Distinguishing between Consultancy and Counseling - Article Example

Distinguishing between Consultancy and Counseling; applicability in school set-up Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission Abstract Diverse literature has been written by different scholars aimed at drawing a distinction between consultancy and counseling. This has been through the analysis of distinct features which characterize these concepts. Nonetheless, these efforts have been marred by the continued utility of these concepts in an interchanging manner, both inside and outside the field of academia. However, it is apparent that a thin line exists between their definition and applicability of these concepts mostly in the field of psychology. It is also worth noting that consultancy and counseling occur at different levels in an organization. This entails direct interaction with individuals, with the operational or dysfunctional collective or with the entire system in an organization. Nonetheless, it is evident that the organizations comprise of individuals and thus any consulting or counseling effort targeting a group or the organizational structure ought to first gain a comprehensive understanding of the individuals therein if at all the practice is to be successful. This paper is thus a profound effort to draw a distinction between the concepts of counseling and consultancy and how their distinct approaches can be married aimed at achieving a successful end when working with clients in a school setting. Keywords: Consultancy, Counseling, School Distinguishing between Consultancy and Counseling; applicability in school set-up Consultation within the professions in human service can be perceived to entail an indirect intervention through the delivery of educational and mental health services. In this sense, a professional who possesses particular knowhow acts as the consultant while a staff member who acts as the consultee engage in mutual agreement of working together to enhance the functioning of a client in the setting of the staff member (Erchul& Sheridan, 2008). Erchul and Martens (2010) determined that the history of consultation dates back after the World War II where there was an intensive exploration by the mental health professionals aimed at finding new ways of advancing mental health and inhibiting mental illness among members of the general public. This viewpoint was commonly referred to as community or preventive approach. According to Erchul and Sheridan (2008), consultation is characterized by some basic tenets which tend to distinguish it from the counseling activity. Firstly, consultation has a triadic approach which entails the engagement of the consultant with one or more clients. In addition, there is the postulation of an optimal working rapport between the consultant and the consultee which is depicted as coordinate and nonhierarchical. Secondly, the major emphasis of this activity is primarily focused on the problems emanating from the consultee’s work rather than personal problems. Moreover, the client has the liberty of either accepting or rejecting the guidance provided by the consultant (Erchul& Sheridan, 2008). Lastly, there is confidentiality up to particular limits between the consultant and the consultee while the client retains the eventual responsibility for the client’s welfare (Erchul & Sheridan, 2008). Although some of these features can be manifest in counseling, some are exclusive to consultation. Consultation in schools can viewed to take several approaches and no one singular approach can be identified to be exclusively efficient at the expense of the other. Some of the know consultation approaches include behavioral consultation approach (BCA) which was the earliest to evolve in the 1970s and still evident in schools today (Kratochwill, Elliot & Stoiber, 2002), evidence based intervention (EBI), response to intervention (RTI), positive behavior approach (PBS) among others. These approaches can be supplemented with other counseling approaches to have an effective impact, mostly in the school set-up. On the other hand, different forms of counseling have been in existence for a long time among different societies. Recent trends in the contemporary world have seen the institutionalization of counseling which is best exemplified by the fact that majority of schools have to a great magnitude undertaken the responsibility availing psychological support to their students. On a generic perspective, counseling can be perceived as a learning oriented process which usually occurs in an interactive relationship. This process is aimed at assisting a person to learn more about the self to apply such understanding to enable the individual into becoming an effective and reliable member of the society (Guez & Allen, 2010). This latter benefit of counseling can be perceived as social competence. Henderson and Thompson (2011) viewed social competence as entailing attitude, skills and characteristics by an individual which are fundamental in the formation of positive relationship and attachments to other people. Towards this end, a socially competent person is endowed with the capacity to draw positive responses from other people, has exemplary communication skills and has a friendly nature. Some of the key elements in counseling include the establishment of a good understanding with the client, or what is commonly referred to as building rapport, gathering essential data on the phenomenon at hand, finding where the problem lies, establishment of a personal relationship, giving hope among other elements. Counseling is usually conducted on the basis that problematic situations often arise in our interaction with ourselves, with others or with the social setting institutions or organizations in life (Egan, 2010). There are different approaches in counseling just as there are in consultancy. There are three renowned approaches in counseling. There is psychodynamic approach which mainly focuses on the client and his or her internal self, the humanistic-existence approach which aims at understanding the perception and experiences of the client at the present times and lastly there is the cognitive behavioral approach which primarily focuses on the beliefs and behaviors of the client. These distinct approaches are put into utility under specific circumstances based on the counselor’s analysis of the client’s situational foundation. However, it is worth noting that this practice is governed by some ethical tenets, for instance, confidentiality. Corey, Corey and Callanan (2011) supported this fact and cited that it is the counselor’s ethical duty to protect private communications from the client. From the above discourse, it is apparent that some distinctions exist between consultancy and counseling albeit the similarities being more profound. One of the distinctions is based on approach. It is evident that the there is a point of divergence regarding the approaches utilized in these two practices. Secondly, the client or the consultee seeking the assistance of a consultant usually possesses the decisive role on whether to adopt or reject the remedies given by the consultant. This liberty is limited in counseling where the client is often restricted to the advice offered by the counselor and thus mainly obliged in adhering to the advice. In these regard, the levels magnitude of the client’s freedom to choose whether or not to follow the given recommendation tends to distinguish these two practices. Thirdly, counseling seems to be more inclined to specific individuals although group counseling can be conducted, but at a limited level. On the contrary, consultancy often focuses on a collective rather than an individual. In this regard, the ethical implication of both practices defer mostly based either on the individual or group feature of the client(s). Corey, Corey and Callanan (2011) cited that the legal concept of privileged communication is not applicable to counseling targeting groups, families, couples or adolescent and child therapy. Another distinction between the practice of consultancy and counseling is based on the level of emotional attachment between the expert and the client. In counseling, there is an elevated level of emotional engagement as the counselor makes efforts to grasp and understand the emotional and psychological problems confronting the client. This is more prudent in the psychodynamic approach when the counselor makes aims at grasping the emotional realities troubling the inner self of the client. This level of emotional connection or engagement is limited in consultancy. Another distinction can is evident in the level of monitoring and evaluation that the expert engages in, attempting to track the progress of the client in solving the initial problem. In most cases, counselors are highly interested in monitoring the progress of the client, offering motivation and emotional support in the process. This is usually limited in consultancy in the sense that the consultant is often detached from the personal progress of a client based on the fact they usually concurrently engage multiple clients and narrowing down total commitment to an individual is highly unlikely. However, despite these distinctions, there are points of convergence in both practices based on the fact that both of them are aimed at solving some problems that confront the clients and both of them entail close expert-client relationship. In addition, the supplementary utility of their approaches can be preferred in attaining the desired goals which are usually solving the challenges confronting the client, be they work-related or personal. The practicability of supplementing these approaches is explored in the subsequent section, with the main target population being in a school set-up. Consultancy and counseling; a supplementary approach in schools In reference to consultation, Erchul and Martens (2010) inferred that the integrated model in school consultation entails three primary tasks which are often interrelated. These are support and development, solving problems and social influence. On the other hand, Benard (2004) determined that counseling involves developing the client’s sense of self, sense of positive identity and sense of power. In this regard, the approach of consultancy aimed at solving the problem being faced by a student can be supplemented with the psychodynamic approach of counseling geared towards assisting the student face inner challenges, mostly related to lack of self-esteem and powerlessness. The concurrent utility of both approaches is bound to generate better response from the students as well as achieving better results than the use of a singular, divorced approach. Another scenario in which approaches in consultancy and counseling can be combined is mostly when an expert is interested in the positive progress of the student in surmounting a certain challenge. It is imperative to be cognizant of the fact that response to intervention approach (RTI) primarily used in consultancy entails a series of steps. Basically, a student is issued with specific instruction by the classroom tutor and there is monitoring of his/her academic performance. In case of non-improvement by the student, the intervention is intensified and an extra monitoring conducted. If the student fails to improve after both phases, then he/she is qualified for special school placement (Fuchs, Mock, Morgan & Young, 2003). This approach can be combined with the cognitive behavioral approach from counseling practice which primarily focuses on the beliefs and behaviors of the student. In this case, both RTI and cognitive behavior approach can be combined whereby there is inducement of interventions to enhance negative behaviors and then the progress of the student is monitored. In case the student is not responsive to the intervention, the intercession is intensified and if the student fails to change completely, then other measures can be taken like placement in a special school. Positive behavior support approach (PBS) which is traced from consultancy can also be combined with humanistic-existence approach from counseling. PBS can be perceived as a proactive, school-based intervention endeavor which is aimed at enhancing the discipline of students. The main objective of this approach is to reduce the corollaries of problem behaviors and heightening the functionality of behaviors which are positive among students (Dee & Cowan, 2006). This can be combined with the humanistic-existence approach. After a comprehensive understanding of a student’s perceptions and experiences in the current time which tend to prompt negative behavior, interventions can be implemented aimed at changing this behavior. This can be coupled with rewards for positive progress towards virtuous trends by the student. In this regard, the students portraying negative behavior will be encouraged to change and this leads to a good learning environment which is also the objective of PDS. Lastly, evidence based approach which is found in consultancy can be supplemented with approaches from counseling in the school set-up whereby implemented interventions geared towards addressing the problems facing students are founded on best-available scientific evidence. For instance, increasing cases of suicide among students or staff in a school can necessitate the combined use of this approach. This is whereby the intervention by consultants and counselors will be based on the existing facts like prevalence of suicide in regard to gender, age bracket and financial background among other factors. Therefore, it is apparent that the combined utility of approaches from consultancy and counseling can be fundamental in achieving the desired objective in a school set-up which is basically solving the problems being confronted by students. Conclusion The above analysis has revealed that despite the concepts of consultancy and counseling being used interchangeably and being viewed as synonyms by most people, they have some distinct definitions, characteristics, approaches and applicability. However, some of the features in the practical side of these concepts are similar. It is also prudent to note that the approaches from these practices can be combined at the organizational level, most notably in a school set-up aimed helping the student overcome the challenges that continue to confront them. References Benard, B (2004). Resiliency: What we have learned. San Francisco, CA: WestEd. Corey, G., Corey, M., & Callanan, P. (2011). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Profession (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning. Dee, C. c., & Cowan, K. C. (2006, October). Focus on Mental Health: Positive Behavior Supports. NASP Communique, 35(2),44. Egan, G. (2010). The Skilled Helper Model. A Problem-Management and Opportunity- Development Approach to Helping (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning. Erchul, W.P& Sheridan, S.M (eds.). (2008). Handbook of Research in School Consultancy. London: Routledge. Erchul,W.P &Martens,B.K (2010). School Consultation: Conceptual and Empirical bases of Practice (3rd ed.). London: Springer Science. Fuchs, D., Mock, D., Morgan, P. L., & Young, C. L. (2003). Responsiveness-to-intervention: Definitions, evidence, and implications for the learning disabilities construct. Learning Disabilities Research &Practice,18, 157-171. Guez, W & Allen, J. (2010). Counseling Model 2. Retrieved April 07, 2012 from http://www.unesco.org/education/mebam/module_2.pdf Henderson, D., & Thompson, C. (2011). Counselling Children International edition (8th ed.). Belmont: Brooks/Cole, Cengage learning. Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Stoiber, K. C. (2002). Best Practices in School-Based Problem-Solving Consultation. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best Practices in School Consultation IV (pp. 583-608). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Read More

Lastly, there is confidentiality up to particular limits between the consultant and the consultee while the client retains the eventual responsibility for the client’s welfare (Erchul & Sheridan, 2008). Although some of these features can be manifest in counseling, some are exclusive to consultation. Consultation in schools can viewed to take several approaches and no one singular approach can be identified to be exclusively efficient at the expense of the other. Some of the know consultation approaches include behavioral consultation approach (BCA) which was the earliest to evolve in the 1970s and still evident in schools today (Kratochwill, Elliot & Stoiber, 2002), evidence based intervention (EBI), response to intervention (RTI), positive behavior approach (PBS) among others.

These approaches can be supplemented with other counseling approaches to have an effective impact, mostly in the school set-up. On the other hand, different forms of counseling have been in existence for a long time among different societies. Recent trends in the contemporary world have seen the institutionalization of counseling which is best exemplified by the fact that majority of schools have to a great magnitude undertaken the responsibility availing psychological support to their students.

On a generic perspective, counseling can be perceived as a learning oriented process which usually occurs in an interactive relationship. This process is aimed at assisting a person to learn more about the self to apply such understanding to enable the individual into becoming an effective and reliable member of the society (Guez & Allen, 2010). This latter benefit of counseling can be perceived as social competence. Henderson and Thompson (2011) viewed social competence as entailing attitude, skills and characteristics by an individual which are fundamental in the formation of positive relationship and attachments to other people.

Towards this end, a socially competent person is endowed with the capacity to draw positive responses from other people, has exemplary communication skills and has a friendly nature. Some of the key elements in counseling include the establishment of a good understanding with the client, or what is commonly referred to as building rapport, gathering essential data on the phenomenon at hand, finding where the problem lies, establishment of a personal relationship, giving hope among other elements.

Counseling is usually conducted on the basis that problematic situations often arise in our interaction with ourselves, with others or with the social setting institutions or organizations in life (Egan, 2010). There are different approaches in counseling just as there are in consultancy. There are three renowned approaches in counseling. There is psychodynamic approach which mainly focuses on the client and his or her internal self, the humanistic-existence approach which aims at understanding the perception and experiences of the client at the present times and lastly there is the cognitive behavioral approach which primarily focuses on the beliefs and behaviors of the client.

These distinct approaches are put into utility under specific circumstances based on the counselor’s analysis of the client’s situational foundation. However, it is worth noting that this practice is governed by some ethical tenets, for instance, confidentiality. Corey, Corey and Callanan (2011) supported this fact and cited that it is the counselor’s ethical duty to protect private communications from the client. From the above discourse, it is apparent that some distinctions exist between consultancy and counseling albeit the similarities being more profound.

One of the distinctions is based on approach. It is evident that the there is a point of divergence regarding the approaches utilized in these two practices. Secondly, the client or the consultee seeking the assistance of a consultant usually possesses the decisive role on whether to adopt or reject the remedies given by the consultant.

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