Julie Bates offers a sobering thought to anyone who assumes that certain individuals choose a life of addiction. Bates, a doctoral candidate in counselor education at Penn State University, worked for three years at a methadone clinic in Massachusetts. One of her clients, a 23-year-old woman who exhibited track marks
Category: Counseling Today
David Fenell has been on both sides of the fence. As a retired colonel and behavioral sciences officer with the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, he has counseled many soldiers returning from deployments on how to fit back in with their families at home. He would advise them to take
There are those who think cyberbullying is an overpublicized issue, a passing fad that counselors and school authorities should be able to handle in the same way as they would schoolyard bullying. But bullying experts have grown to realize that these online attacks are both different from and more insidious
When the American Counseling Association last completed and released a revised version of its Code of Ethics in October 2005, issues of multiculturalism and diversity received special focus because they were increasingly coming to the forefront of counseling practice but had not been addressed in much depth in previous versions
Wow! More than 4,300 people attended the 2011 American Counseling Association Annual Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, making it our most well-attended conference in 10 years. Reflecting on my March column, in which I mentioned being on the precipice of a dream fulfilled, I just smile. I am pleased
One of the hallmarks that define a profession is its code of ethics. The code lets consumers, public policymakers and peer organizations know that members of a profession have committed to adhering to rules that protect those whom they serve. The code of ethics means the profession is serious about
Michael Chaney knew from a very young age that he was gay, a fact that meant he also had years to process what it meant to be gay. “People who don’t grow up that way didn’t need to go through that process,” says Chaney, who is president of the Association
There has been growing discussion within our profession about the need for competent counselors to work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex (LGBTQQI) clients in an affirming manner. Largely, the discussion has focused on the inadequate training many counselors receive related to counseling these populations. The purpose
Picture this: You’re a college student cramming for finals in a campus lab late one Sunday night when you see a lanky, 6-foot-2-inch, long-haired man striding toward you wearing a red polka-dotted hat and carrying a tower of pizza boxes. You could be excused for thinking you’ve ingested one too
I spent five days training counselors in Rwanda in 2008. During each break and after each class, two young men asked me many questions about the pragmatics of counseling in the United States. They seemed especially interested in the length of counseling sessions as we practice them in the United