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.     

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.     

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.     

Counseling the Depressed Christian Female Client

Some researchers have suggested that traditional gender-role conditioning for women might relate to depression and, furthermore, that religion has played a major role in defining and reinforcing gender roles. Depressed Christian women, consequently, make up a unique population with special counseling needs. This article addresses these women as a group and offers suggestions for counseling them.     

Counseling the Client With Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is prevalent in the United States today and has a far‐reaching effect on men and their relationships. Being diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer often causes men to experience side effects that induce physical, emotional, and social change. Counselors need to be aware of prostate cancer's impact on men and their families.     

Effectively Counseling the Shy Minority Client

This article focuses on shyness as a barrier to meaningful employment for some minority persons. It provides a definition and discusses specific examples of shy behaviors that may be displayed. The article maintains that the employment counselor can work to help the minority client overcome this emotional-personal problem. A seven-step systematic procedure for effectively counseling the shy minority client is delineated.     

Counseling the Irresponsible AIDS Client: Guidelines for Decision Making

Counselors treating a socially irresponsible AIDS client face the dilemma of preserving the client's right to confidentiality while protecting unsuspecting sexual partners from infection. Specific guidelines for decision making are suggested.     

Genetic Counseling for Personal Genomic Testing: Optimizing Client Uptake of Post-Test Telephonic Counseling Services

The field of genetic counseling faces a broad challenge: many potential clients may not be aware of the value and benefit of genetic counseling services, and therefore may not utilize those services. Navigenics is a personal genomic testing company that provides telephonic genetic counseling services for multifactorial diseases and pharmacogenetics. When first offered in 2008, utilization of the Navigenics genetic counseling service was less than expected. To explore the basis for under-utilization and potential mechanisms for increasing uptake, Navigenics initiated a quality improvement study, in which three different methods of engaging clients in the uptake of genetic counseling services were assessed over the course of 1 year. Outcomes showed significant differences in uptake rates between methodologies (7.5%, 24.6%, and 60.1%), yielding an 8-fold increase in service utilization when post-test telephonic outreach to all clients was performed. Further, utilization spanned all risk levels based on client results, evidence that not only clients with high-risk results were motivated to engage in the genetic counseling service. This research indicates that implementing strategies to educate clients about genetic counseling can positively impact client engagement and utilization of available services.     

The Client Action Plan Within Employment Counseling

The action plan development model introduced in this article describes the process recommended to assist clients who receive employment counseling through Canada Employment Centres or other agencies funded by the Human Resources Development Department. This specific decision-making process is established in the context of employment counseling assessment interviews illustrating how potential objectives are explored, prioritized, and translated into concrete and feasible activities that form a client's action plan.     

Client Resistance in Counseling: Its Theoretical Rationale and Taxonomic Classification

Client resistance is a familiar and consequential phenomenon to professional counselors. This article reviews three theoretical models of resistance in counseling: anxiety control, noncompliance, and negative social influence. Twenty-two commonly observed client resistance behaviors are described in four separate categories. The four categories are (a) response quantity resistance, (b) response content resistance, (c) response style resistance, and (d) logistic management resistance. The list is an initial attempt to classify client resistance according to the verbal and behavioral attributes.     

Historical Hostility in the African American Client: Implications for Counseling

“Historical hostility” may function as a psychological factor in the lives of African Americans in the United States. Historical hostility is a pattern of responses that many African Americans exhibit, which may stem from their prolonged subjection to inferior treatment in American society. Strategies for addressing historical hostility in African Americans are provided.     

Effect of Client Expectations on the Counseling Relationship

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect upon an initial interview of positive and negative client expectations for counseling. 30 subjects or clients were randomly assigned to 3 groups (1 positive expectation group, 1 negative expectation group, and a control group). Following a 30-minute counseling session, the counselors and clients were asked to evaluate the relationship that had been established. Despite pre-counseling differences in client expectations, no significant differences were found in the relationships established.     

Client Quest—A Key to Counseling

The expression quest is proposed to represent any unifying theme of client purposes. Counseling is then defined as an interview in which client quest is superordinate to counselor quest. It is suggested that client quests be classified by their direction. Thus, quests may be for understanding or change, and, at a higher level, for mastering self or environment. The identification, clarification, and management of client quests becomes central to effective counseling. Ideally, as an expert in human learning and development, the counselor is a hypothesis maker who works with his client to facilitate conquest. Dissonance is said to occur when the purposive balance is inappropriate to counselor or client quests. The congruent counselor reduces dissonance by discussing changes in the purposive balance openly with the client and by avoiding professional roles in which client quests are subordinated.     

Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Client Spiritual Development: Counseling Implications

The spiritual development of sexually traumatized clients is an important area of concern for counselors. In this paper, spirituality is defined, and its relevance for counselors who work with childhood sexual abuse survivors is discussed. Impact of abuse on client spirituality is described, and several suggestions are given for assessment and intervention approaches that address spiritual issues as part of the counseling process.     

The Attractiveness of Telephone Counseling: An Empirical Investigation of Client Perceptions

Telephone counseling clients reported that convenience, accessibility, control, and inhibition were the most attractive attributes of receiving counseling (not crisis intervention) via telephone. The results mirror many opinions in the literature. Of the 186 counseling clients who responded to the survey, 96% would be willing to seek telephone counseling again compared with 63.1% who reported being willing to seek face‐to‐face counseling. More than half (58%) of the respondents who had experienced both telephone and face‐to‐face counseling preferred telephone counseling.