Pelomiano, Nicole A.
MAEd major in Guidance and Counseling
Assessment entails identifying the issues and problems, planning of interventions/treatments,
and / or diagnosing the clients in a counseling process. As counselors, it is essential to take note that
in the whole counseling procedure, assessment is needed. It will be an important element that will
help the counselors to make an educated and sound decisions. So as counselors, learning how, why,
and what assessment is would play an integral role in order to take the counseling process into a
more systematized, and evidence-based procedures. Just like any other profession, a counselor
cannot function without an understanding of the processes and procedures of assessment in
counseling.
The competencies that every counselor should possess in the entire assessment process,
which we have learned last time, would be the starting point to completely hone our skills to become
an effective, efficient, and proficient in the counseling field in the nearest future. Having the ability
to learn these competencies, they have opened the doors for a deeper understanding of this noble
profession. As counselors, we have to be responsible and mindful for the appropriate application,
interpretation and use of any assessment instruments that we are going to administer. Once the
assessment process is not handled properly, the client may be skeptical to divulge his or her true
issues or concerns of why he/she need a counseling in the first place and the counselor may not be
able to help the client. Counselors must be competent in assessment such as recognizing diverse
clients, assisting clients in the assessment procedure, and being able to assure the clients that the
assessment that he or she will be administering in the counseling serves as an important element of
decision-making process and values and not as a measurement of the client’s negative aspects of
personality. Just like any element of counseling process, counselors should also be an effective
communicator especially in identifying and understanding verbal and non-verbal cues particularly in
the initial part of the procedure so that the counselors would be able to use appropriate assessment
tools.
Counselors are professionals who’s main purpose in their clients is assisting them to have an
evidenced-based, educated, and sound decisions. And in order to ideally achieve an optimal outcome
in any of their counseling process, they must have the skills, competencies, and the abilities to
execute them properly and professionally.