Counseling Commons^™

Critical Consciousness Through An Anti-Racism Lens: Teaching Strategies For Counselor Educators, Eunice Lerma, Clarissa L. Salinas, Javier Cavazos Vela

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This teaching brief describes a creative and innovative teaching strategy to create inclusive and anti-oppressive learning spaces. Counselor education faculty can use the instructional strategy described in this teaching brief to: (a) engage in reflexivity and positionality regarding antiracist teaching and racial justice; (b) use specific actions that counter racism; (c) address microaggressions; (d) provide skills for dialogues around difficult conversations such as racial justice (Thurber et al., 2019); and (e) assign learning activities and assessment practices that allow students to reflect on and address racial justice (Gonzalez & Cokley, 2021; Ng et al., 2022; Thurber et al., 2019).

Evaluating The Impact Of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy On Hope And Clinical Symptoms With Latine Clients, Krystle Himmelberger, James Ikonomopoulos, Javier Cavazos Vela

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

We implemented a single-case research design (SCRD) with a small sample (N = 2) to assess the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) for Latine clients experiencing mental health concerns. Analysis of participants’ scores on the Dispositional Hope Scale (DHS) and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2) using split-middle line of progress visual trend analysis, statistical process control charting, percentage of non-overlapping data points procedure, percent improvement, and Tau-U yielded treatment effects indicating that SFBT may be effective for improving hope and mental health symptoms for Latine clients. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for counselor educators, counselors-in-training, and practitioners, which …

Discerning The Ontology Of Dream Characters From The Standpoint Of Co-Creative Dream Theory, Gregory Scott Sparrow

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is not uncommon to have dreams with familiar characters who appear to exhibit independent agency and personhood, whether the actual persons are alive or dead. Discerning the ontological nature of dream characters presents a challenge in contemporary dreamwork, especially if one wishes to adopt an inclusive approach that allows for dream characters to be derived from intrapsychic or transpersonal sources. An inclusive model avoids two possible errors inherent in an either-or approach: 1) Believing that a dream character is a “real” person, a dreamer may disavow ownership over unacknowledged or rejected aspects of self; or, 2) Believing that the …

Exploring The Impact Of A Brief Counseling Intervention For Improving Mental Health Factors And Learning Strategies Among College Students At An Hsi, James Ikonomopoulos, Kristopher Garza, Javier Cavazos Vela

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluated a counseling intervention called the University Turn Around Program (U-Turn) for college students experiencing mental health issues and low academic performance. Social Anxiety, Hostility, and Alcohol Use were measured on the CCAPS-34, and Attitude, Information Processing, Selecting Main Ideas, Test Strategies, and Using Academic Resources were measured on the LASSI-3. Paired samples t-tests revealed improvement for each measure (d = 0.45 to 1.09) supporting the U-Turn program’s inclusion in university counseling centers.

Viewing The Dream As Process: A Key To Effective Dreamwork, Gregory Scott Sparrow, Mark Thurston

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Co-creative dream paradigm posits that dreams are indeterminate from the outset and unfold in real time according to the dream ego’s moment-to-moment responses to the emergent content. This interactive dynamic can illuminate process parallels between the dream and waking relationships, even if content parallels cannot be easily discerned. If generic process can be unambiguously observed in the dream report, and maps onto waking relational process, then one might argue that the best initial approach to dream analysis should be to analyze the dream process as a prelude to further analysis, especially in cases where the visual content may seem …

Responses To The 2014 Police Shooting Of Michael Brown: Cosmology Episodes And Enacted Environments, Jessica Haas, Kari A. O’Grady, Jesse Fox, Hope Schuermann, Marion E. Toscano, Chun-Shin Taylor

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is a consensual multi-dyadic exploration of the diverse perspectives of seven community subgroups’ perceptions of events before, during, and after the 2014 police-involved shooting death of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri. Recognizing an enacted environment in the complex history that preceded the uprising, findings were contextualized and framed through the cosmology episode trauma model. A multicultural and visibly diverse research team conducted 34 interviews with involved citizens (protesters), law enforcement, clergy, politicians, business owners, media personnel, and educators. A culturally diverse cross-analysis team triangulated social perspective through consensus coding and audit. Consensual multi-dyadic method preserved the unique characteristics …

Crisis Counseling Self- Efficacy: Personal Abilities And Situational Influences, Suzanne Maniss, Yuleinys A. Castillo, Jason Cartwright, Selma D. Yznaga

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Crises are unpredictable in nature and affect the general well-being of individuals. A proper crisis management foundation can prepare future counselors to effectively work with clients who are experiencing a crisis. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of counselors-in-training (CIT) in relation to their anticipated crisis intervention abilities. This paper reports the results of qualitative focus groups of counselors in training. Participants reported perceived strengthens and limitations shaping their ability to handle a crisis. Counselor preparation offers opportunities to properly train culturally responsive providers for crisis management.

Playing To Heal: The Impact Of Bereavement Camp For Children With Grief., Clarissa L. Salinas

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Child bereavement is a difficult topic to explore and study because of stigmas in discussing death, and because of restrictions in doing research with young children. Thus, research in childhood bereavement is limited. This study focused on children who attended a bereavement camp after the traumatic loss of a loved one. The purpose was to understand the participants’ grief experiences. This research study used phenomenological inquiry and analysis methodology. Five female participants were interviewed for this study. In addition, participants created a sandtray world to convey their experiences at bereavement camp. The essence of participants’ experiences as revealed through verbal …

It’S The Experience Not The Format: Successful Techniques To Transition Social Justice Coursework To A Distance Delivery Format, Peter L. Kranz, Paul Sale, John Lowdermilk

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

“Research on multicultural learning has focused on formal and local settings, such as schools, but young people are interacting with, and therefore learning from, informal settings and nonlocal contexts, including online platforms.” (Kim, 2016, p. 1). The instructor must be vigilant in selecting online teaching pedagogy when offering sensitive topics of courses because face-to-face intimacy is usually a component of more traditional courses in diversity (Matloob Haghanikar, 2019). The purpose of this current paper is to align critical parts of an experiential race relations curriculum (Clarke, 2019; Kranz & Lund, 2004) in a face-to-face setting with digital technologies available for …

An Association Between Perceived Social Support And Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Severity Among Women With Lifetime Sexual Victimization: The Serial Mediating Role Of Resilience And Coping, Michiyo Hirai, Ruby Charak, Laura D. Seligman, Joseph D. Hovey, John M. Ruiz, Timothy W. Smith

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examined the association between perceived social support and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms, serially mediated by resilience and coping among women exposed to different patterns of sexual victimization experiences: childhood sexual abuse (CSA) only, adult sexual assault (ASA) only, and sexual revictimization (SR). A total of 255 sexually victimized women recruited from four U.S. universities completed self-report measures online; 112 participants reported provisionally diagnosable levels of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The proposed model was largely supported in the CSA only group and the SR group. Different patterns of mediational effects were found across the three groups. …

Exploration Of A Resilience Intervention Among Women With Disabilities: An Examination Of Two Case Studies, Susan Stuntzner, Angela Macdonald, Jacquelyn A. Dalton

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

People who live with a disability are faced with the prospect of adjusting to the disability and its associated life experiences. Many people encounter negative and hurtful situations such as unemployment, lack of adequate resources, changes in relationships and social support, negative societal attitudes, bias, and discrimination, and so forth. Women with disabilities are subject to these same negative encounters, but they often experience several others based on their gender (i.e., higher rates of abuse, poverty, and financial independence). Given the likelihood that women may experience additional stressors with fewer supports in place, professionals must focus on the needs of …

Therapeutic Effects Of Building Resilience: An Observation Of Two Case Studies, Susan Stuntzner, Angela Macdonald, Michael Hartley

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Resilience is an emerging area of research interest. Resilience has much relevance and applicability to persons with disabilities and to the situations lived and experienced by people with disabilities.1–3 However, few resilience interventions, specifically tailored to the needs of people with disabilities, have been developed and empirically studied. Stuntzner and Hartley3 began to change this trend with the development of a 10-module resilience intervention. Presented as a part of this article are two case studies of people who completed an initial resilience intervention pilot study conducted by Stuntzner and MacDonald.4 The case studies represent people living with varying disabilities and …

Cultivating Forgiveness, Resilience And Positive Change: A Resilience Intervention Pilot Study Among Persons With Disabilities, Susan Stuntzner, Angela Macdonald, Michael Hartley, Jain Sachin

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Resilience is an area of emerging interest and applies to people living with a disability.1–3 However, research suggests that few, if any, resilience interventions have been developed and facilitated among people with disabilities.4–6 To address this void and assist people with disabilities in building resilience-based skills, Stuntzner and Hartley3 developed a 10-module resilience intervention (i.e., Stuntzner and Hartley’s Life Enhancement Intervention: Developing Resiliency Skills Following Disability). The following article is a pilot-study utilizing Stuntzner and Hartley’s3 10-module resilience intervention. The intervention was facilitated among a group (N=11) of individuals with varying disabilities. Stuntzner and Hartley’s3 resilience intervention (SHRI) was used …

The Construction And Analysis Of Dream Metaphors From The Standpoint Of Co-Creative Dream Theory, Gregory Scott Sparrow

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Co-creative dream theory posits that the dream is co-determined through the reciprocal interplay between the witnessing dream ego and the emergent content. Consequently, the resulting dream can be seen as one of many contingent outcomes based on the dreamer’s range of response through the course of the dream, as well as the broad constraints of underlying domains that account for the nature and thrust of the emergent content. From this relational view of the dream, the visual imagery is not the content itself, but rather the “mutable interface” (Sparrow, 2013) between the dream ego and the emergent content. The purpose …

Application Of Forgiveness In Rehabilitation Psychology: A Positive Option For Change, Susan Stuntzner, Jacquelyn A. Dalton, Angela Macdonald

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Throughout the past 25 years, forgiveness has been a part of psychology and studied within many populations. However, forgiveness has not been considered nor promoted as a helpful skill or approach when counseling persons with disabilities or in the rehabilitation counseling/psychology profession at large. In an effort to change this trend by educating the profession on the importance and relevance of forgiveness to the practice of rehabilitation psychology, readers are afforded the opportunity to learn about forgiveness, its application and relevance to persons with disabilities, and to further their understanding of how forgiveness can be conceptualized and explored. Provided in …

Forgiveness And Psychosocial Reactions To Disability: A Pilot Study To Examine Change In Persons With Spinal Cord Injury, Susan Stuntzner, Ruth Lynch, Robert Enright, Michael Hartley, Angela Macdonald

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are among the most traumatic onset of disabilities to date. Due to the nature of spinal cord injury and how it affects the person’s life and psychosocial adjustment, there are a multitude of feelings, changes, persons, situations, and transgressions that need to be resolved and forgiven. In an effort to help persons with SCI do that, two interventions - Enright’s Forgiveness is a Choice intervention and Kennedy and Duff’s (2001) Coping Effectively with Spinal Cord Injury training – were facilitated on-line as part of a self-study treatment format among persons with spinal cord injury. The interventions …

In Search Of Somatic Therapy By Setsuko Tsuchiya (Review), Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Somatic Therapy is a healing practice not widely understood or used. While it is an approach that has been incorporated in psychology and counseling approaches, allied helping professions (i.e. massage therapy, alternative healing methods), and sometimes in medicine particularly as an adjunctive approach, it is a therapy that is not universally defined or conceptualized. Somatic Therapy is not widely discussed within the rehabilitation profession as an approach to work with individuals with disabilities including people with severe conditions such as SCI, TBI, or other neurological conditions. In an effort to educate rehabilitation professionals about this approach, the following book was …

Development Of Perceived School Counselor Support Scale: Based On The Asca Mindsets And Behaviors, Mehmet A. Karaman, Cemal Karadas, Javier Cavazos Vela

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study presents a culturally and psychometrically sound instrument of perceived school counselor support among Turkish high school students. The study has been framed using American School Counseling Association’s Mindsets and Behaviors for Students Success Model to create a valuable instrument that measures students’ perceptions of their school counselors’ support in a different culture, society, and education system. The results of this study supported the theoretical based Perceived School Counselor Support Scale long and short forms providing initial and strong evidence based on internal structure and relations to other variables. Internal consistency estimates on subscales ranged from good to strong.

Exploring The Impact Of A Positive Psychology Intervention With Latina/O Adolescents, Javier Cavazos Vela, Christian Garcia, James F. Whittenberg, James Ikonomopoulos, Stacey Lee Gonzalez

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Latina/o adolescents may begin middle school with lower levels of life satisfaction, hope, and self-compassion. In the current study, a small-series (N = 5) single-case research design was implemented to evaluate the impact of a positive psychology group counseling experience to increase Latina/o adolescents’ life satisfaction, hope, and self-compassion. Analysis of participants’ scores on outcome measures yielded treatment effects indicating that the positive psychology group counseling experience may be effective for increasing hope, life satisfaction, and self-compassion. Given that the positive psychology approach was a promising approach for improving Latina/o adolescents’ positive outcomes, implications for school counselors to integrate positive …

P. Schulte (2015). Paths To Recovery For Gay And Bisexual Drug Addicts: Healing Weary Hearts. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield. Isbn: 978-1-4422-4998-1, 178 Pp. (Review), Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Paul Schulte, the author of the book, Paths to Recovery for Gay and Bisexual Drug Addicts has extensive experience in working with gay and bisexual men. His work began in 2005 while a student at West Coast University‘s drug and alcohol counseling program. Since then, he has worked with several gay, bisexual, and straight men who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. His work has spanned 3 continents. Throughout, Paul Schulte, helps the reader understand the complexities, difficult and subhuman experiences often encountered by gay and bisexual men – all of which further complicate their self-image, decisions, and ability …

Book Review: Akhtar, S. & Bertoglia, M. (2015). The Latino American: Psychodynamic Perspectives On Culture And Mental Health Issues. Rowman And Littlefield. Contemporary Research In Disability And Rehabilitation, Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding and working with culturally diverse populations is an important component of counseling and allied helping professions. Many professionals receive some training as a part of their graduate programs on multiculturalism, but this is only the beginning and typically scratches the surface. From this point, professionals are expected to continue their awareness and learning about the needs and issues of the people they serve; for some this includes expanding their understanding of ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse individuals. Professionals wanting to better understand the experience, perspectives, and mental health concerns of Latino Americans may find this edited book informative and …

Integrating Wellness Within Group Counseling For Latinx Adolescents, Javier Cavazos Vela, James Ikonomopoulos, Christian Garcia, James F. Whittenberg, Stacey Lee Gonzalez

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Latinx adolescents may begin middle school with lower levels of life satisfaction and hope. In the current study, we implemented a small-series (N = 4) single-case research design to evaluate the impact of a group counseling wellness experience to increase Latinx adolescents' life satisfaction and hope. Analysis of participants' scores on outcome measures yielded treatment effects indicating that the group counseling wellness experience may be effective for increasing hope and life satisfaction. Implications for school counselors are provided.

The Therapeutic Triad Of Disability, Susan Stuntzner, Jacquelyn Dalton, Angela Macdonald

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

For many counseling professionals, the exploration of forgiveness, selfcompassion or resilience can seem daunting, particularly when determining ways to apply these concepts to people with disabilities and their specific needs. When approaching this task, counselors may ask themselves several questions, including: Where do I start? Which concept is most important? Is one of them more relevant for this population? How can I best help people explore one or all of these concepts? Good questions indeed but not always easy ones to answer.

To help counselors understand each of these concepts, the three authors of this article developed a model called …

The Physical Environment For Play Therapy With Chinese Children, Yih-Jiun Shen, Sylvia Z. Ramirez, Peter L. Kranz, Xinhua Tao, Yuanhong Ji

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growing interest in addressing the mental health needs of Chinese children through play therapy calls for an understanding of the cultural roots and norms of Chinese families. To help professionals succeed in this traditionally Western treatment when providing cross-cultural play therapy, the authors make recommendations concerning the location and appearance of the play therapy facility, including its waiting room and playroom. They discuss the need for carefully introducing play therapy to Chinese parents and suggest Western and Chinese toys and play items that are therapeutically appropriate for Chinese children. The authors also propose an outdoor play area based on …

Factorial Validity Of Teacher And School Counselor Support Scales In Latina/O Students, Mehmet A. Karaman, Javier Cavazos Vela, Ming-Tsan Pierre Lu

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the current study, we investigated the psychometric properties of two meaningful measures of support from teachers and school counselors among Latina/o students. Examining factorial stability with diverse populations is important to make sure that measures provide valid information about constructs of teacher or counselor support. While researchers have provided evidence of reliability (i.e., consistency), no study has examined validity (e.g., accuracy) of Teacher Support Scale Revised (TSSR) with Latina/o students. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses (CFA and EFA) methods were used to evaluate structural validity of the TSSR and School Counselor Support Scale (SCSS). Two different models of the …

Examining The Impact Of A Positive Psychology Intervention With Latina Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Eunice Lerma, Autumn Wright, James Ikonomopoulos, Yvette Hinojosa, Javier Cavazos Vela

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

We implemented a small series (N = 3) single-case research design to assess the effectiveness of a nine-session positive psychology treatment program for Latina survivors of intimate partner violence. Analysis of participants’ scores on life satisfaction and depression scales using the percentage of non-overlapping data point’s procedure yielded treatment effects indicating that a positive psychology treatment program may be effective for improving life satisfaction for Latina survivors of intimate partner violence. Implications for counselors and researchers are provided.

Collaborative Documentation For Behavioral Healthcare Providers: An Emerging Practice, Suzanne Maniss, Amanda G. Pruit

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article considers the practice of collaborative documentation (CD) for behavioral healthcare providers; the legislative, technological, and philosophical milieu in which it developed; the attributed benefits for providers and clients; and the peer-reviewed research supporting its use. Collaborative documentation has emerged following significant legislative and technological changes in healthcare delivery and shifts toward client-centered healthcare practices including more shared decision-making between clients and practitioners.

Change Your Story Change Your Brain By Dr. Linda Miles (Review), Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

Professionals interested in learning mindfulness and ways to practice it in their life or with the people they serve may find the book, “Change Your Story Change Your Brain” of value. Collectively, the book is composed of four sections pertaining to mindfulness: Mindfulness as a Survival Strategy, The Mindfulness Mentality, Mindfulness as the Road to Recovery, and Mindfulness as a Path of Self-Discovery. Within each section are three to four chapters. Each chapter covers a different concept related to mindfulness and is approached according to a specific format which includes an illustration of the NOW approach (i.e. Notice, Opportunities and …

Evaluation Of The Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) With Latinx College Students, Javier Cavazos Vela, Yvette Hinojosa, Mehmet A. Karaman

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the current study, the psychometric properties of a measure of psychological grit among 344 Latinx college students was investigated. Researchers used confirmatory factor analysis to validate a previously identified two-factor model of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Internal consistency was acceptable as measured by coefficient alpha. A two-factor model of Grit-S had a good model fit with the data. A discussion regarding the importance of these findings is provided and implications for counselors and researchers are offered.

An Examination Of The Structure Of The Vocational Outcome Expectations Scale With Latina/O Students, Javier Cavazos Vela, Mehmet A. Karaman, Wayne D. Smith, Yvette Hinojosa

Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the current study, we investigated the psychometric properties of a meaningful measure of career development among Latina/o students. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate structural validity of the Vocational Outcome Expectations scale. The results supported a modest one-factor structure for the VOE scale. Internal consistency was good as measured by coefficient alpha. Findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the VOE with Latina/o students. A discussion regarding the usefulness of this measure of career development is provided.