H ooah: Military slang referring to or meaning “anything and everything except ‘no.’” Used predominantly by soldiers in the U.S. Army. My father was in the U.S. Army for more than 30 years. I grew up as a military dependent, relocating every few years (and attending more than 20
Category: Member Insights
Articles written by members of the American Counseling Association
In a 2012 Counseling Today article titled “Counselors: Support local police by sharing your skills,” counselor educator Diana Hulse and retired police Capt. Peter J. McDermott advocated for counselors and counselor educators to serve their communities by training local police in interpersonal skills. They made the case that interpersonal skills
Counseling is not a profession that has a knowledge ceiling. We are always working diligently to grow our knowledge so that we can be more efficacious for our clients. All too often, however, counselors may find themselves studying the same general areas: their chosen theoretical orientations, research studies on their
As students in the University of Vermont’s graduate counseling program, our professors have stressed both the benefits and critiques of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. We grew curious about how Freud’s pioneering ideas have evolved over time and how they can be applied to clients today. We think that contemporary psychoanalytic theory
Imagine what it’s like to suffer from seizures that can strike anytime, anywhere. Imagine losing your driver’s license, job and social life because of seizures that seem to be uncontrollable. Imagine the emotional turmoil that ensues as these seizures take over more and more of what you once enjoyed, considered
During my first internship as a master’s student, I provided in-home family counseling and quickly became overwhelmed by the needs I thought I saw in my clients’ lives. Most of my clients had low incomes, and some lived in subsidized housing. With excellent supervision, I did my best to provide
I had been working with “Alex,” an 8-year-old boy diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, for longer than six months. His hyperactivity had become a major problem at school, and much of our clinical focus had been on managing behavior in the school environment. Each week, Mrs. T, his mother, who drove almost
By understanding how brain chemistry and the human nervous system work, counselors can help their clients shift into use of their social engagement system and become more flexible in their coping styles.
Microaggressions — those subtle messages that demean, insult and invalidate a person — are routine occurrences for many diverse groups. Harvard University psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce coined the term microaggression in his 1970s study of racism in the media. Derald Wing Sue and David Sue extended the definition, adding brief,
In his book The Gift of Therapy, Irvin Yalom explains the vital role of learning about a client’s “leisure-time activities,” “hobbies” and “recreation habits,” yet he never defines what leisure is and how it is connected to mental health or mental health counseling. Many other well-known mental health theorists have