Introduction to

Counseling: An Art and

Science Perspective
CHAPTER 1:
AN OVERVIEW OF COUNSELING

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
What Is Counseling?

A dynamic process
Professionally trained counselor assists a client
Uses a variety of strategies and techniques

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Counseling Outcomes

Facilitating behavior change

Enhancing coping skills
Promoting decision making
Improving relationships

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Counseling: An Art and
Science
Attempts to balance the subjective and objective
aspects of counseling
Helps understand individual subjectivity while
remaining professionally objective
Initially scientist-practitioner (Boulder) model
from 1940
Currently focus is more on the “art”

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
The Art of Counseling
Counseling focuses largely on the “art” of the
practitioner
Involves flexibility in approach
Involves humanistic interactions

Skill sets are the art, while research in the field

adds to the science

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Art: Giving of Oneself in Counseling
Involves concern and empathy for the client
Self-transcendence: moving beyond oneself
Maintaining boundaries when expressing
emotions
Avoid becoming overly involved to the point of
losing objectivity

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Science
Offers an objective dimension to the counseling process
Utilization of research into practice and practice into
research
Differentiates professionals from nonprofessionals
Formulates objective observations and inferences, test
hypotheses, and build theories
Integrates empirical skills and strategies into the
counselor’s overall role and function

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Counseling as Storytelling
“Storied lives”: people live life based on stories created
Clients can “re-story” their lives to create new meanings
Approach aims to use client’s own language as opposed to
psychological jargon
A collaborative effort to create new narratives
Negative life events effect belief systems
Belief systems impact clients’ ability to cope

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Counseling and
Psychotherapy

Both are similar and can blend together

Counseling one end of continuum—
psychotherapy the other
Counseling focuses on conscious state—
psychotherapy can include unconscious
Counseling is developmental—psychotherapy
remediative

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Counseling and
Psychotherapy

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Brammer’s 1999 Helping
Formula

Personality of helper + Helping skills –

Growth-facilitating conditions =
Specific outcomes

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Qualities of an Effective
Helper
Personality
Roger (1981)—client’s perception of the counselor’s attitude is more
important than the counselor’s theories and methods
Strong (1968)—counselors perceived as expert, attractive, and
trustworthy
Corey et al. (2015)—positive model of personal growth and development
Beutler, Machado, and Neufeldt (1994)—emotional well-being, self
disclosure, and optimism
Helping skills
Techniques, theories, and methods

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
 14 Personal Characteristics of
an Effective Counselor
1. Encouraging 1. Self-disclosure
2. Artistic 2. Courageous
3. Emotionally stable 3. Patient
4. Empathic and caring 4. Nonjudgmental
5. Self-aware 5. Tolerance for ambiguity
6. Self-acceptance 6. Spirituality
7. Positive self-esteem
8. Self-realization

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Types of Helpers
Mental health Psychiatrist
counselor
Psychiatric nurse
Marriage, child, and
family counselor School counselor
Psychiatric social School psychologist
worker
Pastoral counselor

Clinical and counseling

psychologist
NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE
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Key Pioneers

Freud: developed psychoanalysis

Adler: developed individual psychology
Jung: developed analytic psychology
Rogers: developed person-centered approach
Ellis and Beck: created cognitive-behavioral
approach

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Key Historical Events
Vocational guidance movement: started career
counseling
Standardized testing movement: sparked
intelligence and placement testing
Mental health movement: provided advocacy and
awareness of issues related to mental illness
National Defense Education Act: provided funds for
training school counselors resulting in more trained
counselors

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Emerging Trends in
Counseling
Mindfulness-based Spirituality
approaches
Cybercounseling
Research
Technology
Multicultural counseling
Problematic-impaired
Managed mental health counseling students
services
Self-care for counselors
Evidence-based
treatment Counseling and
neuroscience
Wellness
Positive psychology
Mental disorders
NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE
© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Mindfulness
Paying attention in the moment
Currently being integrated with positive psychology
Mediation strategies that focus on acceptance
Being used to treat trauma
Research
Emphasis on best practice
Evidence-based
Empirically supported
Multicultural counseling
Pull to reconceptualize counseling theories to address diversity
Advocacy skills to overcome oppression

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Managed mental health services
Began in the late 1980s
Organizations serving to oversee allocation of counseling services
Treatment challenges with number of sessions, treatment
approaches, fees, and more

Evidence-based treatment
Research support strategies and methods
Used interchangeably with “best practices”

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Wellness
Holistic approach
Preventative model
Positive psychology
Emphasis on strengths and positive emotions
Strengths are incorporated into treatment goals
Mental disorders
Movement to look more into the role of genetics,
neurobiology, psychopharmacology, sociology and
technology to understand and treatment conditions

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Spirituality
Counselors are recognizing the importance of
incorporating spirituality
Used to promote recovery and strength
Cybercounseling
Online methods for providing counseling
E-mail, bulletin boards, chatrooms, webcam, computer-
assisted, e-coaching, text messaging, mind mapping
Privacy and ethical considerations

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Technology
Assists in providing information, forums, databases, and
materials for interventions
Computer programs developed to act as counselor
Voice-activated technologies
Virtual self-help groups, referral help and counseling
supervision
Problematic-impaired counseling students
Programs to assist students with professional
deficiencies

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Trends
Self-care for counselors
Stressful profession
Burn-out prevention
Strategies for promoting well-being—exercise,
social support, spiritual support, personal
counseling

Counseling and neuroscience

Explores neurobiological bases of behavior

NYSTUL, INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING: AN ART AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

© 2016 SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.