TPC-Journal-V2-Issue3

226 Counseling for the Training of Leaders and Leadership Development: A Commentary Alfonso Barreto The Professional Counselor Volume 2, Issue 3 | Pages 226–234 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2012 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates www.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/abb.2.3.226 Counseling is the instrument that empowers training and forges the development of leaders in their essential drive to inspire and guide others. As much a discipline and praxis as a professional practice, counseling increases consciousness and optimizes the management and synergy of human energy. This article addresses methods for sustaining leadership development via the leader as manager, educator and motivator. Keywords : leadership, human energy, counseling, sustained development, discipline and praxis, synergy Discipline and Praxis in Counseling Human enhancement is the pure essence of counseling both as a discipline and a profession. As a discipline, counseling is based on education, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology and other human sciences. As a proactive professional practice, counseling works with the processes inherent to the development of personal potential with a view of strengthening and making its integral evolution more effective (Barreto, 2009; Vera, 2003). Counselors are multidisciplinary professionals who offer their support in the development of individuals and groups regarding a constellation of subjects relative to their circumstances and commonalities (e.g., anxiety, depression, mental-emotional disorders, addictions, family issues, sexual abuse and domestic violence, absenteeism, vocational choice and career development, social maladjustment, grief, transitions in stages of life) that usually cause stress in the development of the personality (Navare, 2008; Vera, 2003; Vera & Jiménez, 2005). Vera (2006) reported that a fundamental goal of counseling services is the assistance to the individual in the task of becoming a person with optimal emotional and intellectual function, and with autonomy sufficient to take care of personal and community affairs in a suitable and effective form. For Vera (2006), counseling is essentially a service for the enhancement of the individual based on a set of basic assumptions, including the following: • The development of the individual is cumulative and dynamic, and changes over time, although it is considered that the early influences in life echo the experiences of the subsequent years. • The psychological representation of life events influences behavior more than the events themselves. • Personal development is generated when one maintains a consistent identity (internal limits and external clarity about self) and when responsibility is assumed to choose one’s own personal growth. • One has the freedom to choose the future from a wide range of possibilities. Alfonso Barreto is a Development Analyst in Talents and Specialists (PDVSA – Management AIT). Correspondence can be addressed to Alfonso Barreto, Av. 33A, Calle 100, Terrazas de Sabaneta, Maracaibo-Venezuela, Sur América, alfarreto@yahoo.es.