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DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED SOCIAL
SCIENCES
Sociological imagination
– Enables us to grasp history and biography
and the relations between the two within the
society. That is its task and its promise.
– Ability to understand the connection between
personal issues and social issues.
– The term "sociological imagination" was
coined by the American sociologist C. Wright
Mills in his 1959 book The Sociological
Imagination to describe the type of insight
offered by the discipline of sociology.
– “The vivid awareness of the relationship
between experience and the wider society."
Personal issues become social issues…
Example: unemployment
- Food – social meaning
- Identity (those who are vegetarian, who eats
potatoes/rice)
Social Construct
- is an idea or notion that appears to be natural
and obvious to people who accept it but may
or may not represent reality, so it remains
largely an invention or artifice of a given
society.
INTRO TO COUNSELLING
- “Counseling consist of whatever ethical
activities a counselor undertakes in an effort
to help the client engage in those types of
behavior that will lead to a resolution of the
client's problem” Krumboltz, 1965
- ‘’Counseling denotes a professional
relationship between a trained counselor and
a client. “
- This relationship is usually person-to-person,
although it may sometimes involve more than
two people.
- It is designed to help clients to understand
and clarify their views of their life space, and
to learn to reach their self-determined goals
through meaningful, well-informed choices
and through resolution of problems of an
emotional or interpersonal nature.”
- Counseling is the mutual exploration and
exchange of ideas, attitudes, and feelings
between a counselor and a client...
specifically including
• A client’s misperceptions about the disorder
• A client’s misperceptions that create emotional
overlays affecting self-concept, and
• A disparity between a client’s thoughts &
feelings
The Nature of Counselling
1. Counseling involves two people in interaction.
2. The mode of interaction is usually limited to the
verbal realm; the counselor and counselee talk with
one another.
3. The interaction is relatively prolonged since
alteration of behavior takes time.
4. The purpose of the relationship is change of
behavior of the counselee.
Goals of Counselling
Goals within counseling help to set the tone and
direction one travels with their client.
Without goals, the sessions will wander aimlessly.
Goal Guidelines
- Goals are mutually agreed on by the client
and counselor.
- Goals are specific.
- Goals are relevant to behavior.
- Goals are achievement & success oriented.
- Goals are quantifiable & measurable.
- Goals are behavioral & observable.
- Goals are understandable & can be re-stated
clearly.
GOALS OF COUNSELLING (Gibson & Mitchell, 2003)
1. Development Goals - Assist in meeting/ advancing
client’s growth in all aspects.
2. Preventive Goals- Help in avoiding some undesired
outcome.
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3. Enhancement Goals- Enhance special skills and
abilities.
4. Physiological Goals- Acquiring the basic
understanding and habits for good health.
5. Exploratory Goals- Examining options, testing of
skills, trying new and different activities, etc.
6. Reinforcement Goals- Recognizing the valid feelings,
thinking, and doing is fine.
7. Psychological Goals- Developing good social
interaction skills, learning emotional control, and
developing positive self-concept.
Principles of Counselling
Some Basic Principles
- Each client must be accepted as an individual
and dealt with as such (the counselor does not
necessarily approve of all behavior, but still
accepts the client as a person).
- Counseling is basically a permissive
relationship; that is, the individual has
permission to say what they please without
being reprimanded or judged.
- Counseling emphasizes thinking with; not for
the individual
- All decision-making rests with the client.
- Counseling is centered on the difficulties of
the client.
- Counseling is a learning situation which
eventually results in a behavioral change.
- Effectiveness in counseling depends largely
on the readiness of the client to make
changes and the therapeutic relationship with
the counselor.
- The counseling relationship is confidential.
Our principles are the springs of our actions;
our actions, the springs of our happiness or
misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be
taken in forming our principles.
Ethical Principles of Counselling
1. Autonomy of Individuals
Autonomy is the “personal rule of the self that is free
from both controlling interferences by others and from
personal limitations that prevent meaningful choice.”
Autonomous individuals act intentionally, with
understanding, and without controlling influences.
Examples of promoting autonomous behavior:
Presenting all treatment options to a client/patient,
explaining risks in terms that a patient understands,
ensuring that a client/patient understands the risks
and agrees to all procedures before going into any
intervention
2. Principles of Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence means to “do no harm.” Physicians
must refrain from providing ineffective treatments or
acting with malice toward patients.
This principle offers little useful guidance to physicians
since many beneficial therapies also have serious
risks. The pertinent ethical issue is whether the
benefits outweigh the burdens.
Examples of non-maleficent actions:
Stopping a medication that is shown to be harmful,
refusing to provide a treatment that has not been
shown to be effective.
3. Principles of Justice
The principle of justice could be described as the moral
obligation to act on the basis of fair adjudication
between competing claims.
It is linked to fairness, entitlement and equality.
describe two elements of the principle of justice,
namely equality and equity (Alperovitch, et al. ,2009).
4. Principles of Fidelity
The principle of fidelity broadly requires that we act in
ways that are loyal. This includes keeping our
promises, doing what is expected of us, performing our
duties and being trustworthy.
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Core Values of Counselling

What is Core Values?

Values are beliefs that some things are right and good,
other things are irrelevant and some things are bad
and wrong.

CORE values refer to what is really important to us.

Does the core values of all the counselors MUST be ALL

the SAME?

We behave in certain ways because this is what our

values tell us.

Why is it important?

• It gives a counselor a life meaning and

purpose.
• Knowing what values are and adhering to
them results in feeling balanced, fulfilled and
having a good sense of self.
• Knowing one’s values allows him/her to make
decisions and to have a sense of direction,
meaning and purpose in life.

It is essential that the counsellor comprehend the

values of their client’s in order to accompany them
appropriately.
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Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Science

• The study of society and the manner in

which people behave and influence the
world around us.
• Tells about the world and our
immediate experiences.
• It can explain how society works.
Disciplines and Ideas in the Applied Social Sciences Educational needs/ problems

• Academic Performance
• It entails using and adapting • Trouble with Concentrating, Studying, or
Attending Classes
abstract principles and theory,
• Anxieties about Aspects of Study including
which were derived from the Exams and Presentations
various disciplines under the • Achievement Conflicts
Social Sciences, in connection
Family Issues
with concrete problems,
especially with a utilitarian aim. • Loneliness/Isolation/Homesickness
• Applied social science is the • Abusive Relationships
• Parental Separations
application of social science • Sexuality
theories, concepts, methods, and • Sexual Assault/Rape/Abuse
findings to problems identified in
Physical, emotional, social, and moral
the wider society.
• Using this understanding in the • Body Image Concerns
segmentation of social science • Weight Loss or Gain
into distinct discipline gives rise • Worries about Appearance
• Anger Management
to the concepts of applied social
• Difficulty Adjusting to Life
sciences that include counseling, • Difficulty Making or Keeping Friends
social work, and communication. • Anxiety/Persistent Worry/Panic Attacks

Cultural Concerns
Difference between DIASS and DISS
• Bereavement
• DISS – encompass only the concepts, • Alcohol or Drug/Substance
ideologies, definitions, and purposes of the
• Career Advancement
multitple disciplines under it.
• Vocational, occupational, and
• DIASS – denote the integration of these
professional needs
knowledge and information in dealing with
• Holistic individual development that
and resolving problems and issues in the real
would deal with
world.
• Identity Confusion
Scope of Counselling • Difficulty in making Decisions

• Individuals who might experience the

following may see a counselor; though they
may also see one even they are not
experiencing these concerns
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ROLES & FUNCTIONS OF COUNSELORS • Is also used as a more general description of

INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT
• Understanding characteristics and potentials
of every client.
INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING
• Confidential client-centered
between counselor and client.
GROUP COUNSELING AND GUIDANCE
the requirements of human beings in
organizations and communities.
Interpersonal skills
• to enter and understand the world of
another person and to be authentically
present for him/her in the therapeutic
process relationship
• Ability to communicate
• Empathy – to act in compassion

Personal beliefs and attitudes

• Assisting and providing systematic
assistance to group of individual.
• to understand, recognize and integrate
CAREER ASSISTANCE personal and professional values and be
accepting of the challenge of difference
• Providing career planning and adjustment • Respect for other’s culture
assistant to client • Awareness of ethical and moral choices
• to value and support difference and
PLACEMENT & FOLLOW –UP diversity
• Demonstrate an awareness of and
• Emphasizing on educational placement in sensitivity to the unique social, cultural, and
course and programs. economic circumstances of clients and their
racial/ethnic, gender, age, physical
REFERRAL
differences
• Helping clients in finding needed experts Conceptual abilities
assistance that the referring counselor
cannot provide. • Ability to understand the client’s problem/s
and remember information
CONSULTATION

• Helping a client through a third party or

helping system improve its services to its
clientele

EVALUATION & ACCOUNTABILITY

• assessing the effectiveness of counselor’s

activity Personal soundness
• it is the responsibility of the institutions to be
• to recognise and respond to one’s needs and
accountable of their actions
limits in relation to professional
PREVENTION competence, boundaries and personal
circumstances
• Promoting mental health through
prevention using psychosocial perspective. Mastery of Techniques

COMPETENCIES OF COUNSELORS (MCLEOD) • Must have a knowledge of when and how to

carry out specific interventions
What is COMPETENCY?

• a skill or ability
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Ability to understand work within social systems

• to use supervision for development of self-

awareness and safety of clients

Openness to learning and inquiry

• to be curious about client’s backgrounds and

problems, being open to new knowledge

Areas of specialization

• Career Counselors
• Child abuse Counselors (DSWD)
• Child or Pediatric Counselor
• Community Mental Health Counselors
• Conflict Resolution counselor Domestic
Violence Counselor (Violence Against
Women and Children)
• Geriatric Counselors
• Grief Counselors
• Marriage and Family Counselors
• Mental Health Counselor
• Pastoral Counselors
• School Counselors
• Rehabilitation Counselors
• Transformational Counselors