Discuss how community service can be used as a counseling strategy. Give an example of how a community service project you completed in the past impacted you.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

?Community service, and the personal learning that accompanies this activity, can be a valuable adjunct activity in counseling work. Unlike other skills discussed in this chapter, this is clearly something your client will engage in outside of your office.
?Perhaps community service, when recommended to a client, could be considered as a kind of homework. You may create the impetus for this service, but the client will have to take responsibility for implementing it. In this regard, it’s like any other homework and requires your skill and full attention to help your client muster the initiative and energy to initiate it. You can use the same guidelines for this service assignment as for any other homework.
?Social action—whether it is serving meals at a homeless shelter, doing trail maintenance at the local park, or reading to children—particularly when coupled with counseling work that promotes self-awareness, benefits the community and also promotes valuable personal learning for your client.
?Appropriate community service, meaning service which is not paternalistic or built upon the client’s “need to be needed,” does much to tie your client to the greater world community and to promote a feeling of belonging.
?Community service is not a panacea for personal problems, nor should it typically serve as an alternative to personal counseling.
?Service to the community and personal growth are parallel projects, each feeding the other. In my experience, clients who involve themselves in community work feel better about themselves as a result of their effort. They feel more connected to their community, and they are less attached to their own personal problems.
?Further, clients who are aware of their own issues attached to their giving to the community (e.g., codependency issues) and who have some knowledge of the cultural and social issues at play in that community can have a positive impact on the communities they serve.