Objectives At the end of the class the students will gain knowledge about: • Introduction and definition of counseling. • Meaning of counseling in family planning. • Goals of counseling. • Elements of counseling. Introduction Psychological counseling is a means of helping essentially mature and minimally anxious people to overcome obstacles to personality growth and development that are reflected in dealing wit specific problems or situations. The role of counseling and psychotherapy is to facilitate the development of self actualization in client. Continue... The success of family welfare programme in a community depends upon the counseling capabilities of the health professionals. A health care provider generally shares good support with his/her patients. The duty of the health care provider is to enable the patient to arrive at an appropriate decision rather then giving advice. Counseling for family welfare Counseling is a process through which one person helps another by a purposeful conversation in an understanding atmosphere enabling him/her to cope more effectively with the life problems. The effectiveness of counseling is depends on: • Professional skill of counselor. • Ability to communicate with client. Goals of counseling To facilitate behaviour change in client. To improve the client’s ability to establish and maintain relationship. To enhance the client’s ability to cope with problem. To promote the decision making process. To facilitate client potential and development.