A Lawyer in the Counseling Center

Today's college students are finding an increasing need for legal information. At California State College, Los Angeles, a lawyer from the community was retained by the college counseling center to consult with students who had legal questions. During the academic year 1968-69, 302 students took advantage of this service. Although most of their questions dealt with selective service, other areas of concern included landlord-tenant matters, domestic relations, and criminal and civil law. Student reactions were sampled by means of a questionnaire. The general response was highly favorable, thus supporting the need for a legal counseling service on the college campus.     

The Status of Multicultural Counseling Training at Counseling Center Internship Sites

The current status of multicultural counseling training at university counseling center predoctoral internship sites was evaluated. Fifty training directors completed a mailed survey, and the results contribute to an understanding of graduate training programs. Training considerations and recommendations are discussed.     

ERIC Counseling and Personnel Services Information Center

This article describes the development and planned use of the Counseling and Personnel Services Information Center, which is part of the Educational Research Information Center (ERIC).     

Innovation in Guidance: A Mobile Counseling Center

A mobile counseling center staffed by 4 counselors serves high schools in 4 counties of southern Indiana. The operation of the center is designed to enrich, supplement, and improve the quality of counseling services for secondary students of the area. The mobile center also serves as a model to stimulate the development of exemplary and innovative guidance services in regular school programs.     

The University and College Counseling Center and Malpractice Suits

This article provides the university and college counseling center with management suggestions for and discussion of malpractice suits regarding issues that refer to sexual abuse, potentially dangerous, and suicidal clients.     

Noncognitive Predictors of Counseling Center Use by International Students

International students (N= 230) completed the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) prior to matriculation as freshmen. Results indicated that noncognitive variables, shown previously to be predictive of academic success for international students, also were predictive of their utilization of counseling center services over a 4-year period. The three noncognitive variables that significantly (p<.05) predicted counseling center use were understanding and ability to deal with racism, preference for long-term goals over short-term, immediate needs, and non-traditional ways of acquiring knowledge. Implications for designing outreach and counseling services for international students are discussed.     

Students' Reactions to Groups in a University Counseling Center

This article describes an evaluative study of students' reactions to three types of groups—assertiveness training, personal growth, and ethnic rap—offered by a university counseling center. A 16-item questionnaire distributed to 130 group participants yielded 90 usable returns. Chi-square calculations comparing the responses of the three types of groups revealed statistically significant differences between them on eight of the 16 items. Samples of the responses to the open-ended items convey the flavor and feeling tone of the reactions to the group experience. One of the notable results of the study was the development of a new group intended to integrate the most useful elements identified by the students' reactions.     

Qualitative Evaluation Methods Applied to a High School Counseling Center

The authors present a case study demonstrating how qualitative techniques can be used to evaluate a high school counseling and guidance program.     

Contributing Factors to Early Premature Termination at a College Counseling Center

The authors investigated the relationships between clients' early premature termination of counseling and ratings of their counselors' expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness and the extent to which clients believed that they were understood by their counselors. A follow-up survey was conducted to assess the clients' reasons for terminating prematurely. Participants were 148 students who sought individual counseling at a university counseling center. The two groups did not differ on the variables investigated. Most of the participants who terminated prematurely reported that they did so because they did not have time for further sessions, did not need further sessions, or forgot their appointments.     

The University Counseling Center: An Agenda for the 1990s

Changes in higher education will hold special relevance for university counseling centers in the 1990s. Opportunities will exist for counseling center personnel to help institutions deal with some emerging problems. Research is reviewed that indicates that crisis management services, career development concerns, a changing student population, and issues related to retention all represent areas in which contemporary counseling centers could make significant contributions. Recommendations are made about how counseling centers might prepare themselves for such involvement.     

UCLA's Career Counseling Center: A Dialogue About a Unique Service

In this interview, two counseling psychologists describe aspects of a relatively unique career counseling service that has been validated by 40 years of success in the marketplace. Composed of 3 intensive individual interviews and 15 to 25 hours of educational and psychological testing, the service assists clients in identifying and beginning pursuit of suitable educational and occupational goals. The counselors describe how they organize and sift through test results to formulate recommendations for a client's unique career circumstances, why they accept responsibility for developing and presenting concrete recommendations, and what the changes in their clients' concerns suggest about the evolution of work in the United States. Their specificity and professionalism will help counselors understand the craft of career counseling.