The Working Alliance, consisting of building bonds, establishing goals, and developing tasks, has been deemed the cornerstone of helping professions, and has been found to significantly and reliably predict client outcomes. The importance of client characteristics and perceptions of working alliance has been established in the literature. Less is…

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) clients who leave the system prematurely experience worse employment outcomes than clients who stay in services. The authors conducted this study to learn about factors leading to premature exit by rural VR clients. Results will inform survey development for a large longitudinal study on this topic. The authors…

Thompson reviews the 2006 book by Pauline Boss. Loss is a word that is used frequently to describe numerous life events. In its most apparent state, loss is experienced through the physical death of someone who was once spiritually, psychologically, and physically near. However, ambiguous loss may also occur, when a central person remains present…

In Minnesota treatment, the therapists aim at breaking clients' denial to encourage them to accept their addiction. However, the confrontation is risky since, instead of making the patient ready for a change, it may strengthen resistance against the diagnosis of addiction and the treatment recommendations. We will explore the role of laughter in…

This report evaluates the "counselor plus case aide" outreach model used to deliver vocational rehabilitation (VR) services to American Indians on northern Minnesota reservations. The report also documents other existing VR outreach efforts to American Indians, based on a survey of state VR agency directors. Evaluation of the Minnesota…

This paper discusses the complex issues faced by clinicians providing counseling to chemically dependent individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and who are from ethnic, racial, or cultural minority groups. It shares specific examples from the Minnesota Chemical Dependency Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals, as well as…