I believe sitting in the client’s chair weekly – experiencing exactly what it is like to be the client – would greatly increase beginner counselors’ empathy.
Category: Counseling Today
This month’s Counseling Today cover story focuses on men in counseling. When I first heard this topic, I just smiled. It reminded me of the many times I have wished that more men were enrolled in my counseling classes. I walk into my classes at the beginning of each semester
Over the past few years, the American Counseling Association has been very fortunate in realizing a significant increase in the number of students who have joined our ranks. This is a positive sign that those coming into the profession realize that ACA has services, benefits and networking opportunities for them
At age 16, Kim Johancen-Walt became a suicide survivor after her brother, Kevin, took his own life through carbon monoxide poisoning in 1988. Johancen-Walt, who grew up in a suburb of Denver, recalls being both deeply saddened and incredibly angry with her brother for ending his life. “I remember [a
A school counselor’s introduction to advising a student at risk for suicide can be a trial by fire. After all, a young person’s life is possibly hanging in the balance of carefully chosen questions, inflections and body language. A computer-simulation game developed at Purdue University offers virtual training for such
At the tender age of 9, Marcheta Evans was already a budding counselor. Evans, whose family was living in Washington, D.C., at the time, would occasionally accompany her mother, a psychiatric nurse, to her job at a local hospital. During those visits, she played cards and made friends with some
Each July, we welcome a new group of volunteers to the leadership ranks of ACA. The level of enthusiasm I have already witnessed among these volunteer leaders encourages me. Leading our organization at the national level is Marcheta Evans, who will serve as ACA president through June 2011. President Evans,
Excitement. Joy. Anticipation. Surprise. Humility. As my presidency approaches, I ask myself, “How did I end up with this great honor and privilege of service to my profession?” A number of emotions and questions are floating through my mind as I write this first presidential column. American Counseling Association president!
When Manivong J. Ratts arrived in the United States in 1977 as a 6-year-old refugee from Laos, he quickly figured out that he and his family weren’t mirror images of the other families in town. Yakima, Wash., where his family settled down, was a predominantly agricultural community, and although Asian
In mid-April, American Counseling Association President Lynn Linde sent a letter to the American Psychiatric Association regarding the proposed draft revisions to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). On behalf of the 43,000 members of ACA, Linde detailed feedback on five areas of