College counseling has entered an era that promises to be radically different than any time in its previous 100-year history. College students in this 21st century are more technologically advanced than previous generations and more likely to take virtual classes than previous generations of college students. Traditional services provided by the college counseling center are: individual and group counseling, psychoeducational groups, evaluation and assessment, career counseling, consultation to faculty and staff, medication management and resident advisor (RA) training. Nontraditional services are defined as virtual counseling, advising, and related services offered via distance technology. College counseling centers have long offered types of self-instructional services. They will need to address social media in ways that are both ethically sound and also able to effectively engage college students in seeking counseling services. The counselor can administer the Dimensions of a Healthy Lifestyle Scale (DHLS) to the client and then discuss the findings.

It is paramount for professionals working with bereaved children to provide activities and opportunities for a child to explore his or her grief experience. Activities can provide insight to the professional about the child, their family prior to the death, and how the death has impacted the child’s environment. This chapter describes some things to keep in mind when planning activities for children and provides samples of activities that can be used with children in a support or counseling setting. Activities, by their very nature, facilitate meaning making because they allow the person to be creative, interact with others, or engage in ritual. The chapter presents a few samples of activities used over the years with children for the purpose of meaning making, continuing bonds, problem solving, and perspective building. Activities can also provide structure to the support setting.

Acute Cholangitis

Alcohol and other drugs (AOD)/substance use on college campuses has been an ongoing challenge for campus administrations, health services and health promotion, housing, and counseling centers. The misuse of substances by college students has a significant physiological, emotional, economic, and academic cost. Students are frequently unaware of the impact marijuana use may have on academic performance and motivation. Brief intervention (BI) and treatment have been shown to be effective treatment modalities at reducing high-risk substance abuse behaviors. Counseling centers may consider allowing for at least one session of motivational interviewing to increase the likelihood of clients following through on referrals to comprehensive substance use assessment, self-help groups, or treatment. Counseling center staff, even those with limited AOD treatment experience, can feel empowered to use the screening, brief intervention, referral to treatment (SBIRT) model. Group therapy is one of the most widely used treatment modalities for substance use.

Although mental health professionals embrace broad assessment protocols, which attempt to incorporate biopsychosocial, and, more recently, the cultural and spiritual identities of the individual, attention is rarely given to the individual's unique internal and external sources of strength and support. The limitations of traditional medical model diagnosis, particularly in the form of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system, have been noted by many researchers and practitioners. At the same time, research has focused on predictive factors in treatment outcome, both in terms of client characteristics and in the utility of evidence-based treatment protocols applied to specific mental disorders. The cumulative themes in contemporary discussions of diagnostic systems and effective treatments, logically related to diagnosis, suggest the need for an additional core component of the diagnostic system, for which the authors advocate the Intersectionality/Resiliency Formulation.

This chapter explains a set of guidelines to help mental health professionals and clients move away from the gender stereotypes that perpetuate inequality and illness. Identifying dominance requires conscious awareness and understanding of how gender mediates between mental health and relationship issues. An understanding of what limits equality is significantly increased when we examine how gendered power plays out in a particular relationship and consider how it intersects with other social positions such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. To contextualize emotion, the therapist draws on knowledge of societal and cultural patterns, such as gendered power structures and ideals for masculinity and femininity that touch all people’s lives in a particular society. Therapists who seek to support women and men equally take an active position that allows the non-neutral aspects of gendered lives to become visible.

Substance users have substantially reduced rates of use of preventive health care services, and reduced rates of compliance with prescribed medical treatment. Primary care providers are frequently overwhelmed and may be reluctant to address substance-related problems given few resources. Direct collaboration with a behavioral health specialist (BHS) co-located within the primary care clinic results in increased efficiency and better treatment outcomes. There are excellent resources available for the BHS who will provide tobacco abuse interventions in the primary care setting. A number of behavioral factors should be considered in effectively addressing substance use and abuse in the primary care setting. Primary care providers should also be alert to unexplained vague symptoms, somatic complaints, difficulty with sleep, anxiousness, frequent life disruptions or chaotic lifestyle, and a family history of mental health problems or substance abuse.

This chapter opens with a brief discussion of interventions that students who have sustained concussions may receive outside of school in a rehabilitation setting and at home. Students who have sustained concussions typically require short-term adjustments while they are still symptomatic. The chapter discusses appropriate school-based educational plans in relation to symptom clusters. The chapter addresses extracurricular involvement of students and special grading considerations during recovery. It includes guidance to help school teams determine if a child with persistent postconcussion symptoms requires a 504 plan or further evaluation for an individualized education program (IEP). Students who are eligible for IEPs under the traumatic brain injury (TBI) category may require significant modifications to the curriculum in order to be successful academically. Finally, the chapter concludes with a note on dealing with students who may malinger or continue to report symptoms when they have actually resolved.

Many developmental models view human growth from a space of lack or abundance, a perpetual fulcrum swinging from the word survive at one end to thrive at the other. This chapter discusses Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development to conceptualize female adolescent and young adult development. The contextual focus of this theory provides a global framework for counselors to view young women as individuals who both influence, and are influenced by, their surroundings. Customs, beliefs, and the government all play a role in the development of children and adolescents. When young females overcome the stigma associated with mental health services, they typically seek treatment in one of two primary settings: community mental health centers and schools. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) is an evolving feminist model of human development that views connection to others as essential to growth and disconnection as a major cause of disrupted functioning.

This chapter examines the challenges and opportunities of adoption as well as the lifelong issues of the adopted child. Adoption from child welfare agencies typically occurs after foster care placement, when it becomes apparent that birth parents will be unable to reunite with their children. Media attention can be given to children who are free for adoption. Race and ethnicity are among the most controversial issues in adoption practices and typically focus on whether it is preferable to place a child with a family of a different race/ethnicity if a family of the same race/ethnicity is unavailable. Religious beliefs and faith also play a role in adoption. Many adoptive families tout the importance and success of international adoption. Adoption from foster care and international adoption can be very positive experiences for children and families. Although adoption disruption and dissolution occur infrequently, it is a traumatic experience when it does occur.