Working with individuals with sex offense convictions is a specialized area of counseling. There are also “specialties within the specialty” when factoring in the different venues for treatment, including programs in prison, in private practice (often with those on postprison supervision or probation) and in mental institutions. The individuals within
Category: Member Insights
Articles written by members of the American Counseling Association
Counseling is a preventive profession, typically working with issues and challenges that our clients face daily. However, client concerns often exist at deeper levels, and counseling process often shades into therapy. As counselors, you regularly encounter children and youth who may be at risk. Whether with a medicated child who
For many years when asked to describe my perfect job, I would say, “I’d like to be a corporate priest.” What I meant was that I could imagine a mental health professional being woven into the cultural fabric of an organization in a way that would allow her or him
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
Mateo (not his real name) sat on the floor in my office playroom. Each week in therapy, he routinely played with a small plastic doll and every time, without fail, he placed objects in the doll’s mouth. This day, however, he did something more aggressive. His eyes wide and his
It was my first intensive in-home counseling session with Josh, a delightful blue-eyed 10-year-old who was living with his 72-year-old aunt, Katherine. She had been granted custody of Josh a few months before I was assigned to the case. Previous reports and intakes described Josh as a child at risk
The American Counseling Association’s Professional Standards Committee has spent considerable time exploring the role of field placement in the development of counselors’ professional identity. Surveys on this topic were sent to professional counselors, counselor education programs, internship sites and graduate students. A review of the 148 completed surveys (out of
Professional development is a career-long requirement for counselors. As professional counselors and counselor educators, we have attended or presented at numerous conferences and skills-training workshops over the course of several decades. This range of experiences has allowed us to observe that presenters frequently infuse experiential exercises into their presentations. In
Maybe it’s because I live in New York, a city that offers daily encounters with artists from all walks of life, or perhaps it’s because I have years of songwriting and performing experience myself. Regardless of the reason, I have often sought out (mostly unsuccessfully) clinical research or counseling practices
There is sound research available that demonstrates the efficacy of certain evidence-based treatments when working with the military population. However, most of that research seems to disregard the necessary prerequisite for counselors in achieving reliable treatment outcomes — the ability to build trust with a client population that has a