Counseling Outcomes: Counselor Characteristics and Client Results

Eighteen counselors in one of the administrative areas of the California Department of Human Resources and 697 of their closed cases were studied in order to discover whether differences in employability outcomes did exist. The study attempted to answer the following questions: (a) How many clients achieve employability during their relationships with employment counselors? (b) What is the final disposition of cases that are closed other than employable? and (c) To what degree do counselors engage in placement activities and what influence do these activities have on employable closures? The study provides evidence that some counselors had significantly more clients achieve employable status than did other counselors.     

Measuring Counseling Effectiveness: The Role of Client,Counselor, and Agency

To measure counseling effectiveness in general, and employment and training agencies in particular, the evaluator must include client, counselor, and agency factors in the evaluation scheme. A model measuring counseling effectiveness discusses representative client, agency, and counselor factors, identifies subfactors, and gives suggestions for measuring each. Many of the client-oriented factors can be assessed through self-report, data for which can be elicited via a detailed questionnaire similar to the one in the appendix.     

Client and Counselor Discussions of Racial and Ethnic Differences in Counseling: An Exploratory Investigation

Fifty‐one clients were surveyed to examine the effect of counselor discussion of racial and ethnic differences in counseling. Analyses revealed that White counselors who discussed these differences with their clients of color were rated as more credible and as having stronger working alliances than those who did not discuss such differences. Se entrevistó a cincuentay un clientes para examinar los efectos de la discusión por parte del consejero de las diferencias raciales y étnicas en consejería. Los análisis revelaron que los consejeros Blancos que discutieron estas diferencias con sus clientes de color fueron valorados como más fiables y con alianzas de trabajo más sólidas que aquellos que no discutieron tales diferencias.     

Metaphor as an Instrument for Orchestrating Change in Counselor Training and the Counseling Process

The authors explore the use of metaphors as a training tool for beginning counselors for enhancing client case conceptualization, counselor‐client relationships, and intervention strategies. The history of the use of metaphors in counseling, several definitions, and a case study are presented. The authors discuss intentional use of metaphors with students in training and with clients. How to introduce the use of metaphors into counselor training and practice is also included.     

Effects of Counselor Disability and Reputation on Client Perceptions During a Career Counseling Session

This study examined the effects of three counselor influence factors—expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness—on participants' impressions of a counselor during a counseling analogue situation. Using a 2 (counselor disability) x 2 (level of training) factorial design, no significant differences were found with respect to counselor social influence. These results are interpreted relative to the literature on perceptions of counselors with physical disabilities.     

The Pregnant Client: Understanding and Counseling Her

To help the pregnant client manage her transition to motherhood, counselors need to understand and to build on the normal psychological changes of pregnancy.     

The Use of Counselor Profanity in Counseling

In this article the author reviews some of the literature on counselor profanity and provides guidelines for its use in counseling.     

The Counselor and Change: Counseling for Cultural Transition

Cultural analysts have indicated that American culture is going through a significant transition in values. The views of three of these analysts are reviewed and implications are drawn for counselors.     

Counselor Values And The Pregnant Adolescent Client

A PREGNANCY FOR AN unmarried teenager is a dynamic and often traumatic situation. It is generally unplanned and frequently the cause of real heartache. Most counselors will respond with empathy to the problem and certainly to the adolescent.     

Metaphor and Change in Counseling

Increased general interest among counselors in the way language, narratives, and stories influence clients' personal and social realities has drawn particular attention to metaphorical language and its facilitative role in counseling. In this article, the authors suggest that metaphors and metaphorical knowing may play a significant role in facilitating at least 5 developmental change processes in counseling: relationship building, accessing and symbolizing client emotions, uncovering and challenging clients' tacit assumptions, working with client resistance, and introducing new frames of reference.     

Client Cognitive Responses as a Function of Quality of Counselor Verbal Responses

This study examined the relationship between high and low quality counselor responses in four response modes and client cognitions. Twenty-one university students participated in two sessions of brief counseling that included high and low quality counselor responses in paraphrasing, questioning, reflection of feeling, and self-disclosure. After each counseling session, participants used Kagan's (1975) interpersonal process recall method to report their cognitions in response to these counselor responses. Results indicated that the participants had more favorable cognitions toward the counselor associated with high quality counselor paraphrasing and reflection of feeling responses. Participants' cognitions directed toward themselves did not differ in response to any of the four high and low quality counselor responses. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Team Counseling in Counselor Education

This research compares effectiveness of interaction between student counselors and clients in the counseling practicum utilizing two approaches. One approach involves two student counselors working together simultaneously as a team; the other is the standard counseling approach. Significant differences in satisfaction were found in favor of the team approach. Results suggested that counselor security was enhanced in the team situation, thereby facilitating communication.     

Systematic Counseling: The T-F-A Model for Counselor Intervention

Counselors in educational settings are usually not free to select the kinds of clients and problems with which they may work most effectively. Therefore, counselors must select counseling strategies that maximize the probability of helping all clients achieve personal goals. These strategies may focus primarily on changing how clients think, feel, or act (T-F-A). Combinations of thinking, feeling, and acting strategies are illustrated along with relationships to different counseling theories. Effective counselors need to systematically use varying combinations of T-F-A strategies that will be of maximum value in helping individual clients to change their behavior.     

The Measurement and Treatment of Client Anger in Counseling

The goal of this article is to present material on client anger that is useful to practicing counselors. First, existing self-report measures of anger are described and evaluated. Second, research on the effectiveness of treatment strategies for helping clients deal with anger is reviewed and evaluated. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research and practice.     

Counseling for Suicide: Client Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to describe key therapeutic processes that facilitated overcoming suicidal ideation and behaviors in previously suicidal clients. A research method called “concept‐mapping” was used to develop an understanding of what was helpful in counseling. Thirty‐five (9 male, 26 female) previously suicidal clients (M = 38 years) performed card sorts on 65 statements derived from qualitative interviews of 9 (2 male, 7 female) previously suicidal individuals (M = 42 years). Participants identified 3 therapeutic processes that contributed to overcoming their suicidal thoughts and behaviors: (a) validating relationships, (b) working with emotions, and (c) developing a new identity.     

Client Hospitalization: Issues and Considerations for the Counselor

The author discusses the process of hospitalizing clients both voluntarily and involuntarily. Legal, ethical, and procedural aspects of the commitment process are examined, and the counselor's role in this process is highlighted.     

Effect of Client and Counselor Ethnicity on Preference for Counselor Disclosure

Preferences for counselor self‐disclosure based on the ethnicity of both the respondent and the counselor were examined for African American and Caucasian students. Results suggested that respondent ethnicity affected preferences for certain types of information about the counselor (personal feelings, sexual issues, professional issues, and success/failure) and that there were interaction (respondent by counselor ethnicity) effects on preference for disclosure in other areas (interpersonal relationships and success/failure). Implications for research and practice are discussed.