Career Education for Persons With Handicaps

Handicapped youth and adults still encounter serious problems assimilating successfully into today's rapidly changing society. After tracing the major events that have increased the momentum of career education for persons with handicaps, Brolin and Gysbers advocate a life-centered curriculum approach, which focuses on 22 skills essential for successful community living and working. They recommend that counselors assume specific responsibilities in this approach and outline competencies necessary to carry out guidance and counseling activities for persons with handicaps at four phases of career education. The article includes examples of successfully operating career education programs and concludes with a challenge to the profession.     

Existential considerations for contemporary career counseling

This article was written to remind career counselors of the potential depth and subjective impact of both unemployment and employment transitions. An existential framework is used in discussing today's world of work, previous and contemporary career counseling models, existential theory in career counseling, and existential considerations for career counselors. Results from 3 research projects are discussed in light of I. D. Yalom's (1980, 1998) 4 existential themes. Using quotations from participants, the authors move beyond theoretical ideas and underscore the real‐life importance of including the individual's larger subjective perspective when engaging in career counseling. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Overprotective Parenting: Helping Parents Provide Children the Right Amount of Risk and Responsibility

Overprotective parenting in low-risk environments may have negative consequences for the psychosocial development of children and youth. Though not well studied, a number of different bodies of literature can be used to speculate on the reasons for overprotective parenting and the impact it has on children. In this article, the social and familial dynamics leading to overprotection are discussed. It is shown that overprotection among middle-class families may result from poorly informed parents regarding the psychosocial developmental needs of their children for risk and responsibility and a lack of familiarity with population-wide data which shows that many of today's youth are safer that at any previous time in history. Focusing on the “risk-taker's advantage,” this article uses a case example to illustrate a three-part model of intervention to help challenge overprotective parenting while opening up safe opportunities for youth to experience manageable amounts of risk and responsibility.     

Turn the Wheel: Integral School Counseling for Male Adolescents

In the wake of violent episodes committed by male youths in schools, many male adolescents grapple with the traditional norm of masculinity and the role it might play in contributing to such violence. School counselors need to address the developmental needs of all male youth, because schools play a significant role in the construction of male identities. This article formulates an overarching, inclusive model of integral counseling that enables school counselors to help male adolescents challenge the norm of conventional masculinity. The model draws from 3 areas: transpersonal counseling, holistic education, and mindful social action. The aim is to move the students' level of self‐development and identity toward higher and more integrative realms.     

Counseling and Guidance in Non-Public Schools

The provision of counseling and guidance services in the secondary schools of one of the nation's largest non-public school systems is examined and compared with services offered in publicly supported schools from the same geographical area. Findings indicate that the non-public school lags far behind the public school in the provision of counseling services for its pupils and that the persons assigned to counsel in non-public schools are not as well qualified as the public school counselors. This lag is traced to a difference in financial support, and a recommendation is made to investigate methods of solving this problem.     

A Case Study of a Consultation Using the Two-Circles Method With a Junior High School Teacher1

To resolve various problems in schools, a “school as a team” approach for teachers to cooperate with other professionals as well as other teachers has been introduced in Japan. Consultations are one method school counselors use to support teachers as a team. This study examines a consultation case using the two-circles method based on narrative therapy and discusses the possibilities and challenges when using this method in Japan. Using a case study analysis, the author found that the two-circles method contributed positively to the consultation by externalizing the problem, gathering local knowledge, visualizing the participants' narratives, and applying scaffolding to develop the consultee's story. The results suggest that this method could be useful for achieving the “school as a team” approach because it combines teachers' narratives to resolve problems in schools.     

The case of Pedro: a holistic life planning approach

Traditional theories of career development are inadequate due to the complexity of today's work world. As changes occur in society and the world‐of‐work employment counselors need new ways of dealing with their clients. This article introduces employment counselors to the “leisure theory of career development” (J. J. Liptak, 2000) as an alternative to traditional trait‐and‐factor counseling approaches.     

Counseling Past and Present: Is There a Future?

Major criticisms directed at counseling are identified and prominent suggestions for their elimination are described through an analysis of the counseling literature of the past 10 years. A brief outline of the history of counseling offers a historical perspective to the discussion. One suggestion to improve counseling, that counselors become change agents in their institutions, is examined and described with steps for its implementation. The implementation of the change-agent role for counselors would address much of the substantive criticism directed at counseling, and would remold the profession to more effectively meet today's needs.     

high anxiety: counseling the job‐insecure client

In today's workplace, employees are faced with the potential of corporate downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, and job restructuring and relocation. These trends create a sense of job insecurity for the individual. Job insecurity affects the individual's life in a variety of ways, including emotional and psychological consequences, marital and family consequences, and organizational consequences. This article presents an overview of the effects of job insecurity and strategies that counselors can use in working with the job‐insecure client.     

Common Themes and Treatment Approaches in Working with Families of Runaway Youths

Running away behavior in youth has long been recognized as a significant social problem affecting not only the youth themselves but their families, schools, the local community, and law enforcement efforts. We describe common themes these youth and their families present when they enter treatment in a program that works in conjunction with local law enforcement. These themes include problematic interactions in relation to school performance, parents' inabilities to cope with their children's mental health concerns, cultural differences, divorce-related issues, and inappropriate family boundaries. The treatment philosophy and approach of the program are provided as are case examples.     

European citizenship

If the notion of European citizenship is present in the Maastricht Treaty, the reality of that citizenship among the young at present rests upon three elements: the freedom of circulation, the freedom to study and to work, the freedom of cultural exchanges. For today's youth, Europe is a reality, even if it needs to be anchored in action.     

Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of motivational interviewing for bullying perpetration in school settings

Bullying is a perplexing and persistent problem with negative consequences for all involved. Schools are assigned considerable responsibility for the management of bullying because of its prevalence amongst youth. Despite considerable efforts over decades to curtail bullying through the use of anti-bullying policies and other school-based interventions, the rates of young people who frequently bully has not decreased significantly. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a relational and affirming conversational method that strengthens an individual's motivation and commitment to change, overcoming ambivalence toward the problem. The aim of the current study was to provide preliminary insight into the feasibility of incorporating MI into student service repertoires for addressing bullying. Ten staff participants from six secondary schools, who had roles in bullying intervention within their respective schools, were offered training in MI and invited to use and monitor this method in their practice as an intervention for students who perpetrate bullying. Results indicated a number factors which influenced the uptake of MI in schools. Facilitators enabling the use of MI included practitioner's professional background, administrative support, training and implementation of MI. Barriers to the use of MI included time pressure and administrative expectations, school roles and system limitations, and preconceptions and the stigma of bullying.     

Successful Black Men From Absent‐Father Homes and Their Resilient Single Mothers: A Phenomenological Study

The phenomenon of absent fathers is a common occurrence in today's homes that appears to be escalating, especially in Black households across the United States. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of successful Black men who were raised in absent‐father homes as well as the lived experiences of their resilient single mothers. The authors share themes that captured the participants' experiences and provide recommendations for community counselors, school counselors, and counselor educators. El fenómeno de padres ausentes es una situación común en los hogares actuales que parece estar en crecimiento, especialmente en hogares de familias negras en Estados Unidos. El propósito de este estudio era describir las experiencias vividas por hombres negros exitosos que fueron educados en hogares con padres ausentes, además de las experiencias vividas por sus resilientes madres solteras. Los autores comparten temas que capturaron las experiencias de los participantes y proporcionan recomendaciones para consejeros comunitarios, consejeros en escuelas y capacitadores de consejeros.     

The School Counselor's Role in School Dropout Prevention

The role of the school counselor has undergone numerous revisions over the past few decades. The current emphasis on accountability and academic performance of students has forced counselors to scrutinize their role in promoting students' academic success and school completion. In this article, the authors review the problem of school dropout from the school counselor's perspective and offer guidelines for how school counselors can deliver empirically supported strategies to address this problem as part of their comprehensive guidance programs.     

Transforming School Counseling to Serve the Mental Health Needs of At-Risk Youth

School counselors have an important part to play in helping schools respond to the increasing number of students whose mental health needs place them at risk for school failure. This article identifies the shortcomings of the current developmental guidance and counseling service delivery model as it relates to work with at-risk youth. In addition, a transformed model is proposed, with suggestions for changes in program organization and planning, school counselor role and function, and skills and expertise. Potential barriers to change are also identified.     

Assessment of Bullying: A Review of Methods and Instruments

Childhood bullying has become recognized as a significant, pervasive form of school violence. Because of its deleterious effect on both victims' and bullies' current and future functioning, it is imperative that school personnel such as counselors engage in assessment techniques as the 1st step in a coordinated, systemic antibullying effort. The authors discuss multiple methods and instruments to use in assessing bullying in schools and provide guidelines for counselors in choosing the appropriate measurement for their needs.     

A Sociological View of the Counselor's Role: A Dilemma and a Solution

The school counselors struggle for role identity still continues. The counselor's commitment to counseling pupils is being questioned by those with a sociological view of the counselor's role. Several writers suggest that the counselor's role be changed so that the counselor will function as a “cultural architect” or “social engineer.” The main thesis of this article is that the facilitation of human potentiality calls for a complementary approach to the resolution of school and pupil problems and not the diminution and prostitution of one role for another. It is proposed that a new position be created in our schools—that of a school sociologist.     

Why Are Self-Disclosing Counselors Attractive?

Despite much evidence that counselor self-disclosure tends to be favorably received by clients, it is unclear which component is more influential: the act of revealing personal information or the information itself, especially when it implies client-counselor similarity. Based on the social influence model, we contrasted, in a quasicounseling analogue, (a) counselors who disclosed personal material that was similar to the client's problem, (b) counselors who disclosed problematic but irrelevant information, (c) counselors who disclosed nothing, and (d) counselors whose similarity to the client was revealed by someone else. Results show no differential effects on participants' perceptions of the counselor, but postresearch structured interviews indicated that both the disclosures and the similarity information had a considerable impact on participants' experience as clients during the counseling session.     

Student protest and the counselor

The problem of student protests provides a challenge to counselors because it indicates, among other things, that guidance has been ineffective. Five trends in student attitudes are described that seem to underlie widespread student unrest against the establishment. Then the role of youth in present-day social change is defined and related to activism, and suggestions are made for counselors interest***ed in channeling student protests into educational improvements. Finally, a more aggressive and active stance by the counselor is called for as part of a revamping of the priorities governing counselor activities.     

Commitment

Recently there has been a re-emphasis by both educators and counselors of the concept of commitment. Can this concept bear scrutiny or is it only a popular slogan? It is argued that this concept can find meaning only in a moral absolute. The author points out that relativism is itself a moral absolute. If then we take this concept seriously we are faced with certain difficulties. If this concept is valid for education and counseling then we must either re-examine the issue of religion in the schools or be content with engendering a moral vacuum. It is maintained that the former is the only valid alternative and the author argues for the moral absolute of loving one's neighbor as himself rather than the more prevalent moral absolute of relativism.