Personal Reflection on my Counseling Task
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Taking everything in mind all the experience and
discipline I gained in this subject. It made me realized that a community may come
in one of many shapes, sizes, stories and locations, no two of which are alike.
Each community is unique as each individual were honed by different practices, challenges
and experiences in different places. Community is very essential to each
and every individual. It encompasses with different interaction styles, human
behaviors, and cultures that add meaning and expectation between its members.
The moment I heard about Community Based-Counseling, first thing comes to mind was immersion, second would be transformation. I am sure that whenever we talked about community and associated with
counseling the best-selling point is the word- change. Obviously, as the world revolves and get older, each generation transform in many ways. And out of these
changes was the birth of issues that shapes our modern
world. Change is constant and life is a journey in progress. As part of a community, we
must welcome it a progressive way, or perhaps look at it as part
of a developmental process. The book “Walking with the Poor” elaborates the
importance of this factor inside the community. Being adaptable is the required attitude that saves us to this inevitable
force.
Given that life is
a transformation journey. This transformation journey is finding and
enjoying life as it should be, as it was intended to be.[1] I was reminded by the reason why Jesus walked on earth is because he carried in his
heart the goal for change, so he came to replace the old with the new. Throughout
the gospel Jesus is presented as the fulfillment, and hence replacement. Affirming
that the community we belong fairly shapes and defines the life we live so as a
part of it, it is relevant to consider developmental transformation. As it breaks the negative and progressively aim for growth. It is God’s rightful
role to pursue his people for the best, and living with this plan, the attempt
to enjoy life in the community cannot only be seen in our wildest dream. It is part of His plan.
This concept of
aiming for the ultimate potential of the community was brilliantly described by
Dr. Robert Suderman. He explained that as a creation which restored by the
gospel of Christ, we are commanded to gather all creation in unity. Since the gospel
is big enough to talk about social transformation the power it possesses is
able to restore things back in authority. After all, no matter how serious and complicated
the situation is, the gospel we preach is a gospel of peace and with that kind
of peace the community together with its people will function in the way it
should be.
There are a lot of issues and concerns that a community
needs to address. Fundamentally, our nation is facing different challenges.
Actually, these challenges were brought out from the smallest communities up to
the main part of the society. I observed that Filipinos do have a more difficult
time to deal with some common issues (e.g. illegal logging, hiking resources
and population). I believe these issues are not new in the sight of the
Filipinos, because like a cycle the problem never stops until the root cause is
never addressed. Upon learning and listening to all the concern of the country,
poverty echoed loudly, and, in most cases, this is undoubtedly the starting point
of other sub-problems like crime, education, unemployment, and health. However,
it is common for a community to face certain challenges, and this motivates a
community to stand and somehow thrive to reach its vision for the group. The
problem of each community facing nowadays demarcates their position, action and
interest in the society we are living. Thus, it is very important to know the
cause of the problem and how the community addresses and cope in those certain
concerns.
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During my field exposure, in the midst of certain crisis and
predicament, I firsthand saw how people were patiently coping, especially the
small ones. It is humbling to realize that though in simplest way,
Filipino people know how to cooperate and aid others even up to their common
status. It simply shows the real essence of the community to be of help to those who
are in need.
The people are basically the heart of the community.
Without groups or people who shared common interest, knowledge and awareness,
then this society will not exist significantly. Thereby, it is very important
to educate and train every individual to live productively and responsibly. As
the heart is filled with love to live longer and healthier so as a well-educated
society is able to survive whatever challenges and difficulty that life may
bring.
Here, most of the communities I have known before were
only classified by a certain physical locations yet after all these field
exposures and immersion, I came to recognize that community is more than just a
location. The communities which are represented by so-called physical location are
still necessary to be equipped, trained and classified. The physical location
is just a help to further acknowledge by the government and helping
organization to epitomize the need of the communities. For example, the large
communities (cities), rural communities, towns, suburb communities, informal
settlers’ etc. As I mentioned earlier, after all the learning, readings and
observation I had in this course. I learned that a community varies in
different nature. There are communities which can be categorize by their common
interest or passion, there are communities of people who are trying to bring
about change or often termed as advocates, communities of people brought
together by geographic boundaries, communities of people in the same profession
or undertake the same activities, and communities of people brought together by
external events or situations.
Having mentioned these classifications, the community
that we face has a wide range of human collectives from the smallest unit of
this society up to larger community specifications. This marked to a greater concept
on which we base the community counseling model. In this manner, the field
becomes enough complex to deal and heal the common issues and concern of a particular
community, perhaps for now not the society as a whole, but in a long run, as we
continue to play each vital role, the effect will not only manifest in parts,
the whole will also be influenced if we delight to start.
Definitely, the counseling field plays a vital role to
facilitate and help each community to recognize their potential and promote
growth. In my readings, I ventured the idea that in community counseling,
strategies and assumptions are very important to develop one community. First,
the focus strategies, it tends to provide a contextual and strengths-based
perspective that ushers people to confront specific life or even community
stressors. This approach endorses an empowering assistance to the people in the
community. This can applied to certain advocate or campaigner. The other approach is the broad-based strategies,
which are more preventive in nature, where the community members are to
encourage gaining new skills to deal future challenges. Thus, the community counselor
is expected to be competent in counseling practice because the effect is in the
community not only in specific person perse.
Over the previous era, we learned that community
counseling has moved toward contextual strategies from the usual diagnostic
way. Although there are different methods and therapeutic approaches that
worked before. In this context of counseling, what is ultimately necessary is
the working attitude of the counselor towards the client. The author penned
that Community counseling programs are planned so that the interventions are
offered in each of the model’s facets. Community counselors should demonstrate
the characteristics of optimism, activism, and vision that give the community
counseling its zest.[2] I surmise that I have the same opinion with
other psychologists who fundamentally observed and took into deep consideration
about the counseling relationship that has to build during the counseling
session. Especially, if the counselor is going to deal with some important and delicate
matter inside the family or a group, good working relationship has first to be
established because the foundation of the community is relationship, so it has
to start firmly and generates in the counseling process.
Since, counseling
is known as a conversational process yet aside from this process it is
imperative for the counselor to be aware about the context of the client’s
community perspective. This will be a big help to further assess the progress
of the counseling. In connection, there is a certain framework written in the
book about the counseling model of assessment.
The acronym of this is R-E-S-P-E-C-T-F-U-L,[3]
these are the common factors that need to consider by the counselor to address.
Since culture is one great aspect that varies among people, so this aspect
should observe graciously and considerably.
I remember along with my group members, we applied this
said framework during our counseling immersion with people living with HIV, and
I have to commend the useful presence and comprehensive concept of this
counseling structure in our immersion. Since we have to train and counsel this
group of different individual, although suffering with same sickness yet they
have embraced this issue in different ways, empowered by different beliefs, and
were raised in different milieu, this framework became helpful as we, the
community counselors, easily recognized their unique identity, respect each
preferences, and acknowledged their strengths and weaknesses as they go along
with the stigma of their sickness. Having this applied to the group, we decided
to include this model to the module we made for them for any future counseling
purposes.
Honestly, it was not became easy on my part to counsel and
facilitate this group of people, at first as a counselor I need to recall my
previous understanding about this particular sickness, I know there is stigma
in this case, yet I should disregard all comments and mistaken ideas that was
thrown at them in the past, so that I will be able to sincerely welcome their hearts
over the matter. I have to completely wear the cloth of empathy and
open-mindedness without the shadow of fear and sense of being critical in my
part. I know that I need to recognize directly the pain in their hearts and to
look at them with an eye of compassion and love. In doing so, it became a sense
of enlightenment on my part to purely widen my understanding and advancing my
discipline as a counselor. This community counseling was indeed a powerful
learning experience for me not only as a counselor, but also as a person.
As a result after three days of psycho education and
workshop conducted by my group, the usual organization (Pinoy Plus)
has improved and recognized as an empowering group. Most of them are gays and
bisexuals, who just only assist and support their co-patients, but now I
believe in my heart with the modules, interactions, counseling training in
which we have shared to them, those will serve as a refresher and new motivational
ground for them to be more competent and serious in their craft as a speaker
and advocate of their community.
Going back to the functions of counselors in the
community, I also learned that skills can also be improved if a counselor is
willing to get out from the usual indoor setting and move out to the place and
certain communities that essentially need an aid. Since it is came from a fact
that crisis counselors take services into the communities rather than wait for
survivors to seek them.[4]
For this reason, the communities can be an extension
office of a counselor. The outreach for Distress and Marginalized people is one
of the natural and inevitable tasks in which a concerned counselor needs to address. Thus, it is for us,
counselors to strive for change and it is also for us to deeply recognize
important factors as such. Prior to this it is not an-all-tasks for one
counselor alone, the knowledge of collaborative effort with other helping
networks is a key that makes an abrupt renewal possible. I was reminded that an
obscure and delicate matter cannot only
be solve by one person, especially if the concern is the community as a whole or a group, so it is essential to
note that the heads and hands of other departments or networks are vital to
completely deal some prevalent issues.
I found out that community based counseling will be even
more effective if we will use certain training that is primarily preventive in
theory and practice. Like developing a strategy for coping with the situation,
this is a one good ability that strengthened my focus as a counselor. I
realized that no counselor wants to waste a second in simply counseling a
client, without monitoring his or her improvement. I have to become firm in my
task to increase the ability of my client to solve his or her own problems. I
don’t want any of my clients to become dependent every time their common issue
or concern will arise. As a counselor it
is my own duty to observe this important skill in which a client needs to
develop. Perhaps, by doing this, the platform for change will be carefully established
by allowing them to be responsible in certain choices they make, because
transformation implies changing our choice.[5] Personally, having said all these insights,
the motivation to work and promote satisfying, healthy professional relationship
to each client creates a stronger stimulus that uphold a counselor to do better
in our task, and for the counselee to impel the necessary change.
I can say that I enjoyed very much
studying this course. It allowed me to critically reflect upon the way
counselors deal and work with certain societal issues. I am now in a habit of
classifying every given situation and telling which of these concerns are the
least acknowledged and prioritized in our community, up to those which are common
observed and tackled. Gratefully, with this, I am practicing the attitude that
is rare in people nowadays, and that is being sensitive in the concern of
others. People at present are only becoming mindful of the surface. For example, if certain calamity strikes, huge numbers of
volunteers come to help those who are devastated, yet after a week or two,
those numbers are quickly diminishing. I am not against to anyone or anything.
What I am just simply addressing here are demands that until now are not yet met.
Others consider helping if the situation seems out of control, because as a
community we are called to help at any time, in case of disasters or not. We
should not stop helping since the needs are still growing. That is our role and
it should always be our main goal no matter what. Like the Burden Bearer, everyone of us are
like travelers and as we go along to our chosen paths, we will experience several
problems yet those problems will never be too big to manage or heavy to carry
if we will allow ourselves to pause for a while and rest. However, I agree with
the author in which at times, in our journey we will need someone to breathe
with, because truly with this (mahihingahan) the burden bearer finds relief and
the journey will be easy to bear.[6]
This has
been a positive experience for me. I have gained a better understanding as far
as community counseling is concern. I am able to get community service hours,
and gained leadership and teaching skills. I also have met new faces and have
gotten to know unfamiliar concerns. I understand the bigger picture of my role
as a counselor. The tasks may not be that simple yet the time and effort I gave
is worth giving. Lastly, after defining community and examining its concern,
there is one characteristic of true community that stood up and that is
accepting each member and embracing each other, celebrate our individuality and
welcome our differences. And this is the beautiful picture of the real
community!
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