened to by a professional
adult who is nonjudgmental and who truly understands them. The effective
counselor knows counseling theories and has the ability to employ techniques that
can help students. Beyond that knowledge and skill base, the counselor should be
an optimist who has a true belief in his or her skills and the ability of students to
change and improve.
To be effective, the dynamic interactions of a group of students working with a
counselor can employ a number of approaches to therapeutic intervention.
Counselors need skill and an understanding of group dynamics and theory to
provide an effective program of group counseling. A new direction for school
counselors is in working within a virtual school. The online world is changing old
rules about the delivery of counseling services for many students today.
Counselors working in public schools must establish ground rules with students
who begin the counseling relationship. One is that everything discussed by the
student and counselor is kept in confidence by both parties. Second is that there is
a strict time limit to the length of each counseling session. Counselors must
establish boundaries, including the fact that they are paid professional employees
of the school who may never break the school’s rules or policies. The counselor
works in the interest of each individual student; however, as a professional, the
counselor maintains a separation from students who are receiving counseling
services. Finally, counselors do not play favorites, make exceptions, or do anything
to discourage any student or group of students from seeking assistance. Counselors
must understand students and the culture of students as well as the culture of the
school.
Effective counselors recognize their roles in the culture of the school. The
counselor also understands and respects the society created by students but never
tries to become part of that culture. This implies the counselor is with it and up to
date with popular culture but does not affect airs or try to act like the students. This
will be immediately detected, and the counselor will be labeled by the students a
phony and subsequently lose credibility. Central to the job is listening. This skill is
one very few adults in a child’s life have. The counselor must always be sensitive
to all levels of communication being used by the student being counseled.
Verbalizations make up one dimension; others include the student’s posture and
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