As with any helping profession, the psychological counseling profession has its own education, practice requirements, principles and characteristics (Gladding, 2013). One of these essential features is empathic understanding. That is one of the most important items that a psychological counselor should have. In this research, emphasis was placed on the "empathy" which is the first place among the therapeutic conditions and basic principles that should be in interpersonal relations. Because the psychological counselor can only help the client in an empathetic relationship.

When it comes to empathy today, Carl Rogers and his work on the subject come to mind (Dökmen, 2006). Rogers defines empathy as the client's private world as if he were in his own world, but if so, without feeling losing his qualities (Acar, 2008). Dökmen (2006) defines empathy as empathic tendency (ET) and empathic skill (ES), while a person defines himself as a correct meaning by putting the person opposite and putting his feelings and thoughts into correct meaning. The empathic tendency constitutes the empathic emotional dimension and shows the individual's potential to empathize. Empathic skill refers to the individual's ability to empathize.

Individuals with a high empathic tendency are more willing to understand and help their emotions. If the empathy established by the individual remains only on the cognitive scale, the willingness to help may not occur. With the empathy established in the emotional dimension, it is possible to create the desire to help (Hacıoğlu, 2007). Duru (2002) found that teacher candidates had a positive and meaningful relationship between the empathic tendency and the request for help. Mete and Gerçek (2005) found that the levels of empathic tendency in university students did not change according to the class level but empathic skills differed significantly at the grade level. Moreover, since the empathic tendency is an innate personality characteristic, it is emphasized that development is very difficult and empathic skill is a behavior that can be improved by empathy education.

There is a positive relationship between the effectiveness of psychological counselors and the ability to establish empathy and close relationships. Empathy is negatively associated with aggression, anxiety and depression (Bare, 1967; Brems, 1988). It is stated that learning counseling skills is an important part of counselor role preparation (Chauvin, 2004).

When literature was examined, there was no study to determine the relationship between empathic tendency and empathic skill levels of the Psychological Counseling and Guidance students. Numerous research into the professions that offer help services has highlighted the importance of empathizing with the client so that they can provide quality psychological services. For this reason, this study, which will be conducted on the levels of empathic tendency and empathic skills of the students in the Psychological Counseling and Guidance section, suggests that it will provide important contributions to the field.

Survey method was used in this study. It aims to identify the past or current situation as it is. An individual, object, or event that is the subject of the search is defined within its own circumstances. Survey methods are descriptive researches that can be done in social sciences to determine the characteristics of research subjects in large masses (Erkuş, 2009, Karasar, 2011, Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006, Can, 2014). Population and Sampling The population of the study constitutes the students who continue their education in Inonu University Educational Faculty Psychological Counseling and Guidance Program. The sample will consist of 300 students in the first class (n = 75), the second class (n = 75), the third class (n = 75) and the fourth class (n = 75). Data Collection Personal information will be collected through the personal information form tool created by the researcher. Empathic Tendency Scale The scale was developed by Dökmen (1988) to measure the empathy potential of individuals in daily life. The scale consists of 20 items and is of the 5-likert type in the form of 1-Completely contrary, 5-Completely appropriate. The minimum score to be taken from the scale is 20 and the maximum score is 100. The total score expresses the empathic tendency scores of the subjects. The higher the score, the higher the empathic tendency. Empathic Skill Scale B Form The scale, prepared by Dökmen (1990), consists of 6 different texts describing different problems related to daily life and 12 responses for each problem towards the owner of the problem. A total of 72 responses, 12 reactions for each of these six problems, are presented to participants in written form. The first one concerns the housewife, the second with a friend, the third with a fellow, the fourth with a younger girl, the fifth with girlfriends, and the sixth with a student. Analysis of Data The data in the study will be analyzed using SPSS program . Descriptive statistics, normality tests, t-test and ANOVA for parametric data, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests for nonparametric tests, correlation and regression tests will be applied to determine the relationship.

It is expected that the empathic tendencies and empathic skills of Psychological Counseling and Guidance Students will be different according to gender, class level, academic achievement level, socio-economic level of the family. The results of this research are important in terms of revealing the empathic tendency and empathic skill levels of the Psychological Counseling and Guidance students. Statistical results based on the scale results may help to keep track of the course content of the Psychological Counseling and Guidance programs in the coming years and to improve the empathic skills of psychological counselors who will provide help.

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