Ledesma, Maureen Antonette B.
M.Ed in Guidance-Year 1

GUIDANCE (EDCO 201)
Prof. Evelyn Alobba

A Personal Philosophy of Guidance

My personal philosophy of guidance, as a future counselor someday, is to guide an individual live a life of happiness and contentment in the midst of a discontent world. For an individual to achieve this, I will help her realize and achieve his or her full potentials through growing in spirituality. Spirituality, for me, is having and maintaining a personal relationship with the Creator--God. As a Christian, I believe spirituality is very significant in an individual’s life. Personally, my own spirituality helped me become the person that I am today. It has helped me focus on the things that truly matter and see things beyond face value. I can also say that my spirituality helped me to be happier and be a better person. With regards to guidance and counseling in accordance with spirituality, the person of a counselor should have personal conviction in his/her own spirituality. He/she must have a deeper understanding not only of himself/herself, but also of his/her own spiritual life. He/she should be rooted in his/her own spiritual beliefs and that whatever goes against his/her way, he/she would still stand firm to what he/she firmly believes in. The counselor should be someone who could never be moved so he/she could be perceived by the client as someone they could rely and depend on. Most importantly, the counselor should be someone who has a personal relationship with the Creator and puts Him in the center of everything. In that way, his/her life would serve as living testimony of his/her own spirituality eventually radiating it to his/her clients. Counseling in accordance with spirituality can be vastly applied to address various clients’ needs. Clients suffering from failures and depression could be revived again through this kind of counseling. Clients who want to know their own purpose in life and want to live life in full satisfaction can also be addressed with the help of this kind of guidance. Jonathan Rollins once stated that “a growing number of studies suggest a positive connection between active religious faith and various measures of psychological well-being, including career satisfaction, the ability to cope, a sense of meaning and purpose in life and overall levels of happiness.” In other words, clients who desire to find career satisfaction, have difficulty for coping especially in the midst of adversity, and simply those who just wanted to find meaning even in simple things that leads to true happiness, could be helped by this kind of counseling. If a client desires to have a holistic healing, then this is for him/her. According to Nicki Riddell Tiffany, spirituality is an important part to one’s healing. He even emphasized that it has many facets, including awareness of the world that surrounds us; a sense of wonder, love, and gratitude; a practice of loving-kindness towards ourselves and others; listening to our intuition and trusting our heart. I believe that all these things mentioned are necessary in the field of guidance knowing that Guidance and Counseling, as R.A. 9258 (Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004) stated, is “a profession that involves the use of an integrated approach to the well-functioning individual primarily by helping him/her utilize his/her potentials to the fullest and plans his/her abilities, interests and needs.” One person told me before that a spiritual crisis in some people’s lives may result in upheaval and crises in the rest of their lives. It just goes to show that it is possible for a well-functioning individual to experience difficulty in utilizing his/her potentials well because he/she lacks spirituality. In guidance, I think individuals would only get a better understanding of themselves when they reach a state of awareness, or self-realization. In line with this, I believe that through growing spiritually and having a personal relationship with God, it will be easier for an individual to reach this kind of state. It will also be a renewing and refreshing kind of experience for him/her since they are encouraged to trust in Someone that is far greater than we could ever imagine. It is also in spirituality that we realize our own purpose and see the true meaning of life and eventually learning to live a life of contentment and happiness. The process of counseling in this aspect should start with a needs assessment in the clients’ spirituality. Asking open-ended questions is a good way to begin exploring about the clients’ needs. In this way, the counselor can keep track on the spiritual growth and maturity of a client if ever he/she has one. This is also important for the counselor to have a gist of the over-all concern of the client as well as to have an awareness of the client’s spiritual outlook. It is also important for a counselor to explore with a client on how they view life in a spiritual context. In this way, it may assist the counseling process tremendously. Specifically, when a counselor wants to specialize in Christian counseling, he/she should be aware of how they deal with their clients. One perfect example is the use and timing of employing biblical scriptures to the clients to aid in their healing. This example may provide comfort to what the client is suffering from and will immediately open an avenue of hope for the client. As the counseling progresses, the counselor is expected to remain interested and compassionate to what the client is saying and should always be empathic to what the client is feeling. In that way, the client would feel welcome and loved. To end the counseling process, the counselor should always give assurance to the clients that he/she is always open in case they needed someone to talk or confide to. The counselor should also process with the client the solutions they have discussed and that trusting in God’s plan and timing is always important. Moreover, the counselor should make sure that before ending the session, the client is clear about his/beliefs and the things that greatly matter in this world. If ever the client is still not spiritually-founded, the counselor should respect him/her and should not insist on his/her own beliefs. As much as possible, the counselor will just encourage the client to try and remind the client that he/she is always available in case the client wanted to discuss it again. The important thing is that the counselor had shared the importance of spirituality to a client and how it may help them change their negative perspectives on life into a positive one. My kind of philosophy aims to help people reach a state of awareness, or self-realization. I will not be just their counselor but also their cheerleader, motivator, and mirror, which will help them to finally realize that they are unique, amazing, wonderfully and fearfully made beings in and of themselves. It is also my goal for individuals to finally realize their own God-given strengths and abilities so they could focus on becoming better people. As a future counselor and a born-again Christian, I will never stray away from my spirituality. I have seen with my own eyes how my spiritual journey with the Lord helped me to see the world in a different perspective and I cannot contain this joy any longer that I feel excited to share this good news to my clients in the future. It is my aspiration to make them realize that even when the world makes them feel unworthy, unable, not special and unloved, all they have to do is look upon God and embrace the wonderful promises He has in store for them. Indeed, it is with great joy and privilege to see myself telling these words to my clients in the future: “You are worthy. You are able. You are special. You are loved.”