Counseling Adult Sex Offenders: Unique Challenges and Treatment Paradigms

Current definitions and research literature related to characteristics of adults who sexually victimize children are reviewed. Treatment issues that may confront counselors engaged in treating adults who sexually victimize children are examined, and implications for practitioners are discussed.     

Counseling Adult Males

This article suggests that counselors must examine their own gender-role issues, become aware of the body of knowledge about men which is emerging in the literature, examine the implications of that literature on counseling men, and develop an effective approach to counseling men. The author presents a counseling focus on male gender-role issues similar to a decision model for counseling and explores the use of that focus for both counseling and research with adult males.     

Counseling Adolescents and the Challenges for Genetic Counselors

Genetic counselors may have an important role in helping the adolescent make an informed decision with regard to genetic testing and in helping them to adjust to genetic risk information. However, counseling techniques that are used with adults may not be always be suited to the adolescent population. Adolescence is a time of development during which separation from the family and formation of identity is achieved. The process of this development may impact the genetic counseling relationship. Family relationships may have a strong influence on the client's decision to have genetic testing. Additionally, it may be difficult to engage the client as adolescents may not have the ability to think abstractly and consider the short and long term consequences of genetic testing. It is helpful therefore to discuss the counseling process and techniques that may be useful when counseling these clients. This paper presents two case studies that illustrate some of the difficulties that may occur when counseling adolescents for genetic testing. The authors' have reflected on their clinical experience with these clients and this is presented here to add to the growing literature on this subject.     

Counseling Issues for Adult Women in Career Transition

This article addresses current psychosocial issues facing women in career transition and the implications of those issues for career counselors. Specifically, psychosocial developmental trajectories, the roles of family and relationships, the importance of underlying physical and mental health issues, and sociocultural and contextual stressors are relevant for women in the midst of career change. The author discusses how career counselors can prepare for this complexity and addresses clients' current economic and social milieus. A checklist is provided to aid the career counselor in addressing the multiple issues that a new client brings to the 1st counseling encounter.     

Adult Education and Counseling: An Emerging Synthesis

Adult education and counseling are needed facilitative and helping functions for a nation growing older. The current challenge seems to be to make counseling and educational services more widely available to people of all ages. Fulfilling adult needs and helping them adjust to new life circumstances will stretch the counseling system far beyond its traditional settings in schools and public service agencies. Present trends highlight the need for accessible, even convenient, resources for stimulating lifelong learning, adjustment to change, and personal development. In fact, the need structure of most adults seems to be weighted far more heavily in the direction of developmental counseling and learning more effective ways to fulfill their needs. Opportunities for adult education, career planning and assessment, and counseling services head the list of needed resources.     

The Adult Persistence in Learning Model: A Road Map to Counseling Services for Adult Learners

The Adult Persistence in Learning (APIL) model focuses on personal issues of the individual adult learner, learning process issues, and environmental issues related to the particular institution to guide counseling services for adult leaners. Factors that facilitate a realistic approach to adult learning provide the focus: self-awareness, willingness to delay gratification, clarification of career and life goals, mastery of life transitions, sense of interpersonal competence, educational competence, intellectual and political competence in learning, information retrieval from the institution, awareness of opportunities and impediments in the environment, and perceptions of the compati-bility of the learning environment. Counseling interventions for individuals and groups based on the factors in the model can aid retention of adult learners.     

Predictive Testing of Eighteen Year Olds: Counseling Challenges

Genetic counseling of teenagers is challenging and complex. The ability to think abstractly, a sense of self and independence from family all develop during adolescence. Predictive genetic testing counseling protocols presuppose that these qualities exist, requiring the at-risk individual to consider the short and long term consequences of testing as well as their motivations. Eighteen year olds are in transition from adolescence to adulthood; eligible for predictive genetic testing, they may not yet be independent of their family or able to articulate their feelings. This paper presents case studies from the authors' clinical practice to illustrate some of the difficulties faced by genetic counselors when 18 year olds request predictive testing for Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer. By reflecting upon their experiences with these young adults and their families, the authors' intention is to generate discussion about genetic counseling strategies, particularly for predictive genetic testing, that are both age-appropriate and family-sensitive.     

Counseling Muslim Women: Navigating Cultural and Religious Challenges

In this article, the authors consider strategies for counseling female Muslim clients. First, they review general beliefs and practices of Muslims in the United States. Through the use of a case study, they illustrate a collaborative method of counseling Muslim women that is based on a trusting client‐counselor relationship.     

Counseling Adult Clients Experiencing Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affects 35% to 57% of the adult population in the United States and results in billions of dollars spent annually in direct health‐care costs and lost productivity. Extensive research confirms the considerable role psychological factors play in the experience and expression of chronic pain. The author discusses implications for counseling adult clients experiencing chronic pain, specifically interventions, interdisciplinary treatment approaches, treatment planning, diversity, and ethical/legal considerations.     

Counseling Rejected Applicants: Feedback for Career Development

In this article the author points out the need for more adequate counseling with an often neglected segment of the population: rejected applicants to higher education. He delineates the roles, functions, and problems of the counselor in this situation, using as an example current procedures for counseling rejected applicants in the Yale Physician's Associate Program. The article contains recommendations for counselors, so that they might become more familiar with the problems and functions of admissions committees, and for admissions committees, so that they might enlist the aid of those with counseling training in both the admissions process and the counseling of rejected applicants.     

Working With Dreams in Group Counseling: Advantages and Challenges

Various challenges exist in the use of dreams in group counseling. Obscure and complex dream symbols and images, intricacies of the dream interpretation process, and a lack of counselor training in dreams are among the restrictions that limit the application of dreams in groups. At the same time, dreams constitute a universal human experience that is intriguing and compelling. Dreams offer a potential in group counseling for advancing the understanding of group members, promoting cohesiveness among group participants, and stimulating therapeutic group-member interactions.     

Grandparents and Stepgrandparents: Challenges in Counseling the Extended-Blended Family

Remarriage of parents may bring new grandparents and stepgrandparents into the lives of children, creating new family structures and needs for adjustment. The extended-blended family may benefit from specific counseling interventions.     

Community Counseling in an Adult Education Setting

An innovative Community Counseling Project was initiated as part of the federally funded Adult Consumer Homemaking Project in Great Neck, N.Y. Project participants are recruited from the disadvantaged community, (i.e. those whose needs are not being met by community services or agencies). These include the low income, foreign bom, senior citizens, mentally and physically handicapped, unemployed, school drop outs, teenage or single parents, socially isolated. While they were already learning skills to help improve the quality of their lives, an unmet need was expressed by many participants—the need for private, one-to-one communication. Thus, a supportive counseling program of four to six sessions was established on a no-fee basis. Careful records were kept, evaluation made, and follow-up pursued.     

Qualitative Methodology in Counseling Research: Recent Contributions and Challenges for a New Century

For the past 10 years, qualitative research methodology has become more visible in counseling studies. Results from a content analysis of articles published between 1997 and 2002 in 4 professional journals in the field (Counseling and Values, Journal of Counseling & Development, Professional School Counseling, and The Counseling Psychologist) reveal that qualitative research represents 1/6 of all the articles published. Research trends in target publications are identified and suggestions for the development of the field regarding qualitative research are presented.     

Constructive Development and Career Transition: Implications for Counseling

The ability to effectively manage career transition may be related to an individual's meaning-making framework, or constructive development. The implications of constructive developmental theory for career choice and implementation are explored. The interplay between career transition and developmental transformation is examined, and counseling strategies for assisting such transformation are proposed. Case illustrations are offered.     

BRCA1 Testing: Genetic Counseling Protocol Development and Counseling Issues

This article discusses the genetic counseling protocols which were developed and counseling issues that have arisen in the first 2 years of evaluating a large kindred with a BRCA1 mutation. The rationale for the development of the genetic counseling protocols and specific genetic counseling visual aids are presented and discussed. The protocols and counseling aids can serve as models for other programs offering cancer susceptibility testing. The observations of study counselors about study subject concerns and responses to genetic testing at the time of the pretest and posttest counseling sessions are presented.