A Critical Reexamination of the Practice Component in Counselor Training

This article reviews the existing empirical literature related to the practice component in counselor education. The evidence strongly indicates that the current understanding of the practice component in training is quite limited. The authors discuss several tentative explanations for the discrepancy between the widespread application of practice in training and the near absence of empirical guidelines for its use, present weaknesses in related research methodology, and advance several recommendations for future research in this area.     

The Inclusion of Women's and Gender Issues in Counselor Education Programs: A Survey

The results of a survey of 120 counselor education programs on the inclusion of women's and gender issues in counseling curricula are presented.     

Critical Race Theory and Counselor Education Pedagogy: Creating Equitable Training

Infusing critical race theory, the authors discuss specific pedagogical strategies to enhance educational experiences of counselor trainees. The authors then provide an evaluative checklist to facilitate and evaluate curricular integration of critical race theory.     

The Counselor as a Developmental Instructor

The role of a developmental instructor is described as the use of information about students to structure classroom environments to maximize personal growth and mastery of subject matter. The subject matter for one course “Themes in Human Identity” was drawn from current and classical literature. Developmental change was assessed according to Perry's model of ethical and intellectual development of college students. Twentyeight of thirty-one students showed positive change.     

The Rural School Counselor: Relationships Among Rural Sociology,Counselor Role,and Counselor Training

Recommendations for the training of rural school counselors are derived from characteristics of the rural American population and the resultant role of the school counselor.     

Gender Bias in Guatemalan Counselor Education Students: Using an Experiential Activity as a Stimulus

This article features the implementation and outcome of an experiential activity addressing gender bias in students at three university-based Guatemalan counselor education programs. The authors present students’ thematic responses delineating expectations of gender-specific communication styles and roles. A sequence of activities and students’ reflective commentaries are included, with suggestions for counselor educators in addressing gender bias in student populations.     

Counselor Training in a School Center

This article describes the creation of a partnership between a local school district and a university counselor education department to train counselors while providing counseling services using counselor trainees. The partnership resulted in a counseling center located in the school, which serves the school and community and is staffed by the university. The concept of a training center constructed by a school district and staffed by trainees and university faculty to serve students and people in the community is unique. This article explores the rationale for the community school-based, training-service center and the steps leading to its establishment. Also discussed are the physical structure and the operation of the center and the advantages and problems.     

Sensitivity Training as an Integral Phase of Counselor Education

A four-day T-Group was conducted conjointly with counselor education staff members and practicum students. At the end of the T-Group significant gains were made on the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, a measure of Rogers' conditions of a helping relationship. Three months later clients of the group members rated them on the same measure. A number of significant correlations were found. A follow-up questionnaire anecdotally supported the findings.     

Alcohol Awareness Counselor Training: Utilizing a DWI Program

This article describes a cooperative effort of a community agency and a counselor education program in dealing with community alcohol problems. A DWI education and awareness program and a counselor training program in alcohol problems are presented. The training program uses students at four phases of development to counsel court-referred clients. Each phase is described in terms of goals, activity, feedback focus, and expected outcome. This program provides benefits for all involved: (a) students have real-life counseling experiences, (b) the agency maintains contact and uses the resources of university programs, and (c) the university has the opportunity to respond to a current issue in the community.     

Counseling as a Critique of Gender: On the Ethics of Counseling Transgendered Clients

This paper examines the responsibilities of mental health professionals, particularly counselors, to those who identify or might be identifiable as “transgendered.” There are two main objectives. The first is to describe the critical reflection necessary to deal with gender-variant clients in an ethical and effective manner. The second is to discuss a psychotherapeutic model that is likely to be effective in integrating such reflection into the clinical process, and to make counseling recommendations on that basis.     

The Impact of Client Suicide in Counselor Training: Implications for Counselor Education and Supervision

The impact of client suicide on student counselors has potentially severe and long-term consequences. This article presents recommendations for addressing the needs of students and discusses implications for counselor education.     

Counselor Recall of Specific Details: Implications for Counseling and Counselor Training

This study examined two verbal process variables in counseling: (a) accuracy of counselor recall statements, and (b) relevance of counselor recall statements.     

The Effects of Assertive Training on Counselor Trainees

It has been suggested that the addition of assertive training as an integral part of counselor education programs would be desirable. Although this study indicates that assertive training is effective in reducing counselor discomfort and anxiety, such training has no significant effect upon client or supervisor ratings of counselor effectiveness. Therefore, the addition of such a training experience seems, at best, to be open to question.     

Self-Understanding Seminars: The Effects of Group Psychotherapy in Counselor Training

This study was conducted to determine whether significant benefits would be derived from providing counselor trainees with psychoanalytically oriented group psychotherapy. Twenty trainees were divided into 2 therapy groups that met for 30 1.5-hour weekly sessions. Each experimental trainee was matched with a control (no treatment) trainee counterpart on the basis of sex, number of graduate credits, and counseling specialty. The instruments administered were: the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Elmore Psychological Anomie Scale, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and the Porter Counseling Inventory. There were no significant differences on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. On the Elmore Psychological Anomie Scale, the control subjects had an increase on Valuelessness (p = .181). On the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the experimental subjects had an increase on Deference (p = .033) and a decrease on Exhibition (p = .190) and Change (p = .091). On the Porter Counseling Inventory, the experimental subjects achieved an increase in Evaluative (p = .112) and Interpretive (p = .034) responses and a decrease in Understanding (p = .083) responses. The relevance to training of both the lack of definitive differences on some of the variables and the significant findings were discussed. The data were interpreted as providing support for the value of a psychotherapeutic experience as part of training programs, particularly those that accept a psychoanalytic orientation.     

The Discovery of Personal Meaning: A Goal for Counselor Training

The argument is presented that personal integration and transfer of interpersonal skills is more likely to occur if significant attention is given to the learning phase of skills training. Guidelines are presented to help trainers create conditions that encourage learners to discover the personal meaning of these skills. These guidelines are part of an integrative approach that seeks to acknowledge what learners bring to training, to encourage learners to respect their own abilities and reactions to training, and to coach learners to use skills in ways that fit their individual styles and contexts.