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.

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.

This chapter discusses some of the basic ideas that the author drew upon while blending the solution focused and narrative therapy models. The blending of the two models has resulted in a practice that is both meaningful and action oriented. The author refers to this new model as Solution-Focused Narrative Therapy (SFNT). The narrative therapy approach focuses on the belief that a person’s perception of himself or herself results from many things including the person’s values, the values of others, the present context, or story that is in place. The context, or story within which the problem exists, influences how the person interacts with others, senses her place in the world, and leads her life. For example, the author worked with a couple who sought counseling to improve their communication with each other.

The goal of grief therapy is somewhat different from the goal of grief counseling in that grief therapy seeks to help the bereaved individual identify and resolve the conflicts of separation that preclude resolution of the mourning tasks. The procedures for grief therapy are rule out physical disease, set up the contract and establish an alliance, revive memories of the deceased, assess the mourning tasks with which the patient is struggling, deal with affect or lack of affect stimulated by memories, explore and defuse linking objects, help the patient acknowledge the finality of the loss, help the patient design a new life without the deceased, assess and help the patient improve social relationships, help the patient deal with the fantasy of ending grieving. The three types of change that help to evaluate the effectiveness of grief therapy are changes in subjective experience, behavioral changes, and symptom relief.

This chapter presents information about the theory of mourning and why it is necessary, and addresses issues of differential diagnosis between normal and path logical grief. It presents a variety of loss types that induce a grief response including the loss from a sudden death, the loss of a job, and losses from surgery such as amputations. One aspect unique to author’s program proved to be a very successful training technique. The author had developed a series of vignettes based on cases in his files that represented a variety of situations and grief-related issues. Twenty of these are included in this chapter and can be used in training. Most of the vignettes are set up to address the issue of grief counseling, not the issue of grief therapy. Grief therapy is a much more complicated procedure and cannot be addressed in such an abbreviated manner.

Counseling adults in transition is an exciting and challenging job that gives us an opportunity to function at many different levels. Advocacy, consulting, and program development are three ways that one can assist the clients with their transitions–through changing the situation, enhancing their sense of self, developing more supports, and increasing the strategies available to them. Some counselors now work in the corporate world, and others are community organizers; some counselors design programs in colleges and universities, whereas others develop workshops for senior centers; some walk the halls of legislatures as lobbyists, whereas still others talk about mental health on talk shows, on their own or others’ blogs, on twitter, or other internet sites and social media. This chapter talks about a variety of ways counselors can do these things, including consulting, developing programs, and advocacy.

Developmental considerations provide great implications for counselors. Development follows a path that is continuously impacted by systemic, relational, and multicultural influences. These influences impact how children make sense out of and act in response to critical life circumstances. Incorporating a developmental perspective when counseling children and adolescents and aiding them in successfully mastering tasks at various developmental milestones continues to be a core and essential component of counseling. Children’s level of development effects how they respond to creative and time-efficient counseling strategies, interventions, and modalities. This chapter identifies the relationship between social, emotional, and mental health maturation with child and adolescent development. It demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of how developmental theory frameworks inform crafting and integrating client-centered counseling interventions, strategies, and best practice methods. The chapter develops an awareness of counseling implications when working with children with diverse developmental histories.

Relational contexts impact psychosocial and developmental processes for children and adolescents. Intrapersonally, children develop their sense of self-esteem, learn their own self-awareness, and expand their ability to self-regulate. Interpersonally, youth reside within embedded relational contexts including family, peer groups, school settings, and the broader community. Children and adolescents increasingly value friendships and peers as they mature. Counselors should seek to understand relational contexts in their clinical work with children and adolescents because treating the whole child requires understanding of these relational and cultural influences. Knowing the integral nature of human connection and relationship, counselors working from an attachment-based or relational lens explore their child and adolescent clients’ relational health and competency and encourage relational resilience. This chapter focuses on building and fostering a strong therapeutic relationship over time remains among the most important relational considerations and key to effectively connecting with children and adolescents.

This chapter presents a case study of a school student who is the oldest child in a family of five. The patient attended school regularly, and always made good grades in pre-advanced placement (Pre-AP) courses. Prior to his father going to prison, the patient had not experienced significant loss. The grief associated with his father’s sudden absence from everyday life left him feeling frustrated and disconnected. Unattended emotions surrounding his father’s incarceration impeded his academic success and damaged his relationships. As his professional school counselor, the author wanted to help him see the connection. Being able to identify emotions and understand that internal conflict carries external implications is a valuable life-lesson. The author helped an entire family by coordinating the services of a therapist in the community and the patient reported that he was doing well academically.

This chapter presents a case study which details a patient’s treatment and the sequence of her engagement in the counseling sessions. The patient functioned in the concrete operational stage of development. Children with concrete operational skills tend to demonstrate more abstract and inductive thinking. The patient’s entire family resided in a low socioeconomic community except for an extended family member who cut ties with the parents due to their involvement in drugs. The patient experienced a childhood riddled with abuse, loss, and addiction. The first strategy for promoting healthier emotional coping revealed sensory details that the patient could recognize and identify when she felt happy, mad, sad, scared, or disgusted. The chapter explores characteristics of healthy relationships using Miller’s “Five Good Things”: sense of zest; clarity about self, other, and the relationship; sense of self-worth; enhanced creativity and productivity; and desire for further connection with others.

Trauma recovery is a complex process involving revising self-talk and managing and eventually extinguishing flashbacks and somatic concerns. Many treatment considerations emerge: was it a single trauma (i.e., an automobile accident) or ongoing (e.g., regular sexual violation by a family member)? A natural disaster versus a terrorist attack? Does the survivor have a strong support system or is she isolated? Is there self-education involved, or sobriety? Many factors are considered when developing a trauma treatment plan. There are numerous ways people experience and survive through traumatic events. This chapter explores some of these while offering concrete interventions for treatment considerations. It provides a list of suggested resources for further trauma education and treatment.

This chapter offers guidelines to assist counselors in obtaining legal advice. Ethical decision making, by contrast, is the responsibility of the counselors themselves. It helps readers to identify ethical and legal issues with unique applications to counseling minors and distinguish between parents’ rights and the rights of minor clients. The chapter describes best practices in securing informed consent, defining confidentiality, determining competence, managing crisis, and dealing with boundaries and value conflicts when counseling children and adolescents. It explains how to best address situations when a minor client appears to be at risk of suicide, non-suicidal self-injury, or other dangerous behavior. Child and adolescent counselors are called upon to exercise their professional judgment when minor clients engage in risky behaviors such as non-suicidal self injury, sexual experimentation, or unsafe use of social media. The chapter concludes with discussion of consultation with adults who are important in the lives of minor clients.

This chapter adresses how to maintain a healthier, more balanced life during the practicum and internship. It provides insights into recognizing stressors that accompany counseling a struggling population of clients. The chapter provides several exercises for the purposes of self-reflection. The ability to step back from an experience, however successful or disappointing, can be key skill for personal success as a counselor. The chapter explains how to develop and maintain a healthy and mindful lifestyle. It also includes assessments on quality of life, burnout, and mindfulness.

Experiential learning activities ranging from intergenerational service-learning to age-simulations and role-playing have also been shown to reduce ageist attitudes and increase empathy for the experiences of older adults. Devising or locating activities that are relevant, appealing, and appropriate can be a challenge for new faculty and veteran educators alike. Moreover, the inherently interdisciplinary nature of aging studies requires instructors to access expertise in a broad range of disciplines and content areas. This book A Hands-on Approach to Teaching About Aging should prove useful for anyone incorporating aging content into his or her courses, regardless of experience teaching aging-related material. The peer-reviewed activities in this book provide instructors from disciplines including but not limited to counseling, family studies, gerontology, geriatrics, medicine, psychology, public administration, public health, nursing, social work, sociology, and speech pathology with teaching strategies to readily engage students in the exploration of aging and older adults.

This chapter highlights both the strengths of Arab American families and the challenges they face, as well as outline recommendations for clinical social work practice. It also highlights important similarities, differences, and false assumptions associated with Arab culture. It is essential to understand the culture of Arab American immigrants, their strengths and needs, their cultural attitudes toward mental health services, and the post-9/11 anti-Arab political climate before choosing an appropriate intervention approach. Based on these issues, social workers need to take into consideration the diverse cultural values held within the Arab community while practicing within mainstream American health delivery systems. Additionally, providers must educate themselves on Arabic culture and Islamic values. Finally, it is imperative that clinicians explore other appropriate approaches when dealing with Arab individuals, families, and communities that reflect on their experiences, such as linkages to immigration services or partnering with an imam for counseling.

Counselors must consider how to approach the struggles, fears, and vulnerabilities young clients face in schools and communities, and how to help them make sense of their world. Counselors must understand their own level of self-awareness, cultural knowledge, theory of orientation, and commitment to counseling this population. Children and adolescents must gain a sense of control through counseling and feel respected and valued. Counselors identify the use of counseling theories listed in this chapter along with creative strategies and expressive approaches (e.g., drawings, music, toys, and books) as best practices for working with young clients. This chapter describes the different theoretical frameworks commonly used in child and adolescent counseling. It helps the reader to identify specific reasons why these theories effectively work with children and adolescents. The chapter applies interventions appropriate to the guiding theoretical framework.

Counseling children and adolescents in contemporary society requires a cross-cultural perspective. Demographic trends in the racial and ethnic composition of the U. S. youth population suggests that over the last several decades, this segment of the U. S. population underwent some important shifts. Counseling across cultures can be perceived as a working alliance between a counselor and a child or adolescent that takes the personal dynamics of the counselor and the young person into consideration alongside the dynamics found in the cultures of both of these individuals. This chapter provides a cross-cultural perspective on counseling children and adolescents. It begins with a conceptual overview of counseling youth across cultures. The chapter presents culturally diverse perspectives on psychosocial development. It concludes with case studies that provide direction for counseling children and adolescents with culture in mind.

Mental health professionals who work with students must be well-versed in the protective factors that maximize youth academic, social and personal success. One can and must cultivate healthy communities and teach youngsters to advocate for themselves as one advocate for them. Significant research points to strategic ways one can strengthen schools, families and communities. All too often, violence, substance abuse, bullying, sexual assault, suicidal ideation and more threaten student well-being. The profession calls upon professional school and mental health counselors to be ethical, skilled, culturally attuned and ready to engage in prevention and intervention as they work with students and families. This chapter expresses familiarity with social challenges to healthy child development. It helps to recognize the crucial role of professional school and clinical mental health counselors in the cultivation of positive school and community contexts. The chapter hypothesizes counseling from a strengths-based, curious, and creative stance.

Counselors serve an important role in the lives of youth. They provide safe spaces for children to express their emotions, fears, thoughts, and worries. Supporting children and adolescents of special populations and marginalized statuses requires that counselors (a) recognize how personal bias may impact the counseling process; (b) utilize culturally competent, theory-based techniques in counseling; (c) understand how socioeconomic status, poverty, race, gender, and sexual orientation impact children and adolescents; and (d) utilize practical, strength-based approaches to counseling. Counselors remain committed to the work of building strength-based, culturally competent, and inclusive practices. The counselor’s efforts to provide culturally responsive strategies and interventions will greatly influence the success of counseling diverse populations of children and adolescents. With this in mind, clinicians must remain critically reflective of their worldviews and biases and commit to the life-long process of cultural competence.

The conceptualization of disability as an attribute located solely within an individual is changing to a paradigm in which disability is thought to be an interaction among the individual, the disability, and the environment. This chapter draws both theoretical and practice implications, which may assist practitioners and educators in gaining a clearer understanding of counseling clients who have disabilities, from four broad models of disability. Intended as a broad overview of the major models and an introductory discussion of ways in which these models can affect the profession of counseling, the chapter presents several different ways of conceptualizing the experience of disability. The four broad models are: (a) the biomedical model, (b) the functional model, (c) the environmental model, and (d) the sociopolitical model. The functional model and the environmental model are presented together because both are interactive models; stated differently.

This chapter presents the elements of counseling that can influence self-awareness and growth among children and adolescents. It builds on the basics and offers guidance to enhance counseling effectiveness. Children and adolescents thrive within the context of responsive relationships and these relationships are central to emotional growth. A good counselor balances the child or adolescent’s need for support and the necessity of independence in self-reflection. The fields of motivational interviewing (MI), self-determination theory, and counseling with children and adolescents are filled with specific techniques to encourage growth and change. Accordingly, the chapter highlights key elements of counselor action. Of equal importance, there will be instances in which being present, in absence of action, will create space for the child or adolescent to experience and consequently increase awareness of his or her own self—a critical foundation for growth and change.

This chapter presents specific issues faced by older adults in response to adaptations to chronic illness and disability. Some individuals have congenital disabilities and others acquire a disability early in life and are able to adjust fairly easily, aging with their disability. On the other hand, some individuals acquire a disability later in life and may experience great difficulty making the adjustments to their condition. The chapter presents information on the age-related concerns of older adults, components and perceptions of aging, assessment issues associated with older adults, vocational interests, and death and dying perspectives. It also discusses the implications for service delivery in the context in which older adults are served along with laws and regulations that apply to the population. Aging and geriatric persons often utilize a variety of services from multiple entities (e.g., social, legal, medical, financial, and counseling).

Surprisingly, a section devoted to technology was not added to the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics until its most recent revision in 2014. The benefits and detriments of increased utility of technology are unavoidable in all professions, and counseling is no exception. The chapter includes seven cases related to a section of the ACA Code of Ethics examined carefully using the Kocet and Herlihy’s counselor’s value-based conflict model. This chapter is a new addition to the Code of Ethics during its most recent revision in 2014. It highlights the ways in which technological advancements have made counseling both easier and more complicated, including, but not limited to, the use of video conferencing, public and private social media presence, and the importance of safeguarding confidentiality.

This chapter details the elements of counseling with children and adolescents that are essential to setting a solid stage for deeper work. It covers the techniques addressing the initial contact and important contextual issues, such as setting up a child- and adolescent-friendly office space. Initial contact sets the stage for the therapeutic alliance. Research has shown that educating clients about counseling improves treatment progress and outcome, attendance, and helps to prevent premature termination. Counseling provides a safe, nonjudgmental space in which clients can self-reflect; identify strengths; experiment with new ideas of self and ways of being; and learn effective emotional regulation, relationship, and life skills. Beginning counseling can be quite stressful for some children and their caregivers, and breaking down barriers is essential. Once relationships are established and counseling is flowing naturally, both the counselor and the client feel more relaxed.

The focus of this book is on theories for direct (or clinical, micro) social work practice. It focuses on theories for practice with individuals, although the relevance of these theories for practice with couples, families, and groups is also considered. Beyond simply offering a survey of clinical theories in this book, the authors promote what they call a generalist-eclectic approach for the use of theory in direct practice.

Including the word generalist in the name of the approach might seem odd because one of the generally accepted hallmarks of generalist social work practice is that it spans direct and indirect (or macro) practice methods, whereas this approach focuses only on direct practice. By using the word generalist to describe the approach to direct practice, the authors emphasize their belief that specialization in direct practice must be firmly grounded in the generalist perspective of social work practice; that the values, principles, generic processes, and holistic perspective that are integral to generalist social work practice are a necessary foundation for direct practice specialization. Although this might be taken for granted by some, this sometimes gets lost in the rush for specialization.

One reason it is important to ensure that direct practice is grounded explicitly within the generalist perspective is because most theories that clinical social workers use have been developed outside of the profession, and aspects of such theories may not fit well with some social work principles. When this is the case, modifications to these aspects of theories are necessary. For example, theories that place the worker in the role of expert should be used in a more egalitarian, collaborative manner, and theories that have a specific and narrow conception of human problems should be broadened to include consideration of a wide range of factors (e.g., environmental and sociocultural factors need to be considered along with biological, intrapsychic, and interpersonal factors).

A second reason for embedding direct practice within the generalist perspective is that the latter can function to broaden the mandate and role of direct practitioners beyond narrow clinical confines. For instance, it is important that the focus of clinical social work should include helping clients to meet basic needs by providing them with or linking them to resources and services, and engaging in social advocacy for clients—and the generalist perspective reminds us of the importance of such helping strategies. In addition, social work students who are entering their concentration or specialization year will have the generalist grounding and application of the direct practice theories will be reinforced by this knowledge.

This chapter provides an overview of our generalist-eclectic approach to direct practice. The major elements of the generalist social work perspective central to our generalist-eclectic approach to direct practice are reviewed. Then, an overview of the distinctive aspects of our generalist-eclectic approach is provided Finally, in some detail eclecticism, primarily with regard to the trend toward it over the last 35 years is discussed. The latter discussion includes (a) an overview of eclecticism that documents historical resistance to eclecticism, the fact of and reasons for the trend toward the eclectic use of theory and technique, and continuing resistance to eclecticism (particularly in the form of the empirically supported treatment [EST] movement); (b) a review of the four major approaches to eclecticism in the literature and some of the specific eclectic models within each of the approaches; and (c) a delineation of our approach to eclecticism.

Though the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics for professional counselors provides subsections for each area of practice related to clinical work and research, Section I engages in the more meta task of exploring how ethical dilemmas are actually resolved. In determining actions related to ethical dilemmas in their work with clients, the public, or other clinicians, counselors work to resolve these dilemmas with direct and open communication with all involved stakeholders. The chapter includes cases, assessed using the Corey, Corey, Corey, and Callanan (2015), Cottone (2001), and Forester-Miller and Davis (2016) models. This chapter highlights the resolving ethical issues including, protecting clients from harm, unacceptable business practices, deceased clients, interdisciplinary teamwork, and policies that are potentially harmful to clients.

Confidentiality is critical in counseling. The public’s trust in the profession to keep what is discussed with their counselor private is in many ways the cornerstone of the profession. This chapter includes seven cases related to a section of the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics examined carefully using a Cottone’s (2001) Social Constructivist model. While other models emphasize a linear, intrapsychic, counselor-focused approach to ethical decision-making (e.g., Forester-Miller & Davis, 2016), Cottone’s social constructivism model posits a more interpersonal approach. The chapter deals with cases more specifically with maintaining the confidence and trust of the general public. It highlights some of the unique presenting problems related to confidentiality and privacy, including, but not limited to, seeing clients in public, accidental lapses in confidentiality, requests for information from third parties, and state law pertaining to age and consent.

This chapter provides an overview of Jay Haley’s approach, which has been called “strategic therapy” and also “problem-solving therapy”. Jay Haley is the founder of Strategic Problem Solving Therapy and a leader of the systemic-relational movement. Problem Solving Therapy focuses on counseling families of triads or larger system structures. The issue of dyadic relational structures was dealt with in his earlier work, entitled Strategies of Psychotherapy. The strategic therapist must be directive, tactical, relationally neutral, and be able to negotiate the terms of therapy so that problems become the evident focus of treatment. The ideal outcome of Strategic Problem Solving Therapy is problem resolution. The therapist, then, must be the consummate interpersonal technician. Assessment occurs throughout strategic therapy, as the therapist continually reassesses whether clients are responding to directives or not. Haley’s approach has become very popular and is regarded as one of the leading therapies among systemic-relational paradigm adherents.

Counseling is a unique form of support that occurs within a relationship between the counselor and the client, occurring within specific boundaries with the goal of supporting and empowering the client through difficult times in life. Counseling may occur with an individual client, a family, or a group of individuals who share similar loss experiences. Grief counselors help individuals as they work through the grieving process in a way that is congruent with the grieving individual’s personality, preferences, values, and goals. This chapter explores what counseling is and examines some of the more common misconceptions about counseling. It also looks at the therapeutic relationship that develops between the counselor and the client in the counseling setting, considers the different contexts in which counseling may occur, and briefly discusses the goals of grief counseling.

The root causes of social injustice are in part centralized around wealth inequities, politicians, and legislation favoring the wealthy, discrimination, and a Darwinian mentality. This chapter explores the ramifications of social injustice in America focusing on those with disabilities. It discusses the ripple effect of poverty, oppression, and disability, and its subsequent deleterious impact for equitable treatment and opportunity. Beginning with prevalence statistics regarding poverty in general and disability specifically, the chapter segues into an exploration of the domino and vicious cycle effect of inequitable education, employment, health care, and health. The resulting psychosocial impact on minorities and those with disabilities is a reciprocal occurrence between these populations interfacing with an arguably apathetic societal and political populace. Finally, the chapter discusses a dialogue regarding the social justice counselor and strategies for counseling and advocating for this most ignored and disenfranchised population in America.

At its most basic, counseling is a relationship, as it involves a connection between two or more people. This chapter includes cases that are relevant to a section of the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics examined carefully using the Forester-Miller and Davis model. The cases outline the ways in which this relationship requires careful thought and planning to ensure the safety of all clients and the integrity of the profession. The scenarios focus on the personal and professional interactions between counselors and their clients. The chapter highlights all the ways in which that connection can become confusing and/or complicated, including, but not limited to, counselors separating personal and professional lives, the tricky business of personal values and the complexity of boundaries within the counseling relationship.

This chapter describes a therapeutic approach that is consistent with the social constructivism paradigm of mental health treatment. The social constructivism philosophy purports that people understand their experiences through the social consensual process, people together socially construct meaning of their shared experiences. Cognitive Consensual Therapy (CCT) is grounded on a social constructivist philosophy. Social constructivism is an intellectual movement in the humanities, art, and the social science that is part of a larger shift in philosophy from modernism. The target of counseling is the process of human interaction. The counselor role as a cognitive consensual therapist is that of facilitating interactions so that clients come to view and to understand different ways of acting and thinking. Treatment begins with the establishment of a professional relationship. The therapist should come across as a well-educated, experienced, confident, credentialed, and well-established professional.

This chapter introduces Narrative Therapy (NT) as a theory that aligns with the social constructivism paradigm of counseling and psychotherapy. It provides some historical context for the development of the theory and biographical sketches of Michael White and David Epston. A primary influence to NT was the work of Gregory Bateson and his illustration of the unique way in which humans make sense of the world. NT focuses on the stories individuals tell about the events in their lives. A story or narrative is a mental account or chronicle of a person’s experiences or life events. In NT, therapeutic conversation is seen as an artful science where client stories are laid out, examined, challenged, and expanded on interactively and collaboratively. Narrative therapists take a decentralized but influential position in therapy. The narrative therapist takes great care to create an environment of collaboration, respect, and acceptance.

This chapter provides a biographical sketch of Virginia Satir, the founder of conjoint family therapy. It describes Satir’s basic ideas about relationships and their importance to mental health. The chapter presents an overview of techniques and methods of conjoint family therapy and outlines the basic premises of a theory that crossed over into a more purely relational way of viewing counseling and psychotherapy. Conjoint Family Therapy is a process of facilitating effective communication in a relational context. The therapist acts as an official observer of family interaction and as a teacher of clear communication. Satir’s treatment program is one of adhering to several basic principles. First, it is assumed that positive changes result through the interpersonal process of therapy, which is a conclusion, primarily based on her humanistic attitude that people have honorable motives and that everyone is healable.

This chapter examines the development and some aspects of the history of formal offerings of courses on death, dying, and bereavement at the college and university level in the United States and Canada. It provides examples of some of the early pedagogical resources that were created to support and foster death education initiatives, and sketches more recent developments as regards survey courses in this field, other death-related courses, and programs in thanatology. Survey or overview courses in death education are typically identified as “Death and Dying”, “Introduction to Thanatology”, or “Survey of Thanatology” courses. Instructors and audiences for these courses have come from such widely different backgrounds as counseling, funeral service, health education, nursing, philosophy, psychology, religious studies, social science, social work, and sociology. In recent years, programs in thanatology or the organized study of death-related topics have been developed at several colleges and universities.

This chapter focuses on the specific skills and techniques required for working with individuals in a group setting. Our approach to group leading is an active, theory-driven, multisensory approach where the leader is actively involved in directing the personal work with an individual. One of the most difficult group leadership skills to master is the ability to work with an individual while keeping the other members engaged and involved. When leading any kind of growth, support, counseling, or therapy group, members will often bring up a concern that needs immediate and concentrated attention. Theory-driven group counseling is always more effective than when no theory is utilized. The process of including all group members takes great skill, much thought, and a lot of practice on the part of any group leader.

The past two decades have marked the rise of mindfulness both as a therapeutic intervention for clients and as a means to promote counselor wellness and effectiveness. This chapter provides an overview and history of mindfulness, its benefits to clients and counselors, how it works, ways to develop it, and how it can be integrated into counseling. Mindfulness involves purposefully paying attention in the present moment without judgment and requires compassion, kindness, openness, curiosity, and warmth. Regarding specific mental health benefits, innate mindfulness has been associated with greater joy, hope, well-being, and life satisfaction and less stress, anxiety, and depression. Mindfulness not only provides a robust approach for addressing a wide array of client concerns, but there is growing support that it also improves the counseling process itself. Further, mindfulness may be a valuable means of counselor self-care, and, in turn, promote career longevity and overall effectiveness.

This chapter acquaints the professional counselor with the area of aptitude testing. It provides information regarding the purpose of aptitude tests, three primary types of aptitude tests, and the most commonly used aptitude tests. The chapter addresses criticisms of aptitude testing along with guidelines for appropriate use of aptitude tests. It closes with a discussion about the appropriate use of accommodations for clients with disabilities. Aptitude tests are norm-referenced, standardized tests that are designed to measure a person’s “ability to acquire a specific type of skill or knowledge". To understand the concept of aptitude, it is important to distinguish this concept from intelligence and achievement. The three primary types of aptitude tests are scholastic aptitude tests; vocational aptitude tests; and measures of special abilities. Any counselor involved in the selection, administration, scoring, or interpretation of aptitude tests should become familiar with professional standards related to the use of standardized tests.

Human history suggests that humans have coped with hearing loss and Deafness for centuries, because it was addressed in some of the world’s most ancient texts, including the writings of Plato and Aristotle, the Torah, and the Talmud. A person who is Deaf or hard of hearing from birth or in the first days of life has a congenital hearing loss. Mixed hearing loss results from a combination of both conductive and sensorineural causes. The distinction between medical hearing loss and membership in the cultural group is made by capitalizing the term Deaf when referencing individuals in the Deaf cultural community. Cultural transmission is primarily a function of residential schools for the Deaf, and for this reason, the Deaf community strongly resists public school mainstreaming or inclusion. Treatment and management of hearing loss are very important and usually involve provision of assistive listening devices.

The consequences of deployment on the family can present an array of difficulties for the family due to lengthy separation periods. When counseling family members of veterans, an initial consideration should be taken into account at the onset of therapy. Particular concerns involve the reevaluation of family roles and expectations, parental involvement, restoring intimacy, and sharing a common understanding of the challenges faced during deployment. In conjunction with identifying whether the spouse or family member meets the diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), assessing for domestic abuse is a necessary concern for mental health practitioners. Aside from the aforementioned treatment implications, family systems theory has been recommended when working with veterans and their families. The theory focuses on the past, present, and anticipated future, lending it to work well with families of veterans as it runs parallel with the phases of deployment.

The use of solution-focused therapy (SFT) has increased in all areas of counseling, popularized both by its flexibility and focus on client’s strengths. SFT is based on the assumption that solutions are to be found through the process of changing interactions and the creation of new meanings for clients’ problems as well as the client solving the problems and overcoming habit patterns. This chapter discusses expressive arts interventions such as drawing a solution, every little step you take, family super powers and race car identification along with its indications, goal, modality, purpose and population details. SFT supports cultural sensitivity by utilizing five elements: (a) collaboration, (b) context, (c) critical consciousness, (d) competence, and (e) community. One of the key foundational beliefs of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is that clients have the power to envision a different way of behaving and to generate different outcomes than they have in the past.

The first interagency intervention programs were organized by activists in the battered women’s movement in the late 1970s. They focused on effecting changes in the way the police and courts handle individual domestic abuse cases, and included a rehabilitation component as an integral part of a larger intervention strategy. These programs valued the existence of education or counseling for men as important, but viewed them as secondary to criminal justice reform work. Given that any program for batterers is situated in the same public sphere as the battered women’s movement, any definition of accountability ideally should include an explicit commitment to cooperate with shelter programs. The experience of the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) and other communities has been that victim-blaming practices and collusion with batterers are likely to occur when battered women and shelter advocates are actively involved in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the intervention process.