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
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Facing a rising tide of personality disorders
Twenty years ago, the preponderance of Elaine Beckwith’s most troubling cases tended to center on substance abuse and the outpouring of near-psychotic clients cast into the general population after the onset of deinstitutionalization. The past few years have brought a new pattern to the fore, one as pronounced as it
Money talks
Finances just might be the great equalizer in the counseling room. From young clients struggling to live within a budget, to high-powered, high-income couples wrestling with disparate spending habits and long-term financial questions, money matters may be one of thte most complicated topics counselors will face. Just as childhood trauma
German counselor uses art and music to promote resilience in New Orleans
Click here to listen to a song by counselor Klaus Lumma and jazz harpist Patrice Fisher. Klaus Lumma may be from Germany, but the city of New Orleans has become a second home to him. Lumma is a counselor in private practice, a certified art therapist and a senior adviser
Leveraging apps for counselor self-care
Considering the very demanding and giving nature of counselors, it may come as no surprise that counselor self-care is often put on the back burner. The purpose of this month’s column is to share apps we have found to be the best for counselor self-care across three dimensions of wellness:
Total health care
When Russ Curtis visits his primary care physician (PCP) for his yearly checkup, the physician checks his blood pressure and his weight. She listens to Curtis’ heartbeat and asks if he’s been having any pain. She also screens for substance abuse and depression. It hasn’t always been the norm for
Multicultural competence: A continual pursuit
Once you master the skill of riding a bike, you will always be able to ride a bike, or so the theory goes. But counselors would be mistaken if they apply that same logic to multicultural competence, says Michael Brooks, president of the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development, a
Counseling the highly creative population
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
Human trafficking — and resilience — in Cambodia and Thailand
Brittany Catania, an American Counseling Association new professional member who recently graduated with a master’s in counseling from Indiana State University (ISU), spent three weeks this past May in Southeast Asia learning about the topic of human trafficking on a deeper level. Catania and eight other graduate students from ISU
The common cold of the child’s mental health world
Tonight, 5-year-old Jonathan is a fretful, whiney and downright irritable child, and with good reason. He is sneezing, running a low-grade fever and has a runny nose, symptoms so easily recognized that even Jonathan can diagnose himself as having a cold. Five-year-old Greg is just as fretful, whiney and irritable