This article discusses the complexities associated with adopting a not-knowing stance in Child and Youth Care practice. By highlighting some of the challenges, it also clarifies the distinctions between practitioner lack of knowing how to proceed and an intentional, uncertain attitude when working with children, youth and families. Recommendations…

Counseling is a professional field that requires as much or more courage than virtually any non-life-threatening occupation. In a fashion analogous to both the fire fighter or the police officer who is in direct physical danger, effective counselors must fortify themselves and prepare themselves as well as possible when they enter the unknown and…

This chapter presents counseling ideas and strategies to promote family trust and confidence. These steps include getting the family into the office, the role of proper attire, displaying of credentials, seating arrangements, and the acquisition of informed consent. Also presented is the author's approach to a first family counseling session, with…

Summarizes major changes in popular music associated with youth cultures, including lyric content, buying trends, and listening patterns. Implications for counselors are discussed. (BL)

Calls client resistance a frequent occurrence within the helping profession. Defines client resistance, provides a brief review of related literature, and offers counselor attractiveness as one way of addressing the issue. Identifies attractive counselor behaviors and attitudes and presents case study illustrating specific attractive counselor…

Proposes three ways in which counselors may be seen as contributing to client resistance: counselor wants client to be and to behave in counselor-imposed ways; counselor actively constructs complementary role that client is to fulfill; and counselor maintains entrenched belief in truth of "client resistance." Suggests strategies to help…

The central theme of this paper is that, as practitioners, career counselors must both watch things and make things happen in their own lives, and really practice what they preach in order to truly inspire and energize their clients. This paper explores three things: the elements of Working, Learning, Playing, and Giving and the way they fit…

Discusses the impact of seven contextual variables related to counseling office environment: the initial reception, the name of the center, the color of the room, music, counselor, clothing, seating arrangements, and the room itself. Offers suggestions for improving the counseling process. (RC)

This discussion of family therapy of sexual abuse survivors addresses the role of therapist countertransference in the treatment process. It is contended that attitudes toward family members and political, moral, and institutional beliefs undergird therapists' countertransference reactions, and consequently underlie interventions. (Author/DB)

Self-disclosure, defined as any information about oneself which one person communicates verbally to another, is an important aspect of the therapeutic process. The strongest determinant of disclosure is disclosure itself--the reciprocity effect. To explore the reciprocity effect in the context of biracial counseling, 33 black female college…

Counseling is a dyadic interaction between client and counselor, in which their cognitive processes influence how they interact and communicate. To investigate the effect that a match of cognitive complexity between counselor and client has upon the counselor's empathy, 9 counselors and 27 clients participated in a study. After 7 weeks of…

The research literature suggests that the mental health professionals serving lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people may not be prepared to adequately address the unique needs of the population. There is a need to study the factors that influence the degree to which therapists attitudes and behaviors are affirmative toward their gay, lesbian, and…

Studies of the personality traits of counselors, particularly in relation to their sexuality, assumes that such traits are relevant to counselor effectiveness. To investigate the relationship between counselor effectiveness and sex role attitude, 66 counselor education students, 15 male and 51 female, aged 22-58, participated in individual…

Transitioning from individual to family counseling can be difficult because, as one moves between these two approaches to helping, it becomes necessary to view all aspects of behavior differently. This monograph offers a sampling of professional views on the various challenges confronting a counselor in such a transition. Essays include: (1)…

Empirical evidence suggests that client gender, client sexual orientation, counselor gender, and counselor sexual orientation are factors that influence counselors attitudes and treatment practices with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. However, it is unclear how these factors may interact to affect attitudes and treatment practices.…