Framework

This paper will be guided primarily by the humanistic theories of Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow. These theories, however, did not evolve from a vacuum. The
humanistic theories sprouted in the nineteen hundreds where two world wars occurred.
Pickren and Rutherford (2010, 225) describe the era as an increasingly technocratic and
dehumanized world order. As a result, Grogan (2010, vii) noted that post-war cultural
institutions have neglected individual identity, expression, meaning and growth. The
bombing of Pearl Harbor changed the paradigm of a psychologist and devoted himself to
experiment and research that will prove that humans are capable of something grander
than war, prejudice, and hatred (70-71). His name was Abraham Maslow.
Valiunas (2011, 93) described Maslow as the most important American
psychologist since William James, and perhaps the most important psychologist
altogether since Carl Jung. Unfortunately, Maslows childhood was not a fairytale. Born
in 1908, he grew amidst imperfect parents. His father was rough-hewn, hard-drinking,
and would loathe his mother. On the other hand, his mother was real horror. For
conventional childhood misdemeanors, she would terrorize him with promises of
divine wrath (93). Thankfully, the unbecoming experience of childhood did not turn him
into a monster, instead, the best in man allured him (98) and had a mission to
transform the world (96).
Maslows critics would either doubt the hierarchy validity of his needs theory
(Dewey 2007) or that he was just justifying intellectually the selfish individualistic
tendency of people since history doesnt support the claim that being trustworthy, loyal,

helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, and so forth, is the dominant human tendency (Griffin
2011, 132). Despite all these, Maslow was able to publish over a hundred of articles in a
number of magazines and professional journals including influential books such as
Toward a Psychology of Being (1962), Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences (1964),
Eupsychian Management (1965), The Psychology of Science (1966), and a posthumous
collection of papers entitled The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (1971) (Gale Virtual
Reference Library, s.v. Maslow, Abraham). He exalted science as religion of the
nonreligious, the poetry of the non-poet, the art of the man who cannot paint, the humor
of the serious man, and the lovemaking of the inhibited and shy man (99-100). He was a
true humanist. He did all his best to understand human beings.
There are reasons for every action. People would be understood better if the
answers towhy they behave the way they do are carefully studied (Dennis 2003). Based
on his observations, Maslow theorized that man is a perpetually wanting animal and
has five basic needs that become goals that guide human behavior (Heinzen and Nolan
2008). These basic needs or motivating goals are divided into two levels, the D-needs and
the B-needs. D and B stands for deficiency and being respectively.
The American psychologist Carl Rogers pioneered a client-centered counseling.
It is a structured yet self-directive counseling which allows the individual to gain selfunderstanding which will lead him to move in a positive direction. He called his
counselee as client not patient, who, when given an unconditional positive regard will
view helping relationships as nurturing and naturally move towards the actualization of
his full potential (Neukrug 2011, 215-223).

The importance of this humanistic, client-centered theory is strategic in a country

where only licensed guidance counselors are allowed to practice and yet in some places
counselor-student ratio is large. Students helping another student in distress need a lot of
justification. In peer helping, a TROPA (i.e. Trained Responsible and Organized Peer
Assistant) does NOT do what psychoanalytic and behaviorist counselors do, to wit,
direct, prescribe, advice, diagnose, interpret and authorize (Kottler and Brown 2000,
110). Instead, Rogers and other client-centered counselors assume that: 1) humans are
growth oriented and tend toward self-actualization; 2) every existing individual is at the
center and has his own perception of a continually changing world of experience; and
3) when therapeutic relationship is characterized by trust, openness, acceptance,
permissiveness, and warmth change occurs (111).
When man was born into this world, he was not alone. He is as always, a social
being, a group-oriented one. In this given social milieu, humans influence, shape and
condition one another, which sometimes result to conflicts. This relationship is vital in
satisfying needs, personality development and adjustment. This is what group counseling
provides. (Decal-Mendoza 2003, 1; Gibson and Mitchell 1990, 181).
Although there seems to be no comprehensive scholarly attempt that will trace
the history of peer helping in a school counseling context, (Peppas 1986, 8) peer
helpers were effectively used to facilitate student adjustment since 1960 (3). In his
review of literature, Peppas accounted that in some instances and situations, nonprofessionals have been found to be as effective as or more effective than professional

personnel (7). There are instances that peer helpers improved more than those they
assisted (8).
Before peer helpers became an acceptable partner in delivering guidance
services, it was anticipated by the introduction of paraprofessionals. In another literature,
Miller and Fruehling (1978, 506) reported five major reasons why there was an increase
in the use of paraprofessionals in the 1960s. These are: 1) unwillingness of professionals
to reach out to poor consumers; 2) inability of aspirants from the underprivileged sector
to obtain professional status through tradition paths; 3) paraprofessionals were used as a
buffer by professionals who were criticized by marginally poor communities; 4) as
alternative for jobs not provided by private sectors; and 5) shortage of manpower that will
deliver services to poor neighborhood. The economic factor indirectly made the
paraprofessionals functional and effective. Though their training was not as lengthy as
that of a professional and are assigned only the more elementary tasks performed usually
by a guidance worker, paraprofessionals proved to be as effective in facilitating positive
change in clients (Egan 2010, 24). They possess helping skills characterized by
nonpossessive warmth, interpersonal sensitivity, empathic understanding, and overt
genuineness (Miller and Fruehling 1978, 506). It is these same knowledge, skills and
values that this training module is aiming to achieve.

What and Why would maslows ideas be important to TROPA?