Examination of Family Counseling Coursework and Scope of Practice for Professional Mental Health Counselors

2020 ◽  
pp. 106648072097853
Author(s):  
Amy E. Williams ◽  
Olivia L. Weinzatl ◽  
B. L. Varga
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Scope Of Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Professional Mental Health ◽  
Training Opportunities ◽  
And Training

This study examined couple and family counseling coursework in the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)–accredited clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) programs and scope of practice related to couple and family counseling based on each state’s licensure regulations for mental health counselors (MHCs). Required and offered courses in couple/family-related content areas for 331 CACREP-accredited CMHC programs were analyzed. In addition, state licensure regulations for all 50 states and Washington, DC, were examined to determine whether MHCs can conduct couple and family counseling based upon licensure regulations. The results of this study indicated a mean of 1.1 couple/family-related courses required and a mean of 2.3 of these courses offered within CMHC programs. All but one of the 51 licensure regulations analyzed either permits or does not specify whether couple/family counseling falls within the scope of practice of MHCs; these 50 state/territory regulations also lack concrete guidelines related to required training or supervised experience in couple and family counseling to provide this service competently as an MHC. Limitations and areas for future research and training opportunities are discussed in light of these results.

Ethical Standards for a Post-COVID-19 World

2022 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-96
Author(s):  
Anabel Mifsud ◽  
Barbara Herlihy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Family Counseling ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Inclusive Approach

The cataclysmic events of 2020 created an urgent need for mental health counseling to help individuals, families, and communities deal with grief, loss, and trauma. The sheer magnitude of the challenges has highlighted the necessity for collective interventions, as the need for help far surpasses what can be met through traditional individual or family counseling. Clinical mental health counselors must be prepared to respond to the new challenges in creative, culturally responsive, and ethical ways. The authors discuss the limitations of the prevailing codes of ethics, which are grounded in principle ethics, and propose that virtue ethics and relational ethics perspectives can be incorporated into ethical reasoning to make the process more responsive to collective interventions. A case scenario is presented and analyzed to illustrate this broader and more inclusive approach to ethical decision-making in a situation that calls for a collective intervention.

Differences in Mental Health Counselors' Diagnoses Based on Client Race: An Investigation of Adjustment, Childhood, and Substance-Related Disorders

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Feisthamel ◽  
Robert Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Disruptive Behavior ◽  
Behavior Disorders ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Adjustment Disorders ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Substance Related Disorders

This study of mental health counselors' diagnoses of African-American and Euro-American clients (N=899) found that African-Americans were diagnosed disproportionately more often with disruptive behavior disorders whereas Euro-Americans were diagnosed more often with less severe adjustment disorders. These findings mirror those of researchers from other mental health professions considering different mental disorders. Implications for mental health counseling practice and future research are discussed, and pathways to account for the phenomenon are proposed.

More Than a Vacation: Exploring the Impact of Reentry for International Sojourners

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Kostohryz ◽  
Pamela Wells ◽  
Cristen Wathen ◽  
David Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Grief And Loss ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
The Impact

As our population becomes increasingly internationalized in today's global society, a need emerges for awareness, research, and support for the mental health needs of clients who have returned from sojourns abroad. This article describes how mental health counselors can become more aware of the reentry experience. It also explores such factors as expectations, transition, advocacy, and grief and loss. It diminishes the perception of sojourning as simply a vacation and discusses adjustments clients often have to make upon returning home. The article offers recommendations for working with clients who are finding reentry difficult, explores implications for the mental health counseling profession, and offers ideas for future research.

Informant Discrepancies in Judgments About Change During Mental Health Treatments

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-332
Author(s):  
Jessecae K. Marsh ◽  
Andrew S. Zeveney ◽  
Andres De Los Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Informant Discrepancies ◽  
Multiple Informants ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Professional Mental Health ◽  
Receive Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Treatments ◽  
Treatment Improvement

Understanding how mental health treatments benefit people who receive treatment comes with a challenge: Often different people involved in treatment have different impressions of the treatment’s ultimate effects. How do people reconcile these different reports to understand the true benefit of treatment? In a series of four experiments, we tested people’s beliefs about how to integrate information from multiple informants for the treatment improvement of child clients. We found that laypeople (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and professional mental health clinicians (Experiment 4) trust informants they believe to be insightful about the specific disorder but pessimistic about overall improvement. Our findings suggest important future research avenues to better understand how intuitions about reconciling informants influence the process of weighting information from clients and other people involved in their care.

Counseling in Developing Countries: Turkey and India as Examples

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shonali Raney ◽  
Deniz Canel Çinarba s
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Cultural Characteristics ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Current State

Turkey and India are developing countries with unique cultural characteristics. The current state of mental health counseling in Turkey and India necessitates new laws, indigenous approaches, adaptations of culture-sensitive approaches, and research projects to validate such approaches. It is the job of mental health counselors to accomplish such complicated and trying tasks in the absence of social and financial resources.

Young Adults’ Attitudes About Corporal Punishment: Implications for Mental Health Counseling

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-264
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Smith ◽  
Michael T. Kalkbrenner
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Physical Pain ◽  
Parenting Strategies ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Effective Parenting

Corporal punishment, defined as the application of physical pain (e.g., spanking, slapping, or grabbing) to decrease a child’s undesirable behavior, is associated with negative mental health outcomes. Clients may present to mental health counselors with concerns that stem from their experience of corporal punishment. Mental health counselors work to prevent deleterious consequences of corporal punishment through the provision of psychoeducation on effective parenting strategies. Given that young adults are the largest group of prospective parents in the United States, the present investigators examined attitudes about the utility of corporal punishment as a disciplinary strategy among young adults who do not have children. Results revealed differences in the rates of endorsement of corporal punishment as a disciplinary strategy by gender and ethnicity. Higher rates were found among young adults who identified as male and those who identified as White relative to those who identified as female and those who identified as Latinx, respectively. These findings have a number of implications for challenging stereotypes (e.g., that Latinx clients endorse corporal punishment at higher rates than clients who identify as White) and enhancing mental health counselors’ prevention efforts (e.g., targeting attitudes about corporal punishment among those likely to become parents).

Comprehensive Program Development in Mental Health Counseling: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Calley
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Program Development ◽  
Program Design ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Clinical Program ◽  
Business Principles

With increasing emphasis on the use of evidence-based practices and efficient clinical operations, mental health counselors must be competent in comprehensive clinical program development that covers program design, implementation, and sustainability. To address this need, a practice model here presented integrates scientific knowledge and business principles by emphasizing research-based program design and due diligence in program development. The model consists of 12 sequential, interrelated phases to guide the professional in creating comprehensive mental health counseling programs.

Bereavement Responses among Palestinian Widows, Daughters and Sons Following the Hebron Massacre

2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alean Al-Krenawi ◽  
John R. Graham ◽  
Mahmud A. Sehwail
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Symptom Checklist ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Professional Mental Health ◽  
Familial Roles

In February 1994, an Israeli settler shot Muslim worshippers at the Ibrahime Mosque at Hebron, West Bank. Fifty-three people were killed, and 200 injured. The Derogatis Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R), a 90-item 5-point self-administered discomfort scale was administered to all surviving widows ( n=23), daughters ( n=12), and sons ( n=26). Statistically significant different results occurred in 3 of 9 subscales. Widows scored higher somatization than the daughters, who scored higher than the sons. Daughters scored higher phobia than the widows, who scored higher than the sons. Widows scored higher anxiety than the daughters, who scored higher than the sons. Culturally-and-religiously-proscribed gender and familial roles appear to contribute to the different bereavement response patterns. No respondents sought professional mental health counseling.

Searching for a Good Night's Sleep: What Mental Health Counselors Can Do About the Epidemic of Poor Sleep

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Puterbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Health Counseling ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Health Counseling ◽  
Behavioral Counseling

Sleep problems are epidemic in the United States. Many adults complain of poor sleep yet engage in behaviors that are counterproductive to sleep. This article briefly reviews recent research on the treatment of insomnia and discusses application of mental health counseling strategies for treatment. Case studies illustrate the application of current research within counselor areas of expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral counseling.

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