Counselors working in the areas of marriage and family counseling and therapy are expected to work effectively with couples and families experiencing a variety of issues and problems. Structural, strategic, and transgenerational family therapists may seem to be operating in similar manners, and it appears that many practicing family therapists go…

This digest focuses on some special concerns of the elderly such as employment issues, retirement, problems of aging, and continuing education, and discusses ways counselors can help. (BH)

Positive Uncertainty is a flexible, ambidextrous approach to managing change, which encourages the use of both the rational and intuitive mind, and incorporates techniques for both making up one's mind and changing it. Positive Uncertainty, as a new philosophy for counseling, will require a paradigm shift for counselors. It is possible that a new…

This digest examines the role of adult career counselors in working with three new types of clients: (1) older adults looking for post-retirement careers; (2) displaced workers; and (3) dual career couples. It also considers the role of career counselors in providing career development programs at the worksite. Additional skills needed by…

This digest on counselor intentionality notes that the counseling profession has historically searched for characteristics and behaviors that contribute to successful helping relationships. It identifies one such characteristic, the counselor's level and degree of intentionality, as relating to the notion that successful counselors select their…

School counselors are beginning to find family counseling an effective and needed skill. Moreover, family counseling represents a distinctive alternative for resolving persistent problems in the schools. Re-training opportunities for school counselors wanting to engage in family counseling have been limited. With appropriate training,…

Terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, and the continued threats of terrorism have the potential to engender negative psychological effects upon school age children and their families. School counselors and mental health professionals working with children need to be knowledgeable regarding interventions which allow students to…

The centric model of career counseling was developed for use in employment counseling and takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors. Four developmental phases are used to describe movement within the centric model. The initial phase, readiness, establishes the working alliance between the counselor and the client. Clients must…

The context in which career decisions are made is dynamic--occupations are changing rapidly and society is becoming increasingly complex. This digest describes a model that uses five processes which are critical to effective career planning: initiation, exploration, decision making, preparation, and implementation. The first process, initiation,…

This digest examines the role of the school counselor in independent schools. It describes the counselor as an analyst who understands the pressures of college admissions, an advocate for the school's college-bound students, an advisor to parents, at times a classroom teacher, and an intermediary between schools and colleges. (NB)

The challenge for schools today is to assess the learning style characteristics of each student and to provide teaching and counseling interventions that are compatible with those characteristics. The counselor's role is major--both as a consultant to teachers and as a provider of counseling services. This digest discusses learning style models,…

While there is general consensus on the importance of good academic advising to student success and support for the American College Testing Program's developmental concept of advising, there is less agreement on the most effective model for delivery. Research suggests that both faculty-oriented advising and professional counselor-oriented systems…

This digest describes the structural and programmatic components of the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program Model, a model designed to help school districts develop comprehensive and systematic guidance programs oriented toward overall student development. It discusses the content of the model (based on the concept of life career development)…

This fact sheet examines age differences in children's reactions to parental divorce, in-school reactions, and the school role in helping these children cope. The school counselor's role is examined in working with school administrators, teachers, parents, and children. Individual and group counseling with children are discussed. Ten suggestions…

Computers have been around since 1946. The relationship between computers and counseling, and in a wider sense psychotherapy, has existed for decades. The impact of computer technologies on counseling has changed over time. The purpose of this digest is to summarize and review the historical events of the counseling-computer relations. This will…