This chapter discusses the type of group work using rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) principles and practices. Several methods of psychotherapy, such as psychoanalysis, employ group therapy for expediency reasons. REBT distinctly uses an educational rather than a medical or psychodynamic model. REBT includes a number of role-playing and behavior modification methods that can be done during individual therapy sessions but that are more effective in group. Clients who are shy or who have interpersonal problems are particularly encouraged to join a group because it is often more therapeutic for them to work out their problems with their peers than to work on them only with an individual therapist. In cognitive-behavioral therapy in general and in group REBT in particular, the activity level of the therapist tends to be high. Group REBT and counseling especially have intrinsic disadvantages and limitations when compared to more individualized REBT proc.

Advocacy is key for the clinical mental health counseling profession. Clinical mental health counselor advocates (CMHCAs) rely on the advocacy competencies to guide their assistance to clients in removing barriers and to secure deserving resources, or to advocate on behalf of clients, groups, or communities. This chapter addresses the importance of advocacy and social justice advocacy, and the strategic positionality of the clinical mental health counselor as an advocate for addressing social and institutional barriers that reduce client access, equity, and success. It identifies the advocacy competencies and approaches to advocate for clients care, and emphasizes the ways that they foster resilience and growth. Specific cases illustrate clients' and professionals' understandings of and access to a variety of community-based resources. The chapter also addresses strategies to advocate for the profession and for clinical mental health counseling professionals.

This chapter sheds light on how the managed care system works as well as the counselor's role in managed care and the importance of advocacy and issues related to payment and reimbursement. It offers a starting point to understand the system, and counselors must continue to seek more resources, join organizations and build networks with other counselors and change makers to become active members of the professional community. Managed care is an integral part of the healthcare system, and it is imperative for counselors to be able to understand the system in order to navigate it better. Counselors can anticipate the issues that are related to cost and payments and can provide more efficient service to the clients, if they understand how managed care system operates. The chapter demystifies the issues of payment for counseling services, specifically third-party billing, managed care, medical assistance programs, and other issues therein.

The practice of professional counseling is governed at the national and state levels by a variety of governing boards and regulatory agencies. This chapter focuses on the legal and ethical issues that are salient to clinical mental health counselors. Specifically, it discusses the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics, the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) Code of Ethics, state licensure and national certification, confidentiality, mandated reporting, duty to warn, and scope of practice. The chapter also focuses on the responsibility of counselors to engage in ethically based practice. In addition, the chapter connects the ACA and AMCHA ethical codes and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs standards to several topics in ethical practice, including values clarification, bias assessment, boundary awareness and maintenance, and self-reflection. The chapter concludes with a case scenario to illustrate chapter concepts and a section on resources to provide further information.

It is important for beginning Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) students to understand that their engagement in the CMHC specialty is one part of the larger professional counseling framework. This chapter provides a historical overview of the counseling profession and its developmental trajectory, emphasizing the origins of mental health treatment and the reemergence of counseling as a wellness-based approach. It offers discussion concerning the push toward a pathogenic model of conceptualizing mental illness and the subsequent, current resurgence of a strength-based notion of care. The chapter provides an overview of the major theories of counseling as a means for understanding the development of counseling as a unique and separate field from psychology, psychiatry, and social work. It identifies the specializations within the counseling field, the range of employment opportunities and the current labor market, and how counseling is integrated within a system-of-care approach.

This chapter focuses on the unique characteristics presented by three special populations that frequently receive psychotropic medications–children and adolescents, older adults, and women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is intended to sensitize social work practitioners to the unique considerations frequently encountered with these populations and to highlight the importance of combining medication therapy with counseling when addressing the mental health needs of these special populations. The chapter also provides a sampling of some Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) diagnoses frequently identified in children and highlights the medications commonly used to treat the mental disorders. Assessing and determining the medications to use to assist children and adolescents suffering from a mental disorder is never easy. Two conditions that present a particular challenge for prescribers and other members of the collaborative team are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct-related disorders.

This chapter provides an overview of the medication issues and concerns social workers will encounter when treating clients who suffer from depression. It focuses primarily on major depressive disorder but can be applied to any mental health disorder characteristic of these depressive symptoms. Strategies are presented to better understand how these disorders are treated pharmacologically including the short- and long-term efficacy, side effects, and other important considerations designed to increase the effectiveness of social work intervention strategies. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires social workers to remain competent by staying abreast of the latest research in their area of specialty (NASW, 2008b). Social workers must be up to date on how antidepressant medications affect the depressed client's biopsychosocial functioning and how these medications influence the course of counseling.