Fillable Form DA 4856

DA 4856 is a form used by counselors who are currently offering their services to soldiers. As the document contains very sensitive and personal information, it is never revealed to the public.

Answer a few simple questions to make your document in minutes

Start now and save your progress, finish on any device

Store securely, share online and make copies

What is Form DA 4856?

Form DA 4856, Developmental Counseling Form, is a two-page document by the Department of the Army. Counselors and leaders providing services to the United States Army soldiers use it during counseling.

As a counseling document, Form DA 4856 reviews the performance and potential of a soldier.

How to fill out Form DA 4856?

Form DA 4865 is a two-page form with four parts:

Administrative Data

Background Information

Summary of Counseling

Assessment of the Plan of Action

Part I — Administrative Date

Name

Enter the full name of the soldier in the following format: Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial.

Rank/Grade

Enter the rank or grade of the soldier.

Date of counseling

Enter the date of the counseling.

Organization

Enter the name of the organization the soldier is a part of.

Name and title of counselor

Provide the name and the job title of the counselor.

Part II — Background Information

Purpose of Counseling

The leader is the one required to fill out this section. He or she must enter the reason for the counseling. The counseling may be, performance, professional, or event-oriented counseling. Enter the facts and observations prior to the counseling. Indicate if there have been any previous counseling sessions for the soldier.

Part III — Summary of Counseling

Complete this section during the counseling or immediately after the counseling ends.

Plan of Action

Enter the action plans the subordinate will do after the counseling session to be able to attain the set and agreed-upon goals.

Make sure the actions are specific enough to modify or maintain the behavior of the subordinate. Set a timeline for implementation and assessment.

Session Closing

The leader must enter the key points of the discussion and assess the counseled soldier’s understanding of the plan of action.

The counseled individual should mark the appropriate box to determine his or her agreement with the action plans. He or she may select:

I agree

Disagree with the information above

The counseled individual must also enter his or her remarks, signature, and the date he or she signed the section.

Leader Responsibilities

The leader must enter his or her responsibilities in implementing the plan of action.

He or she must also enter his or her signature and the date he or she signed the section.

Part IV — Assessment of the Plan of Action

This section is used by the leader and the counseled soldier to determine if the plan of action produced the desired result. This will be the basis for follow-up counseling.

Where to submit Form DA 4856?

Form DA 4856 is kept as a file of the respective office of the counseled individual. However, it is destroyed upon reassignment, separation due to the Expiration of Term of Service (ETS), or retirement, as it is no longer needed by the concerned office.

Tips:

Both the counselor and the individual counseled should retain a record of Form DA 4856.

Ensure that before the conduct of the counseling, you selected a suitable place and time.

Before the counseling, outline the components of the counseling session to make it easier to fill out Form DA 4856.

Organize the information and draft a plan of action even before the counseling and plan the counseling strategy.

Information entered in Form DA 4856 is not publicly disclosed. Only the progress of the counseling will be reported.

The assessment of the plan of action should be completed before the start of the follow-up section for it is a way to obtain useful information for future follow-up counseling.

The leader must not forget to conduct the assessment based on the resolution of the situation or based on the established timeline discussed during the plan of action.

Before filling up this form, you may know more about the military counseling process by reading the Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 6-22.1. The ATP 6-22.1 provides doctrinal guidance for all leaders, military, and civilian, responsible for planning, preparing, executing, and assessing counseling actions. Trainers and educators throughout the Army will also use this publication.

If possible, record the counseling session. Guidelines for recording the session may also be found in the Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 6-22.1.

For Part II — Background Information, you may identify the reason for counseling by looking at how the three major developmental counseling reasons differ from each other:

— Event-oriented counseling involves a specific event or situation. It may precede events such as participating in promotion boards, attending training courses and preparing for deployment or redeployment. It also addresses events such as noteworthy duty performance, an issue with performance or mission accomplishment, or a personal issue. Examples of event-oriented counseling include specific instances of superior or substandard performance, reception and integration counseling, crisis counseling, referral counseling, promotion counseling, transition counseling, or adverse separation counseling.

— Performance counseling is the review of a subordinate’s duty performance during a specified period. The counseling focuses on the soldier’s strengths, areas to improve, and potential.

— Professional growth counseling includes planning for the accomplishment of individual and professional goals. During the counseling, the leader and the counseled soldier do a review to identify and discuss the soldier’s strengths and weaknesses and to create an individual development plan that builds upon those strengths and compensates for shortcomings.

If possible, schedule future meetings before dismissing the counseled individual.

Table of Contents

Fillable Form DA 4856