Guidance Services

Chapter IV- Guidance Services

Objectives:

• To organize a fully functional counseling and testing center that would cater to the students and other members of the institution.
• To promote the services of the Guidance Center to the students, faculty members and employees of the institution.
• To establish a “catharsis center” where students, parents and faculty can pour their feelings in full confidentiality
• To provide opportunities for the students to enrich their social lives through the development of skills in interpersonal relationship.

Counseling Services- this service aims to assist students in gaining deeper self understanding and awareness one’s problem.

    

Testing Services – test will be useful as guidance tool if combined with appropriate planning for individual development.

Student Inventory Record- this is continues process of accumulating, recording and utilizing information on each student for guidance and counseling purpose.

Training\Seminar\Forum- these programs designed to help student to discover their innate ability and talents as well as develop their emotional intelligence. Symposium and forum are organized as information program tackle important life issues.

Placement and Career Service- Graduating students are being prepared by the series of careers talks by experts in the different field of occupational endeavors.

Research Services- research capabilities of the guidance center are conducted in conjunction with relevant educational studies like student’s delinquency problems, teenage pregnancy, faculty-student relationship and others.

Career and Life Planning- Career development program is a package of activities designed to develop skill in self- exploration, value clarification, career planning and decision- making, and life goal setting.

Freshmen Enhancement Program- Freshmen Enhancement Program is package of activities for freshmen designed to facilitate adjustment into college life, enhance self awareness and understanding.

Orientation and Information- this services consist of accumulation and dissemination of information about the different guidance activities.

Referral- special cases, which require service beyond the scope of guidance and counseling program, are referred to other agencies.

Linkages- the guidance and counseling program is also carry out collaborative activities with school and community-based organization.

Extension Services- guidance staff function and responsibilities go beyond the students. They extend themselves by helping others training, seminar workshop.

Peer Facilitation- is trained to help the staff in the delivery of the guidance services, as well as extension services.

 

...CoUnseLing SerViCes...

“Current Trend and Issues in Guidance and Counseling”

     There are different kinds of Issues and Trend in the field of Guidance and Counseling ,Especially those Guidance and Counselor that are under or working as a school Counselor, there many issues that a Guidance Counselor is facing and need to resolve or not to totally resolve the issues or problem but to give an advice to those who are involve in the issues .A School Counselor have many duties than those who practiced a vocational guidance counselor. The duties of a school counselor is to assisting and preventing students from being involved with many difficulties and problems such as participating in a gangs, dropping out in school, becoming teenage parent or to have a  baby at the young age, abusing and using drugs and participating in or becoming a victim or act of  violence.

 

  Gangs.  

     

      Students as early as third grades are being taught gang-type activities. Students are more likely to end up in a gang if family members and peers are already involved in gang activities. 

Teenage pregnancy. 

     Teenage pregnancy continuous to be a societal concern. Precipitating factors are visible prior to the middle schools. Counselors are often the liaison with community agencies. That work to prevent student’s pregnancy and assist with students who do become pregnant. 

Substance abuse. 

    Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco continue to be a serious problem for youth. 

 School violence. 

     School violence can range from bullying gunfire. Counselors have training to assist teachers and students in cases of violence and to establish violence prevention programs. Counselor’s leadership in making teasing and bullying unacceptable school behaviors is a powerful way to provide a safer and more inclusive environment for students. 

Diversity. 

   

    Tolerane of diversity is an important role in multi-cultural society. 

Child abuse. 

     Many states  have mandatory reporting laws concerning child abuse.

 

Terrorism

    Terrorisim is becoming an increasingly difficult problem in the world. 

 

}}Multicultural Counseling{{

Multiculturalism has been defined as the fourth force in psychology, one which complements the psycho dynamic, behavioral and humanistic explanations of human behavior. Pedersen (1991) defined multiculturalism as "a wide range of multiple groups without grading, comparing, or ranking them as better or worse than one another and without denying the very distinct and complementary Locke (1990), among others, advocates a narrower definition of multiculturalism, particularly as it relates to counseling. 

Hofstede (1984), identified four dimensions of cultures. These dimensions are:

1. Power distance--the extent to which a culture accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. 

2. Uncertainty avoidance--the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or ambiguous situations. 

3. Individualism--a social framework in which people are supposed to take care of themselves and of their immediate families only. 

4. Masculinity/Femininity--the extent to which the dominant values within a culture are assertiveness, money and things, caring for others, quality of life, and people. 

A number of generic counselor characteristics are necessary, but not sufficient, for those who engage in multicultural counseling. To be effective, a counselor must be able to: 

1. Express respect for the client 

2. Feel and express empathy for culturally different clients. 

3. Personalize his/her observations.

4. Withhold judgment and remain objective until one has enough information and an understanding of the world of the client. 

5. Tolerate ambiguity. 

6. Have patience and perseverance when unable to get things done immediately.

The effective counselor is one who can adapt the counseling models, theories, or techniques to the unique individual needs of each client. This skill requires that the counselor be able to see the client as both an individual and as a member of a particular cultural group. Multicultural counseling requires the recognition of: (1) the importance of racial/ethnic group membership on the socialization of the client; (2) the importance of and the uniqueness of the individual; (3) the presence of and place of values in the counseling process; and (4) the uniqueness of learning styles, vocational goals, and life purposes of clients, within the context of principles of democratic social justice (Locke, 1986). 

The Multicultural Awareness Continuum (Locke, 1986) was designed to illustrate the areas of awareness through which a counselor must go in the process of counseling a culturally different client. The continuum is linear and the process is developmental, best understood as a lifelong process. 

--Self-awareness. The first level through which counselors must pass is self-awareness. Self-understanding is a necessary condition before one begins the process of understanding others. 

--Awareness of one's own culture. Counselors bring cultural baggage to the counseling situation; baggage's that may cause certain things to be taken for granted or create expectations about behaviors and manners. 

--Awareness of racism, sexism, and poverty. Racism, sexism, and poverty are all aspects of a culture that must be understood from the perspective of how one views their effect both upon oneself and upon others. 

Exploration of the issues of racism, sexism, and poverty may be facilitated by a "systems" approach. Such an exploration may lead to examination of the differences between individual behaviors and organizational behaviors, or what might be called the difference between personal prejudice and institutional prejudice. The influence of organizational prejudice can be seen in the attitudes and beliefs of the system in which the counselor works. Similarly, the awareness that frequently church memberships exist along racial lines, or that some social organizations restrict their membership to one sex, should help counselors come to grips with the organizational prejudice which they may be supporting solely on the basis of participation in a particular organization. 

--Awareness of individual differences. One of the greatest pitfalls of the novice counselor is to over generalize things learned about a specific culture as therefore applicable to all members of the culture.

Total belief in individualism fails to take into account the "collective family-community" relationship which exists in many cultural groups. A real danger lies in the possibility that counselors may unwittingly discount cultural influences and subconsciously believe they understand the culturally different when, in fact, they view others from their own culture's point of view. In practice, what is put forth as a belief in individualism can become a disregard for any culturally specific behaviors that influence client behaviors. In sum, counselors must be aware of individual differences and come to believe in the uniqueness of the individual before moving to the level of awareness of other cultures.

--Awareness of other cultures. The four previously discussed levels of the continuum provide the background and foundation necessary for counselors to explore the varied dynamics of other cultural groups.

--Awareness of diversity. The culture of the United States has often been referred to as a "melting pot."

--Skills/Techniques. The final level on the continuum is to implement what has been learned about working with culturally different groups and add specific techniques to the repertoire of counseling skills.

      All the current trends and issues about Guidance and Counseling happens in real life. it is very important to understand by the Guidance Counselors for them to make possible solutions. they have a big role to the students in terms of their common problems like involving in gang activities, dropping out of school, becoming a teenage parent, using drugs and participating or becoming victims of acts or of violence. 

       The counselors are in the position to help the students or any people who are involved in this kind of problems, they can influenced them to avoid that kind of activities by undergoing Guidance and Counseling. 

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