Counseling Commons^™

Pawsitive Training: A Preliminary Investigation Of Animal-Assisted Counseling Competencies In A University-Based Training Program, Elizabeth Kjellstrand Hartwig, Jordan Jalen Evans

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

With the proliferation of counselors interested in animal-assisted counseling (AAC), the need for quality AAC training programs is essential. AAC training programs should seek to provide comprehensive training that is specifically targeted to the mental health profession, promotes human and animal wellness, and is aligned with current AAC competencies. The purpose of this study was to identify the efficacy of an AAC training program. This study measured practitioners’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes before and after the training program utilizing a researcher-developed survey instrument based on current AAC competencies. Overall, outcomes identified that practitioners’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes of AAC significantly …

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

Does Medical School Prepare Doctors To Treat Sexual Health?, Sonjia Kenya, Breanne Young, Fabiola Joseph, Olveen Carrasquillo

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

Does Medical School Prepare Doctors to Treat Sexual Health?

Abstract

Introduction: Sexual function is a normative process warranting the equal attention of preventive and treatment services throughout the lifespan. Despite growing recognition of the value of human sexuality in clinical settings, there is no standardized sexual wellness curriculum universally administered in medical schools. Accordingly, many current and future physicians feel underprepared when taking care of patients’ sexual health needs.

Methods: To strengthen sexual health knowledge among medical students in Miami, we conducted a brief workshop in February 2020 and March 2021. The workshop provided an introductory overview of the physiology …

Sexuality, Sex Education, And Intellectual Disability: Guidance For Counselors, Julie C. Hill, Jill M. Meyer, Lindsay E. Stokes, J.C. Ausmus, Brandon Worthey, Jamie Carney

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

Sexual health and sexuality can be an important component of an individual’s identity. Sexual health and sexuality are a vital part of an individual’s quality of life and overall health and well-being. Individuals with intellectual disabilities have been viewed as asexual, lacking sexual interest, or have an inability to engage in sexual activity. These views have led to individuals with intellectual disabilities to be excluded from sexual education programs or lack appropriate knowledge of sexuality, sexual health, and healthy relationships. It is important for parents, medical providers, mental health professionals, and caregivers to have the knowledge needs to have conversations …

We Are Family: Queer And Transgender Family Building, Jennifer M. Gess, Nattalie Wolff-Tseng, Kaitlin J. Phelps, Madison Morley

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

LGBTQ+ people experience resiliency and discrimination when attempting to build families. There are massive systemic barriers and oppressive walls LGBTQ+ people face when forming either a blended family, trying at-home insemination, using assisted reproductive technology, working with a gestational carrier, or attempting to become a foster parent or adopt a child. Queer reproductive justice provides a foundation for counselors to support clients by using affirmative counseling, providing positive mandatory interactions clients are ordered to during family building, and advocating with and on behalf of their LGBTQ+ clients building families.

Can A Course On Sexuality Counseling Increase Empathy When Working With Sex- And Gender-Minoritized Individuals?, Betty Cardona, Robinder P. Bedi

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

This study examined whether a sexuality counseling course could increase self-perceived empathy for working with Sex and Gender minoritized (SGM)individuals. Forty-two students enrolled in a sexuality counseling course completed empathy assessments prior to starting the course and after completing it. Statistically significant increases in empathy towards gay/lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals were found (moderate to a large effect sizes). Results indicate that, at least under some circumstances, empathy levels for SGM individuals in counselors-in-training (CITs) could be increased through coursework. Increases in practitioner empathy for SGM individuals can translate into lower uniliteral termination rates and better counseling and psychotherapy outcomes.

Sexological Ecosystemic Assessment: A Systems Approach To Understanding Sexual Issues In Individuals And Couples, Stephanie Buehler

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

Sexuality is a complex construct made up of the influence of systems upon the individual and counterinfluence of the individual upon systems, which can make sexual history taking problematic. The adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s developmental ecological systems model has been employed to create a Sexological Ecosystemic Assessment. The Sexological Ecosystemic Assessment is described as a means of gathering and organizing information about an individual’s sexual development and current sexual expression across five subsystems that range from the microsystem, wherein interactions take place among and between family members and close caregivers, to the chronosystem, which is the effect of time across the …

School Counselors’ Perspectives On Preparing Students Experiencing Homelessness For College, Stacey A. Havlik, Dana Brookover, Patrick Rowley

Journal of College Access

The purpose of the study is to investigate school counselors’ support of youth experiencing homelessness going to college. Using survey methods, school counselors reported their knowledge, perceived competence, advocacy, and actions related to supporting students experiencing homelessness in their college preparation. The results suggested that training and the number of students experiencing homelessness on counselors’ caseloads were significantly related to their knowledge and competence. Knowledge, competence, and advocacy all impacted the number of interventions utilized by participants. The implications of these results for school counselors and counselor educators are discussed.

The Bible And Mental Health: Towards A Biblical Theology Of Mental Health, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

The Soul Of Desire: Discovering The Neuroscience Of Beauty, Longing, And Community, Rebekah Bled

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Faithful Integration: The Importance Of Worldview, Hermeneutics, And Theology For Christian Counseling, Nicole C. Biller

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Efforts to integrate faith with psychological science and counseling have been present within Christian graduate programs for decades; however, questions remain about how to do this effectively. A brief review of integration efforts and a survey of the experience of graduate students within these programs reveal a desire to further model this practical integration within the classroom. Possible solutions emphasize a biblically informed worldview, intentionally crafted hermeneutics, and well developed theology, which can lead to faith-informed counseling practices.

Pentecostal Hope In The Age Of Covid-19, Peter Althouse, Audrey E. Mccormick

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This research sought to identify how Pentecostals and charismatics responded to the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, what role did eschatology play in provoking hope, and how did theologies on healing influence responses? Data revealed that Pentecostals were generally not casting their responses to the pandemic as a millennial expectation of a better future but were grieving their losses and seeking to provoke hope amidst suffering. While minimal miraculous healings were reported, healing was cast primarily as the ongoing presence of defiant hope amidst trauma, grief and suffering. We propose that grief and grieving is an eschatological response to loss and death.

Exploring How Pentecostals Preach About Depression, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

A qualitative analysis was completed on twelve sermons into how Pentecostal preachers talk about depression from the pulpit using the Assemblies of God (AG) as a purposive sample. Findings illustrate that preachers talked about faulty thinking as the source of depression and interpreted depression as a transformative journey occurring within the context of a God encounter where the believer fixed their faulty thinking. While the way the preachers interpreted depression is not without critique, the article suggests that preaching about depression as a journey of encounter may help listeners frame their depression experiences within a narrative framework that helps them …

The Role Of Spirituality In The Lives Of Counselors: Reframing The Focus, Greg A. Meyer

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

The term spirituality is often hard to hear without prior, preconceived ideas and bias attached to it, and is often used interchangeably with other words, depending on one’s past and culture. The field of counselor education and supervision has also used the term in ambiguous ways, which has led to apprehension and a lack of clarity with which the term is taught and understood. This paper explains the historical focus of spirituality within the counselor education field, then redefines the focus towards the lives of counselors, but more specifically the lives of counseling students and the impact counselor educators might …

Building Bridges: A Student-Professor Dialogue About Spiritual Assumptions And Perspectives On Whiteness, Kyle N. Stueber, Andrea C. Walker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

One day in May during a recent year, a conversation began that launched several years of ongoing dialogue. A graduate student, Kyle, reached out to a graduate counseling professor, Andrea, to discuss some concerns and anxieties he felt in some of his class discussions. What began as a conversation about racial diversity in the counseling setting evolved into an exploration of different ways of looking at the sociocultural context of race in the United States, a topic discovered to have political and theological underpinnings. As a result of the dialogue, we realized that specific preconceived labels identifying political, theological, denominational, …

Weaving A Tapestry, Haley R. French

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Salubritas 3 (2024), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Salubritas 3 (2024), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Co-Creando Rituales / Co-Creating Rituals To Hold Our Work As Anti-Oppressive Counselors And Researchers, Ana G. Reyes, Alexandria E. Capraro, Mónica Rodríguez Delgado

The Qualitative Report

Counselors and qualitative researchers have the honor of hearing peoples’ stories and thus have a great responsibility to explore and use clinical and research methodologies that are anti-oppressive, liberatory, and healing. Therefore, in 2019 we began a photovoice project alongside seven queer womxn of color (QWoC) that collaboratively explored their experiences of microaggressions in counseling. Through this journey, we recognized that to be fully present with the “co-researchers’” (participants’) narratives and experiences, we needed to remain attuned and grounded. We engaged in what we now call “rituals” before research team meetings to support our work as counselors and anti-oppressive researchers …

Multicultural Gerotranscendence: A Theoretical Approach To Working With Older Adults, Whitney George, Danielle Schlittler

Adultspan Journal

With the growing number of the aging population, the call for counselors to understand the developmental processes of all clients is essential. The theories of gerotranscendence and multicultural counseling and therapy are central to the understanding of adult development in later life. The use of these two theories together provides a theoretical basis for counselors wishing to provide services to diverse older adults.

Breaking Point: An Exploration Of The Mental Health Crisis On Campus, Melissa Wood

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

In the past several decades, the number of college students who experience mental health concerns has increased astronomically. During that time, acts of campus violence have increased as well. Unfortunately, many colleges have been unable to effectively meet the needs of students with mental disorders. This article explores the challenges surrounding the mental health and wellness of college students. It also analyzes the impact of such challenges on students and the institution. Additionally, this paper examines best practices that colleges may implement to assist students in distress and discusses implications for higher education leaders.

Expanding Frameworks: Conducting Discourse Analysis In Counseling Research, Chloe Lancaster, Melissa J. Fickling

The Qualitative Report

Discourse analysis encompasses a variety of disciplinary approaches that broadly aim to understand how individuals and groups use language to construct and maintain their psychological and social realities. A central concept in discourse analysis is we all use discourse to accomplish our communication goals despite being unaware of most discourses we evoke. While discourse studies could help counseling professionals to better understand how they deploy discourses to maintain identities, inequalities, and status quo, the method is not well-represented in counseling research in the United States. This methodological guide presents an introduction to discourse analysis and an overview of the analytic …

A Legacy Of Feminism And Advocacy: An Interview With Dr. Lenore Walker, Brandi Diaz

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

Dr. Lenore Walker is a pioneer in feminism and trauma counseling. Her contribution to these fields is vast, including topics of gender violence, battered woman syndrome, child abuse and trauma, false confessions of battered women, sex and human trafficking, and psychology and the law. Her theories and conceptualizations have shaped how providers approach trauma-informed care and the assessment of trauma survivors. Moreover, her work has spanned a variety of functions such as a clinician, researcher, educator, advocate, leader, consultant, and mentor. For the purposes of this article, Dr. Walker engaged in an interview to discuss her career, contributions, legacy, and …

Infusing Trauma-Informed Care In Career Counseling: Promising Practices And A Proposed Framework, Lisa M. Cardello, Galaxina G. Wright

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

The impact of trauma on career development is well-documented and includes effects on career decision, stability, and unemployment. However, literature on trauma-informed interventions in the career counseling setting is scarce and a universal model for providing career counseling with a trauma-informed lens does not currently exist. Therefore, the authors discuss existing literature on trauma-informed care and application for career counseling. An integrated framework for trauma-informed career counseling, the HEART model, is proposed and includes five components: (a) instilling hope, (b) establishing safety, (c) recognizing and responding to chronic stress, (d) building resilience, and (e) the importance of engaging in ongoing …

Trauma Curriculum Integration In Counselor Education: A Delphi Study, Jaimee York, Adrienne Baggs, Laura Schmuldt, Nancy Sherman

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

Research has established the need for trauma education and training for safe and effective entry-level practice. However, studies have shown insufficient and inconsistent training in graduate counseling programs. Those studies reflected the opinions and experiences of practitioners and graduate students. To add to the extant literature, we used the Delphi method to gather information from counselor educators who have experience in trauma counseling and education. The Delphi technique is a group communication strategy designed to obtain expert consensus through a series of survey questionnaires, modified and adapted to reflect group opinion. We asked participants for their insight into the most …

College Student Stress And Resilience During Covid-19, Kevin A. Doyle, Karissa Peyer, Liz Hathaway, Hannah Turner, Dorinda Harriss

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic had a drastic impact on the wellness of college students. In this study, researchers examined levels of stressful events, perceived stress, and resilience in a sample of 312 students at a Southeastern university. Students demonstrated a high volume of stressful events, lower levels of resilience, and high levels of perceived stress. The combination of stressful events and resilience explained a significant amount of the variance in perceived stress. Implications are included.

Pioneers, Pillars, And Paradigms: History Of The International Association For Resilience And Trauma Counseling, Carol M. Smith, Jane M. Webber

Trauma Counseling and Resilience

The International Association for Resilience and Trauma Counseling was formally recognized in March 2022 as the 19^th Division of the American Counseling Association. This article describes the history and evolution of this professional association through the lens of the founding president and the founding journal editor; both are cofounders of this group. The efforts and results of trauma counseling advocates and pioneers are described along with the appreciation of trauma-competent counseling within the broader discipline of mental health.

Cultural Competence With Humility: A Pre-Post Cohort Study Of Student Self-Assessments, Michele L. Tilstra, Cara A. Berg-Carramusa, Karen M. Keptner, Tiffany J. Peets

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: The intent of this study is to examine how Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) and Counseling and Human Development (CHD) graduate students who experienced Counselors and Occupational Therapists Professionally Engaged (COPE) in the Community program perceived their self-evaluation of cultural competence with humility (CCH) constructs (cultural awareness, skills, knowledge, and desire) from pre- to post-experience. Methods: Using a pre-/post-test cohort design, researchers used the Modified Cultural Competency Self-Assessment (M-CCSA) to determine if there were changes in ratings after students completed a novel training program. Results: Twenty-five students completed the pre-/post- survey. Overall, the mean M-CCSA total and …

Addressing Weight In Primary Care: Perspectives Of African American Young Adults With Serious Mental Illness, Sang Qin, Lindsay Sheehan, Janis Sayer, Kristin S. Williams, Julius Mercer, Ashley Scott, Tevin Anderson

Journal of Human Services Scholarship and Interprofessional Collaboration

Young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) experience disproportionate rates of physical illness. Morbidity and mortality are even worse for young African Americans with SMI, especially those who are overweight. Primary care physicians (PCPs) have an important role in addressing weight management. Current research explored these young patient’s perceptions of weight management and how PCPs can best address their weight concerns. Using community-based participatory research, we interviewed 25 African American aged 18-30 who were overweight and had a SMI. Results revealed 1) patient perceptions around weight and 2) patient preferences. Participants identified both positive and negative aspects of being overweight, …

Responsibilities Of Arab Think Tanks And Strategic Studies Centers In Supporting Administrative Leaders Against Contemporary Challenges And Transformations, خليل الخطيب, معين النصراوين

Jerash for Research and Studies Journal مجلة جرش للبحوث والدراسات

The study aimed at identifying the responsibilities and urgent roles of Arab think tanks and strategic studies centers in supporting administrative leaders against contemporary challenges and transformations. The study followed the descriptive survey approach (content analysis) for all the available literature, i.e. (37) elements, which entirely constituted the research community and its sample. After analyzing the data, the study reached a number of results, the most important of which are: The first global think tank was established in America in 1957, and in the Arab world, Egypt was the nucleus of these tanks. The Institute for Arab Research and Studies …