Despite the many counselling theories that have been developed thus far, none sufficiently capture and facilitate a complex understanding of existence and the purpose of human life with respect to humans and their relationship with the creator. Thus, religious counselling theory offers a solution to overcome these shortcomings. This research was…

Our aim was to examine the mediating role of cultural intelligence and cognitive flexibility in the relation between effective counsellor characteristics and multicultural counselling competencies of counsellors in Turkey. A total of 521 counsellors participated in the study. The "Effective Counsellor Characteristics Assessment Scale",…

School counsellors provide professional assistance to ensure the positive mental development of children and adolescents on campus. In this study we adopted the Delphi technique to clearly identify the professional competencies needed by qualified full-time counselling teachers in Taiwan. Using the responses of 21 experts, a framework of 39…

In this study we investigated the case of disability from the perspective of counsellors with visual disability (CWVD) and their clients by focusing on the counselling skills of CWVD, the relationships with their clients, and the perspectives of their clients in relation to their counselling experiences. Fifteen CWVDs and 11 clients (N = 26) were…

Personality factors and multidimensional perfectionism have not been researched among professional counsellors. This study examined the relationship between the Big Five (John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. [2008]. Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R.…

Domestic violence (DV) affects around 20% of the population globally and is linked with complex mental health conditions and difficulties in client therapeutic engagement. Developing therapeutic competency to meet the standards for independent, professional practice is a significant part of counsellor training. A competency framework for DV is a…

Therapeutic interventions for bereavement in Northern Ireland and in the Sub-Saharan African country of Uganda are compared. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Ugandan (n = 18) and Northern Irish (n = 20) therapists. These were thematically analysed. The findings focused on: the counselling context, the characteristics of counsellors,…

This paper explores the extent to which students on a vocational postgraduate programme identify with characteristics and competences that define a professional career guidance and counselling practitioner. Literature suggests professionalism in careers work is characterised by a focus on the needs of the client with the practitioner in a…

The present study explores gender differences in help-seeking attitudes and the effects of counsellor gender and problem type on those attitudes among Turkish high school students. The Attitudes towards Seeking Help Scale and a survey instrument concerning related factors were administered to 342 adolescents. ANOVAs show that male and female…

Ethical dilemmas from a national purposive sample of Turkish counsellors (N = 172) were collected using critical incidents technique. Content analysis was performed with open coding guided by the classification of American Counseling Association code of ethics. Incidents regarding confidentiality and privacy (56.4%), with 37.1% involving incidents…

How same-sex couples manage the process of seeking help for their relationships is an under-researched area. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 people who had engaged in same-sex couple counselling, and were analysed using discourse analysis. The ways in which the couples positioned themselves as part of a "minority…

Recent large-scale survey research has raised serious concerns in both the counselling community and the mass media about the ways in which counsellors work with lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) clients. The current questionnaire-based research focused on client experiences of their own, and their counsellor's, self-disclosures of sexuality. Most…

Is counseling effective for clients with an intellectual disability? This question hovers in the minds of busy practitioners who question not only the ability of these clients to derive benefit from counseling but also their own ability to provide an effective service. However, this simplistic binary question does not do justice to the…

This paper focuses vividly on personal, subjective aspects of suicide. The complex role of suicidal rumination in the course of an intermittent but chronic depression is discussed, as are the importance of cognitive schema, interpersonal exacerbation, and failed diagnosis. A key feature of the paper is the central heuristic of a therapist…

Ten counselors were interviewed concerning their fears encountered in their therapeutic work. Participants were also asked what they had found to be helpful when attempting to deal with these fears. Fears reported are categorized into fears of losing control, fears of being separated from a group by way of disapproval or rejection, and fears of…