Counselors Essay, Research Paper

Counselors

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.