The Experiences of Black Master's Counseling Students: A Phenomenological Inquiry

This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of 8 Black students enrolled in a master's‐level counseling program. Five themes central to participant experiences were identified: (a) isolation as a Black student, (b) tokenization as a Black student, (c) lack of inclusion of Black counselor perspectives within course work, (d) differences between support received by faculty of color and support received by White faculty, and (e) access to support from people of color and White peers. Implications for counselor educators and study limitations are discussed.     

Phenomenological understanding of Black counselor education students at Predominately White Institutions,Historically Black Colleges and Universities,and Hispanic Serving Institutions

The experiences of Black counseling students at Predominantly White Institutions are well documented. Using a transcendental phenomenological environmental research design, we explored how 12 Black counselor education graduates experienced their respective institutions across three types of academic institutions—Predominantly White Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions. Three salient themes emerged—(1) exposure, (2) real-life exposure, and (3) cultural oasis. The researchers also discussed implications for counselor education programs and future research.     

Teaching anti-racist counseling theories: Black liberation narrative therapy

Counseling theories created by White theorists have traditionally failed to consider the religious or spiritual experiences of Black clients. Integration of Black liberation theology and narrative therapy provides a novel approach to support counseling trainees in meeting the needs of Black clients. Decolonizing therapeutic strategies are presented along with counselor educator recommendations.     

Reported Interpersonal Violence and Disposition Decisions: The Impact of Client and Counselor Variables

Client sex, intake counselor sex, intake counselor experience, and client counseling history significantly predicted disclosure of violence experiences. Counselor sex, counselor experience, and client's experience with counseling predicted intake disposition. Predictors for disposition at termination were number of sessions attended, counselor sex, and counselor experience. Implications for counseling center settings are discussed.     

Getting Comfortable with Discomfort: Preparing Counselor Trainees to Broach Racial,Ethnic, and Cultural Factors with Clients during Counseling

Counselors’ considerations of racial and cultural factors in the lives and experiences of clients enhances counseling outcomes. Acknowledgement of cultural factors enhances counselor credibility, client satisfaction, and the depth of client disclosure. This article opens with an overview of the Continuum of Broaching Behavior (Day-Vines et al. 2007), continues with a case illustration that enumerates categories along the continuum, provides empirical support for the continuum, and closes with a set of instructional strategies for counselor educators to infuse within a multicultural counseling course.     

Counselor Comfort,Counseling Climate,and Client Satisfaction: Client Ratings and Academic Improvement

This study examined client perceptions of counselor comfort, counseling climate, and client satisfaction as measured by the CEI relative to counselors described as high-effective or low-effective in terms of changes in client academic performance before and after group counseling. The results indicated that the client's perception of the comfort of the counselor in a group setting is significantly related to counselor effectiveness as measured by GPA change. The overall counseling climate and the client's estimate of his satisfaction were found not to be related to counselor effectiveness.     

Helping Beginning Counselors Develop a Personal Theory of Counseling

Developing a personal theory of counseling is essential for beginning counselors. Current approaches de‐emphasize life experiences before graduate training and fail to incorporate counselor developmental stages. This article presents a framework for strengthening development of a personal theory of counseling by integrating life experiences and counselor developmental stages with theory building approaches.     

A Review of the Empirical Basis for Counseling: Implications for Practice and Training

This article reviews the empirical literature in terms of three components of counseling including existing counselor and client factors, the counseling process, and the outcome of client change. The counseling process is based on the therapeutic relationship, general factors, and common techniques or interventions, as well as specific counseling approaches. The review supports the contention that there are common factors exhibited by skilled therapists that are empirically related to positive client change. Recommendations are made for the use of this information by counselor educators in training student counselors and designing training programs.     

The Relationship Between Client Reluctance and Counseling Effectiveness

The effect of client reluctance, resistance to professional assistance, has received little attention in the research on counseling effectiveness. In a short-term college counseling situation, it was found that intake measures of client-reluctance were: (a) negatively correlated with client-perceived satisfaction and improvement, (b) negatively related to degree of congruence between perceived problem and perceived emphasis of the agency, and (c) positively correlated with premature termination in counseling. No differences were found between vocational and personal problem groups on measures of client reluctance, satisfaction, or improvement. Client reluctance was shown to be directly related to counseling outcome. Implications for these findings on counselor education and training are discussed.     

University Counseling Center Clients' Expressed Preferences for Counselors

ABSTRACT

This archival study explored patterns of client preferences from a randomized sample of 881 clients at a Midwestern university counseling center. Information from client intake forms was collected for a four year time frame. Results showed that 61% of the clients did not express preferences for particular types of counselors when asked on intake forms. Thirty-nine percent of the clients did express a preference for a particular type of counselor. Chi-square analyses found that clients with preferences tended to have prior therapy experience and tended to prefer counselor gender over other traits. Women and people of color tended to be the most likely to express counselor preferences. It is suggested that future research clarify the meaning behind preferences, the lack of preferences, and clients' expectations for counseling.     

Collecting Multidimensional Client Data Using Repeated Measures: Experiences of Clients and Counselors Using the CCAPS‐34

Many college counseling centers do not collect client data at each session because of perceived burdens. This study explored 55 clients’ and 16 doctoral counselor trainees’ experiences collecting and using data on client distress at each session over the course of counseling at a large public university's counseling center. Results indicated that the majority of both clients and counselors found the process convenient and clinically useful. Findings, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed.     

Beginning Practicum: It Only Hurt Until 1 Laughed!

Is it possible for a beginning counselor to avoid discomfort during counseling sessions? Two primary sources of beginning counselor worries are identified in this article: (a) concern for one's competence as a counselor and a person and (b) worry about the increasing intimacy involved in discussing the emotional life of a client. The effects of trainee discomfort are numerous and often humorous. A catalog of possible humorous responses of beginning counselors is provided, and each response is illustrated with an example. Brief comments on possible ways to deal with counselor discomfort conclude the article.     

Integrating Counseling Theory and Practice: Searching for F.A.C.T.S. and C.R.A.C.K.S.

This article suggests a device that counselors may use as a reference for bridging the gap between counseling theory and technique. Cognitive development theory provides the basis for understanding a single transaction between counselor and client. The acronyms FACTS and CRACKS suggest the structural dynamics taking place within the client's cognitive field as the counselor performs in two different stages of the counseling process.     

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.     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIENT AGE AND COUNSELOR TRAINEES’ PERCEPTIONS OF PRESENTING PROBLEMS,THERAPEUTIC METHODS,AND PROGNOSES

Research has indicated that counselor perceptions of older adults may influence therapeutic methods. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between client age and counselors’ perceptions of presenting problems, severity of problems, prognoses, and use of therapeutic techniques. Recommendations for client‐counselor compatibility were also evaluated. Counselors were presented with introductory counseling situations that varied by age of client. Participants were then asked to complete questionnaires designed for the purposes of the study variables. Results indicated a significant relationship between the age of the client and the recommended age of the counselor. Other significant differences included therapeutic strategies employed and number of client problems identified. Implications for counselor education are discussed.     

The Locke paradigm of cross cultural counseling

Summary To meet the needs of culturally different populations, culturally consistent assessment, evaluation, and treatment skills, as well as theoretical content must be understood by those working with these populations. The Locke Paradigm of Cross Cultural Counseling offers a framework for such action. While the paradigm does not specifically address counseling skills, the knowledge one gains from a study of a subculture is the foundation upon which a counselor builds the relationship with a client from a culturally different population. Effective counseling can only occur when the counselor has knowledge of both counseling theory and of the particular culture of the client.     

解读心理咨询师的人性观

在心理咨询中,咨询师所持的人性观直接影响着他对来访者的态度、对其问题的看法以及采用的咨询方法和技术。本文主要从咨询理论,咨询目标,咨访关系三个方面来谈谈咨询师的人性观及其影响,作为心理咨询师,要对自身所持的人性观有一定的自我觉知,了解人性观在咨询中所起的作用,从而更好地促进咨询的效果。     

Brief Therapy at a University Counseling Center: Working Alliance,Readiness to Change,and Symptom Severity

The authors investigated whether students receiving short–term individual counseling at a university counseling center showed progress as evidenced by perceived client and counselor outcomes and the roles that client readiness to change and working alliance played in this setting. The results indicated that the counselor reports, not the client reports, reflected statistically significant change in client symptoms. Changes in symptom severity were not associated with working alliance and readiness to change.     

PSYCHOEDUCATION FOR PERSONAL CONTROL: A KEY TO PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL‐BEING OF THE ELDERLY

Counseling older clients requires a focus on maintaining their psychological well‐being in the face of increasing losses associated with the aging process. One important contributing factor is the perception elderly people hold of their ability to control their lives and destinies and to maintain and increase rewarding life events while minimizing aversive ones. Operating within this focus, a psy‐choeducational approach to counseling for psychological control is limited only by motivation of the client and the creativeness of the counselor. The degree to which older clients perceive personal control of life is related to their degree of psychological well‐being.