Nine-year-old Austin is referred to counseling by his mother. She explains that he “hates his dad and never wants to see him again.” The behavior that brings Austin to counseling started occurring around the time his parents separated and has intensified as they approach the legal divorce stage of the
Blog
The American Counseling Association Department of Government Affairs will be conducting a conference call to provide members with an update on the activities in Congress that could have an impact on counselors and their clients. The Government Affairs call will take place Thursday, Jan. 16 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
It has been a little more than one year since the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The need for counseling and mental health services for those affected will only grow in year two, says Deb Del Vecchio-Scully, a trauma counseling specialist and executive director
Disasters are on the rise, including both human-made and natural disasters. To clarify, human-made disasters include terrorist acts, mass shootings, industrial errors and epidemics, whereas natural disasters involve events such as hurricanes, cyclones, fires and floods. The idea that we will see a steady stream of human and material loss is
In the past month, millions of words have been written about the late Nelson Mandela. There were stories that profiled his courage, strength, leadership, dedication, compassion and willingness to work with those who originally opposed his cause. His commitment to what he felt in his soul was so strong that
Although many have posited sexuality counseling as a specialty, the universal nature of sexual experience makes it reasonable to expect counselors to have a basic knowledge of sexuality and sexuality counseling interventions. Because sexuality is a developmental process, the likelihood that a counselor will work with clients struggling with some aspect
For clinicians working with individuals who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a key component to any therapy (group or individual) is helping these clients see the “big picture” when it comes to social situations, academic assignments, the need to do daily chores at home, reacting to the size of
Nearly one in five adult Americans experienced a diagnosable mental illness last year, according to statistics released recently by the federal government. Less than half (41 percent) of these 43.7 million adults received any mental health services in 2012. While jarring, these numbers are consistent with statistics gathered for 2011,
“Anger is a signal, and one worth listening to,” wrote Harriet Lerner in The Dance of Anger, her seminal book about anger and intimate relationships first published in 1985. Lerner told millions of readers — in the counseling field and beyond — that our anger is a tool alerting us that
A counselor’s path forward is rarely linear. Agreed? Somewhere over the course of a career, something is almost guaranteed to happen that will change the counselor’s perception of, approach to or relationship with counseling. In fact, if you practice or teach long enough, you are likely to encounter several “somethings” that will