Counseling in the context of education for young adults

Samenvatting

In this paper we have tried to present some of thevarious activities of a counseling center at a university. We have pointed out that counseling is aservice available to students taking courses at theuniversity and that counseling is designed to helpthe essentially normal student by giving him theopportunity to explore issues of career choice,educational planning and vocational directionwith a professionally trained counselor. It is thusthat counseling contributes toward the entireeducational process of students at the university. This article is concerned with a description ofcounseling in an adult educational setting. Morespecifically it is a description of the activitiesniethods and philosophies within a CounselingCenter at a large midwcstern state university inthe United States. The principles and methodsof counseling are similar whether the student isformally matriculated in the university or whether he is taking one or tv/o courses in the contextof the continuing education program for adults.The primary technical diflference consists of thefact that counseling for students enrolled in thecontinuing education service takes place in thecvenings and focuses more directly on matters ofcareer choice, educational planning and use of'eisure time. Due to the fact that the Center'sresources are focused more toward the matricu'ated university student, more extensive psycho'ogical counseling for adults is usualiy referred tooutside agencies. There is one other difference.Counseling for adults taking continuing educat•pn courses is on a fee basis as opposed to beingas it is for matriculated students. It shouldrecognized however, that the proportion ofadults taking university courses on a continuingeducation basis is relatively small compared tothe number of adults deciding to matriculate atthe university and taking part time or füll timeuniversity work. Thus my description of counseling will be geared toward the majority of students at the university recognizing that theprinciple? of counseling are somewhat similar forall Our Clients.