In the 20th century, a group of talented individuals with the surname Rogers made creative contributions to American society. This article examines the most noted of these personalities and their effect on the mental health of a nation. Although it is unlikely that a group with the same last name will be as prominent again, it is crucial for…

In this article, a new technique for correcting poor posture is presented. Rather than intentionally increasing awareness or mobilizing willpower to correct posture, this approach offers a game using randomly drawn cards with easy daily assignments. A case using the technique is presented to emphasize the subjective experience of living with poor…

Ambivalence is the painful experience of feeling stuck between polarized feelings about an idea, a thing, or a person. The root of resistance, client ambivalence, is the bane of beginning counselors. To enhance personalized understanding of intrapsychic and interpersonal ambivalence, master's degree students in counseling wrote poems describing…

Mindfulness, based on an ancient spiritual practice, is a core quality and way of being that can deepen and enrich the supervision of counselors. This model of mindful supervision incorporates Buddhist and Hindu conceptualizations of the roles of the five elements--space, earth, water, fire, air--as they relate to adhikara or studentship, the…

Scholars have suggested that counseling theory is greatly enhanced by adding creative approaches (Degges-White & Davis, 2011). However, few suggestions have been made in the counseling literature indicating how motivational interviewing can be creatively used. In addition, the majority of creative approaches for problem behaviors within the…

This article describes how the book "When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession" and the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" can be used to help counseling graduate students understand existential theory and its application to clients. Yalom's Four Givens of Existence, which consists of freedom and responsibility, meaninglessness,…

A homework activity incorporating the social networking site Facebook is presented as a tool for teaching adolescent clients about the cognitive model and increasing their ability to identify and modify problematic thinking. The authors describe how a worksheet developed to help clients examine information presented on their Facebook profile can…

The purpose of this article is to present creative ways that chain analysis techniques, an intervention used in dialectical behavior therapy, can be used to address clients' nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. A description and rationale for using chain analysis techniques with clients who self-injure is provided. An illustrative case example is…

This study examined how role-plays impacted 27 counseling students' overall skills as measured by instructor ratings and self-ratings during practice triads in a microskills course. A Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test revealed no significant difference for scripted versus personal concerns role-plays. Students indicated a strong belief that…

Creative approaches to counseling help counselors to meet the needs of diverse populations. The utility of photography in counseling has been demonstrated through several case studies; however, clear implications of how photography relates to the counseling process have not been well delineated. The existing literature on phototherapy is reviewed…

The benefits of creativity in counseling have been proclaimed by authors; however, training on creativity is sparse. Some literature exists on ways to implement a course on creativity in counseling, and certain counseling programs have incorporated classes and workshops on creativity in master's-level counseling programs. Still, there has been a…

This study addresses the gap in the literature on the experiences of young widows and contributes to the fields of bereavement counseling and identity development. A narrative perspective of bereavement grounded the phenomenological approach of this study, which offered a context for young widows to share the descriptions of their experiences in…

This article presents findings of a qualitative study that explored the process of using expressive arts counseling techniques as experienced by high school counselor trainees. The researcher identified themes that were developed from using grounded theory methods. The three-stage theory, as experienced by high school counseling trainees, included…

Brain growth and change are key factors in adolescent development and influence cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Much of the research on the adolescent brain is fairly recent, and mental health practitioners working with adolescents must have knowledge about these changes to more effectively engage their young clients in therapy. The…

Interpersonal disconnections, social withdrawal, and loneliness are often precursors to depression and suicidal ideation. In the film "It's Kind of a Funny Story", the plot describes a protagonist who has become so relationally desolate among family, friends, and peers that he has taken delight in the thought of ending his life. The main character…