“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.     

Counseling across cultural borders in South Africa

Within a counseling context, cognisance should be taken of differences in language and culture codes, problem presentation and interpretation, counseling expectations, problem solving methods, and views on the world, reality and self. In South Africa as elsewhere in the world, political activism and the disruption of individual life styles have direct implications for the life and world view of the Blacks, and therefore also for the counseling process itself. Rightfully or not, White counselors are often perceived as symbols of the Establishment, and the Black client is likely to impute all the negative experiences of oppression to the counselor.The effectiveness of cross-cultural counseling is most likely to be enhanced when the counselor can relate to the outlook on life of the client, using counseling modalities and defining goals consistent with the life experiences and cultural values of the client. In this regard the White counselor might very well make a detailed analysis of the philosophy, function and methods of the very influential indigeous mental health practitioners (witch doctors) within the Black system. The accommodation of these concepts within acknowledged Western psychological approaches, seems feasible.     

Applying Self‐Efficacy Theory to Counselor Training and Supervision: A Comparison of Two Approaches

Counseling self‐efficacy, an individual's perception of his or her competence to conduct counseling, is an important component of understanding how counselor trainees subjectively construct their counseling and training experiences and subsequently develop into competent counseling professionals. The author describes 2 approaches to using self‐efficacy theory to develop and implement counselor training and supervision interventions: the self‐efficacy enhancement approach and the self‐efficacy in context approach. Suggestions for tailoring counseling self‐efficacy assessment to the accompanying approach are included.     

Video Journaling as a Method of Reflective Practice

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine seven school counseling students’ experiences of creating reflective video journals during their first internship course. Specifically, this study focused on capturing the essence of the experiences related to personal reactions, feelings, and thoughts about creating two video journal entries. Qualitative analysis revealed that reflection as a developmental process, authenticity, parallel process, and apprehension with the process were significant themes related to the video journaling experience. Implications for counselor education and training and directions for future research are presented.     

Future School Administrators' Perceptions of the School Counselor's Role

The authors examined the perceptions of future school administrators regarding the role of the school counselor. The study was designed to assist counselor educators and school counselors in identifying potential barriers that could interfere with establishing comprehensive developmental counseling programs that are supervised by principals and superintendents. Future administrators rated crisis intervention, assisting with transitions, and personal counseling as the most important duties of school counselors; however, some respondents identified administrative and disciplinary duties as significant ones for the counselor.     

Using Film to Increase Counselor Empathic Experiences

The early stages of empathy in counseling—emotional reaction, role-taking, and cognitive suspension—have all been largely ignored in the counselor education/psychological literature. This article describes these stages from the perspective of the aesthetic/film literatures. Emotional reaction is an internal, unobservable state of being. Role-taking involves cognitive understanding and entering the perceptual world of another. Cognitive suspension means letting go of personal beliefs and values. The film literature describes how audience emotional states are created by directors, writers, actors, and editors. This article explains how counselor educators and supervisors can use this information to help counselors increase their empathic experiences.     

Death counseling and human development: issues and intricacies

Death counseling as a specialized service appeared in the 20th century in response to new needs for assistance with death-related crises and transitions. Significant experiences with death and dying can be viewed as maturational crises through which people learn to cope with themselves during adversity and change. Because these experiences have a significant impact on developmental tasks in childhood and adult life, the death counselor needs to be knowledgeable about human development across the lifespan and sensitive to the problems of communication across differences in age, sex, culture, and cohort experiences. Knowledge about the impact of different death-related experiences on individuals, families, and providers is also essential for understanding the disruptive effects of these events on persons and groups. Yet helping others by death counseling requires more than knowledge alone. It must be based on goals reflecting the integrity of those involved.     

Toward a Unified Consciousness Theory

Although research and personal experiences are indicating that telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and healing may be more common than previously believed, human development continues to be viewed primarily from physical or cognitive frameworks. These traditional theories are not comprehensive enough to include many human phenomena. As a result many people label these phenomena as extrasensory or paranormal and presume that they exist in only rare cases, if at all. Counselors are not trained to recognize or deal with such phenomena. The beginning of a holistic theory that can treat paranormal phenomena as normal human development is presented. Implications for counseling, counselor education, and counselor supervision are discussed.     

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.     

Teaching Interpreted Counseling Practice: A Step Toward Multicultural Competence

We conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis of five counseling students' experiences collaborating with American Sign Language–interpreting students during counseling practice sessions. Themes were identified in developmental domains of counselor self-awareness, counseling relationship, and advocacy interventions. Interdisciplinary collaboration led students to address cultural deficiency models and increase multicultural competency and efforts in social justice.     

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.     

The value of theories for counseling practitioners

The emergence of counseling as a recognized helping profession has led to the introduction of higher standards for counselor education. Emphasis has been placed on a balance between theoretical erudition and practical training. Some counseling practitioners, however, minimize the value of theoretical knowledge and doubt its importance for professional effectiveness. This article challenges such views and points out that counselors cannot remain true professionals unless they undergird their work by adequate theoretical insights. Theories help counselors understand the dynamics of human behavior and choose therapeutic approaches appropriate to specific clients and situations. Psychological theories come alive in the counselor's mind if they are seen as extensions of life experiences of various theorists. To document this reality, the article presents several examples of well-known psycholoical theorists. Counseling practitioners are then encouraged to form, on the basis of existing theories, an operational framework consistent with their own experiences and values.     

The Counselor Trainee Portfolio

Problems with both sides of the “skills versus personal growth” dispute are presented as evidence that a third counselor education paradigm is needed. The portfolio concept is introduced as a means of assessing counselor trainees' competence against their own integrated theory of counseling. The portfolio approach, as currently implemented in one counselor education program. is presented. The future of the portfolio system is explored.     

Becoming a White antiracist counselor: A framework of identity development

In this constructivist grounded theory study, 12 White mental health counselors committed to antiracism were interviewed to explore their professional identity development. The emergent theoretical model of antiracist counseling identity development is a multifaceted lifelong developmental process that manifests through personal and professional experiences and is enacted within antiracist actions.     

Counseling Students’ Experiences in an Islamic-Based Counseling Course

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of learning and consequent development of twelve students enrolled in a four-year undergraduate counselling program at a higher institution of learning in Malaysia. The students’ ages ranged from 20 to 24 years. Participants outlined their learning experiences after taking a three-credit semester-long course on Islamic-based counseling, which was an attempt at integrating religion and spirituality into counselor training. An experiential learning theory served as the framework of reference, and a qualitative research design was adopted. Results revealed four major themes: (1) increased understanding of counseling, (2) better understanding in regard to the self and relationship with God, (3) applicability to daily practice, and (4) enhancing professional competence as a counselor. Finally, implications for research, counselor education and training, and clinical practice are discussed.     

Critical Incidents Among Novice Counselor Trainees

The authors attempted to gain an understanding of critical incidents (CIs) from the perspective of novice counselor trainees during their 1st year of supervised clinical practicum. Journals kept by 9 trainees in master's‐level counseling programs were qualitatively analyzed using the discovery‐oriented research methodology (A. Mahrer, 1988). One hundred fifty‐seven CIs emerged in 5 major categories: (a) professional identity, (b) personal reactions, (c) competence, (d) supervision, and (e) philosophy of counseling. Implications of the findings are discussed for counselor development theory and research, as well as counselor training.     

Research Priorities for Mental Health Counseling With Youth: Implications for Counselor Preparation,Professional Development,and Research

Counselors encounter the needs of youth (3–17 years) in a variety of settings; however, outside of school counseling, the profession faces a lack of preparation, professional development, and research focused on mental health practice with youth. Using the Delphi method, 12 counselor educators and 15 practicing counselors were polled regarding research priorities for mental health counseling with youth. Research that considers how varying developmental stages and systems (e.g., families, schools, communities) affect the mental health of youth was identified as a priority. Implications for counselor preparation, professional development, and research are offered on the basis of these results.     

Multicultural Course Pedagogy: Experiences of Master's‐Level Students of Color

The author conducted a grounded theory study to examine multicultural training as experienced by 20 master's‐level students of color enrolled in multicultural counseling courses. Findings revealed an emergent theory of student of color learning experiences and multicultural course pedagogy. Implications for counselor educators are discussed.     

A Grounded Theory of Counseling Students Who Report Problematic Peers

All counselors, including students, are responsible for intervening when a colleague shows signs of impairment. This grounded theory study investigated experiences of 12 counseling students who reported problematic peers. An emergent theory of the peer reporting process is presented, along with implications for counselor educators and suggestions for future research.