Counseling Commons^™

Strategies & Techniques To Treat Shame Handout - Aacc 2022, John C. Thomas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Participants will learn how to recognize the faces of shame in counseling, how to explore shame and recognize themes, and learn practical strategies and techniques to help shame-ridden clients.

A Systematic Approach To Multiple Case Study Design In Professional Counseling And Counselor Education, Charmayne R. Adams, Casey A. Barrio Minton, Jennifer Hightower, Ashley J. Blount

Office of Health Promotion Scholarship

Case study research is a qualitative methodology that allows researchers to explore complex phenomena in a structured way, that is rigorous and provides an enormous amount of depth. Three scholars are credited with major contributions to the case study literature: Merriam (1998), Stake (1995/2006), and Yin (1994). The purpose of this paper is to explore case study design for use in the counseling profession. The authors provide instruction on the case study scholars, data collection, analysis, and reporting for both single and multiple case study research designs. Finally, implications for student counselors, counselor educators, and counseling professionals are provided.

The Experiences Of Religiously And Spiritually Diverse Counselors And Psychotherapists Who Work With Survivors Of Sexual Violence, John M. Waters

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of religiously and spiritually diverse counselors and psychotherapists who work with survivors of sexual violence. The researcher used a transcendental phenomenological approach to understand how the participants engaged their religious and/or spiritual identity to cope with the traumatic stress that accompanies continuous exposure to their clients’ trauma narratives over time. As the only study that has examined these phenomena qualitatively, the present study aimed to enhance counselors and counselor educators’ understanding of the ways that religiously and spiritually diverse counselors make meaning of their experiences. The researcher collected …

Attachment And Creativity Focused Counseling Intervention For Parents And Adolescents Presenting With A Trauma History, Leah Merle Batty-Hibbs

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The central research question that informed this study asks: How do attachment and creativity focused counseling interventions encourage connection between an adolescent and their parent or caregiver? The research study centered on two mother and son dyads that participated in six weeks of a therapeutic intervention. The modality utilized an attachment and creativity focused approach created by the author. Data was collected through a post intervention semi-structured interview with the parent (adult). Data was transcribed and evaluated with an interpretive phenomenological approach. Six themes were identified by a team of researchers. The findings have implications for clinical practice with parents …

Premarital Counseling And Christianity: A Composition Of Couples Intuition And Understanding As It Relates To Marital Satisfaction, Sheila Delores Salley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Increasing divorce rates in the United States of America have resulted in Premarital Counseling (PMC) gaining grave popularity over the last couple of decades. There has been a proliferation of premarital counseling programs in the United States of America since the 1930s with a thrust toward building and sustaining satisfying marriages. Traditional premarital counseling programs focus on ensuring satisfaction once the couple is married; however, there is a significant gap in researching the impact of incorporating Christian values as a means of therapeutic intervention. This study involved eight Christian, African American, heterosexual couples who received Christian-based PMC (CPMC) and have …

Mental Health Apps: A Study Of College Students' Perceptions Of Counseling Through An App, Caroline Burns

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this study is to gather data on the perceptions of undergraduate students regarding mental health apps. Participants will be asked to complete a survey through Qualtrics. There will be 20 questions, some with pre-determined answers and some open-ended. The survey, including a few demographic questions, should take approximately 20 minutes. Data will be collected from all undergraduate students at The University of Akron who are 18 years of age or older, with the goal of at least 100 responses. There are no preferences for major or year. The survey will be sent out to undergraduate students via …

A Comparison Of The Risk Of Fracture In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients With And Without Receiving Chinese Herbal Medicine, Hou-Hsun Liao, Hanoch Livneh, Yu-Jung Chung, Ching-Hsing Lin, Ning-Sheng Lai, Hung-Rong Yen, Tzung-Yi Tsai

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often suffer from bone complications due to persistent joint inflammation, especially incident fracture. Nowadays, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have provided safe and effective therapy for treating skeletal conditions, but it is unclear whether CHMs can prevent fracture onset among RA individuals. This study aimed to determine the association between the use of CHMs and the risk of fracture among them.

Methods: This retrospective, population-based study retrieved administrative health data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) database to identify patients with newly diagnosed RA between 2000 and 2009. Of the 6178 incident …

A Practical Application Of Self Psychology In Counseling, A. Jordan Wright

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Self psychology has undergone a significant evolution since it was initially developed and proposed by Heinz Kohut, including broadening conceptions of what purposes selfobjects can serve for individuals. Its application to counseling has been as an organizing framework and overarching theory of human development and psychopathology. The concept of selfobjects, however, has the potential to provide specific guidance and technique in micro-interactions within counseling. Individual moments within counseling present opportunities for a counselor to intervene, and self psychology can provide a deliberate decision-making tool for how to respond. Being deliberate in interventions throughout counseling has the potential to improve outcomes. …

Integrating Vicarious Resilience Into Counselor Education Programs, Olivia T. Ngadjui

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

To support the retention of counselors in the field, suggestions influenced by a deficit lens caution and affirm the importance of preventative wellness to counselors while highlighting the impact related to the lack of attentiveness towards counselors’ well-being such as impairment, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout. The construct of vicarious resilience is a transformative lens of care (Hernandez-Wolfe, 2018). For counselors, this lens includes substantial benefits towards the counselor’s wellbeing when collaborating with empathy and care to reframe initial thinking surrounding the therapeutic relationship. This article consists of a conceptual framework for integrating vicarious resilience into counselor education as …

Enhancing Clinical Competencies In Counselor Education: The Deliberate Practice Coaching Framework, Taylor Irvine, Chelsea Fullilove, Arielle Osman, Lilia Farmanara, Kelly Emelianchik-Key

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

In the counselor education (CE) literature, there remains a paucity of available research on systematic methods to enhance counselors-in-training (CIT) clinical competencies. Currently, CIT report feeling not only ill-equipped in essential counseling competencies upon graduating, but they also indicate diminished self-efficacy before engaging in clinical work. Therefore, we propose the Deliberate Practice Coaching Framework (DPCF) to address these issues. This systematic framework integrates deliberate practice components and coaching, with a peer mentoring relationship, to help enhance CIT clinical competencies and skill development, as well as promote overall self-efficacy. We provide a case illustrating the application of the DPCF. We also …

In-Home Counseling Clinical Supervision: A Multiple-Case Study Analysis, Janelle M. Cox, Connie T. Jones, Stephanie F. Dailey

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

An understanding of the knowledge and skills necessary for clinical supervision of in-home counselors is scarce in counseling. To address this gap, the authors conducted a multiple-case study with three clinical supervisors from two in-home counseling agencies in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Data was collected through multiple sources: individual interviews, clinical supervisors contracts, and philosophies. Within-case and cross-case analysis resulted in four themes: clinical supervision practices, training and evaluation, ethical dilemmas, and boundary setting. Implications of these findings suggest clinical supervisors at in-home agencies are not receiving formal training and rely heavily on previous experience to guide their clinical supervision practice, …

Perceptions Of Poverty: Exploring Counseling Students’ Reactions To Presenting Concerns, Sarah K. Tucker, Michael K. Schmit, Amanda L. Giordano Dr.

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Understanding counseling students’ preferences, competence, and perceived training related to presenting concerns is important information for counselor training programs. Given the association between poverty and mental health concerns, we compared counseling students’ reactions to presenting concerns often linked to poverty (e.g., financial concerns/assistance) to their reactions toward other clinical issues (e.g., gender identity development). Students’ provided ratings of clinical preference for working with various presenting concerns, and concerns that may be prevalent among clients living in poverty ranked last. Additionally, we utilized a repeated measure design to examine differences in students’ perceived competence and perceived training across four case vignettes …

The Relationship Between The Practice Of Martial Arts, Anxiety, Wellness, And Self-Efficacy, William K. Knight Jr

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although anxiety is a frequently researched topic, the growing numbers of diagnosed cases and the state of the present outcomes warrant the study of alternative approaches to address the causes and conditions of its prevalence, as well as possible adaptive strategies and tactics to improve outcomes for clients with anxiety. Counseling distinguishes itself in part due to its focus on well-being rather than mere alleviation of diagnosed symptoms. As such, it may be useful to measure the likelihood of some strategies and tactics associated with improved well-being in attempting to reduce symptoms of anxiety.

This study measured the practice of …

The Value Of Adapting Counseling To Client’S Spirituality And Religion: Evidence-Based Relationship Factors, Amelia L. Evans, Jennifer Koenig Nelson

Graduate School Faculty Publications

There is a strong tradition of attention to relationship factors in the field of counseling. The research on the importance of the relationship and adapting to client factors continues to grow, supporting the importance of professional multicultural competence. The field of counseling, specifically within the United States context, has focused on Multicultural Counseling Competencies with more recent emphasis on social justice through the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies. Within these competencies, spirituality and religion are mentioned as multicultural components to consider as potentially salient to clients. Yet, there has been less emphasis on ways to adapt counseling to a …

Counseling Women In Prison On Forgiveness, Guilt, And Shame, Lashawnda Denise Key

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is a lack of adequate counseling on forgiveness, guilt, and shame in the women’s prison. Without effective counseling on those subjects while incarcerated, there is potential for the female offender to reoffend. Adequate counseling could increase the recidivism rate. Counselors in the prison system address behavior issues, acclimation of prison life and rehabilitation programs. Addressing the issues that precipitates criminal behavior and helping the offender understand the factors that lead them to engage in criminal behavior are overly complex. With passable counseling the offenders have the propensity to release the hurt and pain they have lived with and become …

Predicting Students' Spiritual And Religious Competence Based On Supervisor Practices And Institutional Attendance, Andrew P. Secor, Corinne W. Bridges

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Counseling students report a lack of competence in spiritual and religious integration (SRI). As such, counselor educators and supervisors (CES) and students want to understand how to develop SRI competence. Although past research highlights SRI dialogue in training, there exists no clear understanding about the role of faculty supervisor SRI on perceived student competence. The supervision models used to inform the study included (a) the integrated developmental model, (b) the discrimination model, and (c) the spirituality in supervision model (SACRED). The purpose of this study is to determine if master’s-level graduate counseling student perceptions of faculty supervisor SRI practices predicts …

Developmental Networks And Interpersonal Support Of Beginning Counselors, Nathan B. West, Joel F. Diambra, Laura S. Wheat

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

As beginning counselors complete graduate school and enter the workplace they often experience a turbulent transition (Moss et al., 2014). Interpersonal relationships play a vital role in counselors’ development during this period of change (Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison, 2011). This qualitative study explored beginning counselors’ perspectives regarding the role of interpersonal relationships in their development. Analysis of interviews with 12 beginning counselors (within two years post-graduation) resulted in five themes: Context of Personal-Professional Identity; Adjustment/Transition; Growth Orientation; Network Organization; and Connective Tissue. Implications suggest educators promote effective developmental relationships and encourage established counseling professionals to foster workplace environments that help beginning …

Counseling Students’ Experiences Learning How To Assess Youth Suicide Risk, Laura L. Gallo, Raissa Miller, Diana M. Doumas, Aida Midgett, Sherise Porchia

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Suicide rates continue to rise in the United States, especially within our youth population. Preparing counselors to confidently address suicide risk with their clients is crucial in suicide prevention. The authors conducted a phenomenological investigation of a youth suicide prevention course with 10 counseling students. The course included both a didactic component and an experiential component. We extracted four themes suggesting students believe a) suicide assessment is integral to the counselor role b) suicide is a complex phenomenon; c) the course enhanced self-efficacy; and d) interactive activities supported learning. Implications focusing on the importance of building self-efficacy in risk assessments, …

The Impact Of Race-Ethnicity On Foreign-Born Students’ Counselor Self-Efficacy And Acculturative Stress, Claudia Interiano-Shiverdecker, Sejal Parikh, Claudia Flowers, Mahsa Maghsoudi

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Foreign-born students are present in counselor education programs, yet limited research exists understanding how their race-ethnicity impacts their counselor self-efficacy or acculturative stress. This current investigation examined the effects of race-ethnicity on counselor self-efficacy and acculturative stress within a sample of 94 foreign-born counseling students (FBCSs). Results of a one-way MANOVA revealed that compared with Caucasian FBCSs, students who self-identified as Hispanic/Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African, and other reported significant changes in counselor self-efficacy and acculturative stress. These groups reported less counselor self-efficacy and higher levels of acculturative stress than Caucasian FBCSs, highlighting the importance of with-in group differences, such as …

Counselor Educator, Supervisor, And Practitioner Perspectives On Distance Counseling And Telemental Health Training And Practice, Heather C. Robertson, Ryan Lowell

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

As distance counseling and telemental health practices continue to grow, it is unclear how counselor training programs are responding to the change or how frequently supervisors and practitioners utilize distance modalities. Counseling professionals (N =103) were surveyed to examine their perceptions of distance counseling training and practice. Respondents indicated multiple roles as Counselor Educators (CE, n = 74), Counseling Supervisors (CS, n = 61), and Counseling Practitioners (CP, n = 86). The majority of CE expressed dissatisfaction with amount of distance counseling content in their training program yet felt confident to teach distance counseling and TMH concepts. Personal experience with …

Cards On The Table: A Practicum Experience Aiming To Bridge The Gap Between Otterbein's Athletes And Mental Health Services, Asha Wallace

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this practicum was to help bridge the gap between Otterbein’s athletic population and mental health services. Previous research has discussed the potential barriers to student athletes seeking mental health assistance from their institution, including by not limited to lack of time, stigma, education, and negative past experiences. A barrier for receiving care for DIII athletes, specifically, is access. It has been noted that, due to limited resources, Otterbein does not have a mental health professional designated specifically to its athletes. There are, however, a variety of resources both on and around campus that can increase the mental …

Alcohol Use In Women: Resources And Recommendations For Counselors, Samantha Haling

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The research shows that alcohol use is rising rapidly among women, resulting in devastating consequences that have not been sufficiently explored in counselor education and training. This paper aims to address this by providing a review of the literature which shows that women are more vulnerable to many of the physical and mental health consequences of alcohol use than men, and that they have unique treatment needs and face gender-specific risk factors and barriers to treatment. The review examines the interaction between gender and alcohol use, summarizes the existing research on the physical and behavioral health consequences of alcohol use …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Attitude Of Church Attending Caribbean-Canadian Christians Toward Counseling, Melbourne Webster Turgott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the attitude of church-attending Caribbean-Canadian Christians toward counseling. The two central research questions were, What is the lived experience of Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians with counseling? What meaning do Caribbean-Canadian church-attending Christians ascribe to their experience with counseling? The theories guiding this study included expectancy-value and social learning theories. Expectancy-value theory amplifies the belief Caribbean-Canadian Christians have a favorable attitude toward counseling if it aligns with their Christian beliefs. Social learning theory supports the idea that Caribbean-Canadian Christians are shaped by their communal and individual experiencing the world. Data were …

Impact Of Aging Information On The Continuing Education Preferences Of Behavioral Health Clinicians, Nicholas Schmidt

Dissertations

The United States population is aging rapidly and the behavioral health workforce is ill-prepared to meet the concurrent rise in demand for services for older adults. Clinicians specializing in working with older adults make up a very small portion of providers and the majority of service provision falls on general practitioners. The discipline of counseling has emphasized multicultural competencies in training and practice but has not specified standards of competence for work with older adults; little is known about the interests and training preferences of Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs). This study examined the impact of receiving foundational information about aging …

What Are We Missing?: A Comparison Of Experiences Of Race-Based Trauma By Black Americans And Black Jamaicans, Bianca R. Augustine

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Current literature explains that events resulting from instances of white supremacy and racism are traumatizing for Black individuals (Phillips, 2020). Prior literature illuminates the impact of racism and resulting race-based trauma on Black individuals but is lacking regarding the lived experiences of race-based trauma in Black individuals in the U.S. and Black individuals from Jamaica. The goal of this study was to fill a gap in current literature by providing counselors and counselor educators with information regarding the experiences of Black clients to better inform multicultural, trauma-informed counseling practices and counselor education pedagogy. This study explored the experiences of race-based …

The Effects Of Holistic Grief Counseling Training On Master’S Level Counseling Students’ Grief And Loss Counseling Competency, Kathryn Paige Linich

Theses and Dissertations

Grief is a universal event, yet many counselors are not prepared to used evidence-based practices when recognizing and working with grieving clients. Researchers have explored ways to improve grief counseling education, but none of these recommendations have been put into practice. The aim of this dissertation study, which consists of two full studies, was to develop a holistic grief counseling training for master’s level counseling students that incorporates recommendations for curricular inclusion from the research. The training was designed to be incorporated into one full class period in any master’s level counseling course. The first study is a pilot study …

A Content Analysis Of Counseling Organizations’ Social Media Usage, William B. Mckibben, Sandra Logan-Mckibben

Journal of Technology in Counselor Education and Supervision

Social media is a rapidly growing online platform for professional counselors and counseling organizations to communicate with the public, but little is known how counseling organizations utilize social media. The authors content analyzed posts from nine ACA divisions’ Facebook pages to explore how professional counseling organizations utilize social media to engage with online followers. Sharing links to external websites was the most frequently occurring post, but such postings were less likely to engage followers than sharing a post, photo, or events from within Facebook or uploading a photo directly. Recommendations for counseling organizations to engage in effective social media practices …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Using Experiential Groups To Train Future Group Counselors, Brittany L. Pollard-Kosidowski, Joel F. Diambra, Julia R. Bettge, Chris K. Burd

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

As counselors routinely provide both individual and group-based services, it is important to prepare trainees to effectively utilize both approaches. One popular method for engaging students in group work training requires them to participate in experiential small groups. Although this requirement meets CACREP’s (2015) standard that students engage in 10 hours of group membership, less specific focus is placed on engaging students in active group facilitation training. This study analyzes qualitative interviews with seven counseling graduates who participated in experiential small groups during their training. Five emergent themes provide insight for counselor educators and accreditors into students’ group training …

Introduction To The Interpersonal Discrimination Model Applied To Clinical Supervision: A Relational Approach For Novice Counselors, Rachel J. Brejcha

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This manuscript explores the theory development of a new clinical supervision model called the Interpersonal Discrimination Model (IPDM). The IPDM combines the structure of the Discrimination Model of supervision (Bernard, 1979) with Interpersonal Theory tenets developed by Harry Sullivan (1968) to create a holistic, integrated approach to clinical supervision. The IPDM’s foundation is based on the supervisory working alliance, which has been continuously found to contribute to supervisee satisfaction, an increase in counselor self-efficacy and a positive therapeutic working alliance (Park et al., 2019). The IPDM has three main applications-interpersonal process recall, the parallel process, countertransference-that are applied in clinical …

Poverty In Schools: The Impact Of Poverty On School Readiness For Kindergarteners, Emily Inglett

Counselor Education Capstones

Experiencing poverty in childhood has lasting impacts on a child. Poverty can have a negative impact on a child’s development academically, cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. The present literature review aims to explore research that has looked into what it means to live in poverty, what lasting impacts living in poverty have on children, and what that means for a child’s school readiness when entering kindergarten. It will also discuss some interventions that a school counselor could implement in schools to support a child who lives in poverty and their family.