Relationship Between Client-Learning Style and Preference for Counselor Approach

A client-counselor matching model based on Kolb's experiential learning theory was examined. A questionnaire, which included Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and four counselor approach profiles, was completed by 205 counseling clients. The clients indicated which counselor they preferred. The following four preference patterns were predicted: concrete learners—experiential approach, abstract learners—rational approach, active learners— behavioral approach, and reflective learners—client-centered approach. The results did not confirm the hypothesized four-way model, although limited support for the matching concept was evident when only two counselor approaches were considered. Clients who preferred directive counselors were more abstract learners. Clients preferring nondirective counselors were more concrete learners. Overall, clients preferred the rational counselor approach. A nonclient comparison group (n = 75) preferred the client-centered approach.     

Renewal in Career Guidance and Counseling: Rationale and Programs

This article provides a strong rationale for renewal programs in career guidance and counseling. The rationale is based on the expressed needs of counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors, and the needs of clients, as well as on major position papers of APGA, ACES, and NVGA. The APGA Counselor Renewal and Development Professional Preparation and Standards Committee has clearly stated that counselor renewal is a professional imperative for those who seek to remain effective helpers. The ACES position paper, “Counselor Preparation for Career Development/Career Education”, also clearly points out the need for renewal in career guidance and counseling. In addition to the rationale, the article describes several career-counseling-oriented renewal programs that are currently available for counselors and counselor educators and supervisors who would like to upgrade their skills in this area.     

The School Counselor Alumni Peer Consultation Group

School counseling literature indicates that school counselors experience isolation and frustration and that partnership projects between counselors and counselor educators are potentially valuable. The author describes the school counselor alumni peer consultation group, which provides (a) support and networking opportunities for new counselors and (b) a forum for studying counseling issues and for developing strategies to solve problems. This innovative strategy for professional development and collaboration has implications both for counselor educators and for school counselors.     

“Interpersonal” Clients,Students, and Supervisees: Translating Robert Kegan

The counseling profession prides itself on its developmental focus. However, counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors have generally applied only phasic, and not stage, theories to counseling and supervision practice and have not incorporated developmental concepts into their teaching. This article continues the effort of rectifying this situation by explicating the relevance of R. Kegan's (1982, 1994) subject‐object theory for counseling, supervision, and counselor education. The author reviews Kegan's (1982, 1994) interpersonal and institutional stages and applies the theory to promoting development beyond the interpersonal stage in 3 case illustrations: a counseling case, a counselor educator's experience, and a supervision challenge.     

The emergence of unique elective identities in the professional identity development research in the counseling profession

In this study, a qualitative content analysis of the professional identity development research in counseling was conducted to describe elements of the development of “elective identities” of leader, research, counselor educator, and social justice practitioner. Predisposing, process, and outcome codes reveal experiences and contexts that influence this development in students, educators, and counselors.     

Effects of Race and Communication Style on Indian Perceptions of Counselor Effectiveness

This article reports the results of a study in which 102 American Indian 11th and 12th grade high school students rated 7 dimensions of perceived counselor credibility and utility. Results indicated that Indian counselors were perceived as more effective than non-Indian counselors and that the non-directive, “facilitative” verbal response style was rated as less effective than either a directive or a cultural/experimental style.     

The relationship among counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome in the early phase of counseling

The current study examined a mediating effect of empathic accuracy on the relationship between counselor experience level and counseling outcome. Data were collected from 48 counselor?Cclient dyads in real-life counseling settings. Empathic accuracy and counseling outcome were assessed by using client perceptions of the first three audiotaped counseling sessions. Ickes?? standard empathic accuracy assessment procedure was used with modifications to assess empathic accuracy. The procedure to assess empathic evaluation included three steps: (a) clients recognize and write down their thoughts and feelings while listening to the audiotapes, (b) counselors infer their client??s thoughts and feelings, (c) The third raters rate the statements of counselors?? empathic accuracy. Correlational analysis revealed that counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome were positively related to one another. A path analysis was used to test the model that counselor experience level affects counseling outcome through the effect of empathic accuracy. Both paths from counselor experience level to empathic accuracy and from empathic accuracy to counseling outcome were significant, along with a significant mediating effect of empathic accuracy. These results show enhancing empathic accuracy is critical for counseling outcome. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Chi Sigma Iota Chapter Leadership and Professional Identity Development in Early Career Counselors

As the academic and professional honor society of counseling, Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) has been recognized in developing advocacy, leadership, and professional identity in student and professional members. A qualitative, grounded theory study was conducted to investigate experiences of 15 early career counselors who were CSI chapter leaders as graduate students. An emergent theory of CSI chapter leadership and professional identity development in early career counselors is presented. Implications are discussed for counselor educators, CSI leaders, and counseling students and professionals, with suggestions made for future research.     

A “Chameleonic” Identity: Foreign-Born Doctoral Students in U.S. Counselor Education

This study explored the interplay between a multidimensional model of acculturation and professional identity development among eight foreign-born doctoral students in U.S. counselor education. Themes generated through an interpretive phenomenological analysis revealed that the participants, while trying to adapt to the Euro-American cultural context of their counselor programs, experienced a sense of conflict, loss, and grief, resulting in what they called a “chameleonic” professional identity. Findings illustrated that for international counseling students, professional identity development is an arduous and complex process deeply intertwined with their acculturation experiences. Implications for counselor programs and future research are further discussed.     

School Counselors' Participation in Continuing Education Activities

All certified school counselors in Wisconsin were surveyed in regard to their participation in a variety of professional development activities during a 12-month period. Results reveal that while many counselors were actively involved in such activities, others were only minimally so and some completely uninvolved. The latter tended to be older males with several years of counseling experience. Implications for maintaining counselor effectiveness in a changing society are discussed.     

高校辅导员职业化素质能力提升策略研究——以辅导员队伍传承性为视角

现代高校辅导员是一线学生工作重要的组织者和直接执行者,工作职责范畴在于开展大学生思想政治教育和大学生活的相关辅导。所以辅导员工作的专业化、职业化程度对实现大学生思想政治教育的实效性产生重要影响。因此,高校在不断发展更新教育理念、优化教学途径的同时,也要重视辅导员队伍职业化的建设和职业素质能力的提高;辅导员队伍通过不断加强自身队伍职业素质的传递,这也是实现辅导员队伍职业素质能力提升的有效途径。     

Leadership in Guidance: A Survey of School Counseling Supervisors

The authors present the results of a survey of district-level school counseling supervisors in Virginia. The results indicate that few school divisions employ individuals with the title of guidance supervisor. In divisions where such positions exist, they are staffed most often by individuals with guidance training and experience. The supervisors surveyed indicated that they spend a substantial portion of their time providing direct consultative support and assistance to counselors, engage in few research activities, and have few consultative contacts with counselor educators. Recommendations regarding school counselor supervision are offered based on survey data.     

Perceptions in Role Change from Teacher to Counselor: Intra-Role Conflict and Motivation for Change1

Twelve former teachers who had been counseling for no more than two years were interviewed on how they experienced the processes of role change from teacher to counselor. This article extends the findings reported in an earlier paper and deals with intra-role conflict and with the motivation for changing roles. The following hypotheses emerged from the study: (a) if teaching experience heightens the conflict in perceived incompatibility of role expectations, then it is dysfunctional to becoming a counselor; and (b) teachers enter counseling primarily because they seek to fulfill an inner desire for growth toward what they perceive as their ideal role in education. The implications of the testimony given by the counselors for counselor preparation programs and for the structure of roles in schools were examined.     

Ethical Orientation of Counselors: Its Relationship to Moral Reasoning and Level of Training

This article presents results of a study of the relationship between stage of ethical orientation and stage of moral reasoning for counselors at four levels of training and explores the relationship between ethical orientation and contributions to professional and social action organizations. The findings indicate that ethical orientation is significantly associated with moral reasoning, counseling experience, and number of contributions. Implications of these findings for theory building and counselor education are discussed.     

Effect of Experimentally Induced Sets of High and Low ‘Expertness' During Brief Vocational Counseling

A study was designed to evaluate the effects of an experimentally induced set of “expertness” on clients' evaluations of their selected experiences during brief vocational counseling. Thirty-one college freshman males were randomly assigned to two induced sets of high and low expertness, and client responses to both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the interview were obtained. The results suggested that (a) clients responded more favorably to relationship aspects of the interview with a counselor who was introduced as a nonexpert than with a counselor who was introduced as an expert, (b) informational recall was greater for clients interviewed by the expert counselor, and (c) global ratings of counselor effectiveness did not differentiate between expert and nonexpert counselors. Implications for counselor training and counselor practice are discussed.     

The Gerontologist: Counselor and Coach

Effective communication is the core of every helping relationship. Trained and experienced gerontology counselors bring skillful listening, the gift of reframing, the ability to suspend judgment, experience with confidentiality and ethics, and the ability to seek solutions and think of possibilities to the evolving field of life coach. Therefore, whether the older client is seeking psychological counseling or a personal evolution and ways to live their life more fully, the gerontologist is the most suitable professional to address their concerns. If practitioners are to meet the rapidly increasing needs of Baby Boomers, academic programs need to train them to fill the role of both counselor and coach. Clients will make the determination of who is the best fit for their current concern.     

Paid Clients in Counselor Education - An Investigation

This investigation follows an earlier attempt to evaluate the use of paid clients in practicum work. Pre- and post-counseling responses of paid and unpaid clients, counselors, and counselor supervisors were tested by Fisher's exact probability tables. Before-counseling paid clients were found to be different from unpaid clients only in that paid clients did not expect counseling to make them more independent in their relationships with other people. Post-counseling responses did not reveal any significant differences between paid or unpaid clients. Counselors saw paid clients in the way that paid clients saw themselves. Counselor supervisors did not expect significant differences between paid and unpaid clients. The only significant difference in post-counseling ratings was that neither counselors or counselor supervisors had anticipated that paid clients did want counselors to offer alternative solutions to problems. Differing pre-counseling responses of unpaid clients and of counselors and counselor supervisors reflected unfounded expectations that unpaid clients would have greater counseling needs than paid clients. All those involved in the study evaluated paid-client counseling as being a worthwhile experience. The writers encourage further investigation and evaluation.     

Orwell: 1984 and Counselor Educators

In 1949, Eric Blair, the English Socialist, wrote his powerful novel, 1984, under the pen name of George Orwell. The novel depicted a world in the year 1984 where the masses would be controlled by technology masterfully manipulated by “Big Brother.” The Ministry of Truth would provide such slogans as “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” and “Ignorance is Strength.” The old languages of the world would be replaced by the official language of 1984, Newspeak. This article discusses how close we are, in 1984, to an Orwellian world and what the role of counselor educators is in combating an Orwellian philosophy. How can we use the knowledge, skills, and technologies we possess to assist ourselves and our fellow human beings in reaching higher levels of personal, intellectual, and social development and awareness? What changes are needed in counselor education to prepare counselors for the rest of this century and the first quarter of the 21st century?     

Counselor Self-Awareness and Counseling Effectiveness

It has been assumed that counselor self-awareness is important to counseling effectiveness. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there were differences in perceived effectiveness between counselors who said they related self-awareness to their counseling role and counselors who believed self-awareness was unrelated to their role. Those counselors who did not relate self-awareness to counseling received higher client ratings of effectiveness than did counselors who related self-awareness.