Two primary sources of beginning counselor worries are identified: (1) concern for one's competence as a counselor and a person and (2) worry about the increasing intimacy involved in discussing the emotional life of a client. A catalog of possible humorous responses of beginning counselors is provided, and each response is illustrated with an…

Examines California confidentiality laws to exemplify differences in privileges held by psychotherapists and by the clergy. Advises clergy who are also practicing psychotherapists to be clear which role they are filling since confidentiality covers a broader area of communications for the psychotherapist than for the clergyperson. (Author/ABB)

Client-centered, psychoanalytic, and release and structure play therapy approaches have diverse philosophical viewpoints about the therapist's role, goals of therapy, and use of structuring in play therapy. While each approach aims to help children cope with emotional difficulties, the methods employed and the play therapy process differ…

This article presents a code of ethics defining the responsibilities of a counselor to pupils, parents, other school personnel, community, him/herself, and the counseling profession. (RP)

Feelings and behavior can be partially affected by the nutritional state. This article suggests that counselors attend to the eating habits of their clients. (Author)

Discusses poems written by the author, an analyst, as a study of her own journey through the labyrinth of countertransference during treatment of a woman who belonged to an alcoholic family. Notes that the poems served several functions: as a means to study countertransferential feelings; as holding environments; as diagnostic tools; and as…

Advises career counselors to define their practice's focus and scope by (1) defining their identity as a private practitioner; (2) identifying preferred and ancillary roles and the amount of variety desired; and (3) recognizing their motivations for private practice. (SK)

This study examined how consumers and social workers conceptualize empowerment. The findings show that there are important differences in how these groups understand empowerment. Implications for the conceptualization of empowerment, as well as social work education and practice are discussed. (Contains 52 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Professional school counselors often provide the heart and soul of a school, working with children every day to help them meet the challenges of growing up. By promoting programs during national School Counseling Week and throughout the year, counselors can help ensure students, parents, and faculty know to come to counselors and send students to…

Reviews background and case histories surrounding legal concept of "duty to warn" and confidentiality limits of counseling. Discusses professional, ethical, and legal responsibilities of mental health counselors and identifies steps to follow for counselors who have to warn potential victims of danger from their clients. (Author/ABL)

Provides theoretical, historical, and professional examination of the art as therapy approach and art psychotherapy. States that responsive art making is helpful in establishing empathic relationships with adolescents, in providing art therapists with an expressive outlet for the potent feelings that arise in the clinical context, and in forming a…

Interviews with 12 Scottish guidance practitioners revealed the following: (1) impartiality has different meanings in different contexts; (2) counselors' beliefs and organizational expectations about impartiality may conflict; (3) clients may not see impartial counselors as in their best interests; and (4) unequal power relations between…

Induced abortion is one of the most controversial moral issues in American culture, but counselor value struggles regarding abortion are seldom addressed in counseling literature. This article considers the conflictual nature of the ethical principles of autonomy, fidelity, justice, beneficence, and nonmaleficence as they can occur within the…

Discusses the factors underlying the use of therapy and counseling as a medium for therapist abuse. Examines the prevailing conditions for abuse to occur, how the therapist overcomes client resistance, and the implications for the maintenance of professional standards. (Author/GCP)

During their professional career, counselors may encounter a client who is deaf; however, they may feel unprepared to work effectively with this population. Counselors who have an understanding of individuals who are deaf through their history, language, and other important considerations might be better prepared to work with this unique and…