The Counseling Profession

Essay by Billy GibsonJunior High, 9th grade February 1997

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Clients often come to counselors to change their lives in some way,

such as to become more assertive. As likely, clients seek counseling as

a result of some change, prehaps a death or different working conditions.

Clients ofren find themselves in the midsyt of some change they do not

understand or over which they have little control. In its most general

form, counseling provides a context for such change. How to evplain any

change, how to assess its direction or to predictg irs effects, and how

to understand the meaning any change may have for the client are questions

the effective counselor must ask.

The counselor relies on the concepts of human development to assess

the client's level of functioning and uses different developmental theories

as lenses through which to view the client. The professional counselor

appreciates that people are different but users knowledge of developmental

theory to understand these differences within the context of a universal

human process.

Because so much of their work involves making decisions related to

human development, counselors need to understand the assumptions upon which

such decisions are made. Counselors need to understand all developmental

theories and how these theories are applied to counseling to be effective.