Community Counseling
Community counseling is an ambiguous term which many misinterpret as meaning counseling which is carried out in a group setting. However, whilst this might be the case in some circumstances, it is in fact a term which refers more specifically to the idea of system change rather than just individual change (Dryden et al, 2009, p485). The central idea of community counseling is to work with individuals who have been marginalized by society as this helps to “create self-aware social change” through work which Kagan and Burton (2005) states as being “underpinned by the clearly articulated values linked to a social justice agenda, participatory work and the development of alliances” (Dryden et al, 2009, p485). Conversely, many define community counseling as being different from more conventional forms of community because of the emphasis it places on the individual’s experiences on something other than an interpersonal level: it directly addresses how individuals feel, think, act and experience as they work together towards a stronger community – actively throwing off oppression in the process (Dryden et al, 2009, p485). It is a complicated concept but one which offers an alternative to the more conventional forms of counseling which the individual may not feel completely comfortable with, as well providing a more specialised service for those whose needs require it.
Those that can benefit from community counseling are generally derived from a series of factors which may have caused the individual to feel unable to happily function within a social setting due to social reasons such as marginalization and oppression. It is most concisely put by Dryden et al. (2009) who states that: “they highlight the advantages for some clients of assuming that causes or consequences of some problems reflect political and psychological oppression, to be relieved be relieved by structural as well as personal solutions” (Dryden et al, 2009, p486). Therefore, it is clear that community counseling is more interested in treating the individual as a member of a community (with regard to the social cause of their problems as well as the impact their actions have on society as a whole) as opposed to an individual with problems that have formed through their own endeavours and/or relationships, for example. The key aspect of community counselling is the idea of ‘social justice’ and the aim of a community counsellor is to ensure that their client is being treated fairly as well as treating others fairly within their community – be that professional, personal or social. So, in laments terms, community counseling is designed to re-establish an individual in terms of their environment and community, as opposed to the idea of it being alike to group counseling, for example.
The fundamental difference between community counseling and private counselling is that the former is less focused on the interpersonal aspects of the individual’s problems and more on their ability to be a healthy, functioning member of a community. The concept of community counseling was one which was born out of a series of unmet needs which were not being provided for in a localized context. Quentin Stimpson notes in one book that “many community and voluntary counseling services developed as attempts at addressing the unmet needs of their local communities, where statutory provision was either lacking or inaccessible” (Stimpson, 2003, p131). This immediately differentiates from private counseling as the latter provides a very specialised service for individuals who are deemed as needing that whereas community counseling is more aimed at the ‘whole’ as opposed to the ‘individual.’
This is from this central idea of ‘social justice’ which is generally defined as being a positive result which alters the various “destructive social forces” which “marginalize people from the social system” – some of these forces being “wider societal schisms; the grip of neoliberal economic policies resulting in the commodification of people; communication and human relations; repression, reflected in increased harshness towards minorities; deregulation and privatization; and environmental destruction with the consequent unequal use of natural resources and threats to sustainability” (Dryden et al, 2009, p487). These different factors are combatted by community counseling as it endeavours to rehabilitate the individual back into society with a view to improving social justice across the board. So, one person may receive community counseling and through their increased awareness of the problems that the above issues cause, will actively seek to live in such a way that they do not inflict that upon others or accept it into their own life. Ergo, community counseling has an increased interest in the holistic view of a society as opposed to a specific interest in just one person.
Arguably, the measure of how effective community counseling is potentially quite a trick thing to quantify – it could potentially lead to a number of gray areas. This is largely due to its holistic nature of wanting to look at the whole rather than the immediate effect on the individual. As a result, its effectiveness cannot be measured to any fine degree because ultimately, its true measure would need to be how smoothly and efficiently a community runs and how happy and content its population is. This is, in practice, a very difficult matter to quantify as it would be based on opinion and the chances of every individual being blissfully happy is unlikely, meaning that it will always have a negative overtone to its results. Alternatively, it could be possible to address every individual and ask whether their experience of community counseling led to a greater sense of fulfilment but then, again, their experiences following their counseling could have been a negative one as it is impossible to guess what life may present you with. And, equally, by asking the individuals as opposed to the community as a whole, it would be immediately disqualifying community counseling as an effective therapy tool anyway due to its very nature being dismissed. For many, community counseling is not the answer to their problems because it is not focused on analysing childhood events or relationship problems in the broadest sense; it is instead focused on societal problems which impact upon the individual’s ability to lead a happy life which in turn further impacts upon their community – causing a downward spiral of events. To truly measure its success, the researcher would need to compare and contrast various social statistics concerning the happiness, level of success, fiscal income and other concepts which generally denote success – assessing their various levels before and after the counseling to see whether there is an improvement across the board. Equally, another way of assessing its effectiveness would be to measure the level of ‘social justice’ which is felt across the community too – if the residents feel that they are treated fairly then, arguably, it will have been a success.
References
Dryden, W. et al. (2009). Handbook of Counselling Psychology. London: SAGE Publications.
Stimpson, Q. (2003). Clinical counselling in voluntary and community settings. East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.
