The Role of a Community Counselor
Donte Love

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to address the role and function of the community counselor. Additionally, the framework of the community counseling model is taken into account, including some of the strategies used in community counseling.

The Role of a Community Counselor
Community counseling can be defined as “…a comprehensive helping framework that is grounded in multicultural competence and oriented toward social justice (Lewis, Lewis, Daniels, & D'Andrea, 2011). While this definition may serve as a starting point, any meaningful understanding of the role and function of a Community counselor requires more than a brief description or a cursory glance at a definition.
These educational efforts can strengthen people’s ability to deal with stressors and in some cases, prevent long-lasting effects on mental health” (Lewis, Lewis, Daniels, & D'Andrea, 2011).
Broad-based strategies include developmental and preventive interventions aimed at the community at large, to teach members of the community new skills and help community members gain awareness of challenges they are likely to encounter. These strategies can include values-clarification seminars, assertiveness training, decision making and life planning workshops and cultural activities. These strategies have an emphasis in prevention and make the community counseling model a more workable paradigm than person-to-person counseling alone.
Facilitating community development requires advocacy that focuses on issues that affect the client and the client’s environment. This may require the community counselor to act as a consultant to help others help the client. Consultation describes any action you take with a system of you are not a part. A consultant is a person in a position to have influence over an individual, a group, or an organization, but who has no direct power to make changes or implement programs. The community counselor acts as a consultant in various instances where community advocacy is necessary. When