Counseling is usually considered as a form of therapy that can be administered through a talking session between a counseling professional and his or her client. Such counseling sessions are typically aimed at enhancing the life of a client through the promotion of attributes of positive attitude and positive change. Previously statistics have shown that one out of four people has a likelihood of experiencing issues related to psychological problems every year. In this respect, persons having disabilities usually find themselves dealing with several challenges in their attempt to establish a certain level of comfort and normality in their lives. Spontaneity can be viewed as a matter of concern for some people with disability since the planning of their lives meticulously happens with the aim of different goals through a process that is often frustrating. In most situations, disabled persons are faced with the challenges and difficulties in their pursuit towards the achievement of their various desires in life. For this reason, they are most likely to be affected by emotional stress and frustrations which require the services of a counseling professional (Hartman et al ., 2015). To that extent, counseling is usually viewed as one of the solutions that are associated with the creation of positive impacts on the lives of counseling clients living with a disability. In examining and analyzing the impact of effective counseling on the lives of people living with, more emphasis is put on the use of career counseling in improving the occupational development of counseling professionals and their roles in assisting persons with disabilities.
Role of Counseling on Clients with Disabilities
Alingh et al . (2015) observe that the realization of positive impacts from counseling of clients with a disability requires the counseling programs and sessions to be tailored in a manner that allows them to address the needs of such clients. People with various forms of disabilities often take part in a few physical activities in comparison to ordinary individuals. This is one of the major reasons for the prevalence of chronic ailments in the physically different. The intervention takes place in twelve rehabilitation centers and involves disabled people, as well as individuals suffering from chronic diseases, who have attained eighteen years of age. Besides, such clients are expected to visit counseling professionals to receive tailored counseling. The main purpose of going through these sessions is to acquire behavioral modification to enhance the physical and emotional activeness. The counseling sessions also impact the well-being of the clients living with disabilities through the creation of a more in-depth understanding within them concerning the ways of accepting things that they cannot change about the condition. In that regard, the main effect of counseling is the elimination of unhealthy behaviors by fostering a positive attitude towards regular physical activity among clients with disabilities thereby promoting physical, emotional and mental health in their lives (Alingh et al ., 2015).
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According to Ahmed et al . (2012), various initiatives have been developed with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the counseling experience accorded to clients living with disability conditions. Such initiatives include the introduction of counseling sessions undertaken by professionals who are having disabilities as well as addressing the integration of the process of understanding disability in the counseling sessions among others. Guidance and counseling are entirely beneficial in the development of solutions to emotional and psychological challenges experienced by persons living with conditions of disability in the daily lives. Counseling plays a crucial role in enabling clients having disabilities to resolve their various academic, personal, and occupational problems more efficiently and effectively. Such clients can overcome various challenges they face in their lives without much difficulty thus enhancing their wellbeing in many aspects. Effective counseling also empowers clients living with various conditions of disabilities to overcome the stigma attached to disability in the society by accepting themselves and developing positive attitudes towards the whole aspect of the life they live.
Clients of with disabilities are often unable to compete fairly in the job market and other fields with ordinary people. Despite being interested in using their lives to make a difference, people with disabilities are often faced with limited opportunities which make it difficult for them to make substantial achievements. This causes them to become stressed and more frustrated with the challenges they keep on encountering. In this way, counseling becomes relevant and handy in inspiring them to embrace a change of attitude and becoming content with their achievement regardless of their magnitude. Effective counseling programs accorded to people with disabilities are beneficial in enabling them to cultivate positive attitudes towards embracing a competitive employment environment and other aspects of life (Hartman et al ., 2015). In most situations, clients with disability are perceived and misunderstood by the society as well as counseling professionals. More often than not, clients with disability are considered as people who are already disadvantaged right from the beginning by the counseling professionals even before they accorded the opportunity to express their concerns. This is contrary to what most of those clients with disability usually think about themselves based on the beliefs and experiences. It is always essential for the counseling professionals working with people with disability to have a deeper and broader understanding of the process and experiences associated with disability.
Barriers to Counseling that are Experienced by People with Disabilities
One of the ways through which counseling professionals can enrich their understanding regarding the matters that are more important to individuals with the disability is the evaluation and analysis of the barriers to counseling experienced by people with disabilities. In this way, councilors will find an opportunity to work collaboratively with their clients living disabilities as well as with the families of such clients. This move is particularly crucial owing to its major role in the examination of some of the barriers that are directly related to the functionality of those with a disability. It would be important for the counseling professionals to work towards the identification of the most salient barrier. Upon the identification of such barriers, it ought to be the responsibility of the counselors working with persons with disabilities to find ways of eliminating those barriers to enhance their services and the associated outcomes (Nevala et al ., 2015). The other way of dealing with the identified barriers is by involving the counseling professionals in the exploration of those barriers that are within their ability to influences and eliminate before developing effective strategies for use in removing them. It is important to note that the process of identifying and eliminating the barriers that hinder the effective collaboration between counselors and persons living with disabilities is often faced with many challenges and difficulties. This is because some of the existing barriers may be difficult to understand or visualize.
Other than several societal and personal issues associated with the acknowledgment and understanding of issues affecting people with disabilities, counselors are expected to understand the strategies and techniques may be incorporated into therapeutic treatments procedures and operations. Most counseling professionals might want to regard their clients as non-disabled based on the in which the clients present themselves. However, there have been cases describing situations where counselors offer counseling services to their disabled clients without considering any issues of disability. Counseling professionals ought to understand and become conversant with the level of discrimination that is often faced by people with disability for them to counsel such people more effectively. Micheletto, Valerio, and Fett-Conte (2013) posit that clients who find themselves being discriminated based on their disability status may not be adequately informed regarding the impact of social discrimination on their ability to acquire appropriate counseling services. The differentiation of socioeconomic powers can result in unfair harassment and discrimination of people with disabilities from seeking various services in a manner that is similar to those who do not any forms of disabilities. When it comes to the evaluation of the impacts of counseling on people with disability, it is worth observing that counseling professionals often have opportunities to contribute significantly towards the planning and evaluation of counseling psychology services offered.
Weathers and Bailey (2014) emphasize the importance for such professionals to be more conversant with demographic, health, economic, and health status of people with disability who make be seeking for counseling services. People with disability are more likely to experience environmental impediments like the ones usually faced by other minorities such as marginalized racial or ethnic groups. The way in which people with disabilities are always viewed is supported by the notion of the existence of different versions of reality. To that extent, there are those arguing in support of the consideration of disability as a form of sickness or illness that exclusively concerns an individual. Other believe that disability ought to not to be viewed as a sole outcome of external factors influencing the life of an individual, for instance, the actions of social organizations that are responsible for the discrimination of such people. Negative beliefs and attitudes associated with people living with disability have been able to go beyond members of the public to include the professionals in the counseling field whose perceptions and actions have been significantly influenced (Ahmed et al ., 2012). In this respect, most of the counseling professionals handling clients with disability have had their perceptions being influenced by both historical and societal beliefs about the aspect of disability. The general perception of the society concerning people with disability is always based on the negative perspective on the challenges they experience. In turn, such a perception has the ability to influence the relationship that exists between counseling professionals and their clients with the disability to the extent of causing the judgments and decisions to be biased in one way or the other.
Models used in making Adjustments to Counseling of Clients with Disability
Several models have been introduced with the aim of explaining the manner in which the process of psychosocial adjustment influences disability. Some of these models may be classified under the category of early psycho-social models, educational and medical models, ecological models, integrated models and stage models. Counselors can improve their understanding regarding the adjustment to the process by familiarizing themselves with some of these models. The stage model of adjustment and psychosocial model are among the models necessary in understanding adjustment to disability and counselors may be interested in their exploration (Lalor & Madaus, 2013). The process of adjustment to disability is often influenced by the ability of an individual to make alterations to his or her values due to disability. Moreover, the adjustment is dependent on the ability of an individual to live his or her life without the dictations of disability. In discharging their professional duties and responsibilities, counselors attending to clients having disabilities are expected to focus on the values and strengths of their clients instead of comparing them with other people.
For instance, the counseling professionals would not be expected to place more emphasis on the personal or physical appearance. Instead, they should be more concerned with the emotional and psychological challenges experienced by such clients. Previously, some of the findings made by researchers have assisted professionals in the counseling sector to understand that some of the people having disabilities experience a sense of loss and isolation in relation to their state of disability. Scholars have also been able to develop the stage model to assist in the process involved in the adjustment to disability. Generally, this model is responsible for the explanation that individuals are likely to experience a set of negative feelings and thoughts before they come to the point of accepting their situation and making the necessary adjustments. Additionally, the model is concerned with putting more emphasis on the understanding that adaptation does not usually happen in a linear sequence. Instead, there may be skipping of some of the phases that form part of the adjustment process and later revisited. Regardless of the model identified and selected, counselors handling clients with disabilities ought to understand that a single model is not sufficient to fit all situations and experiences that relate to the various form of disabilities. In that way, professionals in the field of counseling are expected to acquire additional knowledge and skills regarding the techniques and procedures applied in the process of adjustment to disability. This will equip and place them in a better position to apply the models appropriately and cope effectively with clients having disabilities (Micheletto, Valerio & Fett-Conte, 2013).
Techniques for Counselors in dealing with Clients with Disabilities
Over and above various societal concerns, the realization of positive impacts on clients with various forms of disabilities requires counselors to incorporate appropriate strategies and techniques into their therapeutic processes. The proposed techniques do not have to be connected to specific theories or approaches in counseling but they should focus on improving the beliefs, behaviors, and feelings of the clients with disabilities. Studies have been able to reveal that some approaches and techniques used in understanding the experiences of people with disabilities play an effective role in the reduction of negative emotions and thoughts. Counseling professionals who are interested in using various approaches with the integration of appropriate theoretical interventions are regarded as being more concerned and efficient in their counseling roles (Lalor & Madaus, 2013). Resilience, Self-compassion, and forgiveness are among the constructs that have been found to have the ability to improve the general wellbeing functionality of an individual by reducing the level of negative emotions. Both theoretical approaches and constructs have considerable significance and relevance in improving the lives of a person with disabilities who require counseling services. Moreover, resiliency is one of the attributes that have been found to have substantial importance concerning the issues and needs of persons with disability. Counselors with interests in inculcating an attitude of forgiveness in the lives of their clients are often expected to apply different intervention approaches which include the forgiveness process model.
The argument by Lan (2016) indicates that different interventions can be adopted with the aim of teaching clients with disabilities to acquire essential skills to assist them towards coping with their challenges. Counseling professionals may also be interested in the adoption and use of techniques and approaches expected to deal with the difficulties resulting from negative emotions. This involves collaboration between a counselor and his or her clients to help them in redefining their self-identity and self-concept, as well as the integration of the skills acquired, will struggling with their condition of disability. Professional in the counseling sector who are more concerned about making an impact in the lives of their clients will tend to ensure the development and upholding of effective therapeutic associations between them and their clients. This enhances their acknowledgment and understanding of the special needs and attention required b people with disabilities. It also important for counselors to be mindful of their utterances not to make negative expressions that are capable of demoralizing and discouraging their client from accepting their status of disability before embarking on the process of finding solutions to their emotional and psychological challenges. Other than both the counselor and his or her client having disabilities, the counselor is advantaged in the sense that he or she is professionally knowledgeable, with insights regarding the challenges faced with people having a disability from a personal perspective (Chen & Chan, 2014). Moreover, the clients can obtain a person-centered session of professional counseling with the objective of achieving acceptance, increased self-confidence as well as empathy and understanding to assist in the process of personal growth.
For clients with a disability, personal freedom could be a significant challenge especially for those who fail to receive positive support in their attempts towards the attainment of their potential. Counseling for such clients plays a considerable role in empowering them to have positive attitudes and perspectives concerning their lives and achievements. Moreover, counseling enables such clients to acquire a sense of adjusting and overcoming some of the challenges associated with disability. Some individuals are capable of adjusting and coping well with their disability condition once they have been taken through the process of counseling presided over by a professional and experienced counselor. This is because such client can accept themselves and dwell on the positive things about their lives and achievements while appreciating that have special needs. Nonetheless, some persons living with different forms of disabilities may still find themselves struggling with constant challenges that may, at times, be overwhelming to the extent of having adverse effects on their confidence, self-esteem, and attitude. It may be an isolating and frustrating experience to cope with the state of disability in a life that is often characterized by numerous aspects of competition. The challenges experienced by people having disabilities that require counseling are physical, psychological as well as emotional (Ahmed et al ., 2012).
Conclusion
Based on the exploration of the disability phenomenon and the role played by counseling, it is clear that effective counseling and guidance on clients with a disability has a myriad of positive impacts. Fundamentally, counseling empowers such clients by enabling them to cope with the challenges brought about by the harsh realities of being physically different. Counseling for clients with disability results in a change of beliefs and attitudes thus such clients can live more positive lives in more challenging and stressful situation. Clients with disability are presented with a unique opportunity and experiences to be able to appreciate different aspects of life in a more positive manner. It is noteworthy that this reality is compounded by the fact that most psychology and counseling programs fail to offer the relevant information or training concerning the specific experiences and needs of individuals with disabilities who may be interested in seeking for their professional services. In this way, it may be necessary and appropriate for those in the counseling profession to evaluate their expectations and beliefs regarding concerning different forms of disabilities as well as the anticipated results when offering their services to people affected b disability. Counseling is regarded as being vital since it reinstates the working potentials of disabled clients. It also enables the clients to identify their strengths and how to utilize them to succeed in life effectively.
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