Office of Counseling and Guidance

About OCG

Services

Staff

The Office of Counseling and Guidance (OCG) is a support service to the academic programs of the University. It is one of the offices of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA). OCG’s two main professional services are counseling and psychological assessment. OCG was created by the Board of Regents on April 6, 1956 (Section 3, Article 151 of the 1984 Revised University of the Philippines Code).

Milestones in OCG’s History

The Guidance Services Office (GSO) was the first guidance office put up at the College of Education with Professor Esperanza R. Limcaco as head.
1953 – The Student Personnel Services (SPS) paved the way for systematized guidance and counseling. It was put up under the Dean of Women.
1956 – Approval of the creation of the Office of Guidance and Counseling Services (OGGCS) by the Board of Regents.
1957 – The first entrance test was administered.
1959 – Creation of the Office of Student Affairs with OGCS, now called the Counseling and Testing Center (CTC), placed under its supervision.
1962 – Involvement of the Counseling and Testing Center in the International Testing.
1969 – The Division of Counseling and Guidance (DCG) replaced the Counseling and Testing Center. The Foreign Student Section (FSS), a new section was added to DCG.
1972 – Renaming of FSS as International Students Program and was transferred to the Office of the Dean of Students.
1974 – Transfer of the Division of Counseling and Guidance to the Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
1983 – 1996 – With the reorganization of UP, DCG was returned to the Office of Student Affairs. It was renamed as the Office of Counseling and Guidance (OCG). During these years, OCG was headed by Dr. Lilia A. Torres as OIC in 1983, Acting Director in 1985 and Director from 1986.

Objectives

The following are the primary objectives of the OCG:

To provide professional support to help students adjust to university life;
To assist students toward self-awareness, self-realization and achievement;
To guide students toward bio-psycho—social and spiritual growth;
To help students achieve their maximum potentials to grow as total persons; and
To empower students to think and act humanely and become responsible members of a free society whose highest value is human dignity

The UP Diliman Office of Counseling and Guidance’s current vision states that it “commits itself to total person care of students to the end that they thrive and flourish throughout their stay in the campus, experiencing pride of place and adventure in learning”. The mission of OCG is to “provide responsive, integrative, and competent psychosocial services to students to enable their total person flourishing”, as well as to “provide competency building and program development assistance on whole person care of students to academic and non-academic units of the university.”

Two key functions of the Office of Counseling and Guidance (OCG) of the University of the Philippines, Diliman is providing counseling and psychological assessment to its stakeholders. The professionalization of the guidance and counseling profession in the Philippines through RA 9258 or otherwise known as the “Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004” paved the way for counseling and guidance services to be regulated and professionalized. Section 3, paragraph a of the law states that “Guidance and Counseling is a profession that involves the use of an integrated approach to the development of well-functioning individual primarily by helping him/her to utilize his/her potentials to the fullest and plan his/her future in accordance with his/her abilities, interests and needs.”

The following OCG services are primarily provided free to officially enrolled UP students by
licensed guidance counselors and registered psychologist:

Counseling Services

The Counseling Service is available to help students adjust to the University life, make important life choices, and embark on the task of defining and pursuing their career and life goals. Students either come voluntarily for individual counseling or are referred by their teachers, college, and/or offices doing student services. College referrals for intake interview as well as processes for readmission, lifting of ineligibility, and applications for non-major and shifting can also lead to counseling. Counseling, can be done either through face-to-face (e.g., individual counseling or group guidance) or online platforms (e.g., Zoom, Viber, Messenger, etc.) to address the students’ academic, career, personal, interpersonal, and family concerns, toward overall improvement of their health, wellbeing, and outlook. These are free for enrolled UP students. UP employees or alumni can make a request to the Director about these services.

Appointment requests can be sent through email: ocg.updiliman@up.edu.ph or direct message: bit.ly/OCG-UPD

Psychological Assessment and Evaluation

Psychological testing, particularly on the dimensions of personality, emotional stability, career interest, study orientation, mental ability, and aptitude are available in OCG.

These are given free for enrolled UP students as deemed by the Guidance Services Specialist as appropriate.

Other services include:

Providing academic units with information regarding fitness of students for their targeted study program for admission/ shifting or field of work/ internship
Assisting academic and non-academic units of UPD in addressing their personnel assessment concerns; and
Providing psychological tests or pre-employment and qualifying exam purposes of non-UP service users from the government sectors whenever time allows for it

Referral Service

Students who need more specialized support are referred to appropriate professional/ offices. OCG works closely with UPD PsycServ and the University Health Service. Referrals are also made outside UP if necessary.

Celebrate Life (or Flourish-Oriented) Workshops

Celebrate Life creates opportunities for OCG to connect with more students, targeting those who do not usually visit the office. It hopes to introduce new students to the UP culture with practical tips on how to survive and flourish in the campus; and to offer learning opportunities to continuing students to enhance their competencies on key issues confronting them.

Celebrate Life, the annual event

In solidarity with the World Suicide Prevention Day and in response to the increase in the number of reported cases of students having depression, suicidal ideations and suicide attempts, OCG saw the need to organize activities that will communicate to students that life in UP is an ongoing invitation to experience flourish, joy, and meaning. Instead of the themes of illness, vulnerability, and risk, Celebrate Life, through its activities every September since 2015, highlights resilience, growth, and thriving. It is celebratory in nature with activities involving the participation of the whole person: mind, body, emotions and spirit.

Peer Psychosocial Support: The Buddy System

OCG also seeks to capacitate the different student bodies and organizations to provide psychosocial support to students in the campus.

1. Capacity Building: Training Students to Become Buddies

The training is given to the Core Group and/or Membership Committee members of requesting student organizations, local student councils and college-OSA volunteers who wish to help their members and other students by (1) getting them oriented to life at UP; (2) helping them access important information that is available in the campus; (3) creating opportunities for them to find and keep friends; (4) providing them a listening ear; (5) offering them basic psychosocial support, and (6) referring them to other helpers, to professionals, for concerns that are beyond their capacity to address.

OCG can help in creating a Buddy System within a college to connect UP students who need psychosocial support with their trained volunteer students. This is feasible if there will be a faculty or staff, who have undergone the Be a Lifeline training of PsycServ, volunteering to supervise the trained Buddies.

2. Peer Facilitator’s Training Program.

This program is intended for the College of Engineering, which has the biggest student population among all the colleges in UPD. It aims to (1) develop the positive self-concept and personality of peer facilitators; (2) provide volunteer students’ training on social, emotional and facilitating skills; (3) provide services and activities to a greater number of students; and (4) establish linkages to different departments within the college. The volunteer students are required to undergo and finish the required number of training hours for group process and facilitating before they can be allowed to proceed as peer facilitator.

University Job Fair

UJF fulfills the purpose of exposing students to diverse range of jobs to suit their equally diverse fields of specialization. The UJF is a project of the OCG in coordination with student organizations – the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC), the UP Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA) and the UP Advertising Core (AdCore) – which aims:

To provide career preparations and opportunities primarily to graduating students as well as those in the internship phase of their study programs. The Job Fair is also open to students in earlier batches, graduate students, and other members of the UP community who may be scouting for jobs.
To introduce to students a framework on career pathing that can guide their employment search;
To develop in the students wholesome employment/ career search and decision making processes;
To create opportunity for student leaders and organizations working hand in hand with UPD-OCG in helping support the graduating students’ transition from being students to becoming part of the country’s work force.
To establish linkages and enhance working relationships in support of better employment opportunities for graduating students