Early in 2016, the Ateneo Bulatao Center held a Counseling 101 workshop for over 40 teachers and coaches of Keys School, Mandaluyong City.

Teachers often take the role of second parents in their students’ lives.  Students seek their teacher’s/school administrator’s counsel and approach them not just for academic assistance but for personal concerns as well.  In this workshop, teachers and school administrators learned basic counseling skills that will help enhance their abilities in handling these inevitable situations.

The following were the objectives of the workshop:

• Identify and differentiate the principles and goals of the three phases of counseling
• Demonstrate the appropriate skills of effective, emphatic listening.
• Evaluate the counseling skills of others
• Assess one’s strengths and weaknesses as a counselor

The workshop was a combination of lecture, pen and paper exercises, and hand-on experiential activities.