Sachin Jain has been taking counselors, counselor educators and counseling students to rural India for the past six years in an effort to expand their worldviews and give a real-life picture of how individuals in different socioeconomic statuses live. But this past June, trip participants had an even more meaningful
Month: January 2013
Tony Colombrito has been a trained American Red Cross disaster mental health volunteer for the past two years, but it wasn’t until the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that he finally deployed. He spent nearly a week with residents of the town and
For the past seven years as a school counselor at Valdosta High School in Valdosta, Ga., Brian Law has collaborated with the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and coordinated a program to help needy families and children in the district. With the help and input of the school
In December, after years of litigation, the court case Julea Ward v. Board of Regents of Eastern Michigan University was resolved. The resolution upheld the university counseling program’s policies and confirmed the ACA Code of Ethics as the guide for defining ethical behavior for professional counselors. The case also reiterated
The months immediately after graduation can be a time of transition for counseling students, as they look to carve out a professional identity and find a counseling niche in their communities. With firsthand experience of this time of adjustment, a group of recent grads working as counseling interns in San
“The tipping point,” a concept presented by Malcolm Gladwell in a book by the same name in 2000, occurs when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire. I believe helping women process the grief they experience after an abortion choice is an idea
Tyler is coming to see you fearing his secret could be revealed. He is an 18-year-old European-American male from a small Midwestern town of fewer than 1,000 people. His father is the minister of a local evangelical Christian church. His mother divides her time between church commitments and family life
Counselors are fond of telling clients that a drowning person can’t help others to get out of the water safely without first saving himself or herself, says Jane Myers, a professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Development at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. But do counselors
What sets counseling apart from the other mental health professions? In many cases, the lines between the different helping professions can be blurry, causing even counselors themselves to debate the correct answers to that question. But one truly distinguishing feature of the counseling profession is its roots in career development,
I love to drive! Recently, looking at a map of the United States, I realized that, without ever having established a goal, I have driven in 49 of the 50 states. (Look out, Alaska, here I come!) I grew up driving on rural (and pothole-laden) Pennsylvania roads and didn’t drive on