Unit 4 : Counselling Applications

Contents

• Child counselling
• Family counselling
• Career counselling
• Crisis intervention : suicide , grief and sexual abuse

Family and Couple Counselling

THE BEGINNINGS OF COUPLE AND FAMILY COUNSELING (for reference only )

The profession of couple and family counseling is relatively new (Framo, 1996). Its substantial
beginnings are traced to the 1940s and early 1950s, but its real growth occurred in the late 1970s
and the 1980s (Nichols, 1993). It is interesting to note that the rise in popularity of couple and
family counseling closely followed dramatic changes in the form, composition, structure, and
emphasis of the American family (Markowitz, 1994). In this section, trends and personalities that
influenced the development of the field will be noted, including some contemporary leaders.
Trends
At the end of World War II, the United States experienced an unsettling readjustment from war to
peace that manifested itself in three trends that had an impact on the family, other than a rise in
different types of family forms (Walsh, 1993). One was a sharp rise in the divorce rate, which took
place almost simultaneously with the baby boom beginning in 1946. Whereas divorcerose
dramatically and did not level out until the 1990s. The impact of this phenomenon was unsettling.
Today, a large percentage (around 50%) of couples who marry eventually dissolve their unions
(Maples & Abney, 2006; Whitehead, 1997). However, new Census data show the divorce rate for
most age groups has been dropping (Kreider & Ellis, 2011). The reason for the drop in divorce rates
in recent years can be attributed to a number of factors, such as education, but perhaps the most
significant one is that couples in the United States are waiting longer to get married and are
therefore more mature when they do marry.

A second trend that influenced the rise of couple and family counseling was the changing role of
women. After World War II, more women sought employment outside the home. Many women
became the breadwinners of their families as well as the bread makers. The women’s rights
movement of the 1960s also fostered the development of new opportunities for women. Thus,
traditions and expectations fell and/or were expanded for women. The results were unsettling, as
any major social change is, and both men and women in families and marriages needed help in
making adequate adjustments. In 2015, 51% of women in the United States were unmar- ried and
most women, including those who were married, worked outside the home.
The expansion of the life span was the third event that had an impact on family life and made
couple and family counseling more relevant to the American public. Couples found themselves
living with the same partners longer than at any previous time in history (Maples & Abney, 2006).
Many were not sure exactly how to relate to their spouses, partners, or children over time because
there were few previous models.

Thus, the need to work with couples and individuals who were affected by these changes brought
researchers, practitioners, and theorists together. They set the stage for an entirely new way of
conceptualizing and working with married people, couples, and families.

Therefore there are 3 basic reasons why counsellors opt for familiar couple counselling :

• The realization that persons are directly affected by how their couple relationship or families
function (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2002). For instance, in family life, chaotic families
frequently produce offspring who have difficulty relating to others because of a lack of order or
even knowledge of what to do, whereas enmeshed families have children who often have
difficulty leaving home because they are overdependent on parents or other family members.

• Second reason couple and family counseling is attractive is a financial consideration. Problems
can often be addressed more economically when a couple or family is seen together.

• The encompassing nature of couple and family counseling work makes it intrinsically
appealing.

ASSOCIATIONS, EDUCATION, AND RESEARCH (reference only , pointers from research

can be taken if differences between individual and family counselling comes , though the same
will be mentioned later )
Associations
Four major professional associations attract marriage, couple, and family clinicians.
• The largest and oldest, which was established in 1942, is the American Association for
Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
• The second group, the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors
(IAMFC), a division within the American Counseling Association (ACA), was chartered in
1986.
• The third association, Division 43 (Family Psychology), a division within the American
Psychological Association (APA), was formed in 1984 and comprises psychologists who
work with couples and families.

• The fourth association is the American Family Therapy Association(AFTA),formedin

1977. It is identified as an academy of advanced professionals interested in the exchange of
ideas.
Education
Both the AAMFT and IAMFC have established guidelines for training professionals in working
with couples and families. AAMFT standards are drawn up and administered by the Commission on
Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (CAMFTE); those for IAMFC are
handled through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs
(CACREP). A minimum of a 60-semester-hour master’s degree is required for becoming a mar-
riage, couple, and family counselor through a CACREP-accredited program. The exact content and
sequencing of courses will vary from program to program but the courses in Table 14.1 are almost
always included.

Research
Regardless of professional affiliation and curriculum background, professionals are attracted to
couple and family counseling largely due to a societal need for the specialty and its growing
research base. Gurman and Kniskern (1981) reported that approximately 50% of all problems
brought to counselors are related to marriage and family issues. Unemployment, poor school
performance, spouse abuse, depression, rebellion, and self-concept issues are just a few of the many
situations that can be dealt with from this perspective. Individual development dovetails with family
and career issues (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2015; Okun, 1984). Each one impacts the
resolution of the other in a systemic manner. Bratcher (1982) comments on the inter- relatedness of
career and family development, recommending the use of family systems theory for experienced
counselors working with individuals seeking career counseling.
Research studies summarized by Doherty and Simmons (1996), Gurman and Kniskern (1981),
Haber (1983), Pinsof and Wynne (1995), and Wohlman and Stricker (1983) report a number of
interesting findings:
• First, family counseling interventions are at least as effective as individual interven- tions for
most client complaints and lead to significantly greater durability of change.
• Second, some forms of family counseling (e.g., using structural-strategic family ther- apy
with substance abusers) are more effective in treating problems than other coun- seling
approaches.
• Third, the presence of both parents, especially noncompliant fathers, in family coun- seling
situations greatly improves the chances for success. Similarly, the effectiveness of marriage
counseling when both partners meet conjointly with the counselor is nearly twice that of
counselors working with just one spouse.
• Fourth, when marriage and family counseling services are not offered to couples con- jointly
or to families systemically, the results of the intervention may be negative and problems may
worsen.

• Finally, there is high client satisfaction from those who receive marital, couple, and
family counseling services, with more than 97% rating the services they received from good
to excellent. Overall, the basic argument for employing marriage and family counsel- ing is
its proven efficiency. This form of treatment is logical, fast, satisfactory, and economical.
 FAMILY LIFE AND THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE

Family life and the growth and developments that take place within it are at the heart of marriage,
couple, and family counseling. The family life cycle are the stages a family goes through as it
evolves over the years. These stages sometimes parallel and complement those in the individual life
cycle, but often they are unique because of the number of people involved and the diversity of tasks
to be accomplished. Becvar and Becvar (2013) outline a nine stage cycle that begins with the
unattached adult and continues through retirement .

Stages of the Family Life Cycle ( this is important )

STAGE EMOTION STAGE CRITICAL TASK

Unattached adult Accepting parent- offspring a. Differentiation from family
separation of origin

b. Development of peer
relations

c. Initiation of career
Newly married Commitment to the marriage a. Formation of marital system

b. Making Room for spouse

with family and friends

c. Adjusting career demands

Childbearing Accepting new members into a. Adjusting marriage to make
the system room for child
b. Taking on parenting roles

Preschool-Age child Accepting the new personality a. Adjusting family to the

needs of specific child(ren)

b. Coping with energy drain

and lack of privacy

c. Taking time out to be a

couple
School-age child Allowing child to establish a. Extending family/society
relationships outside the family interactions

b. Encouraging the child’s

educational progress

c. Dealing with increased

activities and time demands
Teenage child Increasing flexibility of family a. Shifting the balance in the
boundaries to allow parent-child relationship
independence
b. Refocusing on mid-life
career and marital issues

c. Dealing with increasing

concerns for older
generation
Launching center Accepting exits from and a. Releasing adult children into
entries into the family work, college, marriage

b. Maintaining supportive
home base

c. Accepting occasional returns

of adult children
Middle-age adult Letting go of children and a. Rebuilding the marriage
facing each other

b. Welcoming children’s
spouses, grandchildren into
family

c. Dealing with aging of

one’s own parents

Retirement Accepting retirement and old a. Maintaining individual and

age couple functioning

b. Supporting middle
generation

c. Coping with death of

parents, spouse
d. Closing or adapting
family home

Some families and family members are more “on time” in achieving stage-critical tasks that go
with the family life cycle and their own personal cycle of growth.

Other families, such as those that are dysfunctional, never achieve stage-critical tasks, for instance,
substance abuse families. In these families substance abuse behavior is promoted or enabled. Thus,
children “from homes in which parents are chemically dependent or abuse alcohol or other drugs
(CDs) are at risk for a wide range of developmental problems” (Buelow, 1995).Substance abuse is
used by these young people as a way to relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and structure time (Robinson,
1995)). Substance abuse may serve as a substitute for sex as well and promote pseudo-
individuation (a false sense of self). These complex and interrelated factors make it difficult to help
families caught up in substance abuse patterns to change behaviors without an intensive social
action approach designed to change dysfunctional systems (Lee & Walz, 1998; Margolis & Zweben,
2011).

Families often organize themselves around substance abuse in a systemic way and enable family
members to drink excessively (Bateson, 1971; Steinglass, 1979). In the alcoholic family system,
there is an overresponsible–underresponsible phenomenon, with the over responsible person(s)
being a so-called codependent (Berenson, 1992). In such a situation, it is easier and more
productive to work with the overfunctioning person(s) and modify that phenomenon than to try to
get the under functioning person(s) to change.

Regardless of functionality, all families have to deal with family cohesion (emotional bonding) and
family adaptability (ability to be flexible and change). These two dimensions each have four
levels, represented by Olson (1986) in the circumplex model of marital and family systems. For
instance, a family that is high in cohesion is enmeshed (extremely close sometimes to the point of
not being well differentiated). If the same family is also high in adaptability they will also be
chaotic (disorganized). This combination results in a family that is chaotically enmeshed, very close
but not able to function effectively, with the result being that they are unbalanced.

Families that are most successful, functional, happy, and strong are not only balanced but also

• committed to one another,

• appreciate each other,

• spend time together (both qualitatively and quantitatively),

• have good communication patterns,

• have a high degree of religious/spiritual orientation, and

• Are able to deal with crisis in a positive manner (Gladding, 2015b; Stinnett, 1998; Stinnett
& DeFrain, 1985).

According to Wilcoxon (1985), couple and family counselors need to be aware of the different
stages within the family while staying attuned to the developmental tasks of individual members.
When counselors are sensitive to individual family members and the family as a whole, they are
able to realize that some individual manifestations, such as depression (Stevenson, 2007), career
indecisiveness (Kinnier, Brigman, & Noble, 1990), and substance abuse (Edwards, 2012), are
related to family structure and functioning. Consequently, they are able to be more inclusive in their
treatment plans.
When evaluating family patterns and the mental health of everyone involved, it is crucial that an
assessment be based on the form and developmental stage of the family constellation. To facilitate
this process, McGoldrick and colleagues (2016) propose sets of developmental tasks for traditional
and nontraditional families, such as those headed by sin-gle parents or blended families. It is
important to note that nontraditional families are not pathological because of their differences; they
are merely on a different schedule of growth and development.

Bowen (1978) suggests terms such as “enmeshment” and “triangulation” to describe family
dysfunctionality regardless of the family form.

Enmeshment refers to family environments in which members are overly dependent on each other
or are undifferentiated.

Triangulation describes family fusion situations in which the other members of the triangle pull a
person in two different directions

Counselors who effectively work with couples and families have guidelines for determining how,
where, when, or whether to intervene in the family process.
Couple Counseling
Early pioneers in couple counseling focused on the couple relationship rather than just the
individuals involved. The new emphasis meant that three entities were considered in such relation-
ships: two individuals and one couple. Thus, from its beginning couple counselors set a precedent
for seeing couples together in conjoint sessions, a practice that continues today.
Couples seek relationship counseling for a wide variety of reasons, including finances, children,
fidelity, communication, and compatibility (Long & Young, 2007). Almost any situation can serve
as the impetus to seek help
Whitaker (1977) notes that if a counselor is not able to structure the situation in this way, he or she
will probably not help the couple and may do harm. Trying to treat one partner alone for even one
or two sessions increases the other’s resistance to counseling and his or her anxiety. Moreover, if
one member of a couple tries to change without the other’s knowledge or support, conflict is bound
to ensue.
If both partners decide to enter couple counseling, the counselor may take a variety of approaches.
Seven of the main counseling theories used are object relational, behavioral, cognitive–behavioral,
Bowen systems (i.e., transgenerational), structural, emotionally focused, and narrative (Gurman,
Lebow, & Snyder, 2015). All of these theoretical perspectives have their strengths. The two
strongest, however, are the emotionally focused approach of Susan Johnson and the behavioral
approach of John Gottman. The reason is that both are heavily research based.

Task involved in couple therapy :

• Raising awareness of the nature of the problem as each partner experiences it and creating a
different narrative.
• Developing couple communication with the aim of leading to improved emotional intimacy and
the capacity to problem solve, have fun and share sexual gratification.
• Exploring the compatibility of values, beliefs and frame of reference.
• Improving problem solving and conflict resolution.
• Strengthening couple bonds, care and support for each other by developing mutual empathy, and
ultimately acceptance through some of the above.

Important concepts used in couple therapy

• Double bind: person receives two contradictory messages at the same time, unable to follow
both, develops physical and psychological symptoms as a way to lessen tension and escape.
• Genogram: based on multigenerational considerations, a three-generational visual
representation of one’s family tree depicted in geometric figures, lines and words.
 Family Counseling

Family Counseling helps people in handling relationship difficulties. It gives better knowledge
about how to manage the personal or interpersonal issues with the family and children during
marriage, separation and divorce. Families enter counseling for a number of reasons. Usually, there
is an identified patient (IP)— an individual who is seen as the cause of trouble within the family
structure—whom family members use as their ticket of entry. Family therapy is done from an
individual perspective but with the hope that changes in the person will have a ripple effect (an
influence generated from the center outward) and positively impact a family (Nichols, 1988).

Family counseling has expanded rapidly since the mid-1970s and encompasses many aspects of
couples counseling.The majority of counselors operate from a general systems framework and
conceptualize the family as an open system that evolves over the family life cycle in a sociocultural
context. Family systems counselors stress the idea of circular causality. They also emphasize the
following concepts:

• Nonsummativity. The family is greater than the sum of its parts. It is necessary to examine
the patterns within a family rather than the actions of any specific member alone.

• Equifinality. The same origin may lead to different outcomes, and the same outcome may
result from different origins. Thus, the family that experiences a natural disaster may
become stronger or weaker as a result. Likewise, healthy families may have quite dissimilar
backgrounds. Therefore, treatment focuses on interactional family patterns rather than
particular conditions or events.

• Communication. All behavior is seen as communicative. It is important to attend to the two

functions of interpersonal messages: content (factual information) and relationship (how
the message is to be understood). The what of a message is conveyed by how it is
delivered.

• Family rules. A family’s functioning is based on explicit and implicit rules. Family rules
provide expectations about roles and actions that govern family life. Most families operate
on a small set of predictable rules, a pattern known as the redundancy principle. To help
families change dysfunctional ways of working, family counselors have to help them define
or expand the rules under which they operate.

• Morphogenesis. The ability of the family to modify its functioning to meet the changing
demands of internal and external factors is known as morphogenesis. Morphogenesis
usually requires a second-order change (the ability to make an entirely new response)
rather than a first-order change (continuing to do more of the same things that have worked
previously) (Watzlawick, Weakland, & Fisch,1974). Family members may need to try new
ways of behaving.
 • Homeostasis. Like biological organisms, families have a tendency to remain in a steady,
stable state of equilibrium unless otherwise forced to change. When a family member
unbalances the family through his or her actions, other members quickly try to rectify the
situation through negative feedback. Sometimes homeostasis can be advantageous in
helping a family achieve life-cycle goals, but often it prevents the family from moving on to
another stage in its development.

Counselors who operate from a family systems approach work according to the concepts just listed.
For instance, if family rules are covert and cause confusion, the counselor helps the family make
these regulations overt and clear. All members of the family are engaged in the process so that
communication channels are opened.

Often, a genogram is constructed to help family members and the counselor detect intergenerational
patterns of family functioning that have an impact on the present (McGoldrick, 2011; McGoldrick,
Gerson, & Petry, 2008).

For a genogram, three generations of the family should be drawn. Names, dates of birth, marriage,
separation, and divorce should be indicated, along with basic information such as current age and
occupation. A genogram can also be used in a multicultural context .
THE PROCESS OF COUPLE AND FAMILY COUNSELLING

The process of couple and family counseling is based on several premises.

• Persons conducting the counseling are psychologically healthy and understand their own families
of origin well

• A second premise is that counselors will not overemphasize or underemphasize possible aspects
or interventions in the therapeutic process (Gladding, 2015b).

• A third component of conducting couple and family counseling is for the counselor to win the
battle for structure (i.e., establish the parameters under which counseling is conducted) while
letting the family win the battle for initiative (i.e., motivation to make needed changes) (Napier
& Whitaker, 1978).

• Couple and family counselors need to be able to see the couple or family difficulties in the
context in which they are occurring.

Presession Planning

Before a couple or family is seen for counseling, several matters should be addressed. One is the
expectation(s) the caller has for an initial session or for treatment in general. The counsellor should
carefully listen and gather all the clinical and factual information and should hypothesize about
issues that are prevalent in certain family life stages and cultural traditions as they may relate to the
caller’sfamily.For example, a family with adolescents may expect to have boundary problems;
however, the way they are handled in a traditional Italian American family versus a traditional
British American family may be quite different. Regardless, by the end of the initial phone call, an
appointment should be scheduled.

Initial Session(s)

Research indicates that first few sessions are critical for developing strong counsellor client bond
(Odell & Quinn, 1998) . Thus the counselor should establish rapport with each person attending and
the couple or family unit as a whole . This type of bonding, in which trust, a working relationship,
and a shared agenda evolve, is known as a therapeutic alliance. It can be created through a number
of means such as

• Maintenance—as the counselor confirms or supports a couple’s or family member’s

position;

• Tracking—when a counselor, through a series of clarifying questions, tracks or follows a

sequence of events; and
 • Mimesis—when a counselor adopts a couple’s or family’s style or tempo of communica-
tion, such as being jovial with a lighthearted couple or family or serious with a couple or
family that is somber.

In establishing a therapeutic alliance, it is important for the counselor to engage the couple or
family and its members enough to gain a perspective on how individuals view the presenting
problem, person, or situation. This perspective is called a frame. The counselor may challenge the
frame of the couple or family members to gain a clearer perspective of what is happening in the
relationship or to give the couple or family another option by which they can perceive their situation
(i.e., reframe).

In the initial session or sessions, the counselor is also an observer and looks for a phenomenon
called the couple or family dance, which is the way a couple or family typically interacts on either
a verbal or nonverbal level (Napier & Whitaker, 1978). It is important in observing the family dance
to see whether some member or members of the family are being scapegoated (i.e., blamed for the
family’s problems). For instance, a family may accuse teenage son of being a lazy troublemaker ,
Although it may be true that the son has some problems, it is more likely that he is not the main
cause of the family’s problems. Here in counsellor will need to probe and try to reframe their
perceptive.

One way of broadly defining or clarifying what is happening in the couple or family is to ask
circular questions—that is, questions that focus attention on couple or family connections and
highlight differences among members. This type of questioning may also help the counselor and
family see if triangulation is taking place (i.e., the drawing in of a third person or party into a
dyadic conflict). It is crucial that the counselor develop the capacity to draw some initial
conclusions in regard to the way the couple or family behaves .

The Middle Phase of Couple and Family Counseling

The middle phase of couple and family counseling consists of those sessions between the initial
session(s) and termination. This part of treatment is where the couple or family will most likely
make needed changes in themselves, if they change at all.

During this time, couples or families and the counselor explore new behaviors and take chances.
Couples and families that are not sure if they wish to change will often make only superficial
alterations in what they do. This type of change is known as a first-order change. An example is
parents setting a curfew back by an hour without any real discussion about it or the importance of a
teenage daughter accepting responsibility for her actions.

Second-order change, where structured rules are altered, is quite different and is the type of change
that is hoped for in a couple or family undergoing therapy. An example of second-order change is a
rigid, authoritarian family becoming more democratic by adopting new rules regarding family
interactions after everyone has had a chance to make suggestions and give input in regard to them
during a family meeting (Watzlawick et al., 1974).

In fostering change within the couple or family, the counselor stays active mentally, verbally, and
behaviorally (Friedlander, Wildman, Heatherington, & Skowron, 1994)During the middle phase, the
counselor links the couple or family with appropriate outside agencies, if possible. For example, in
working with a family that has one or more members who are abusers of alcohol, the counselor
makes sure they find out information about Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) (an organization of
individuals who help one another stay sober) .

Throughout the middle phase of treatment, there is a continuous focus on the process of what is
happening within the couple or family. In many cases, couples and families make the easiest
changes first. Consequently, counselors must press the couple or family for greater change if
treatment is going to have any significance for them in a lasting way. In addition the counselor must
look for evidence of stability of change .

In the middle phase , it is crucial that the counselor not get ahead of the couple or family members.
A way to help couples and families stay engaged and make progress is to give them homework and
psychoeducational assignments (i.e., reading a book or viewing a video) to complete together.
Such a way of working gives family members, may draw them closer psychologically, and helps
them clarify who they are and what they do.

Termination/Closure

Termination (including follow-up) is the final phase of treatment in working with couples and
families. The couple or family, the counselor, or both may initiate termination. Termination should
not be sudden and should not be seen as the highlight of counseling (Gladding, 2015b).

Thus, in beginning termination, the counselor and couple or family should ask themselves why they
are entering this phase. One reason may be that enough progress has been made that the couple or
family is now able to function on its own better than ever before. Whatever the reason for
terminating, the counselor should make sure that the work the couple or family has done is
summarized and celebrated (if appropriate) so that the couple or family leaves counseling more
aware and feeling stronger in realizing what they accomplished. Another aspect of termination is
deciding on long-term goals, such as creating a calm household where members are open to one
another. This projective process gives couple and family members something to think about and
plan out . Predicting setbacks should also be done . A final part of termination is follow-up (i.e.,
checking up on the couple or family following treatment after a period of time). Follow-up conveys
care and lets couples and families know that they can return to counseling . Client couples and
families often do better when they have follow-up because they become aware that their progress is
being monitored both within and outside the context in which they live.
APPROACHES TO FAMILY AND COUPLE COUNSELLING

1. Structural family Counselling

2. Strategic Counselling
3. Bowen’s Family Systems therapy
( writing goal and role of counsellor is subjective and is not important )

Bowen Systems Theory

FOUNDERS/DEVELOPERS: One of the earliest systems approaches to working with clients,

especially in regard to family members, was created by Murray Bowen (1913–1990).

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE : Bowen believed that there is chronic anxiety in all life that is
both emotional and physical. Some individuals are more affected than others by this anxiety. If
anxiety remains low, few problems exist for people or families. However, if anxiety becomes high,
people are much more “prone to illness” and they may become chronically dysfunctional (Greene,
Hamilton, & Rolling, 1986, p. 189). Thus, the focus of Bowen systems theory is on differentiation,
or distinguishing one’s thoughts from one’s emotions and oneself from others (Kerr & Bowen,
1988; Kim-Appel, Appel, Newman, & Parr, 2007).

For example, couples marry at the same level of emotional maturity, with those who are less mature
being prone to have a more difficult time in their marriage relationships than those who are more
mature. When a great deal of friction exists in a marriage, the less mature partners tend to display a
high degree of fusion (undifferentiated emotional togetherness) or cutoff (physical or psychological
avoidance) because they have not separated themselves from their families of origin in a healthy
way, nor have they formed a stable self-concept. When they are stressed as persons within the
marriage, these individuals tend to triangulate (focus on a third party) (Papero, 1996). The third
party can be the marriage itself, a child, an institution (such as a church or school), or a somatic
complaint like a headache. It leads to unproductive couple inter- actions.

ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR : The role of the counselor is to coach and teach the client to be
more cognitive in his or her dealings with others. The counselor may construct a multigenerational
genogram with the client to aid in this process.

GOAL : If counseling is successful, clients will understand and modify the coping strategies and
patterns of coping with stress that have been passed on from generation to generation. They will
display a nonanxious presence in their daily lives and will be able to separate their thoughts from
their feelings and themselves from others.

TECHNIQUES : Techniques in this approach focus on ways to create an individuated person with
a healthy self-concept who can interact with others and not experience undue anxiety every time the
relationship becomes stressful. Ways of achieving this goal include assessment of self and family in
a number of ways. One of them is through the construction of a multigenerational genogram, which
is a visual representation of a person’s family tree depicted in geometric figures, lines, and words
(Sherman, 1993). Genograms include information related to a family and its members’ relationships
with one another over at least three generations. A genogram helps people gather information,
hypothesize, and track relationship changes in the context of historic and contemporary events
(Gladding, 2015b).

Another technique is to focus on cognitive processes, such as asking content-based questions of

one’s family (Bowen, 1976). The objective is to understand what happened in one’s family without
any emotional overlay. A client may also go home again and visit with his or her family in order to
get to know them better. Such a procedure promotes person-to-person relationships on a dyadic
level and the asking of questions about pivotal events that had an impact on the family such as
deaths, births, and marriages. Asking questions is an especially important tool in Bowen’s work.

In addition, there is a focus on detriangulation, which involves “the process of being in contact
and emotionally separate” with others (Kerr, 1988, p. 55). Detriangulation operates on two levels.
One is to resolve anxiety over family situations and not project feelings onto others. The second is
to avoid becoming a target or scapegoat for people who may be overcome with anxiety. Finally,
there is the differentiation of self, which is the ability of a person to distinguish between subjective
feelings and objective thinking. Becoming differentiated involves most, if not all, of the techniques
previously mentioned plus some confrontation between the client and counselor.

STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS : There are a number of unique aspects surrounding

Bowen systems theory:

• The approach focuses on multigenerational family history and the importance of noticing
and dealing with past patterns in order to avoid repeating these behaviors in interpersonal
relationships.

• The approach uses genograms in plotting historical links, which is a specific tool that was
originated with the Bowen approach. It has now become an instrument borrowed by many
approaches.

• The cognitive emphasis of this approach and its focus on differentiation of self and detri-
angulation are unique, too.

LIMITATIONS : Bowen systems theory, however, is limited in these ways:

• The approach is extensive and complex. The theory is inseparable from the therapy, and the
intertwine makes the approach more involved than many other therapeutic approaches.

• Clients who benefit most from Bowen work are those who are severely dysfunctional or
have a low differentiation of self.
 • This approach may require considerable investment on multiplelevels ,which someclients may
not be willing or able to do.

Structural Family Counseling

FOUNDERS/DEVELOPERS. Salvador Minuchin (1921) is the founder of structural family

counseling.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE. Every family has a structure, according to Minuchin (1974). A
structure is the informal way in which a family organizes itself and interacts. Structure influences
people in families for better or worse. If there is a hierarchical structure, people relate well to each
other. However, if there is no such structure or little structure, developmental or situa- tional events
increase family stress, rigidity, chaos, and dysfunctionality, throwing the family into crisis. In such
circumstances, coalitions (i.e., alliances between specific members against a third member) or
cross-generational alliances (alliances between family members of two dif- ferent generations)
arise. Neither works well in the healthy growth of individuals or a family.

ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR: Structural family counseling practitioners are both observers and
experts in making interventions to modify and change the underlying structure of a family. They
advocate for structural changes in the organization of the family unit, with particular attention on
changing interactional patterns in subsystems of the family such as in the marital dyad. They also
work at establishing clear boundaries among family members (Minuchin, Montalvo, Guerney,
Rosman, & Schumer, 1967). In working with families, structural family counselors join with the
family in a position of leadership. They map within their minds the structure of a family,
determining how it is stuck in a dysfunctional pattern, and how to help it change.

GOALS : In structural family therapy, action is emphasized over insight in order to alter and
reorganize a family into a more functional and productive unit. Dated and outgrown rules are
replaced with ones that are more related to the family’s current realities. Distinctions and differ-
entiation between subsystems are stressed with a special focus on parents being in charge of their
children. If all works well, the cultural context of a family is changed.

TECHNIQUES : Structuralists employ a number of techniques aimed at getting a family to

change the way it operates (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981). One primary technique is to work with
family interaction. When family members repeat nonproductive sequences of behavior or
demonstrate a disengaged or enmeshed position in the family structure, the counselor will rearrange
the physical environment so they have to act in a different way. The technique may be as simple as
having people face each other when they talk.

Structural family counselors also use reframing, a technique that involves helping the family see its
problem from a different and more positive perspective. For example, if a child is misbehaving, the
behavior may be labeled “naughty” instead of “incorrigible.” As a conse- quence, the child and his
or her actions will be viewed as less pathological.

Other structural techniques are:

• Punctuation—“the selective description of a transaction” (Colapinto, 2000, p. 158)—for

instance, declaring a person competent at a specific moment in time, such as when they are
silent.

• Unbalancing—a procedure where in the counselor supports an individual or subsystem

against the rest of the family (e.g., a daughter who is lobbying for a later curfew against her
parents).

• Enactment—a process that consists of a family bringing their problematic behaviors,such

as making decisions, into treatment sessions and demonstrating them. In the process, the
counselor challenges their existing patterns and rules as the family gains heightened aware-
ness of the way they function.

• Boundarymaking—the process of creating lines that separate people or subsystems from

each other psychologically in order to maximize individual and group development and
functioning.

• Intensity—the structural method of changing maladaptive transactions by using strong

effect, repeated intervention, or prolonged pressure in order to help an individual or family
reach a goal by doing something differently (Minuchin & Fishman, 1981).

• Restructuring—changing the structure of a family by altering existing hierarchies or

interaction patterns so that problems are not maintained (e.g., uniformly refusing to obey a
certain request or to act in a specific way).

• Adding cognitive constructions—the verbal component of what is a primarily

actionoriented approach that includes advice, information, pragmatic fictions (i.e.,
pronounce- ments that help people change, such as “you are capable”), and paradox (a
confusing message, such as “don’t change,” meant to frustrate and motivate an individual or
group to seek alternative actions).

STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS : Structural family therapy is unique in its contribution

to counseling in the following ways:

• The approach is quite versatile, being a process that is appropriate for low-socioeconomic
level families as well as for other families (Minuchin, Colapinto, & Minuchin, 1999).

• The approach is effective, having been used in treating juvenile delinquents, alcoholics, and
anorexics (Fishman, 1988).
 • The approach is culturally sensitive and appropriate for use in multicultural settings.

• The approach is clear in its definition of terms and procedures and is easily applicable.

• The approach emphasizes symptom removal and a reorganization of the family in a prag-
matic way.

LIMITATIONS : The structural approach’s main limitations include the following:

• Critics have charged that structural work is not complex enough, may be sexist at times, and
focuses too much on the present.

• The accusation that structural therapy has been influenced by strategic family therapy and
the charge that it is difficult to distinguish it from strategic therapy at times is problematic.

• Since the counselor is incharge of the process of change ,families may not be come
empowered enough, which may limit their overall adjustment and change in the future
(Friesen, 1985).

Strategic (Brief) Counseling

FOUNDERS/DEVELOPERS. John Weakland, Paul Watzlawick, Jay Haley, and Cloe Madanes
are prominent leaders in the strategic school of counseling.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE: Strategic theory is based on the belief that when dysfunctional
symptoms occur, they are an attempt to help people adapt. This approach sees problems as
occurring within a developmental framework of the family life cycle. For instance, marital
difficulties are generated by the system the couple is in. Consequently, the symptoms that emerge
help maintain the marital system in which they operate (Todd, 1986). As a group, strategic
counselors focus on several dimensions of family life that are developmentally significant, such as

• family rules—the overt and covert rules families use to govern themselves,

• family homeostasis—the tendency of families to remain in their same pattern of functioning

unless challenged to do otherwise,

• quidproquo—the responsiveness of family members to treat each other in the ways they are
treated (i.e., something for something), and

• circular causality—the idea that events are interconnected and that factors behind a
behavior are multiple.

ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR : Strategic counselors take a systemic view of problem behaviors
and focus on the process rather than the content of dysfunctional interactions. The job of a stra-
tegic counselor is to get people to try new behaviors because their old behaviors are not work- ing.
A specific behavior is targeted for change. If this behavior can be modified, a spillover effect often
occurs; that is, the results will help individuals make other behavior changes as well.
Thus, strategic counselors strive to resolve presenting problems and pay little attention to instilling
insight. To bring about change, counselors are active, direct, and goal oriented as well as problem
focused, pragmatic, and brief (Snider, 1992; Todd, 1986). They usually limit the number of times
they see families to 10 visits or less.

GOALS : The idea behind the strategic approach is to resolve, remove, or ameliorate a prob-
lematic behavior brought to counseling. In the process, new functional behaviors are generated that
will help individuals, couples, and families achieve a specific goal. By limiting the number of
sessions available for treatment, strategic counselors hope to increase the motivation and
determination of the client to be successful. Another goal of the approach is for the persons
involved in the process to learn new skills for resolving future conflicts.

TECHNIQUES : As a group, strategic family counselors are quite innovative. Each intervention is
tailored to the specifics of persons and problems. This customization makes strategic counseling
one of the most technique-driven approaches within systems theory. Strategic family counselors are
nonblaming, avoid pathological labels, accept the presenting problems of families, and view
symptoms as serving the positive purpose of communication.

Relabeling (giving a new perspective to a behavior) is frequently used. (For example, in regard to
asking for a second helping of pie several times, Johnny’s behavior might be relabeled “assertive”
rather than “rude”).

Paradoxing (insisting on just the opposite of what one wants) and prescribing the symptom
(having the couple or family display voluntarily what they had previously manifested involuntarily,
such as fighting) are employed, too. In addition, the coun- selor may use pretend to have the client
make changes or carry out homework assignments that would not be completed otherwise
(Madanes, 1984; Minuchin, 1974).

Individuals or families are sometimes asked to go through ordeals, such as traveling or suffering,
during the treatment process. The idea is that if people have to make sacrifices to get better, then the
long-term improvements of treatment are enhanced. A major aspect of strategic family counseling is
the assignment of original homework tasks (often given in the form of pre- scriptions or directives)
that are to be completed between sessions.

STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS : Like other approaches, strategic counselors have

unique aspects to what they do and how. Among the most prominent of these emphases are the
following:
 • Many of these therapists work in teams.

• The nature of the approach is pragmatic and flexible.

• The focus of practitioners is on innovation and creativity, which is in the lineage of Milton
Erickson who was especially good at devising novel ways to help his clients.

• The emphasis within the approach is to change the perceptions within people as a way of
fostering new behaviors.

• A deliberate attempt is made to work on one problem at a time and limit the number of
therapeutic sessions so that the focus and motivation for doing things differently is
enhanced.

• The approach may be modified and carried over into settings, such as schools, where it may
be systemically applied to serve a total population, as well as individuals and families in
them (Nelson, 2006).

LIMITATIONS : The limitations of the strategic approach are few in number but significant:

• First, some of its underlying foundation and techniques overlap with other systems and brief
therapy theories. Therefore, there is sometimes confusion as to whether a counselor is using
the strategic approach or another approach, such as the structural.

• Second, some of the stands taken by leading strategic practitioners are controversial, such as
Jay Haley’s view that schizophrenia is not biologically based.

• Finally, the emphasis within strategic camps on the expertise and power of the counselor
may mean that clients do not attain as much independence or ability as they might
otherwise.

{Family counselling and related challenges and

intervention in India in different doc }
COUPLE/FAMILY COUNSELING VERSUS INDIVIDUAL/GROUP COUNSELING

There are similarities and differences in the approaches to couple or family counseling and
individual or group counseling (Gladding, 2015b; Hines, 1988; Trotzer, 1988).

Similarity : A major similarity centers on theories Some theories used in individual or group
counseling (e.g., person-centered, Adlerian, reality therapy, behavioral) are used with couples and
families (Horne, 2000) also .

Difference : Other approaches (e.g., structural, strategic, solution-focused family therapy) are
unique to couple and family counseling and are systemic in nature and can’t be used in individual
therapy .

Similarity : Couple or family counseling and individual counseling share a number of assumptions.
For instance, both recognize the importance the family plays in the individual’s life, both focus on
problem behaviors and conflicts between the individual and the environment, and both are
developmental.

Difference : A difference is that individual counseling usually treats the person outside his or her
family, whereas couple or family counseling generally includes the involvement of others, usually
family members. Further, couple and family counseling works at resolving issues within the family
as a way of helping individual members better cope with the environment (Nichols, 2013).

Similarity : Couple and family counseling sessions are similar to group counseling sessions in
organization, basic dynamics, and stage development. Furthermore, both types of counseling have
an interpersonal emphasis.

The dynamics behind couple and family counseling generally differ from the other two types of
counseling. In making the transition from an individual perspective to a family orientation,
Resnikoff (1981) stresses specific questions that counselors should ask themselves to understand
family functioning and dynamics. By asking the right questions, the counselor becomes more
attuned to the family as a client and how best to work with it.

• What is the outward appearance of the family?

• What repetitive, nonproductive sequences are noticeable; that is, what is the family’s
dance?

• What is the basic feeling state in the family, and who carries it?

• What individual roles reinforce family resistance, and what are the most prevalent family
defenses?

• How are family members differentiated from one another, and what are the subgroup boundaries
• What part of the life cycle is the family experiencing, and what are its problem-solving
methods?

• Whether working with families or with couples, counselors ask many of these same questions.
 Career counselling

Introduction and importance of career counselling

The counseling profession began charting its course when Frank Parsons (1909) outlined a process
for choosing a career and initiated the vocational guidance movement. According to Parsons, it is
better to choose a vocation than merely to hunt for a job. Since his ideas first came into prominence,
a voluminous amount of research and theory has been generated in the field of career development
and counseling.

The process of selecting a career is unique to each individual. It is influenced by a variety of factors.
For instance, personality styles, developmental stages, and life roles come into play (Drummond &
Ryan, 1995). Happenstance and serendipity (Guindon & Hanna, 2002), family background (Chope,
2006), gender (Watt & Eccles, 2008), giftedness (Maxwell, 2007), and age (Canaff, 1997) may also
influence the selection of a career. In addition, the global economy at the time one decides on a
career is a factor (Andersen & Vandehey, 2012) .

Despite its long history and the formulation of many models, career counseling has not enjoyed the
same degree of prestige that other forms of counseling or psychotherapy have. Surveys of high
school juniors and seniors and college undergraduates show that one of the counseling services they
most prefer is career counseling. Brown (1985) also posits that career counseling may be a viable
intervention for some clients who have emotional problems related to nonsupportive, stress-
producing environments. The contribution of career counseling to personal and relational growth
and development is well documented (Krumboltz, 1994; Schultheiss, 2003). In fact, Herr and
colleagues (2004) contend that a variety of life difficulties and mental problems ensue when one’s
career or work life is unsatisfactory.

Crites (1981,) lists important aspects of career counseling, which include the following:

1. “The need for career counseling is greater than the need for psychotherapy.” Career
counseling deals with the inner and outer world of individuals, whereas most other counseling
approaches deal only with internal events.

2. “Career counseling can be therapeutic.” A positive correlation exists between career and
personal adjustment (Crites, 1969; Hinkelman & Luzzo, 2007; Krumboltz, 1994; Super, 1957).
Clients who successfully cope with career decisions may gain skill and confidence in the ability to
tackle other problem areas. They may invest more energy into resolving non career problems
because they have clarified career objectives. Although Brown (1985) provides a set of assessment
strategies that are useful in determining whether a client needs personal or career counseling first,
Krumboltz (1994) asserts that career and personal counseling are inextricably intertwined and often
must be treated together.
3. “Career counseling is more difficult than psychotherapy.” Crites states that, to be an effective
career counselor, a person must deal with both personal and work variables and know how the two
interact. “Being knowledgeable and proficient in career counseling requires that counselors draw
from a variety of both personality and career development theories and techniques and that they
continuously be able to gather and provide current information about the world of work” (Imbimbo,
1994,). The same is not equally true for counseling, which often focuses on the inner world of the
client.

THE SCOPE OF CAREER COUNSELING AND CAREERS

Career counseling is a hybrid discipline, often misunderstood and not always fully appreciated by
many helping professionals, businesspeople, the public, or the government (Hoyt, 2005). The
NCDA defines career counseling as a “process of assisting individuals in the development of a life-
career with a focus on the definition of the worker role and how that role interacts with other life
roles” .

Throughout its history, career counseling has been known by a number of different names,
including vocational guidance, occupational counseling, and vocational counseling. Crites
(1981) emphasizes that the word career is more modern and inclusive than the word vocation.
Career is also broader than the word occupation, which Herr and colleagues (2004) define as a
group of similar jobs found in different industries or organizations. A job is merely an activity
undertaken for economic returns (Fox, 1994).

Career counselors clearly must consider many factors when helping persons make career decisions.
Among these factors are avocational interests, age or stage in life, maturity, gender, familial
obligations, and civic roles (Shallcross, 2009a). Some of these factors are represented in various
ways. For example, the integration and interaction of work and leisure in one’s career over the life
span according to McDaniels (1984) is expressed in the formula C = W + L, where C equals
career; W, work; and L, leisure (Gale, 1998, p. 206).

All theories of counseling are potentially applicable and useful in working with individuals on
career choices, but people gain understanding and insight about themselves and how they fit into the
world of work through educational means as well as counseling relationships. Well informed
persons may need fewer counseling services than others and respond more positively to this form of
helping.

Among the many functions that career counselors perform are:

• Administering and interpreting tests and inventories;

• Conducting personal counseling sessions;

• Developing individualized career plans;

 • Helping clients integrate vocational and avocational life roles;

• Facilitating decision-making skills; and

• Providing support for persons experiencing job stress, job loss, or career transitions.

{Although not important but one can read about career information from gladding on page
number 291 to 293 }

CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES AND COUNSELING

Career development theories try to explain why individuals choose careers. They also deal with the
career adjustments people make over time .The theories described here (mentioned below ) and the
counseling procedures that go with them are among the most prominent and widely used in the field
of career counseling.

• Trait and Factor Theories

• Developmental Theories

• Social–Cognitive Career Theory

• Constructive career Theory

1. Trait-and-Factor Theory

The origin of trait-and-factor theory can be traced back to Frank Parsons. It stresses that the traits
of clients should first be assessed and then systematically matched with factors inherent in various
occupations. Its most widespread influence occurred during the Great Depression when E. G.
Williamson (1939) championed its use. It was out of favor during the 1950s and 1960s but has
resurfaced in a more modern form, which is best characterized as “structural” and is reflected in the
work of researchers such as John Holland (1997). The trait-and-factor approach has always stressed
the uniqueness of persons.

In its modern form, trait-and-factor theory stresses the interpersonal nature of careers and associated
lifestyles as well as the performance requirements of a work position. Holland (1997) identifies
istic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (RIASEC) (Figure in gladding
page no .295). Ranked according to prestige, investigative (I) occupations rank highest, followed by
enterprising (E), artistic (A), and social (S) occupations, which have roughly the same level of
prestige. The lowest levels of prestige are realistic (R) and conventional (C) occupations
(Gottfredson, 1981).
In an analysis of census data using the Holland codes, Reardon, Bullock, and Meyer (2007)
confirmed that the distribution across Holland’s types is asymmetrical. They found that from 1960
to 2000 , the Realistic area had the largest number of individuals employed and that the Artistic area
had the fewest number employed. The gap between the number of people employed in the Realistic
and Enterprising areas shrank during the five decades to where in 2000 there were approximately
equal numbers of people employed in both areas. Interestingly, the Investigative area more than
doubled during this time whereas the other four areas remained relatively stable. Regardless of age,
between 75% and 85% of male workers were employed in the Realistic and Enterprising areas;
women were more varied and concentrated in the Conventional, Realistic, Social, and (more
recently) Enterprising areas.

Personal satisfaction in a work setting depends on a number of factors, but among the most
important are the degree of congruence between personality type, work environment, and social
class (Gade, Fuqua, & Hurlburt, 1988; Holland & Gottfredson, 1976; Savickas, 2012; Trusty,
Robinson, Plata, & Ng, 2000).Some non psychological factors, such as economic or cultural
influences, account for why many professional and nonprofessional workers accept and keep their
jobs (Brown, 2012; Salomone & Sheehan, 1985).

Nevertheless, as Holland emphasizes, it is vital for persons to have adequate knowledge of

themselves and occupational requirements to make informed career decisions. According to
Holland, a three-letter code represents a client’s overall personality, which can be matched with a
type of work environment. Three-letter codes tend to remain relatively stable over the life span
beginning as early as high school (Miller, 2002). A profile of SAE would suggest a person is most
similar to a social type, then an artistic type, and finally an enterprising type. However, it is the
interaction of letter codes that influences the makeup of the person and his or her fit in an
occupational environment. Miller (1998) suggests that, instead of using the three highest scores on
Holland’s hexagon for such a purpose, the top two, middle two, and lowest two scores should be
paired and presented to give the client a fuller picture of his or her personality profile and similarity
to others in a given career.

Trait-and-factor career counseling is sometimes inappropriately caricatured as “three interviews and

a cloud of dust.” The first interview session is spent getting to know a client’s background and
assigning tests. The client then takes a battery of tests and returns for the second interview to have
the counselor interpret the results of the tests. In the third session, the client reviews career choices
in light of the data presented and is sent out by the counselor to find further information on specific
careers. Williamson (1972) originally implemented this theory to help clients learn self management
skills. But as Crites (1969, 1981) notes, trait-and-factor career counselors may ignore the
psychological realities of decision making and fail to promote self-help skills in their clients. Such
counselors may overemphasize test information, which clients either forget or distort.
2. Developmental Theories

(diagram on page no . 298 and 297)

Two of the most widely known career theories are those associated with Donald Super and Eli
Ginzberg.

Compared with other theoretical propositions, developmental theories are generally more
inclusive, more concerned with longitudinal expression of career behavior, and more inclined to
highlight the importance of self-concept. Super (1957, 1990) believed that making a career choice is
linked with implementing one’s vocational self-concept (Hinkelman & Luzzo, 2007). People’s
views of themselves are reflected in what they do. He suggested that vocational development
unfolds in five stages, each of which contains a developmental task to be completed

The first stage is growth (from birth to age 14). During this stage, with its substages of fantasy
(ages 4–10), interest (ages 11–12), and capacity (ages 13–14), children form a mental picture of
themselves in relation to others. Support affirming the multiple dimensions of this stage in Super’s
theory has been substantiated (Palladino Schultheiss, Palma, & Manzi, 2005). During the process of
growth, children become oriented to the world of work in many ways (e.g., exploration,
information, interests, etc.).

The second stage, exploration (ages 14–24), has three substages: tentative (ages 14–17), transition
(ages 18–21), and trial (ages 22–24). The major task of this stage is a general exploration of the
world of work and the specification of a career preference.

The third stage is known as establishment (ages 24–44). Its two substages, trial (ages 24–30) and
advancement (ages 31–44), constitute the major task of becoming established in a preferred and
appropriate field of work. Once established, persons can concentrate on advancement until they are
tired of their job or reach the top of the profession.

The fourth stage, maintenance (ages 44–64), has the major task of preserving what one has already
achieved. The final stage, decline or disengagement (age 65 to death), is a time for disengagement
from work and alignment with other sources of satisfaction. It has two substages: deceleration (ages
65–70) and retirement (age 71 to death).

Contribution : The major contributions of developmental career counseling are its emphases on the
importance of the life span in career decision making and on career decisions that are influenced by
other processes and events in a person’s life.

The developmental approach can be conceptualized as career-pattern counseling (Super, 1954a).

Although this method has been criticized for its historical and descriptive emphases, these features,
along with the conceptual depth of the theory, have also been considered strengths (Herr, 1997).
Overall, developmental career counseling as conceptualized by Super has a number of applications:
• It has been used as the framework for career development programs for children and adolescents
(Brown, 2012).

• The comprehensive rainbow theory that Super conceptualized continues toattract research
interest (Super, 1990; Super, Thompson, & Lindeman, 1988).

• The theory has been used not only as the basis for career counseling but also for attempts at
understanding the development of career maturity.

Drawback : One of the drawbacks to Super’s approach, however, is its applicability to groups other
than those with a Eurocentric background, such as Asian Americans who subscribe to more
collaborative social values.

3. Social–Cognitive Career Theory

{diagram on page no. 300}

Social–cognitive career theory (SCCT) was first published in 1994 and have had tremendous
impact .It stems from the initial work of Albert Bandura and his emphasis on self-efficacy—that is,
“a person’s beliefs regarding her or his ability to successfully perform a particular task” (Maples &
Luzzo, 2005).

Among other central propositions of SCCT are the following:

1. “The interaction between people and their environments is highly dynamic” (i.e., they
influence each other)

2. “Career-related behavior is influenced by four aspects of the person: behavior, self-efficacy,

outcome expectations, and goals in addition to genetically determined characteristics”

3. “Self-efficacy beliefs and expectations of outcomes interact directly to influence interest

development”

4. In addition to expectations of outcome ,factors such as “gender ,race ,physical health,

disabilities, and environmental variables influence self-efficacy development”

5. “Actual career choice and implementation are influenced by a number of direct and indirect
variables other than self-efficacy, expectations, and goals” (e.g., discrimination, economic
variables, and chance happenings)

6. “All things being equal, people with the highest levels of ability and the strongest self-
efficacy beliefs perform at the highest level” (Brown, 2012).
One other important assumption of SCCT is that “self-efficacy and interests are linked” and
interests “can be developed or strengthened using modeling, encouragement, and most powerfully,
by performance enactment. Therefore, groups of clients, such as women [and cultural minorities]
who may have little opportunity to engage in certain activities because of sex-typing [or
discrimination], can benefit from the application of this theory” (Brown, 2012).

Social–cognitive career theory can be used in a number of settings. For instance, it can be used with
rural Appalachian youth to help them develop, change, and go after career interests (Ali &
Saunders, 2006). It can also be used with first-generation college students who need information
that will counteract incorrect beliefs they may have (Gibbons & Shoffner, 2004). Overall, SCCT-
based interventions can be used with diverse groups. “An additional strength of SCCT is that it
addresses both intra-individual and contextual variables in career development” (Niles & Harris-
Bowlsbey, 2013, p. 91).

Krumboltz (1979, 1996) has formulated an equally comprehensive but less developmental social–
cognitive approach to career development. He takes the position that four factors influence a
person’s career choice:

• genetic endowment,

• conditions and events in the environment,

• learning experiences, and

• task-approach skills (e.g., values, work habits).

According to Krumboltz, career decisions are controlled by both internal and external processes.
There is continuous learning that results in what Krumboltz labels

• self-observation generalizations ,an overt or covert self-statement of evaluation that may

or may not be true;

• task-approach skills, an effort by people to project their self-observation generalizations

into the future in order to predict future events; and

• actions, implementations of behaviors, such as applying for a job

Overall, a strength of Krumboltz’s theory is that it views people as having some control over events
they find reinforcing. Whereas individuals and the world change, persons can learn to take
advantage of learning opportunities and make career decisions accordingly. In summary, Krumboltz
outlines a dynamic approach to career counseling that can be applied to males and females, as well
as to racial and ethnic minorities who have individualistic perspectives (Brown, 2012).
4. Constructivist Career Theory

Constructivist career theory is based on meaning-making. People create this meaning in their lives.
It is an interactive process. As clients talk, career counselors communicate with them about their
understanding of the client’s own worlds. It is through clients’ understanding of their role(s) in their
worlds that they, the clients, can understand what factors affect them in their decision making, what
people and values are most important to them, and what they need in order to achieve their goals
(Savickas, 2005). For instance, Fred talks to his career counselor about superheroes in his life and
how he has always wanted to be one. He is thinking about joining the armed forces or the police
force instead of going to a university. His values are to work with others and save lives.

The theory is subjective in asserting that individuals construct their careers by imposing meaning on
their vocational behaviors and occupational experiences. It is the patterning of experiences, not the
sum of them, which produces meaningful stories. In telling their stories, individuals highlight
narrative truths by which they live and aspire to live. It is the implementation of self-concepts that is
at the heart of this approach. Purpose, rather than traits, as in trait-factor theory, compose life
themes that in turn explain and control behaviors, “sustain identity coherence, and foresee future
actions.

In constructionist career theory, Holland’s hexagon of personality and work environment types
(RIASEC) is utilized as a bridge in the process of helping individuals transition between career
content and career process. Likewise Super’s developmental model provides an outline of an
occupational maxi cycle that is structured and valid for some. What usually happens, though, is that
individuals go through mini cycles in their careers and adapt to environments that, if they are
successful, allow them to implement their self-concepts in occupational roles.

Savickas and the constructionists focus with clients on the why of a career. In other words, what
does a person find attractive about becoming or acquiring skills in a certain area? The reasons are
traced back to childhood, such as the heroes the person had as a child and the television characters
and magazines the person found most attractive. The what and the how are also considered by
constructionist career counseling as they seek to be comprehensive as well as relevant in the
twenty-first century (Vess & Lara, 2016).

Overall, the constructionist theory emphasizes flexibility, employability, commitment, emotional

intelligence, and lifelong learning (Savickas, 2012).
CAREER COUNSELING WITH DIVERSE POPULATIONS

( THE BELOW MENTIONED PARAGRAPH IS FOR REFERENCE ONLY )

Career counseling and education are conducted with a wide variety of individuals in diverse
settings. Brown (1985, 2012) observes that career counseling typically is offered in college
counseling centers, rehabilitation facilities, employment offices, and public schools. He thinks it
could be applied with great advantage in many other places as well, including mental health centers
and private practice offices. Jesser (1983) agrees, asserting that there is a need to provide career
information and counseling to potential users, such as people who are unemployed, learning
disabled, in prison, and those released from mental hospitals who seek to reenter the job market.
Reimbursement is a drawback to offering career counseling outside its traditional popu- lations and
settings. Career concerns are not covered in the DSM, and most health care coverage excludes this
service from reimbursement.

This lack of coverage is unfortunate because many people have difficulties making career
decisions. These difficulties are related to three factors present both prior to and during the
decision-making process. These factors are:

• Lack of readiness,

• Lack of information, and

• Inconsistent information
Because the concept of careers encompasses the life span, counselors who specialize in this
area find themselves working with a full age range of clients, from young children to octo-
genarians. Consequently, many different approaches and techniques have been developed
for working effectively with select groups.

The following types of populations are mentioned below :

• Children

• Adolescence

• College students

• Adult

• Women and Cultural or Ethnic Minorities

• Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders

Career Counseling with Children

The process of career development begins in the preschool years and becomes more direct in
elementary schools. Herr and colleagues (2004) cite numerous studies to show that during the first 6
years of school, many children develop a relatively stable self-perception and make a tentative
commitment to a vocation. These processes are observed whether career counseling and guidance
activities are offered or not. Nevertheless, it is beneficial for children, especially those who live in
areas with limited employment opportunities, to have a broad, systematic program of career
counseling and guidance in the schools. Such programs should focus on awareness rather than firm
decision making. They should provide as many experiential activities as possible and should help
children realize that they have career choices. As children progress in the elementary school grades,
they should receive more detailed information about careers and become acquainted with career
opportunities that might transcend socioeconomic levels and gender (Bobo, Hildreth, & Durodoye,
1998).
Jesser (1983) suggests that levels of career awareness in elementary school children may be raised
through activities such as field trips to local industries, bakeries, manufacturing plants, or banks.
For example, “ Because pizza is an immediate attention getter with elementary school children, a
field trip to a pizza restaurant can provide an entertaining learning experience” (Beale & Nugent,
1996). When such trips are carefully preplanned, implemented, and followed up with appropriate
classroom learning exercises (e.g., class discussions), children become aware of a wider spectrum
of related occupations, the value of work, and the importance of teams in carrying out tasks.

Other ways of expanding children’s awareness of careers are through “inviting parents into the
elementary classroom and encouraging parents to invite students into their work
environments” (Wahl & Blackhurst, 2000). Such a process capitalizes on parents’ influence as role
models and may be especially helpful for children whose parents are unemployed or
underemployed. To break down children’s stereotypes connected with careers, persons who hold
non traditional occupations may be invited to speak. Reading stories about or seeing videos about
persons and their typical activities on jobs may likewise be helpful. For example, the Children’s
Dictionary of Occupations (Paramore, Hopke, & Drier, 2004) and other publications like it that
contain student activity packages are excellent sources of accurate information.

Splete (1982b) outlines a comprehensive program for working with children that includes parent
education and classroom discussions jointly planned by the teacher and counselor. He emphasises
that there are three key career development areas at the elementary school level: self awareness (i.e.,
one’s uniqueness), career awareness and exploration, and decision making Well designed career
guidance and counseling programs that are implemented at an early age and coordinated with
programs across all levels of the educational system can go a long way toward dispelling irrational
and decision-hindering career development myths, such as “a career decision is an event that should
occur at a specific point in time” (Lewis & Gilhousen, 1981).
Career Counseling with Adolescents

In working with adolescents in regard to career matters, counselors should provide career
counseling on a school-wide basis.

Cole (1982) stresses that in middle school, career guidance activities should include the exploration
of work opportunities and students’ evaluation of their own strengths and weaknesses in regard to
possible future careers. Assets that students should become aware of and begin to evaluate include
talents and skills, general intelligence, motivation level, friends, family, life experience, appearance,
and health (Campbell, 1974). “Applied arts curriculum such as industrial arts (applied technology),
home economics (family life education) and computer literacy classes , offer ideal opportunities for
integrated career education. Libraries and/or career centers may have special middle level
computerized career information delivery systems (CIDS) for student use” (National
Occupational Information Coordinating Committee [NOICC], 1994,). The four components
common to most CIDS are assessment, occupational search, occupational information, and
educational information (Gysbers et al., 2014).

At the senior high school, career guidance and counseling activities are related to students’ maturity.
Regardless, many high school students benefit from using self-knowledge as a beginning point for
exploring careers (Roudebush, 2011). The greatest challenge and need for career development
programs occur on this level, especially in the area of acquiring basic skills (Bynner, 1997). In
general, career counseling at the high school level has three emphases: stimulating career
development, providing treatment, and aiding placement. More specifically, counselors provide
students with reassurance, information, emotional support, reality testing, planning strategies,
attitude clarification, and work experiences, depending on a student’s needs and level of functioning
(Herr et al., 2004).

Several techniques have proven quite effective in helping adolescents crystallize ideas about
careers. Some are mainly cognitive whereas others are more experiential and comprehensive.
Among the cognitive techniques is the use of guided fantasies, such as imagining a typical day in
the future, an awards ceremony, a mid career change, or retirement (Morgan & Skovholt, 1977).
Another cognitive technique involves the providing of fundamental information about career entry
and development. For example, a career day or a career fair “featuring employers and professionals
from a variety of occupations allows students to make a realistic comparison of each occupation’s
primary duties, day-to-day activities, and training needs” (Wahl & Blackhurst, 2000, p. 372).
Completing an occupational family tree to find out how present interests compare with the careers
of family members is a final cognitive approach that may be useful (Dickson & Parmerlee, 1980).

More experiential and comprehensive techniques include offering youth apprenticeships. These
apprenticeships are a popular approach that provides work-based learning for adolescents.
Apprenticeships also help students who are not college-bound make a smooth transition from high
school to the primary work environment. Although apprenticeships hold much promise, they pose
several challenges for career counselors such as (a) helping clients learn adaptive skills that will
enable them to change with change, (b) helping clients find ways to acquire the kinds of work
[identified in government reports], and (c) helping clients to develop a personally meaningful set of
work values that will enable them to humanize the workplace for themselves and thus receive the
personal satisfaction that comes from true work. (Hoyt, 1994)

In addition to helping youth in school, career counselors must make special efforts to help high
school students who leave school before graduation (Rumberger, 1987). These young people are at
risk of unemployment or underemployment for the rest of their lives. Educational and
experiential programs, such as Mann’s (1986) four Cs (cash, care, computers, and coalitions),
can help at-risk students become involved in career exploration and development. According to
Bloch (1988, 1989), successful educational counseling programs for students at risk of
dropping out should follow six guidelines:

1. They make a connection between a student’s present and future status (i.e., cash— students
are paid for attending).

2. They individualize programs and communicate caring.

3. They form successful coalitions with community institutions and businesses.

4. They integrate sequencing of career development activities.

5. They offer age- and stage-appropriate career development activities.

6. They use a wide variety of media and career development resources, including
computers.
Career Counseling with College Students

“Committing to a career choice is one of the main psychosocial tasks that college students
face” (Osborn, Howard, & Leierer, 2007,). Approximately half of all college students experience
career-related problems (Herr et al., 2004). Therefore, college students need and value career
counseling services, such as undergraduate career exploration courses (Osborn et al., 2007). Even
students who have already decided on their college majors and careers seek such services both to
validate their choices and seek additional information.

In responding to student needs, comprehensive career guidance and counseling programs in

institutions of higher education attempt to provide a number of services. Among these services are

• helping with the selection of a major field of study;

• offering self-assessment and self-analysis through psychological testing;

• helping students understand the world of work;

• facilitating access to employment opportunities through career fairs, internships ,and campus
interviews;

• teaching decision-making skills; and

• meeting the needs of special populations (Herr et al., 2004)

College counseling centers can also offer group career counseling. Such a service has been found to
make a significantly greater increase in career decision-making abilities for students participating in
a group than for those not participating (Rowell, Mobley, Kemer, & Giordano, 2014).

Besides offering these options, students need “life-career developmental counselling,” too
(Engels, Jacobs, & Kern, 2000). This broader approach seeks to help people plan for future careers
while balancing and integrating life-work roles and responsibilities in an appropriate way, for
example, being a worker and a family member, parent, and citizen. Anticipating problems related to
work, intimate relationships, and responsibilities is an important career related counseling service
counselors can offer college students.

Counselors can often be the bridge that connects college students to school and work (Murphy,
Blustein, Bohlig, & Platt, 2010). By sharing information pertinent to their intended career field and
knowledge about the emerging adulthood transition, counselors can help prepare these students for
their first work experience and beyond (Kennedy, 2008a). Such knowledge can help prevent work–
family conflicts (WFC) that might otherwise arise and negatively affect a person’s behavior,
emotions, and health (Frone, 2003).
Despite all of the services institutions of higher education offer, some college students sabotage
their career decisions by adopting maladaptive perfectionism and dysfunctional career thinking.
Interventions addressing these maladies in career decision making can enhance students’ confidence
and help them be more realistic (Andrews, Bullock-Yowell, Dahlen, & Nicholson, 2014). One way
this is done is through the creation of realistic job previews (RJPs) of a specific job. The process
involves contacting and interviewing people with knowledge about the careers that the students are
considering. RJPs ultimately benefit potential job seekers in an occupation by both decreasing
employee turnover and by increasing employee satisfaction (Laker, 2002). Students should
supplement these types of interviews by completing computer-based career planning systems
(CBCPSs) such as DISCOVER. The reason is that the completion of such systems is active,
immediate, empowering, and rewarded with a printed result that promotes self-efficacy and the
likelihood that individuals will complete other career-exploratory behaviors (Maples & Luzzo,
2005).
Career Counseling with Adults

Career interest patterns tend to be more stable after college than during college. Emerging adults
(young adults from 18 up to age 30) are especially in need of relationship support and space to
develop autonomy and competence as they transition from college to career (Murphy et al., 2010).
However, many older adults continue to need and seek career counseling even into late adulthood
(adults 65 years and older). Indeed, adults experience cyclical periods of stability and transition
throughout their lives, and career change is a developmental as well as situational expectation at the
adult stage of life (Kerka, 1991).

Developmentally, some adults have a midlife career change that occurs as they enter their 40s and
what Erik Erikson described as a stage of generativity versus stagnation. At this time, adults may
change careers as they become more introspective and seek to put more meaning in their lives.
Situationally, adults may seek career changes after a trauma such as a death, layoff, or divorce
(Marino, 1996).

Adults may have particularly difficult times with their careers and career decisions when they find
“themselves unhappy in their work yet feel appropriately ambivalent about switching
directions” (Lowman, 1993). In such situations they may create illogical or troublesome career
beliefs that become self-fulfilling and self-defeating (J. Krumboltz, 1992). An example of such a
belief is “I’ll never find a job I really like.” It is crucial in such cases to help people change their
ways of thinking and become more realistic.

There are two dominant ways of working with adults in career counseling: the differential
approach and the developmental approach.

The differential approach stresses that “the typology of persons and environments is more useful
than any life stage strategies for coping with career problems” (Holland & Gottfredson, 1976). It
avoids age-related stereotypes, gender and minority group issues, and the scientific and practical
difficulties of dealing with life span problems. “At any age, the level and quality of a person’s
vocational coping is a function of the interaction of personality type and type of environment plus
the consistency and differentiation of each” (Holland & Gottfredson, 1976).

According to this view, a career counselor who is aware of typological formulations such as
Holland’s can predict the characteristic ways a given person may cope with career problems. For
example, a person with a well-defined social/artistic personality (typical of many individual
employed as counselors) would be expected to have high educational and vocational aspirations, to
have good decision-making ability, to have a strong and lifelong interest in learning, to have
moderate personal competency, and to have a marked interest in creative and high-level
performance rather than in leadership (Holland, 1997). A person with such a profile would also have
a tendency to remold or leave an environment in the face of adversity. A major advantage of
working from this approach is the ease with which it explains career shifts at any age. People who
shift careers, at any point in life, seek to find more consistency between personality and
environment.

The developmental approach examines a greater number of individual and environmental

variables. “The experiences people have with events, situations and other people play a large part in
determining their identities (i.e., what they believe and value, how they respond to others, and what
their own self images are)” (Gladstein & Apfel, 1987). Developmental life-span career theory
proposes that adults are always in the process of evaluating themselves in regard to how they are
affected by outside environmental influences (e.g., spouse, family, friends) and how they impact
these variables. Okun (1984) and Gladstein and Apfel (1987) believe the interplay of other people
and events strongly influences career decisions in adulthood.

Gladstein and Apfel’s (1987) approach to adult career counseling focuses on a combination of six
elements: developmental, comprehensive, self-in-group, longitudinal, mutual commitment, and
multimethodological. These elements work together in the process of change at this stage of life.
This model, which has been implemented on a practical level at the University of Rochester Adult
Counseling Center, considers the person’s total identity over time. In a related model, Chusmir
(1990) stresses the interaction of multiple factors in the process that men undergo when choosing
nontraditional careers (careers in which people of one gender are not usually employed). Whether
or not careers are nontraditional, the fact is that many forces enter into career decisions.
Career Counseling with Women and Ethnic Minorities

Women and ethnic minorities historically have received less adequate career counseling than
European American males have and have faced more barriers in pursuit of their careers (Brown,
2002). The growing social activism among women and ethnic minority groups, combined with a
growing body of research, are helping challenge constraining negative forces and create models of
career counsel- ing for these populations (Peterson & Gonzalez, 2000).

WOMEN: Gender-based career patterns for women have changed for several reasons. For one
thing, more than 70 percent of women in the United States now work for wages (Greenstone &
Looney, 2011).

Since 1970, there has been a dramatic rise in research on and interest in the career development of
women (King & Knight, 2011; Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001; Whitmarsh, Brown, Cooper, Hawkins-
Rodgers, & Wentworth, 2007). One aspect of the complexity of career development for women is
what is known as the work–family conflict, where there is a clash between work responsibilities
such as working late and family responsibilities such as picking up children at day care (Slan-
Jerusalim & Chen, 2009). This conflict may result in role overload (competing and sometimes
conflicting demands for multiple roles expected of a person, such as breadwinner, breadmaker,
parent, community service worker) (Pearson, 2008). In such a situation there is little to no time left
over for leisure, which has an impact on a person’s sense of psychological health and overall well-
being. Complicating matters even further, many theories of career development cannot be
appropriately applied to women because they were formulated for men or are incomplete (Cook,
Heppner, & O’Brien, 2002; Gottfredson, 2005; Jackson & Scharman, 2002).

Therefore, in working with women, counselors need to realize they are often entering new territory
and must watch out for and resist occupational sex-role stereotyping, even at the elementary
school level (McMahon & Patton, 1997). Common stereotypes include viewing women as primarily
mothers (nurturing), children (dependent), iron maidens (hard driving), and sex objects (Gysbers et
al., 2014), or mistakenly assuming that, as a group, females prefer social, artistic, and conventional
occupations as opposed to realistic, investigative, and enterprising occupations (Tomlinson &
Evans-Hughes, 1991).

In addition, there is the “glass ceiling” phenomenon in which women are seen as able to rise only
so far in a corporation because they are not viewed as being able to perform top-level executive
duties. When these myths are accepted, girls and women are not challenged to explore their abilities
and possibilities and, as a result, some women fail to develop their abilities or gifts to the fullest.

Some other barriers outside these myths also must be considered in career counseling for women.
For instance, a company culture may revolve around the expectation of working far more hours than
may be described in a job description, in attending certain events, or being “one of the guys.” Thus,
women must overcome these realities, as well as the myths that surround them, in order to achieve
career goals (Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001). Counselors may advise them that they may more readily
find a job that is not in a female-dominated occupational field by socially contacting men rather
than women (Mencken & Winfield, 2000). Overcoming barriers and misperceptions and finding
balance is an essential part of the counseling process.

To understand how women may combine a career and a family, Jackson and Scharman (2002)
studied a national sample of 26 women identified as having creatively constructed their careers to
maximize time with their families. Eight different themes emerged as to how these women managed
to construct family Friendly careers. Their strategies ranged from “peaceful trade-offs” to “partner
career flexibility.” However, each participant found satisfying solutions to combining career and
family that did not require an either/or choice. Overall, these women demonstrated remarkable self-
efficacy (i.e., confidence in themselves to cope with or man- age complex or difficult situations).

Another helpful career counseling strategy in working with women, especially if they are depressed
and indecisive about a career, is to offer “career plus life counseling, meaning that in counseling
the women focus on personal and relationship issues in addition to explicit career issues” (Lucas,
Skokowski, & Ancis, 2000).

An area that warrants counselors’ attention in career counseling with women in the future is
demographics and trends. The labor market has shifted from goods-producing to service producing
industries (Van Buren, Kelly, & Hall, 1993). Service jobs are those such as sales clerk and computer
operator. When young women take these jobs when they are qualified to pursue higher paying,
nontraditional careers in skilled trades, they become more subjected to economic forces such as
poverty, social welfare, and dependence on men that are not in their or society’s best interest.
Therefore, there is “an urgent need for career counseling interventions” offered through live or
video modeling that will persuade young women to consider the economic benefits of
nontraditional career choices or choices that are in line with their real interests (Van Buren et al.,
1993, p). Interestingly, more women are beginning to pursue their career interests and in recent
years have been turning to enterprising occupations where they may earn more and be more in
charge of their lives (Reardon et al., 2007).

CULTURAL MINORITIES:

Cultural minorities are so diverse that it is almost impossible to focus on all the factors that career
counselors must deal with in working with them individually or collectively. Many cultural
minorities have difficulty obtaining meaningful employment because of employers’ discrimination
practices, lack of marketable skills, and limited access to informal networks that lead to good jobs
(Leong, 1995; Turner & Conkel, 2010). Therefore, many racial/ ethnic minorities are “concentrated
in lower level positions and unskilled occupations” (Fouad & Byars-Winston, 2005).

In addition, the interest patterns of cultural minorities (as a group) have tended not to necessarily
fall within Holland’s (1997) circular RIASEC .
Counselors must remember that cultural minorities have special needs in regard to establishing
themselves in careers. Thus, counselors need to be sensitive to such issues and at the same time help
individuals overcome artificial and real barriers that prohibit them from maximizing their potential.
For instance, compared to White students, Black college students are more attracted to future
income and future status when making a career choice (Daire, LaMothe, & Fuller, 2007). Likewise,
some Black youths who have lived in poverty all their lives are characterized as vocationally
handicapped because they have few positive work-related experiences, limited educational
opportunities, and frequently lack positive work role models(Dunn & Veltman, 1989). Structured
programs for these individuals use positive role models and experiences to affirm cultural or ethnic
heritage and abilities, thus working to address and overcome traditional restrictions (Drummond &
Ryan, 1995; Locke & Faubert, 1993). In the process, counselors help these youths, as they do
others, to distinguish between barriers over which they have control and responsibility for
transcending those which they may not have the capacity to overcome (Albert & Luzzo, 1999).

Career awareness programs for Chinese American and Korean American parents have also proven
beneficial (Evanoski & Tse, 1989). In these Asian cultures, parents traditionally make career
decisions for their children, regardless of the children’s interests. By staging neighborhood
workshops to introduce parents to American career opportunities, a greater variety of choices is
opened to all concerned. The success of such workshops is due to bilingual role models and career
guidance materials written in the participants’ language.

Finally, when working with inner city youth in the area of careers, counselors need to realize that
traditional theories of career development may not work well. In essence many of these theories are
middle class and are not a good fit for the environment in which these young people grow up
because inner city youth face the challenge of overcoming the effects of poverty, minority status,
and lack of opportunity. To gain adaptive advantages in the current and future labor markets, young
people need to acquire an integrated set of vocational development skills (Turner & Conkel, 2010,).

Career development gains can be increased by using the Integrative Contextual Model of Career
Development (ICM). ICM is a career model, drawn from different theoretical perspectives, that
includes the skills of self- and career-exploration; person-environment fit; goal setting; social,
prosocial, and work readiness skills; self-regulated learning; and the utilization of social support.
Although this approach still needs more empirical research, it has been found to be effective with
middle school students.
Career Counseling with Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders

Special diverse groups not often considered in career counseling are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and
transgenders (LGBT). These individuals face unique concerns as well as many that are common to
other groups. Of special concern to many LGBT individuals is whether to be overt or covert in
disclosing their sexual orientation at work (Chojnacki & Gelberg, 1994). Persons with minority
sexual orientations face personal and professional developmental concerns, including
discrimination, if they openly acknowledge their beliefs and practices (Degges-White & Shoffner,
2002; O’Ryan & McFarland, 2010). This may be especially true if gay members of this population
are in male-dominated occupations, which tend to be more homophobic than other occupational
groups (Jome, Surething, & Taylor, 2005). To overcome the difficulties they face, O’Ryan &
McFarland (2010) found that dual-career lesbian and gay couples use three primary strategies:
planfulness, creating positive social networks, and shifting from marginalization to consolidation
and integration.

Although traditional careercounseling methods are usually appropriate with individuals of all sexual
orientations, special attention should be given to helping LGBT individuals assess the fit between
their lifestyle preferences and specific work environments. Sexual orientation cannot be ignored as
an important variable in career counseling if the process is to be constructive (Croteau & Thiel,
1993; Degges-White & Shoffner, 2002).

In working with members of this population, career counselors must evaluate both their and the
surrounding community’s stereotyping of LGBT individuals. In such an appraisal, they must gauge
personal, professional, and environmental bias toward people who are not heterosexual. In addition,
they need to use gender-free language and become familiar with support networks that are within
their communities for members of these groups. Furthermore, they need to become informed about
overt and covert discrimination in the workplace, such as blackmail, ostracism, harassment,
exclusion, and termination. The “lavender ceiling” also needs to be discussed with gays, lesbians,
bisexuals, and transgenders. This barrier to advancement in a career is the equivalent to the glass
ceiling for women, where a career plateaus early due to discreet prejudice by upper management
against persons because of beliefs about them related to their sexuality (Friskopp & Silverstein,
1995; Zunker, 2016).
 Crisis Intervention

Crisis Counseling

{i don’t think this is relevant at all , for exam pov but since PD mentioned it so I had written this }

Brammer (1973) states: "Crisis is a state of disorganization in which the helpe faces frustration of
important life goals or profound disruption of his life cycle and methods of coping with stress" .
These situations often call for specific responses on the part of the counselor to aid the incapacitated
helpe.
Belkin (1975) further discusses types of crises: "All of us, at some time in our lives, have witnessed
or experienced crisis-situations--loss of a loved one, drug-induced crisis, inability to cope with life
situations, a family crisis, an interpersonal crisis with one we love or care about, and so on, When a
crisis reaches the stage where it immobilizes us and prevents us from consciously controlling
ourselves, then it becomes the type of crisis for which people seek treatment" .

Crisis situations can be related to suicide attempts, unwanted pregnancy, death of loved one,
divorce, hospitalization, job relocation, new family member, loss of job, imprisonment, infidelity,
retirement, drug addiction, or financial problems. Regardless of the nature of the crisis, the
counselor needs to accept the situation and maintain personal poise and self-assuredness. This type
of confidence can help to reduce the anxiety on the part of the client, as the counselor models
responsibility for the client at this time. Through reassurance and expression of hope to the client,
the counselor can deal with this immediate situation and then, in the future, aid the client in a
developmental sense Belkin (1975) has made some suggestions for counselor behavior in a crisis
situation.

Do's and Don'ts in Crisis Intervention Counseling

Do's
1. Remain calm and stable. Prepare yourself, psychologically for the turbulence of emotion which
is soon to flow from the client.

2. Allow the client full opportunity to speak. Attempt to determine the type of crisis, its
precipitating forces and its severity. Interrupt only when it is for the client's benefit, never to
relieve yourself of distressing feelings being induced by the client.

3. When indicated, ask object-oriented questions. These should, if asked properly, have a calming
effect upon the client. If they fail to have such an effect, the counselor should consider the
possibility that he is asking ego- = oriented questions.

4. Deal with the immediate situation rather than its underlying, unconscious causes that may be
left for later. "In the crisis period," Brockopp (1973) points out, "the person is open to change;
 the sooner we can work with him the more likely we are able to minimize the possible
deterioration of the personality and to develop an effective solution which will improve the
personality functioning of the individual."

5. Have readily available local resources to assist the counselor: community, medical, legal, etc.

Don'ts
1. Don't try to "cheer up" the client, to tell him that his problems are not as bad as they seem, to
reassure him unless he specifically requests these types of interventions (which is, by the way,
the exception rather than the rule).

2. Don't ask the suicidal client to abandon his plans. Always make such a re-quest a temporary
delay.

3. Don’t attempt to solve the total personality-adjustment difficulty. Some counselors make the
error of minimizing the crisis itself and attempting to get the client to speak about the more
"fundamental" things.

Crisis Counseling (reference only , not edited )

FOUNDERS/DEVELOPERS. Erich Lindemann (1944, 1956) and Gerald Caplan (1964) are
considered two of the most prominent pioneers in the field of crisis counseling.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE. Loss is an inevitable part of life. Developmentally and

situationally, healthy people grow and move on, leaving some things behind, whether intentionally,
by accident, or because of growth. In leaving, there may be grieving, which is a natural reaction to
loss. The extent of the grief (emotional sorrow and/or distress over the personal and interpersonal
experience of loss) are associated with the value of what has been lost and how (Ober, Granello, &
Wheaten, 2012). In some cases, the pain may be small because the person was not attached to or
invested in the object left behind, or the person had adequate time to prepare. In other cases, an
individual may feel overwhelmed because of the value the person, possession, or position had in his
or her life or because of the sudden and/or traumatic way the loss occurred. In such cases, there is a
crisis.

People can have a variety of crises. Four of the most common types of crises are:

1. Developmental, which takes place in the normal flow of human growth and development under
circumstances that are considered normal (e.g., birth of a child, retirement)
2. Situational,in which uncommon and extraordinary events occur that an individual has no way of
predicting or controlling (e.g., automobile accident, kidnapping, loss of job)

3. Existential,which includes inner conflicts and anxieties that accompany important human issues
of purpose, responsibility, independence, freedom, and commitment (James & Gilliland, 2013)
(e.g., realizing at age 50 that one has wasted one’s life and cannot relive past years)

4. Ecosystemic, in which some natural or human-caused disaster overtakes a person or a group of

people who find themselves, through no fault or action of their own, inundated in the aftermath of
an event that may adversely affect virtually every member of the environment in which they live
(James, & Gilliland, 2013) (e.g., a hurricane such as Katrina, a superstorm such as Sandy, an act of
terrorism)

GOALS : Many, but not all, crises are time limited and last somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks.
Goals within crisis counseling revolve around getting those who are suffering immediate help in a
variety of forms (e.g., psychological, financial, legal). What occurs during the immediate after math
of the crisis event determines whether or not the crisis will become a disease reservoir that will be
transformed into a chronic and long-term state (James & Gilliland, 2013). Initially, coun- selors use
basic crisis theory to help people in crisis recognize and correct temporary affective, behavioral, and
cognitive distortions brought on by traumatic events. This service is different from brief counseling
approaches that try to help individuals find remediation for more ongoing problems. Long-term
adjustment and health may require considerable follow-up on the part of the crisis counselor or
another helping specialist.

ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR: Counselors who work in crises need to be mature individuals
with a variety of life experiences with which they have successfully dealt. They also need to have a
good command of basic helping skills, high energy, and quick mental reflexes, and yet be poised,
calm, creative, and flexible in the midst of highly charged situations.

Counselors are often direct and active in crisis situations. The role is quite different from that of
ordinary counseling. Crisis counseling has three stages that those who participate in it must realize
and be ready for: precrisis preparation, in-crisis action, and postcrisis recovery (McAdams III &
Keener, 2008).

TECHNIQUES: Techniques used in crisis counseling vary according to the type of crisis as
mentioned earlier, and the potential for harm. However, what crisis workers do and when they do it
is dependent on assessing the individuals experiencing crisis in a continuous and fluid manner
(Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2014; James & Gilliland, 2013).
After assessment, there are three essential listening activities that need to be implemented:

1. Defining the problem, especially from the client’s viewpoint;

 2. Ensuring client safety ,which means minimizing physical and psychological danger to the
client or others; and

3. Providing support ,which means communicating to the client genuine and unconditional
caring.

After, and sometimes during, the middle of listening skills come acting strategies, or in- crisis
actions, which include:

1. Examining alternatives (i.e., recognizing alternatives that are available and realizing
some choices are better than others);

2. Making plans, where clients feel a sense of control and autonomy in the process so they
do not become dependent; and

3. Obtaining commitment from the client to take actions that have been planned.
Where possible, counselors should follow up with clients to make sure they have been
able to complete their plan and to further assess whether they have had delayed
reactions to the crisis they have experienced, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.

After a crisis has passed, the stress associated with it needs to be managed and counselors need to
debrief. Three approaches to debriefing are Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), defusing,
and one-on-one crisis counseling (Jordan, 2002). As a treatment CISD is formal and highly
structured. It was initially developed for use with military combat veterans and then civil- ian first
responders (police, fire, ambulance, emergency workers, and disaster rescuers). It has now been
adapted and used almost anywhere there is a need to address trauma in people’s lives. CISD helps
those involved in a critical incident to share their experiences, vent emotions, and learn about stress
reactions and symptoms. While CISD is not psychotherapy, those who receive it are given referral
for further help if required. In CISD, a seven-stage group approach is used that helps individuals
deal with their thoughts and feelings in a controlled environment using two counselors (Yeager &
Roberts, 2015). This approach evolves through an emphasis on introduc- tion, facts, thoughts,
reactions, symptoms, teaching, and reentry. Often utilizing a group approach, CISD treatment, also
known as psychological first aid, ranges from 1 to 3 hours and is generally provided 1 to 10 days
after an acute crisis and 3 to 4 weeks after the disaster in mass disasters (Yeager & Roberts, 2015).

Defusing is an intervention that is a shorter and a less formal version of CISD. It generally lasts
from 30 to 60 minutes and is best conducted within 1 to 4 hours after a critical incident. Like CISD,
it provides an opportunity to learn about stress, share reactions to an incident and vent emo- tions.
The main purpose is to stabilize a person or individuals affected by an incident so that they can
return to their normal routines without unusual stress. Where appropriate, CISD may be conducted
later. One-to-one counseling uses some of the same techniques as in defusing and CISD with the
treatment being brief, lasting from 15 minutes to 2 hours. It may involve anywhere from one to
three sessions and result in a referral for longer treatment if needed (Everly, Lating, & Mitchell,
2000).

STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS: As a specialty, crisis counseling is unique and has

contributed to the profession of counseling in the following ways:

• The approach benefits from its brevity and its directness.

• The approach uses modest goals and objectives because of the sudden and/or traumatic
nature of crises.

• The approach relies on its intensity, which is greater than regular forms of counseling.

• The approach utilizes a more transitional nature.

LIMITATIONS: Crisis counseling is limited in these ways:

• The approach deals with situations of an immediate nature.

• The approach does not go into the same depth in regard to resolution that most counseling
approaches do.

• The approach is more time limited and trauma oriented than most forms of therapeutic
interventions.
 Crisis intervention

Crisis intervention is a temporary but immediate relief to an emergency situation presented by an

incapacitated client . Crisis intervention procedures are specific and clear cut and the counsellor
should have more than a superficial acquaintance with them .S. Nass (1977) contrasted crisis
counselling to standard psychotherapy practices . In contrast to psychotherapy which is almost
exclusively focused on the long term goals associated with personality reorganisations crisis
interventions is admirably suited to satisfy both the distant an immediate objectives . Depending
upon the demands of the presenting situation and the unique qualities of the client the direction and
the emphasis of the treatment can be tailored to meet these requirements by undergoing continual
modifications ans revisions . Crisis intervention therapy is however more than often addresses to
resolving the immediate problem at had the to rooting out the deep seated causes of personality
dysfunction .

The first and foremost problem of crisis counselling is the sudden unexpected nature of the
situation.The counsellor is not prepared for a crisis situation . Since she or he didn’t expect it , thus
there is an immediate intuitive tendency to want to escape the situation instead of confronting it
head on .

Crisis Intervention Models

Three basic crisis intervention models dis cussed by both Leitner (1974) and Belkin (1984) are the
equilibrium model, the cognitive model, and the psychosocial transition model. These three generic
models provide the groundwork for many different crisis in. tervention strategies and
methodologies. Two new models that target ecological factors that contribute to crisis are the
developmental-ecological model (Collins & Collins, 2005) and the contextual ecological model
(Myer & Moore, 2006). Two field-based practice models are psychological first aid (Raphael, 1977;
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2011), which is used in the immediate aftermath of disasters
and terrorist attacks, and Roberts' (2005) ACT model, which is more generic but primarily trauma
based.

The Equilibrium Model

The equilibrium model is really an equilibrium/ disequilibrium model. People in crisis are in a state
of psychological or emotional disequilibrium in which their usual coping mechanisms and problem-
solving methods fail to meet their needs. The goal of the equilibrium model is to help people
recover a state of pre crisis equilibrium (Caplan, 1961). The equilibrium model seems most
appropriate for early intervention, when the person is out of control, disoriented, and unable to
make appropriate choices. Until the person has regained some coping abilities, the main focus is on
stabilizing the individual. Up to the time the person has reacquired some definite measure of
stability, little else can or should be done . For example, it does little good to dig into the underlying
factors that cause suicidal ideation until the person can be stabilized to the point of agreeing that life
is worth living for at least another week. This is probably the purest model of crisis intervention and
is most likely to be used at the onset of the crisis (Caplan, 1961; Leitner, 1974; Lindemann, 1944).

The Cognitive Model

The cognitive model of crisis intervention is based on the premise that crises are rooted in faulty
thinking about the events or situations that surround the crisis—not in the events themselves or the
facts about the events or situations (Ellis, 1962). The goal of this model is to help people become
aware of and change their views and beliefs about the crisis events or situations. The basic tenet of
the cognitive model is that people can gain control of crises in their lives by changing their thinking,
especially by recognizing and disputing the irrational and self-defeating parts of their cognitions,
and by retaining and focusing on the rational and self-enhancing elements of their thinking. The
messages that people in crisis send them-selves become very negative and twisted, in contrast to the
reality of the situation. Dilemmas that are constant and grinding wear people out, pushing their
internal state of perception more and more to-ward negative self-talk until their cognitive sets are so
negative that no amount of preaching can convince them that anything positive will ever come from
the situation. Their behavior soon follows this negative self-talk and begets a self-fulfilling
prophecy that the situation is hopeless. At this juncture, crisis intervention becomes a job of
rewiring the individual's thoughts to more positive feedback loops by practicing and rehearsing new
self-statements about the situation until the old, negative, debilitating ones are expunged. The
cognitive model seems most appropriate after the client has been stabilized and returned to an
approximate state of equilibrium. Basic components of this approach are found in the rational-
emotive work of Ellis (1982), the cognitive behavioral approach of Meichenbaum (1977), and the
cognitive system of Beck (1976).

The Psychosocial Transition Model

The psychosocial transition model assumes that people are products of their genes plus the learning
they have absorbed from their particular social environments. Because people are continuously
changing, de-veloping, and growing, and their social environments and social influences (Doris.
1986) are continuously evolving, crises may be related to internal or external (psychological, social,
or environmental) difficulties. The goal of crisis intervention is to collaborate with clients in
assessing the internal and external difficulties contributing to the crisis and then help them choose
workable alternatives to their current behaviors, attitudes, and use of environmental resources.
Clients may need to incorporate adequate internal coping mechanisms, social supports, and environ-
mental resources in order to gain autonomous (non-crisis) control over their lives.
GRIEF CRISIS

Certainly one of the most common of life's tragic situations is the crisis of grief .An individual is
unable to manage his or her feelings following the death either unexpected or after a long illness, of
a loved one or someone who is important in his or her life, he or she just cannot cope with this
difficult and painful situation. The client may wish to talk about memories of the deceased and may
recall, with painful clarity the associated feelings and thoughts with the deceased person .

The duration of a grief reaction," Lindemann (1944) points out, seems to depend on the success
with which a person does the grief work, namely, emancipation from the bondage to the deceased,
readjustment to the environment in which the deceased is missing, and the formation of new
relationships One of the big Obstacles to this work seems to be the fact that many patients try to
avoid the intense stress connected with the grief experience

The task of the counselor, in this case, is to help the client get through the "grief work." The
counselor must recognize that the client's possible disorientation and confusion is caused by an
inability to deal with self and with the world, without the presence of the deceased person. The
client is, in Lindemann's words, “in bondage" to the deceased. To free the individual from this
bondage, the counsellor must be willing to experience along with the client the profound sense of
loneliness and isolation that follows the initial mourning, the feelings of guilt and responsibility that
plague the survivor. To do this, the counselor, of course, must have his or her own feelings well in
control, The most significant work on grief crisis and on dealing with death as a reality of life, has
been done by Elisabeth Kubler rose .

She emphasizes the need to keep communication open between the dying person and the family,
and suggests that the grief crisis can be worked through before the person dies , not just after. She
delineates a 5 stage process through which we adjust to the idea of death.
The first stage involves denial when the person refuses to believe he or she is dying . Then there is
anger Why is this happening to me? followed by bargaining , depression and finally, with
appropriate emotional interventions such as empathic understanding, a stage of acceptance .

Factors Working through grief : There are a number of key factors that play a part in how well or
how poorly grief crisis can be resolved.
First, the suddenness of the death is of much practical importance. Even though it is said that we
can never fully prepare for a loved one's death, there is a qualitative difference between our loved
one suddenly dropping dead and a loved one lingering on for a period of time, wasting away with
illness.
Rubins model :
Rubin’s Model Rubin (1981) has proposed a 2 track model of bereavement.
The two-track model of bereavement refers to the bereavement response from both the perspective
of the bereaved’s emotional bond with the deceased the bereaved’s personality change as a result of
the grief. The task of the grief response is to reestablish functioning in all areas,

Rubin outlines three main stages:

The first stage requires the bereaved to accept the reality of the loss and to begin the loosening of
emotional attachments to the deceased. This stage, known as the acute grief period is typically
marked by dramatic changes in behaviour and by pronounced personality modifications.

The second stage is known as the mourning period. It is characterized by a more subdued process
of detachment from the deceased and more subtle changes in personality. During this stage, some
personality variables may have stabilized, while others are still influenced by the continuing process
of affective detachment from the loved individual. As the detachment proceeds, they too Will
stabilize or subside.

At the final stage, a resolution has been achieved. The detachment process has reached its
conclusion and personality changes have stabilized. Equilibrium has been achieved . It is at this
point that persisting effects of the loss can be identified.
Now it is possible to discuss objectively the affective relationship to the deceased and the presence
or absence of persisting personality change.

Weisman (1973) differentiates between three kinds or untimely death: premature , unexpected
and calamitous and suggest that they all require different kinds of management .

Premature refers to the death of a young person . Unexpected refers to the sudden death of a normal
and healthy person. Finally, calamitous death "is not only unpredicted, but violent, destructive,
demeaning, and even degrading.This last category would include murder and suicide.

The point is that each of these requires different kinds of management. The feelings attendant to
each naturally differs and Weisman offer a range of appropriate interventions, which can be
summarised as follows.

1. To facilitate the reorientation and adjustment process by "fostering a timely and appropriate
bereavement process" and by “transforming the most malignant untimely deaths into more
acceptable forms"

2. "To change calamitous death into unexpected deaths, unexpected deaths into premature deaths
and premature deaths into appropriate deaths
3. Breaking bad news into least devastating way and providing immediate support to the
survivors .

4. Helping the survivor find significant an supportive individuals who can empathically assist I the
reorientation process

5. Helping the survivors learn to deal with feelings of guilt

6. Helping the survivors earn to openly express his or her feelings

Together these 6 applications of grief crisis can help the bereaved person to adjust in most
appropriate ways . The progress will not be fast but the counsellor will guide the client into right
direction .

Rape or sexual abuse crisis

As the public becomes increasingly sensitive to the plight of the rape victim. Rape Crisis counselors
and other mental health professionals are finding themselves more involved in efforts to provide
supportive counseling services to the victim of rapt Now that the general public. which for so many
years did not know how to deal with the victim of rape. has begun to recognize that a rape victim is
not like other victims but a special type of victim who has suffered a trauma of a unique nature.
there is a growing concern for providing counseling services, either immediately following the rape
trauma or in the days, weeks, and months thereafter. With this increased professional interest has
evolved a comprehensive literature on the psychodynamics of rape and the psychological treatment
of the rape victim.
Specific counseling interventions depend, to a large extent, on the setting. In the hospital emergency
room,where the victim may first be brought, a different kind of approach will be required than in
the individual counseling setting some weeks after the traumatic event (Williams & Williams,
1975). Broadly speaking, we can divide post-rape counseling into three periods: the hours
immediately following the rape; the weeks thereafter; and long-range considerations. During the
hours immediately following the rape, the victim is likely to be seen either at a police station or in a
hospital emergency room. The goals of any counselling endeavours will be influenced in these
settings by the need to obtain objective information about the crime, the circumstances, the victim,
and about the perpetrator—information that may be helpful to the police and to prosecutors. Since a
calm and clear-headed witness is a good witness, the time taken to relax the victim—to reduce her
state of distress as much as possible—will be of practical value later on. It may also be essential at
this time to obtain relevant medical information necessary for treatment. Is the woman using
contraceptives" Is she pregnant'. Does she suffer from any gynecological problems'. Is she under
medication (a diabetic may forget to take her insulin during this period of distress)" What injuries
did she suffered at the hands of her attacker ? A through medication should be performed and a
women should be appraised of this .
Moreover, an assessment of other family members' reactions should be noted by the interviewer
There have been many tragic incidents where an enraged husband, father, or friend has acted
impulsively immediately following an attack upon his loved one . This unnecessary violence (and it
can be directed at anyone) could have been prevented by appropriate interventions. But it was not
prevented because it was not noticed.
The "rape trauma syndrome," as it is described by Holmstrom and Burgess (1075), comprises an
acute phase and a long-term phase. The acute phase includes many physical symptoms, especially
gastrointestinal irritability, muscular tension, sleep pattern disturbance, genito - urinary discomfort,
and a wide range of emotional reactions. These problems are dealt with soon after the attack, and
many of them will be directed to the physician. But the counselor plays an especially vital part in
helping the rape victim get through the long-term phase, which "includes changes in life-style, such
as changing residence, seeking family and social network support, and dealing with repetitive
nightmares and phobias." During the weeks following the rape, counseling should aim to find out
the total effect upon the client's life. Has her sex life been upset? Have her relations with men been
affected? Has she noted any physical complaints? Have there been any adverse comments in the
office? In the community)? With whom has she discussed the rape, and what kind of reaction has
she found? Because there is always a possibility of a delayed shock response, it may be a good idea
to schedule an appointment six to ten months following the rape to see if the immediacy of the
trauma has subsided.

SUICIDE CRISIS

One of the most difficult types of crisis for the counselor to deal with is the Suicidal Crisis suicidal
crisis. In this situation the client expresses to the counselor either a specific or vague intention of
committing suicide. Usually such a client is suffering from feeling of overwhelming helplessness
and futility, the belief that nothing can help , nothing can make a difference. He or she feels closed
in, confined in an unbearable situation from which there is no escape. The fact that suicidal client is
speaking to someone about these feelings indicates a desire for help, but it an error to assume that
the request for help means that the individual is not serious about suicidal intentions .

In dealing with the suicidal client, the counselor must be willing to listen to the client and to
recognise the miasma of depression tat overcomes him or her . Main point is tax t the counsellor
must deal with his or her anxiety otherwise the counsellor might not be able to minimise and help
the client with suicidal intentions .

Therapeutically, it is necessary that the counselor experience along with the client feelings of total
despair and hopelessness , the sense of futility and isolation, sentiments of abject grief and failure,
the client's rage directed at himself or herself and at the world . The worst thing a couseller can do is
to tell that things are not as bad as they seem , that the things will improve, that he or she has plenty
of reasons td go on living. Although realistically all of these statements may be true but the client
might feel she or he is not understood and this reinforces feelings of isolation from the people
around her or him. For the counselor truly to help the client She or he must fully experience reality
from the clients hapless perceptive .
Experience and research have developed a number of helpful rules in dealing with the suicidal
client. It is generally a good idea to ascertain whether the method of destruction has been arrived yet
"How do you intend to kill yourself?" the counselor may ask. The more specific the clients plan ,
the closer she or he is to carrying out these plans .
Second, it is not advisable to have the client look at “the bright side" of the situation , it the client
could accept the brighter picture she or he will not be in this place .

The skill of the counselor shines through these brief lines of interaction. The counsellor didn’t try to
convince client that the things were that bad and he should find a brief friend . Certainly if the client
were able to understand such a realistic statement , he would not be contemplating suicide at the
first place The counselor did allow the client to freely express his fantasies of self destruction and
inquired as the means to this act . In this way he was able to assess the client's determination to
carry out what he was threatening. The counselor did no ask the client to give up his suicidal plans,
but rather to postpone them for a couple of days to give the two of them a chance to discuss them
again.The counselor joined the cline in his fantasy and emotionally understood the hopelessness and
pain of the client's predicament.

Two other points should be mentioned about suicide prone individuals. First, they often express
their suicidal intentions inversely through homicidal threats. When such murderous rage is
expressed very strongly in the clinical settings, it can quickly upset the counselor who feels that the
client may lose control. Practitioners should be especially sensitive to the client who is frustrated in
his or her homicidal rage may take it out on himself or herself.
Second, counselors must be aware of subtle but extremely important “distinctions among the wish
to die, the act of self injury and the terminal outcome (Cutter , 1971 ) . Clarifications of the clients
degree of intent at the beginning can help not only to formulate the current course of treatment , but
can also assure that the client's vague death wish does not become a suicidal reality.