Counseling skills and their applications in social work

Counseling Skills and Their Use in Social Work

Counseling skills can encompass many different aspects of life, and they are of great use to those in social work. Unfortunately, many social workers do not realize just how important these kinds of skills are and therefore do not get the training in them that they really need. Since social workers are not counselors and do not usually see what they do as 'therapy' of any kind, they do not look to counseling as having a place in their work and the families that they often are called upon to help. However, much of what a social worker does for those that need help is actually counseling of a sort, and by learning more about counseling skills those that spend their time in the social work field can utilize what they already know, along with the counseling skills, to help many more individuals and families in new and better ways, which will ultimately be to the benefit of society.

One of the reasons that this is so is that social workers often do many different things, and they do not only work with families who are abusive, or take children from homes and place them in foster care. Social workers have many functions, and they are often counselors and therapists without actually realizing it. The well-being of others and help with their basic needs is what social workers strive for, and they must do this in many different ways if they are to be successful at it. They often have ethical codes and strict rules that they must follow, yet they are also empowered to do a great deal of good for humanity. Some of them even work over the Internet now, in yet another effort to reach out to individuals and give them what help and support they can.

This paper will show how counseling skills can be used in social work, and what social workers can do to take these skills and ensure that as many people as possible are helped. The paper will first define counseling so that there is a clear understanding - albeit in general terms - of what is being discussed in the rest of the paper. Following that, the principles of counseling will be discussed so that they too can be clearly understood.

Next, some examples will be given so that how these counseling skills can be used by social workers can be seen. Situations in which social workers can use counseling skills must be addressed. This will help those who are contemplating teaching these skills to social workers make the decision as to whether these skills will be beneficial in the future, as training anyone to do something different often costs money.

The conclusion will tie together all of these issues and show a cohesiveness between all of the main points that are presented throughout the paper. While not overly long, the conclusion will create a summary of information that will help those who read this information feel as though they have been reminded of all that they have read and the importance of all of it in the lives of social workers and also in the lives of those in the community that they work to help and protect.

Definition of Counseling

When asked for a definition of counseling, there are many different answers depending on the type of person that is asked the question and how much he or she knows about the actual subject. There are those that believe that counselors are therapists, and those that believe that counselors are psychiatrists or psychologists (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). Others feel that counselors do not really have any specialized training or degrees, and only 'call' themselves counselors - a word that really has nothing to back it up (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994; Marshall & Von Tigerstorm, 1999).

Counseling means so many different things to different people that it is extremely difficult to come up with a definition of counseling that everyone will agree on (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). This is true not only of those who call themselves counselors but also true of their patients as well (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). Because of this, there is no official definition of counseling that appears to be used by all who work in the field. This makes a definition and an understanding of counseling somewhat difficult but not impossible for those that are not used to discussing the issue (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). The purpose here is to give only a simplistic definition that does not include every possible instance that could be considered counseling.

In order to do this there would have to be much more space available to discuss all of the ways that counseling is thought of and all of the definitions that have been provided for it as it has developed. Instead, a simple definition of counseling will be provided here. This will be one that can be used as a general overview of what counseling actually is instead of attempting to encompass everything that counseling can be. That is not to say that many of these other issues that are considered counseling are not important, but only that they are not necessary for purposes of this particular document.

However, in general terms, counseling is the giving of advice, help, and support to those who request it, by those who are specially trained to do so (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). This is a relatively simple definition, and there are many variations on that theme where counseling is discussed (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). It would take far too much time to list all of the possible definitions of counseling or all of the things that it means to everyone that is asked about it (Hepworth, Rooney, & Larsen, 1994). For the purposes of this paper, the simple definition will be sufficient.

Situations in Which Social Workers Would Use Counseling Skills

There are many different areas in which social workers would use counseling skills. One of the newest and most fascinating one is the growing e-therapy trend (Barak, 1999). Many people are now seeking advice over the Internet for various reasons and because of this more counselors and social workers are learning the skills that they need in order to be able to help people in a new and different way (Barak, 1999). These social workers must learn Internet skills as well as counseling skills, as more of them are being called upon to utilize traditional counseling skills in the scope of their jobs (Barak, 1999).

There are regulations on social workers, however, and much of what these individuals are doing over the Internet may not fit those regulations (Pergament, 1998). This could lead to problems for the social work field and also for traditional counselors that might have the same or similar problems (Pergament, 1998). One of the main problems that these workers are facing is that the licensing requirements that they have do not always allow them to counsel or help those who are not in the same state, and over the Internet the clients could come from virtually anywhere (Pergament, 1998).

While social workers could use some of the counseling skills in virtually any situation, this particular area of the paper will focus on the e-therapy trend because it is relatively new and it therefore presents somewhat of a problem for social workers and their patients (Barak, 1999). As mentioned earlier, e-therapy is the obtaining of advice over the Internet. There are many reasons that individuals would wish to do this, ranging from agoraphobia to a lack of ability to find a good counselor near where one lives (Barak, 1999).

Whatever the reasons, more and more people are looking at doing a great deal through the Internet and even though Internet counseling has been available in some form for quite some time it is only recently that social workers have begun to use the Internet for their own counseling purposes as well (Barak, 1999). While still employing the principles of counseling that were discussed earlier, there are other issues that must be considered when social workers use the Internet for this purpose (Barak, 1999). Most of these are technical issues and do not need to be discussed here. Some, however, are legal, ethical, and moral issues, and it is important that these are addressed to facilitate an understanding of the issue (Barak, 1999).

Since social workers try so hard to enhance the well-being of individuals and to make sure that their basic needs are met, they look for and treat not only interpersonal and societal problems but individual problems as well (Barak, 1999). Face-to-face contact between a social worker and the individual who is seeking help is the most common form but now that the Internet has come about there are many social workers going into the virtual world as well (Barak, 1999). Professional regulations are very important, however, because they do not always reconcile well with online counseling and this could produce legal issues that must be looked at (Barak, 1999).

Social workers as well as psychologists, doctors, and nurses make up many of the therapists that are represented online (Barak, 1999). Many of their services vary a great deal depending on the therapists and only 18% of individuals in a study done of these online therapists consider what they do to be counseling (Barak, 1999). Most of these individuals consider their services advice or education (Barak, 1999). This is important to know because many of the individuals who only feel that they are giving advice or providing education of some kind do not look at the issue in the same way as those that believe there are performing counseling services (Barak, 1999).

Those who say that they are performing services that they consider counseling have to be aware of what counseling actually means and the principles that were discussed above regarding what counselors do for their patients (Barak, 1999). Internet therapy is becoming increasingly interesting to many people, however, because some people feel that there is a lot of stigma in going to a traditional counselor or therapist (Barak, 1999). By partaking in something such as counseling over the Internet the person does not feel that he or she must let others know in any way that this type of counseling is taking place (Barak, 1999).

Unfortunately, there are some serious drawbacks with using counseling skills in this type of environment (Barak, 1999). Being able to interpret body language, facial expressions, and the way someone vocalizes the information that they discuss is not something that can be done with this therapy (Barak, 1999). Using nonverbal cues for assessment is one of the things that many counselors do and when this cannot be done it is often hard to make sure that the quality of therapy is as high as it would be for someone who is seeing a therapist face-to-face (Barak, 1999). Another important issue is that the Internet may not be entirely secure for this type of communication (Barak, 1999). One of the most important things that social workers must get across to their patients when they counsel them is that everything that is said and done will be strictly confidential (Barak, 1999).

The Internet cannot guarantee this even though there are many ways of encrypting information and securing web sites (Barak, 1999). Even so, hackers can often get into many of these databases and when they can get into the personal and private communications between a therapist and the client there is much damage that can be done (Barak, 1999). Culture and location are also extremely important as counselors must know a great deal about their patients to be able to counsel them correctly (Barak, 1999). Not being aware of a specific cultural issue or the specific conditions that a patient is involved in can lead a social worker to counsel incorrectly and this can also be damaging (Barak, 1999). Another concern for this e-therapy is the fact that many clients cannot see the licensing and credentials of a particular social worker or counselor (Pergament, 1998).

A web site can make all kinds of claims about what type of person the counselor is or what type of information that he or she can provide but there is no actual proof that the advice the patient is getting is good advice or that be counselor is even who he or she claims to be (Pergament, 1998). The last important issue that raises a concern regarding e-therapy is that there is very little legal recourse that a patient would have if he or she found a therapist who was not providing the type of quality information that was claimed (Pergament, 1998). This largely has to do with the fact that the Internet is a very different medium and because of this the rules and regulations are not often as strict as they are for those who work offline (Pergament, 1998; Barak, 1999).

Since this is the case, those who try to sue a therapist or others who work online often find that they have no legal standing and that there is nothing they can do to recover the money that they have lost or correct some of the damage that they feel has been done to them (Pergament, 1998). Social workers especially must be careful if they are interested in doing this type of activity online. There is legislation that creates the requirements for social workers and these workers must be certified and registered (Pergament, 1998). Complaints regarding misconduct or any type of professional negligence go to a specific regulatory body and social workers must take care to follow the regulations that they have agreed to when they received their certification (Pergament, 1998).

When individuals become licensed to perform social work this license generally covers only a particular jurisdiction (Pergament, 1998). Because of this, there is a gray area about whether a social worker can practice any type of e-therapy outside of what they are actually licensed in (Pergament, 1998). Even social workers who are registered to deal with Internet counseling may find that they have a difficult time doing so do to geographical restrictions (Pergament, 1998). Often, a license for a social worker is restricted to a specific geographical area and when this is the case the Internet cannot be used to get around this licensing issue (Pergament, 1998).

Liability insurance, just like malpractice insurance for doctors, is also highly recommended for a social worker who is going to take their counseling skills onto the Internet and use them for gain in that way (Pergament, 1998). According to many of the codes of ethics that are available for social workers, these workers have to practice in the area in which they are competent (Pergament, 1998). If they are not competent to handle a specific type of issue, whether it is over the Internet or not, they must refer the client to someone who is capable of handling that issue, or simply tell the client that he or she cannot be taken on as a patient (Pergament, 1998).

This is also related to counseling skills in that social workers must be able to accept the fact that they cannot be right 100% of the time (Barak, 1999). Not everything they say is correct and they must be able to accept the fact that they have to let others make some decisions and determinations about what they can or cannot do. This must be done when a client is asking for help that is outside of the licensing jurisdiction of that particular therapist or social worker, to avoid potential lawsuits as well as emotional or mental damage to the client from receiving bad advice from an unlicensed individual (Barak,1999).

Conclusion

As can be seen from consideration of the issue, social work is not as simplistic as many individuals used to think it was. There was a time when it was believed that all social workers did was push paper around their offices and take children from families who were abusing them. It is easy to see at this point that there is much more to the job than that. These workers must counsel many individuals on various different things provided their licensing allows them to do so. With the advance of the Internet new and other ways to counsel these individuals have also come to light but more serious concerns about licensing restrictions and requirements have also appeared. Due to this, social work is changing very rapidly but the counseling skills that social workers must learn to do their jobs correctly are still very important.

Social workers use counseling skills in so many different areas of their lives and so many different aspects of treatment with individuals and family groups that counseling skills are one of the most important things that social workers can develop. Developing these types of counseling skills and utilizing them properly for all individuals who need help takes time but it is something that can be done and it is certainly worthwhile.

The ability to counsel another individual and help him or her to get past some difficult point in life is something that not all people possess. Some are naturally better at it than others but by learning many of the counseling skills and techniques that are often utilized by various therapists, social workers can help more individuals to get past difficulties that they may be facing and go on to lead happy and productive lives in the future. Those who are able to listen appropriately and learn from their clients will benefit almost as much from the counseling as the client does. This is largely due to the fact that talking over another individual's problems and issues can often help one see problems and issues of his or her own that need to be addressed. This is not always the case but it is a consideration for those who work to help and counsel others.

Social workers have become therapists, counselors, and mentors for many individuals. It is important that they continue to work in these areas because many people in this country need friendly voices and friendly faces to remind them that someone cares for them and that they must get better and get on with their lives. This moving on with life is what social workers help others to do and the counseling skills that they learn will help them in almost any situation in which they are counseling an individual or family group about what they should or should not be doing next and how to talk about the problems that they may be facing.