Career guidance and therapeutic counselling: sharing ‘what works’ in practice with young people

Many young people in the UK and across the world, where austerity measures are biting deep, find themselves at a time of crisis and uncertainty in their lives. The assumptions previously held of clear and straightforward career paths are being challenged and ‘career’ has come to mean more than simply ‘work’ or ‘employment’. This has implications for career practice, where career advisers are engaging with a range of complex issues in their guidance interactions with clients. This article draws on research undertaken with therapeutic counsellors into ‘what works’ when counselling young people. It offers career practitioners the opportunity to reflect on four key emerging themes and to consider how the discipline of therapeutic counselling might inform guidance practice.     

Self-Efficacy and Job-Seeking Activities in Unemployed Ethnic Youth

Abstract

The authors examined variables predicting the self-efficacy and the job-seeking activities of 103 unemployed ethnic youth from diverse cultural backgrounds. Whereas self-esteem and acceptance by the host culture were significant predictors of self-efficacy, the major predictors of job seeking were (a) the extent to which the ethnic youth felt accepted by members of the dominant culture and (b) the difference between their cultural backgrounds and the dominant host culture. Implications of these findings for enhancing the employment of ethnic youth are discussed.     

Differential Associations Between Psychopathy Dimensions,Types of Aggression,and Response Inhibition

Findings on executive functioning in psychopathy are inconsistent. Different associations between psychopathy dimensions and executive functioning might explain contradicting findings. This study examined the role of psychopathy dimensions and types of aggression in response inhibition among 117 male adolescents (53 antisocial delinquents and 64 controls). Participants completed a self‐report measure of aggression and a GoNoGo task. Psychopathy dimensions were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. Although high scores on the antisocial dimension and reactive aggression were associated with poor response inhibition, the affective–interpersonal dimension, proactive aggression, and verbal intelligence (IQ) were related to better response inhibition (two‐factor model). Associations with the affective–interpersonal dimensions did not reach significance. Exploratory analyses showed that affective and antisocial facets accounted for the obtained opposing associations of the affective–interpersonal and antisocial psychopathy dimensions with response inhibition. The interpersonal and lifestyle facets (four‐facet model) were unrelated to response inhibition. Results could not be explained by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Findings suggest differential associations between the psychopathy dimensions, types of aggression, and response inhibition. Therefore, a dimensional approach to psychopathy and related concepts, such as aggression, might strongly improve diagnostic procedures. Global scores could mask important differential associations. Aggr. Behav. 38:77‐88, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Implementation of the Wolverine Mental Health Program,Part 1: Adoption Phase

Residential treatment facilities (RTFs) are a first-line treatment option for juvenile justice-involved youth. However, RTFs rarely offer evidence-based interventions for youth with internalizing or externalizing mental health problems. Wolverine Human Services (WHS) is one of the first RTFs in the nation to implement cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to enhance mental health care for their youth. This study outlines the preimplementation phase of a 5-year collaborative CBT implementation effort among WHS, the Beck Institute, and an implementation science research team. The preimplementation phase included a needs assessment across two sites of WHS to identify and prioritize barriers to CBT implementation. Of the 76 unique barriers, 23 were prioritized as important and feasible to address. Implementation teams, consisting of clinician and staff champions and opinion leaders, worked across 8 months to deploy 10 strategies from a collaboratively designed blueprint. Upon reevaluation of the needs assessment domains, all prioritized barriers to CBT implementation were removed and WHS’s readiness for CBT implementation was enhanced. This study serves as a model of a preimplementation process that can be employed to enhance the potential for successful evidence-based practice implementation in youth RTFs.     

Interrogating the Process and Meaning of Intergroup Contact: Contrasting Theoretical Approaches

To address the dearth of research on the process and meaning participants make of intergroup contact in settings of intractable conflict, Israeli, Palestinian and US youth were randomly assigned to conditions of dialogue‐based contact rooted in distinct social psychological theories. Over a 2‐week period, participants completed diaries containing surveys of psychological experience and space for free reflection. US youth reported lower levels of engagement, social identity salience and positive mood relative to Israelis and Palestinians. Qualitative data revealed a pattern of detachment and dissatisfaction among US youth. Compared with participants in a recategorization condition, participants in a mutual differentiation condition of dialogue reported lower levels of self‐consistency and higher levels of intergroup differentiation over time, suggesting the effectiveness of this approach to initiate a process of self‐reflection and intergroup distinctiveness. Palestinian participants in the mutual differentiation condition reported higher levels of empowerment and positive mood throughout contact relative to all other participants, suggesting the effectiveness of this approach to challenge power asymmetries and its positivity for the low‐status group. Results are discussed in terms of innovative methodological approaches to study intergroup processes in contact settings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Merging Professional Training and Community Engagement Agendas: A Case Study

This case study explored the emancipatory foundations of community work through a schools-based peer support intervention. We use a case study approach to describe the context in which the intervention was developed, its emancipatory theoretical foundations, and the project's implementation components and process. The findings suggest that reflexivity is a useful tool for community engagement and for articulating tensions that arise in the enactment of community participation, empowerment and conscientisation. The intervention presented a unique opportunity to reflect on the operationalisation of theoretical concepts in community psychology, and to train professional psychologists for reflexive community work.     

Can children develop a dual identity when immigrant mothers feel homesick? A short-term longitudinal study among Turkish immigrants

Abstract

Turkish immigrant-origin youth in Western Europe often develop strong ethnic and weaker national identities. To advance our understanding of this pattern, we investigated the concurrent development and intergenerational transmission of both identities over time in conjunction with maternal homesickness. Our study was based on a sample of 176 Turkish mother-child dyads from Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. Mothers (M _t1 = 38 years) reported on their identities and homesickness at T1 and children (M _t1 = 12 years) on their identities at T1 and T2. Our results showed that children’s ethnic and national identities became more incompatible over time, mother’s homesickness strengthened children’s ethnic identities, and mother’s ethnic identities in combination with high levels of homesickness weakened children’s national identities. We conclude that early adolescence is a critical time for Turkish immigrant youth’s identity development and that a focus on parental acculturative stressors can advance ethnic socialization and cultural transmission research.     

Examining the Potential of Community-Based After-School Programs for Latino Youth

Results are presented from two pilot studies examining the potential influence of community-based after-school programs (ASPs) on regionally diverse Latino youth of varying ages. Study 1 examined relations between dimensions of ASP attendance and content, and ethnic identity development, and self-worth in urban Latino adolescents. In this study, higher ratings of the ASP’s emphasis on ethnic socialization were associated with a more developed ethnic identity, while greater intensity of ASP participation and perceptions of ASP quality were associated with higher levels of self-worth. Study 2 examined relations between ASP participation and development of concentration and emotion regulation skills in rural Latino grade-school youth. In this study, youth who regularly attended the ASP demonstrated significantly better concentration and regulation skills than those who did not regularly attend, if they exhibited preexisting concentration and regulation problems. Findings illustrate how ASPs with varying strategies, activities, and assessment tools can be evaluated in the interest of designing future large-scale investigations into ASPs and Latino positive youth development.     

Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents: An Update and Literature Review

During the past several years, there has been a large increase in the number of studies of equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP) with children and adolescents. However, due to the diversity of methods, samples, and publication types represented in the literature, it may be difficult for EFP practitioners to synthesize the existing research into useful guidelines and treatment recommendations for patients. This article summarizes and tabulates investigation findings by methods, theoretical underpinnings, and treatment populations. This review of 47 recent publications suggests that EFP is a useful modality with children and adolescents. In the large majority of reviewed papers, benefits were found for a variety of presenting problems and disorders. The most often studied populations were “at-risk” youth and children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. Recommendations for counselors and directions of future EFP research are made.