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A REPORT OF A COUNSE LLINGINTERNSHIPAT AN ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL SE'I'TING WI'l'H A SELF-EVALUATIVESTUDYOF COUNSELLOR
SKILLS , IN'l'EN'I'IONS, AND RESP ONSESTO NEGATIVE CLIENT REACTIONS
by
Roche L. Co l lin s, B.A.(Ed.J. civ.B·.Th., eccl. B.Th.
Areport submittedin partial fulfil l men t of the requirements forth e degreeof
Masterof Education
Memorial University of Newfoundland August, 1994
St.Jo hn ' s Newfound l a nd
.+.
NationalUbrary 01Canada~uiSilion~and BibllOQraphlCservicesBranch
395Wel~ SUe'81 OItawa.OiiIaoo K1A0N4
~~~::J~el\atiOnale Oirecliondesacquisitionset dessetVicesblbliographiql!es 395,ruewellinglon OtIawa{O'lt8iloJ Kl...tn4
THE AUTHORHAS GRANTEDAN IRREVOCABLENON~EXCLUSIVE LICENCEALLOWINGTHENATIONAL LmRARY OF CANADA TO REPRODUCE,LOAN,DISTRIBUTEOR SELL COPIES OF mSIHER TIIESISBY ANYMEANS ANDIN ANYFORMOR FORMAT, MAKING THIS lHESIS AVAILABLETO INTERESTED PERSONS.
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ISBN 0· 315-96075·2
Canada
L'AlTTEUR A ACCORDEUNELICENCE IRREVOCABLE ET NON EXCLUSIVE PERMETIANT A LA BffiLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE DUCANADADE REPRODUIRE, PRETER,DlSTRlBUER OUVENDRE DESCOPIES DESA THESEDE QUELQUEMANIERE ET SOUS QUELQUEFORMEQUECESOIT POURMETTREDES EXEMPLAIRESDE CETIE THESE ALA DtSPOSlTlQNDES PERSONNEJNTERESSEES.
L'AUTEURCONSERVELA PROPRIETE DU DROITD'AUTEURQUI PROTEGE SA THESE. NI LA mESENt DES EXTRAITSSUBSTANTIELSDECELLE~
CI MEDOlVENTETREfMPRlMESOU AUTREMENT REPRODUITSSANSSON AUTORISATION.
ABSTRACT
This Reportdesc ribe s an in t e rn s h i p conducted at SkJ,lJ.
tor routh, 63 Patr i ck Str eet, St.JOhn's, Nfld. during the period fromApril25. 199 4 t.oJun e24, 1994 . The int e r n is a candidat.e for t.he M.Ed. degree in School Counselling at Memorialuni versity of Newfoundland.
Chapt.er 1 descr ibes why an internship pr oj ect was chosen by the candidate and the University's regula t i o ns which govern such a proje c t. Chapt er 2 des c r i bes the in te r ns hip setting and the re a s on s for its selecti on . Chapter 3 details the goals which we re set for the internshi p,and themaj~rprof e s s i onal activi tie sund e r t aken to accomplishenescgoals. Chapter4 presentsades c r i p t i on of a self-evaluative study of the in t e rn's counselling skills which was undertaken during the period of the internsh ip. The in t e r n studiedhis use,in counselling, of va riou s ver bal response modes. his inten tions, and the effectivenessofhis responses to client negative react i o n s, Chapter 5 concludes the Report with recomme nda tions for futur einternshipprojects.
ACJtNOWLEOOZKlNTB
Th i s project could not have beencompleted....ithout:the help and coop e rati onof a number of peopl e. First, I wo uld li ke to than kmyuniversity su pervisor, Dr. Glenn She p pa r d, and my field super viso r, Ms . Donna McLennon, for th e i r cont i n u ou s suppor t and encour age me nt throu g h o ut the int e rns hipper iod.
I wou ld al s o like to thank the sta f f at Sld.ll. for routb./Skll1. ~or SUcc... for their support. I espec ially th ank Ms.EileenYounp,Ms.AnnBuckle, Ms. Lori Hicke y, Mr.
Mar k MacDona ld, andMs.Bridge t Wat ton.
iii
TABLEorCON'l'BN'TS ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LI ST OF TABLES CHAPTER1- INTRODUCTI ON.
i i iii viii
TheCh o i c e of an Internship . ... . . . .... . . . .. . .. . 1 Regula tionsGoverningan Interns hip•. .. ...••.... . 2 Supervis ion.. •....•.•... ... .•.• •. . .•.. .. ... .•.• •.. 3 Field Supervisor.••.. . . . ..•. • •.•.•.•• • .. .. . .• . .. 3 Uni versitySup ervi s o r..•....•... •.••.. • . .. .• . . • . 4 Evalua tion... •...•.•..• •....•. .• ...•• ..• •..••..• 5 CHAPTER2 - THEINTERNSHI P SITE. .. . . •... ...• • •.. . . .•. • • ••. 7 De s cri p t i o n of the Set t in g ..•.. . . ...•.•..• • •..• •• . .•. 7 Skills fo r Youth/Skills forSucc e s s - AHi s t o ry. 7 Rat i onal e for Ch o iceof Setting.. ••••.. . •.. . •• •..•. •.11 CHAPTER3 -GOALS ANDACTIVITIES... . • • . • ... •.•.• • •. .•. •.12 InternshipGoa l s•.... .••. •....,.. •...•••.•. .. •..•.•• •12 Goa l 1 ... ... .. . .. ... . ... . ... .. • . .. . . • . . . .•12 Goal 2•••.••. . .. . • •. . .••..• . ••. • .. • •.••.•••.•..•12 Goal 3... ... ... . .. ... .... .•..13 Goa l 4.•... .. . •.. • .. . •. . ..• • •...•....•..•. .•.• • •14
Goal S 15
Goal 6.•. . •.•...•.... • .... •. • .. . •.• ...••• •. •••. . 15 Goal7 ... . .. . . .... . ....• ... .... ... . ...16 Goa l a .•..•... . . . •.•. .. . ••.•.•.•. •.•.•. ••. •. .•.•16
Descr i p t i onof Major ProfessionalActivi tie s.... .•.•.18
Re se arc h.... .. . .... .. ...•... .. . . . ....18
Individualcoun s e l ling... . .. . . ... .... ...•.. ...20
Re vi e w ofVide o t a pes..•... . ..• ... ..22
In~t a k eInterviews... ... . . . ..•...22
Ca s eCo n f e r e nc e s...•... .•.. ...•... .23
pla c eme n t Conferen c e s.. . . .. ... ... ... ..•.•...23
Inservice 24 Vis i ts to Receivi ng Institut ions.•. . . ... ... . . . ..25
Supervision 25 Ot her Ac tiv ities 26 CHAPTER4 - THERESEARCHCOMPONENT•••• ••••• •••••••• •••••• •28 Introdu c tion.... .. ... . ... . ... . . ... .... ... ...••28
Purpose... .•. . .. ... ... .. ... ...•... ...•.. . 29
Ra t i onale... ... ... • .•.. ... . •.... • . .30
Re sea rchQuestions•... ... ...•.•. .. ... .. .• ..32
Li t e rature Review••••• • • . • • ••;•••• • • • • •••••. • ••..••. .33
Meth odol ogy.. . .. .... . ... . ... • . . . ..•. . . ..41
Par t i cipants... . .... .. ... . ... . .. ..• .... .•.41
Se lectio nProced ure 41 Consent.. . . ...• . .. .. . .. . ...•••.•. ..• ...••. .42
Ins trument s. .... .. .... . 42
Def inition ... . . .. . .... . ...•. ... .. . . •..42
Helpfulness Rating Scale .. ... ..•... ... .42
Couns e llo r Re spo nse Tax o nomy ... .. .. .•43
Co uns ello r Inten t i o n Scale...•...•. •44
Pro cedures.. .. . . .... . . ... .. •. .... .. ... ... ...44
Re s ul t s and Analysis 41
co u n s e tIo xVe r bal ResponseModes ~1
APreliminaryAnalysis 41
Data Re-Org a nization 51
ACloserAnalysis 53
Coun s el lor Intentions. •..•• .•.••.•••. 59 APrelimim:.ryAnalysis.... ... .. .• . ... .. •. ..59
Da t a Re-Organization 61
A Cl os e r Analysis 61
CounsellorResponsestoClie n t Negative
Reactions 66
Evaluati veConsiderationsRe Instruments
andProcedures 12
Conclusions ... ... .•... . . ... .... .14 CHAPTER5- SUMMARY ANDRECOMMENDATIONS... ...•.... ..16
Summary 76
Recommendations 17
REFERENCES... ... ... ... . . .•• •... ..79
APElENDIXA- Readings 85
APPENDIX B - Student ConsentForm for Participation inResearch Study .. ...•... ... . ... . .87 APPENDIX C - parent ConsentForm for Child's
Participationin ResearchStudy... .. ..• .89 APPENDIX D - SchoolBoardRegul a tions, and Conse nt
Forms , forVideotaping ... ...• . .... . .• ....91 APPENDIX E- He l p fu l n e s s Rating Scal e... ... ..•... • ..•100
APPENDIX F- Coun s e ll or Response Taxonomy..• •• •.. •. ...•102 APPENDI X G- Skills TaxonomyForm ••.. • • •...• . . .•.•• .... • •114 APPENDIX H - Hill and O'Grady Co u nsellorInt e n tion
Scale•..••••• . .•.•.•... ..•.. ...•.•. . .•....••..'" .116 APPENDIxI - Counse llo r Int. en t i o n s Form.• •. .•. .... • . ..•••120 APPENDI XJ -Coun s e llor In terve nti o n s Fonn.••. ••• .•• ..••• 122
vii
L:IS'1'OPTABUS
PagEl Table 1 HoursAllocated to Internship Ac tivities 19
Ta b l e 2 ClientInte rvie ws 21
Table 3 Distributionof CounsellorVerbalResponses Across Eleven Counselling Sessions -
Raw Data . . .48
Table4 Distribution of CounsellorVerbal Respons e s Across Eleven Counselling Sessions -
Cond e n s e d Version '" 54
Table 5 Proportion of Counsellor Verbal Responses Across Eleven Counselling Sessions 55 Table 6 Distribution of Counsellor Ir.tentions
Across Eleven Counselling Sessions 60 Table 7 Proportion of Counsellor In t e n t i ons Acros s
Eleven CounsellingSessions 62
Table 8 Distribu tionof Clie ntNegativeReact ions Across ElevenCounsellingSes s i o ns 67 Table 9 Means of ClientHelpfulness Rating sWhen
the CounsellorIs (IsNot) Aware of Client
Nega t iveaeaccdcne 69
Tabl e10 Means of Client HelpfulnessRatings of VariousCounsellor Re s p on s e Modes... ... •.71
viii
CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION The Choice ofAn Intern.hip
At Memori al Ul:iversityof Ne wfoundland, c:andidates for the K.Ed. degree in School Counsell ing are requi red to comple te te n graduate credit courses. as we l l as a non- credit gro up course in persona l andprofessio na l growt h and development. Stude n ts must then el e ct to comp l e t e eithe r a thesis or a full-t i me. prof essional in t e r nshi p of at leas t eigh t.we e ksdurat i on.
This candida t e cho se to do an interns h i p. The cho i c e wa s governed la r g ely by two consid erations. Firstly. the candida t e subscribes to th e the ory of 1••nJ.112g'bydoug. He firmly believes that guide d learning through band....o.a exJHIr1el2c. is a pcwez-fu Lway of developing new sk ill s and broadening one's prof essional knowl ed ge base. He would conte nd that an int ernsh i p. conducted und er profession al supervi sio n. is clearly suitedto this experi e n tia l mode l of learning. Se condly. since a re sea r ch compone n t is a requi r ed part of the in t ernship prOg'rlUrlme. the candidat e be li eve s tha t moo t of the benef i t s that wou l d be derived fr omwri t i ng a thesis are al s osecure d with inanint erns h i p. The internship. the n. was viewed by this in t ern as being ab le topr ovide a very comp rehensive an d ef fective learning exper ien c e.
RegulationsGove rning an Internship An in t e r ns hip in the M.Ed . progr..unme at Mem"rial Universityis gove rned by th e fo llowingregulation3:
1. The internshi p comme nc e s on l y after a !.:atisfactory perfo rmanceis ach ieved inan app ro vedpracticwn. 2. The interns hipcommences onlyafter suc c e s sful comple- tion of all coursework (includ i ng practicwnl requiredfo r the degree programastheyar e defined in the Un i v e r s ity Calendar.
3. Firstcons idera t i on is given tocandidates wh o have had little experien c e in th e worki ng milieu wh i c h the y will enter.
4. In terestedstuden tsmust submit andheveapprov ed by the university a fo rma.l internship proposal, including among oth er points , a sta t e me n t of professional goals and expectations for th e internsh ip .
5. An intern must l.~en roll e d full -timeduring the ti me of th e inte r ns h i p. The in t e r n may no t rece-ive reimburseme n t for serv ices rendered during the internship but will be eligible for fellowsh ips and assis tan tships as provided by universityregulatiom,.
supervision
gupeevisionof thein t e r n is the shared responsibility· of the uni v e r s i t y and the receivingschool orin s t itu t i o n.
Fi e l dSupe n t.or
The sel e c t i o n of field supervisors is made by the university in consultationwith the receiving schoolboard or insti t ut i o n. Fie ld supervisors must me et t-he fol l o wi ng criteria:
(i ) Hold a Master's Degree orits equ i va l en t app r o pr i a t e to the work of the intern; or equivalen t and app r o pr i a t e experiences
university.
determ i n e d by the
(ii) Have a minimum of 2 years experience in the fieldor its equivalent as determinedby theunive rs ity.
(i ii) Be involved full time in the placementsetting.
(iv )Have sufficienttime,asdeterminedby the un i versit y, to consultregularlywiththegradua t e stud e nt.
The Field Supervisorfor this internship was : Ms. Donna McLennon,8.Sc.. M.Ed.
CoordinatorGu ida:", ce!TherapyServic e s R.C. School Boar dforSt.John's Belvedere,Bon ave ntu r eAve., St. John's. Ne wfo undland Ale 3Z4
Unive n itySupery i!qr
The requirementsand re s p ons i biliti e s of theUn i ve r s i t y supervisorsare:
(i) TheSupervisor shouldbe professionallytrained in the area of gu idance and counselling and indicate an interest incounsellor tr a i n i ng .
(i i) The supervisor shouldhave sufficient ti me to cons u lt regularlywith the intern.
(i i i) The superv isor is responsible,in consulta tio n with the field supe r v i sor, for directi ng the pr eparat.io n and evaluat i on of there p or t on intern activi t ies . (i v) The faculty member is permi ttedto supervise no mo r e
than one intern duringa semes t e r in whic h he has full-time teaching re s p ons i b i li tie s.
TheUniversity Supervisor forthis in t ernsh ip was:
Or.GlennSheppard Fa c u l t y of Educati on
Memorial Unive r s i t y of Newf o un dland St.John ' s , Newfoundland Al B 3Xa
Evaluation
The university regulations governing the evaluation of an internship are as follows:
1. A proposal for the int e r ns h i p is prepared by the applicantprior to approval of the in t e r ns h i p. It is app r ov edby acommittee consisting of the un i v e r s i t y and fieldsupervisors, and an additional member of the Faculty of Education (not tobe theintern's adv isor).
2. InterimReport.
al The progress of the intern is evaluated midway throughthe pl a nn e d internship periodby the super- visingcommittee (1 ebcvet.
b) The committ.eemust. prepare a writ.tenreport describ- ing the int.ern'5 progress in eacharea of concern, and the recommendationsmade to theintern at that time. This report.is retained and submitted appendix of thein t e r n ' s fina~. report.
3. Final Repo ...t.
a) The supervising committeeprepares a final report describing the progressmade towardsachievement of th ein t e r n s hi pgo a l s.
bJ The commit.t.ee makes recommendation to t.he unive rsi ty regardi"'1gtheir satisfaction with the work of the inte r n.
(i) If the report is positive, the inter n ma y submitthe internship cepo.rt,
(ii l If the report is ne ga t i ve. th e int-e r n is asked ei ther toco nt i nueor to terminateth e int e r ns hi ponthe further re c o mmend a t ion of the commit t e e.
c) Th e finalrep or t of th e co mmit t e e is kept in the Gradua t e Scho olconfiden t ial files.
4. Inte rn s hip Repo rt
a) Anintern ship repor t ispreparedby the in t e r n and eval uatedac c ording to th e re gu l a ti ons of the uni- vers ity.
b) Theinte rnsh i p report ispreparedunder the direct- ionof the unlve r aLtry supervisor.
c) The inte r n s h i prepo rtinclude s two areas:
(i)A st at e ment of the internship objectives, ratio nale . anda thorough literaturereview;
ade s c ri pt ionof the internship activities , along with their evaluation; self- eval ua t ion of attainme nts , together with ,uppo r t ing evidence .
(ii) Are po rt of th e situation-based re s e a r c h problem whichwas developed, carriedout and eva l u a t ed duringthe cou r s e of th e Ineern- ship.
CHAPTER 2 THB INTERNSHIP SITE Descr iptionof the Sett i ng
This int e rnshi p was co nduc ted from April 25, 1994 to Ju ne 24, 1994 . The inter n as sumed the ro l e of full-t ime co unsellor in the Skills :for Youth programme, whic h is located at63 Patrick Stre et in St. John's, Newfoundland . Thi s programme , whichwill be desc ribe ?-in detail shortly, rep rese n t s an educational alternative for eeucenee in the St. John's ar e a who hav e experienced difficulty in the regUlar public sc hoo l syst e m.
In additio n to hi s work wi thSk1 11 s :for Youth, the in t e rn attended a two and one-half day workshop called ENGAGE, a career de velopme n t and learning-to-learnprogramme fo r youth which is part of the nationa l "S t ay-i n - Sc ho oP training initia t i ve. Furthe rmore , the intern provided counselling to three students en r oll ed in the Sk i l l s :for Suc ce ss programmewhich alsoope r ate s atthe Pat rickStreet lo c ation unde r the same administra t i o n as the Ski lls :for yout h pro gramme. Thi saddit ional counselli ng servi ce was sought by the students and approvedby the administration.
Skills fnrYoutb/SldJ11 fgrSug c e Rs _AHistOry
The Ski l l s for Succ e s s programme ha s operated since February 1984 under the admin istration of Me. Eileen Young.
Sk ills for Success is a job entry /academi c upg rad ing
programme for school dropouts t:.hat is sponsoredbythe Iris h Christ:.ian Brothers and is funded by the federal governmen t . Pa r t i c i pants range in age from 17 to 30 years old. Allof the s e studentsare school dropouts who,because of academic , social. and life skills deficits, la c k readiness for ent ry int o t:.he job market..
While adrninistrating the Skill. tor .suee••• pr ogra:rntle , Ms. Young be gan receivingnumerous requ est.s for ent ry int o che programme from individuals unde r school lea v i n gag e. In re s po n s e to these request.sand with fur t h er fund ingfr o mth e federal government, she created an alte r nat.e ac a d emic programmefor juniorhigh school students who arecl ass ifie d as at -risk students. This additio nal prog raJlUlle is ref erre d to as Skills tor routh .
For the purposesof the Sldn. ~orrouthprogramme,at - risk studentsare operat.ionallydef inedas stud e ntswhoare at riskof failure in school due to academic, behav i oral , and/or emot:.ional problems. Most of these students have already dropped out of school. if not physic a lly thr ough chro n i c abs enteeism, the n psycho log ical l y. Academic a lly, these students ra n ge in achievemen t anywhere from the grad e 2le v elto gradeequi v al e nci e s wellabov e avera g e fo r their agegro up . Any la g (a c a d emi c , behaviora l, and/ o r emot i onal ) is deemed to be the resu l t of enviro nmen tal factors.
Beca u se th e students varied acade mical l y.
behavioral ly, and emotionally, an Indi vidual Educat ion Program (IEP) is developedand implementedfor each e eudene. The Skill_ Lor Youthprogram was fi r s t offered in the 1992-93 school year. Along with the admin istrator, two teachers and a secretary are employed th ere. The programme draws it s regular en r o llme n t of 16students, aged 13-15 years, fromthe RomanCat ho lic SchoolBoard and the Ava l o n Con s olida t e d SchoolBoardin St.Jo hn 's, Newfoundland.
St ud e n t s whoent e r the SkJ.l.l_£or Youthprogrammedo so withthe understanding that their p1l:lcement thereis for one year onl y. The emph a sis is to build on primary academic skills and to re-integrate the students into the regular sys t e m. To facilitate this re-integ r a tion , students are kept on the registers of the referringschools. Continuous liaison is maintai ned with both th e referri ng scho o ls and the schoolswhich will be receivingth e s e st u dents in the upc omin g academic year . Most students ret u rn to th eir previous school; however, on oc c a sio n a student may be integrated into a school ot h e r th a n the school which had referredhim/her.
8k11J_ tor ro ut b, in its first year of operation, enjoyed tremendous success. The programme was evaluated ver y favorably by both the personne l de live r i ng the programme and by the school boards' personnel responsible for supervision . However, funding for the progranune wa s wi t h drawn at the end of th e first ye a r by the fede ral
10
government. Recognizing the value and potentia l of the yr o g r amme , the two school boards inv olved assumed responsibility for securing fundingfor the 1993-9 4school year. Indica t i ons aretha t this fundingwill cont inueinto the 1994-95sc hoo lyear as well.
The school boards' decis',n to secure fundin g for the programme is in keeping with the spirit of a report presented to theGov e r nmen t of Newfo un dland and La brador in Se p tembe r 1991. Th e Roman Catholic School Board for St. John's andth e AvalonConsolidated Sc h ool Bo a rd, toget he r withthe ConceptionBay SouthIntegrat e dSch o ol Boar d, the Sev enth Day Adventist School Board, and the Pentecoscal Assemblies School Board prepared a doc ument ent i tIed Services for Behaviorally -ae-Ris k Studen ts (1991). Thi s docum ent strongly asserted, anddemonstra t ed, thene edfor a continuum of services in the Pr ovi n ce which cou ld more ef fectiv e ly me et; the educational needs of suc h at· risk students. Most,but not all,of the students in theSldll.
tor Youth prog ramme fie under tne umbrel l a of wha t the school boa r d s' document called ~behaviora lly- at -r i sk·
students .
Ra.tionai. for Choice of Setting Sldll_
tor
Youth wa s de e med, by t.he inter n and his superv isors, eohave the pot.en t ial to provide a very rich internship experience . Given thetypeof students enrolled in th e SIdl.l. for Youth prograrnmiP. it was expected that th ere wouldbe ampleopportunityforthein t er n toengage in individual counsel ling as well as many ot her activities ass ociatedwiththe professional roleof school couns ellor. In many respects. the in t er n would be counsell ings tudents from the school system who have the most difficult presenting problems. Thisexperiencewouldhelp improvethe intern's confidence in his ability to meet the demands associatedwith individual cou n s ell i n g which he wi ll fa c ein th e re gul ar school system. In addit ion to providin g individualcounsel lingservices , theintern was expected to gain experience in plar.ning and implementing educational programsfor "at-r i s k"students ,andin helping pr epareth em for the transition ba c k to the reg ular school system . The Skill. Lor Yout!z progranune would also provide the int ern with th eopportunityto workinII.collabora t ive/consu J.tative wa y wi t h the many different cOJ'lUl\unity and gv ,rernment agencies who ar e professionally involved with these students.As wil l be demonstrated in the remainder of this Report, all of these expectations for the in terns h ipwere moretha n adequatelymet.
CKAP'l'1R 3 GOALS AND AC'l'XV'l:'l'IBS
InternshipGoals
The goals which were set by the int e r n tobe achieved duringthe period of this internshi p arelis t ed below:
To ga in increased unde rs ta nd ing of the pers onal, socia l, an d aca d emic concerns of at- r i sk stud ents and eo learn effecti ve ways of dealing wi th the ne e d s of th is spe cif icpop ulat i on .
This goal achieved throug h (a) ind ividua l counselling. (bl di scussion and co llab oration with othe r profe s sional s wh o were dealing with the s e students, LcI obs ervationof thestud ents at the se t ti ng, and (d) astudy of re levan t literature .
To imp rove the intern ' s knowledge of. and abili ty to perform, effe ct i ve ind ividual couns e l ling.
'Z'his goalwas ach ievedin se v eral ·wa y s. Firstof all, the site off e r ed numerous oppo r tuni t i es for ind ividual cou nse ll i n g and this pract i c e alone he l p e d the intern to hon e hi s ..,'11ing skills. sec ondly , ene research compon e nt of tn", in t ernship con sis t e d primarily of the intern's self- e va l ua tion of hi s ind ivi dua l co uns e ll i n g
competency.
"
He videotaped eleven (ll ) sessions of
receiving counselling during his termat Patrick Street. These tapes were subjected to a systematic, thorough analysis, and th e results were used in a formative and summaelve manner to help the intern impr ove his coun s e lling performance. (More will be saidabout this project in the zeseevcb component of this paper) . Fin ally , the intern's individual counselling skills....ere also developedthrough his app lica t i on of ideas found in an ongoing review of the relevant literature.
To increase the intern'5 knowledge of the range of communityagencies which are involved in the livesof young people (particularly at-risk youth),and to understand their mandates and resources.
This goal was accomplished through the intern's daily activities at Patrick Street whichinv ol ved him with other conununity agencies and/....r professional personnel. These included Social Services (f os t e r care, youth corrections, and child protection services) as well
agencies such as:
a) the T. I. Murphy Center, which is operated through the province's Department of Education and provides regular highschool cour-ses to potential drop outs,
b) the R.E .A.C .Y . Center ,which is operated through the province's Department of Social Servicesand offers academic
..
upg r ading for ind ivi duals who ar e recei vi ng financial assis tancethroughtha t Department,
c) Emmanuel House,whichis owned and op e ra ted bythe United Church of Canada and which of f ers prof e s sional counse lling and tre atment programs fo r adul ts who have exper i enced a variety of pr oble ms in thei r lives ... prob lems su ch as physic a l. sex u al and emo t ional abuse; psych ia tric diffi CUlt ies;conflic t wi th the law;alcoh oland sub stance abuse. marlta l lfamilybr ea kdo wn; and the lack of opportunity for ed ucat ionor jobprepa r a tion,
d) the Ad ol e s cent HealthCou n sel l ingCenter, which is op era t e d by th e prov i nc ia l goverMlent and which off e r s pro f essional counselling, indi vidual and gr oup . for adolescen ts wh o have experienc e d the same type of problems asthecl i e n t el eservedby Enunanuel Hous e, and
e) Tutor s Un limi ted, whi ch is privately owned and opera~ed and which off e rs stude nts one-on -one academic tutoring.
Theint ern alsoha d toconsul t.and lia se.wi thprofessiona l co unse llors who wereinprivatepra ct i ce.
To learn how to function effectively with other agenciesina col la bor a tive/consu ltative way.
Th isgoal is a coroll aryof Goal 3andwa saccompli s he d inDluch the samemann er.
\,
To gainexperience with developing, and imp l e men ti n g, In divid u a l iz ed Educat i onal Programs (J:EP ' s ) in accordance ...i th th e pr ov i ncia l gui d e line s that are outlined in the Special Ed1!Cat:1 00 poJicy Man ual (1 992 ).
Thisgoa l was accomplishedby workingtogether with the teachers in the SkJ.ll. for Youth programme who are cont i nu ally evalua tingand re-designing IEP 's. The intern assisted in this proces s and supplementedtheir workthro u g h informal consultationwith the teachers about the studen ts ' inunedlate and future educa t i ona l needs. This same goal wa s further accomplished thr o ugh the intern's ~articipation in formal Case Conferences regarding ind iv idual ecucencs and Pl a c e me n t Conferencesdealing with groupsof students. The intern also inte rv enedwithstudents to help impl eme nt their IEP' s th roughapplicat i on ofbeha vior management techniques, communicationskillsupgr adi ng, andso fo rth .
To gain knowledge of the fu l l ran g e of services av a ila b l e to youth through the Special Services Division. Depa rtmentof Education.
Services such as programming for ch alleng ing needs, home tutoring, special trans port at io n, andstuden t assistant programs are availableandare being utilizedby the Roman
16
CatholicSchool Board. In some cases, these services have been made available to students atS1dl ~1J for Youth. The intern's dailya.ctivities gave him access to, and knowledge of, these and other programs which are available through the Department of Education and the Department of Socia l Services of the Government of NewfOl...id land and Labrador.
To broadenthe intern'sres o ur c e and re f er r a l base as a professional counsellor.
This goal ...as accomplished through the intern' s daily contact with a large number of professiona ls who wo r k in many and varied capacities. These professio n a ls nowserve as contacts for the intern and increased his readiness to work effectively and efficiently in his future wo r k as a guidance counsel lorin rural Newf o und l and .
To gain experience in helping students prepa re for a major transitioninthei rli ves,
The students in theSkill s ~or You th programme were finishingtheir studies at that settingduring the period of thi s internship. consequently, they needed to be prepared for the transition to the regular school setting in Sep tembe r 1994 , to an othe r re c eiv i ng aqency, Th e students nee ded help in bringing hea l thy closure to thei r
17
expe.r'Lenc e in skil l . for Yo u t h and in preparing fo r re- int e g r a t i on into the mainstream. The intern assisted in this process through individual counselli ng and through accompanying some students on a vi si t to their receiving schoolIage nc y.
18
Description of MajorProlenionalActivitie.
Preparing for, ca r ry i ng out, and reporting on this interns hi p involved the int e rn in a wide range of professional activi t i e s. The s ear e describedin some detail here inorderto give the reader asens eof the breadthand the dept hof th is intern sh ip experience. See Table 1 for the estimat ed timespe ntin someof these activities.
As part of thi s int e r ns hi p project, re s ea r ch was carriedout for twosepa ra t e purposes . Firstly , athor ough literat ure revi ewwas conducted by the intern~ the internsh ip periodbeganinorder toesta blish the purpose and methodol og iesof the study to be undertaken during the period of the inte r ns hi p. The References section of this Report eeeeacs to the amount of readi ng whichwa s done at tha t time. Se condly, research wasconductedby the int e rn
~thepe riodof the int ernship to helphi m broadenhis understandingof, and deal mor e effective lywith, the issues presented byhiscli e nt e l eincounselli ngsessions. A list ofthese readi ngs isincl udedin Appendi xA.
Tabh 1
Hour . Allo c a ted to Internllbip Act i vit i ••
Compo nent
Individual counsel li ng Research
Reviewof Video t ape s In- t akeInterv iew s Case Conferences Placement Con f e rences Inservice
Visits to ReceivingInst itutions supervisi on
Overall
"
No. ofhours
"
eo 35
10
20
"
241
10
IndividualCouDltU ip, q
The major focus of this internshipwason the provis ion of individual counselling, and a substantial amou nt of the intern's timewas devotedto this activity . The cou n s e ll i ng centered primarily, but not exclusively, around pers onal is s u e s . Many of the clients were in trouble wi t hthe law:
thac is, they were eitheron probation, in op-en custod y, or in cl os e d custody. Some of them pr e s e nt e d wi th ma jor problems such as being in, or surviving from, abusive situations (s e xual, physical, and/or emotional). Othe r s reported having suicide ideation. Still others pr e s e nte d with such issues as anger cont rol. school phobi a s.
relationship problems, sexual orientatio n, excess ive use of alc o ho l/dr ug s , and HIV infection. Some career and/or academic concerns we r e dealt with as well. bu t these we r e in f r e qu e n t and usually secondary to the clientIs present i ng problem. See Tabl e2 for a summary of the number of clients seen. the freque nc y of th e i r couns e l l ing sessions, and the length of theirperiod of coun s elling,
21
Table:2 Clie ntInterview.
Clien t Number
Session Dates (1994) Number
ofSessions
April25; May02, 04, 05 April 25; May26 April25
April27 ;May 11, 18, 25; June03, 08, i Ap ril 27;June0'
April28;May02 May 02, June 09 May 02, 09
May 03, 04, 10, 25; June 01, 07, 09, J.6
10 May 03, 06
11 May 04, 09, 16;Jun e02, 15
12 Ma y 05; Ju ne 09
13 Ma y 06
14 Ma y09
15 May10
16 May 18 , 19, 2S;June01, 07, 21 17 May 12,17 , 18 , 24, 30;Ju ne 02, 06, 09 18 Ma y 19 , 30; June 06
19 Ma y 24
20 Ma y 30 , 31:Jun e 07, 15, 17
21 June08
Oy e ra 1) 66
"
Reviewgf yi d .otap "
As part of the rese archcompone n t of thi s int ernship , el ev en ofthe intern'5counsellingse s sionswere videot a p ed. Wit hi n 24hours of eachta p i ng , the intern wouldrevi ew the ta p e al ong wi t h the client to collec t in format i on regardi ng clie nt negative reactions during the session. rile inte rn would review th e tape a sec ond time by hi ms i:>:r: to colle c t data regardi ng his counselling skil l s.,a nd his counselling in t e nti o n s . This inform at ion was the n used as the databa s e upon wh i c h the research component of this internshi p wa s developed.
In_takeInteryiOW8
During the periodof the int e r n s h i p, SJdl1s lor Youth acc epted10ne wstuden ts, inaddition totheir reg ula r case loa d of 16 studen ts, int o the ir prog ramme for an a-week pe riod. Th e intern par tic ipated in 4 of the in -take interviews, along wit h. the administ rato r of the Sklll. tor Youth progra mme and the studen t being inte rvie we d. Other partic ipa n t s in the inter views, and the s e va ried from one occas ion to the next, included pe r s on n e l such as the parent s (guardia n s) of the student, so c ial worke rs , ap a rt me nt caregive r s, guidan c e couns e llo rs and admi nis trators of the refe r r ing sc hoo ls , sc ho ol bo a rd coord inato r s , and the teache r s from the Skill. for Youtb pr o g ramme.
2l
~Cp o f t r e n S ft '
The internpart icipatedinBca s econf e re nc e s regarding ind! vidual students . Six of these conferences wereconve ned todeal with planning for stude ntswho were not measuringup to the expectations of the Skill. tor Youth programme. These con f ere nc e s led to the creation of a contract which was then signed by the Sk J.l l s lor Youth staff and by the stude nt. The co n t rac tou t lin e dthe services which the staff
~·lould provide the stud ent, the behaviors expected of the student, and the logical cons e qu e nc e s (po sit i ve or negative) whic h would result shouldthe student follow, or brea k. the cont r a ct.
The inte rn participated in 2 other case conferences, bot h of which dealtwith the re-integrationofthe students concerned into the regularschool system. The personne l in attenda nce at al l of theseco n f er enc e s wa s similar to those listedfo r the in-takeinterviewsabove.
Pl.c;oment; CQDforepc;es
The intern par t i c i pa t e d in 2 placement conferences.
These conferences were attended by the inte rn , the teaching sta f f of SkIll" tor routh, and the schoo l boa r d's pr og r a m co ord inator( s) . The first of these meetings deal t wi t h plann i ng for all of the students at Sldlla tor ro u th fr om the Avalon Consolidated School Board, and the second
me etingde altwith planningfor all of the students fro m the RomanCatholic School Board. The primary purpose of these meetings to determine each student 's leve l of functioning, both academically and behaviorally, and to assess the options that we r e available for re·integ rat ing these students back into the re gu l a r school system.
Assessingthe options included looking at wh i c h schools, and which programs within these schools, might be bestsuited to each indi vidual student. The options woul d be pri o ri t ized and subsequently presented to the student for conside rat ion and selectionat a case conference.
The intern participated in a two and one-ha lf da y workshop called ENGAGE, a career development and le arn i ng - to- learn programme for youthwhich is part of the national
"'Stay-in -School " initiative. This works hop to.Ok: plac e from May26, 1994to May 28, 1994 and wasattende dby coun s el lo rs and coo rdinators from schools. school boards, community col le ges, Human Resou rces Development, YM/YWCA, and the DepartmentofEduc a t i on . The purpos eof thework s hop was to tra in those in attenda n c e (Lce. traine r s) in the skills needed to conduct an ENGAGE work s hop . These trainers now expected to go to thei r re s p e c t i ve communi t i e s to train youth facilitators who wi l l then present the works hop to youth. participation by yout h in the wor k s hop will
presumably help enable them to take control of their own le arni ng and to better manage their careers. The intern found thisworkshop tobe enlightening and it increasedhis con fi de n ce in his abi lity to pro vide informed. effective ca r e e r counselling .
yh i t " tq RaC:ftivinqJ n ~
The intern accompanied three clients onvisits to the in s t itut i o n s whic h will be receiving them up on their completion of the Skills for Youtb/Skill. for sueee••
programme. These vis its weremade to Booth Memorial Hig h School. BeaconsfieldJuniorHighschool, and Emmanuel House.
The vi s it s were inte nde d to help the cl i ents make their transition into the s e institutions by acquainting them with the physical buildings, the programsof f e red there, andthe professionalswhoprov idethe services.
The intern met with one or bothofhi s field supe rvi s o r and his uni v e r sit y supe rv i s or duri ng each wee k of the in t e r n s h i p peri od . During the s e meetings, one of whichwa s the required mid·internahip supervisory committee meeting, the progress of the inte rnshi p was discussed. Discussion te nde d tocenterar o un d (a) the extent to whichthe intended goalsof the internship werebeing met, and (b) the stat us of the ongoing research project. Also,given the fact that
"
the intern was sp e nding a significant amount of hi s time providing personal co un s e l li n g difficult issues, considerable attention was given by the sup ervisors to he lping the int ern proceec what was happening to him, emotion a lly, as a result of these counselling sessions. This approach to supervision is inkeepingwit h the British Association of Co unse l ling's ethical requiremen t tha t counsel lors have availabl e to them supervision and/or co n s u l t at i o n opportunities when they providing counselling services (Br i t i s h Association for Counselling, 1990).
QthOl"Mtiyitiog
The intern was involved in many other counsel lor- relatedactivitiesduringthe periodofhi s internshipother than thosemajor activities whichare describedabove . It wouldbe impractical to try to name all of th e s e activit ie s or to pr ovid e the specific time devoted to each of them . These otheractivities in c l udedsuchthingsas the int ern 's (a ) sociali zing wit h the students du ring extracu rricular events (e. g . bowl ing , wa t c h i =1g movies, and so fort h), (b) bui lding rela tionships with the students throug hclassroom visits and helping them with their school work, (c) making and receiving te l e p ho ne calls, (d) making notes and fil ing, (e ) conSUlting with teachers, administrato rs, guidance counsellors, and other professionals, (f) attending staf f
"
socials, and IS) attending an Op e n House on addictions spon s o r e d by St.Ja mes Unit e d Church onElizabethAvenue .
ClW'TBIl • THJI:US&U.CHCOJCPONmf'r
Introduction
As par~ of the internship in thecoun sellor educat i on program at. Memorial unive rs ity, the inee r n is required to unde r t a ke a res e arch project rela t e d to his/he r~iel d of wor kand ap pro p r i a t e to the settin g wh e re the int'! r n s hip is conduct ed. The inte rnconduc tedthefo llowi ngst udyto meet th is re quir e men t.
29
The study condu cted duri ng th i s inte rns hip was 5.elf- evalua t i ve in nature and involved the intern in a careful analys is of video re c orded. samp l es of his cou nsel l i ng behavior. The threeprim a ry ob jecti ve s of thestudywe r e:
(il toidentify , reflecton. and inc r e a s e the intern's reper<:olr e of obs e rvab l e skills in counse lling.
liil to identif y an d reflecton th e in te rn' S counselli ng intent ions. and to determine an y pattern directionwhich might be evident in thes e il'1ten- tlonsdur i ng counsellingsessions, and
(iii) toassessthe eff ectivenessof the in ter n ' s sub- sequent responsesto clients when the cl i e n·t has a ne g a ti vere a c t i o n dur inga co un sellingsession.
JO
Rationale
The ul t i mate go al of any cou n s ellor edu c ation program is to prov idecandidates with theknowl e d g e andskills which they will ne e d in order tobecome profess i o nalcounsellors.
Upon succ e s s fu l comple ti on of th e i r course requirements, candidates ar edeeme dtoha veattaine d at least the minimum le v e l of knowledg e end skill de v e lopmen t tha t is required for counselling. Eva l uat i on, in thic formal stage of counsello r educa ti o n . is co ndu cted , for the most part. by the profess orswho teach thecourses.
However , knowledge and ski l l development , and the E.va l ua t ion of it, need no t (inde e d, shouldnot) stop th e r e. Counselling isa complex process, and the counsellor needs to continuall y expan d on hi s /her knowledge base and to improve hi s/ h e r skill s in th e deliv e ry of counselling services. Dyer &.Vriend (19 75) state that all conunitted counsellors are co nsta ntl y engaged in ir•.reasing their numbe r of skills and upg r a di ng their per-forman c e in different skil l areas . Clientsdeserve,and have a right to dema nd , the best serv i cepossible . Itis incwnbent upon the counsellorto prov i de that service .
The study being reported stems from the intern's commdttme nt; to th i s process of se lf-improvement a.s a co un s e llor. As indica t e d by the statement of purpose, the inter n steppedback in a reflect iveway (al to examine the processes th a t were tak ing pla c e in the counselling
31
situation, and (b) to evaluate his role in i t. Stepping back to ask the ques tion, "Wha t is going on here?". is an important task of the scientifically oriented professional (Hu r l e y, 1988). In e vi tably , for the counsellor, this reflec tive process wi ll re s u l t in a greater understand ing of. andprofic iency in, the practice of counselling.
The intern's unde rta k i ng to evaluate himself in the counselling situation is supported by Kagan (1980) who maintains that "p e c p de are the best authority on th e i r own dyn ami c s and the best interpreter of their own exp e rie n c e "
(p p. 279-280). Furthermore, evidence exists which supports the view that graduate st udent trainees are accu rate self- evaluators (Dowling, 1984).
ResearchQuestion.
The following research questions were posed for this study:
1. What were the typical verbal responses exhibited by the intern in individual counselling sessions, categorized by the Counsellor Response Taxonomy(Riteff, 1989) ?
2. Were there any changes in the Lnt ern's verbal re s po ns e s from session to session as t.he intern continued counselling the sarne client?
3. Were t.here any response modes whichthe intern did not exhibit?
4. What were the t.ypLca L counselling intentions of t.he intern in counselling sessions, as cat.egorized by the Counselor Intention Scale (Hill&O'Grady, 1985 ) ? 5. Werethere any changes in the intern's coun selli ng
intentions from session to session as the intern coneinuedcounselling the sarneclient?
6. How effectively did the intern respond to a ct Ienc' s negaeive reactionin counselling when the intern ~ awareof the negative reaction?
7. How eff ectivelydidthe intern respond to a client's negativereaction in counselling when the inte r n~ aware of the ne ga e i v e reaceion?
8. What type(sl ofco un s e ll o r response stypica l l y appe ased client'snegative reactions?
"
LiteratureReview
!lotn .111/'lINdota..ejll.~_1 09Yof pr•.,Uc..
_ t
h til .,t1lldofItn<Nll1!1 III""1ell"0IIIpII~_~p. ..,tltl... n .~9.'ISChon.UU,p.vl1 U.The British Associa tion fo r Couns eling defi ne s counselli ng as fol lows:
Couns e ling is the skil l ed and princi p led us e of relations hi p to facilita te self-knowledg e. emotional accepta nce and growth , and the op tima l dev elopment of persona l resources. The overallaim is to provide an oppor tu nity to work towar d s living mo re sa tis fy i ngly andresourcefully . Counselingrelationsh i p s will vary according to need but may be con cerned wit h dev e l o pme n t al issues. addressingand resolving specific problems , maki n g decisions . cop i ng wit h cri s is.
develop i ng perso nal insights and knowl e dge , working through fe elings of inne r confli c t. or iInilrovi ng relations h i ps withothe rs.
The counsellor 's role is to facilitate the client'sworkinways that respect the client'svalues, personal resourcesand capacityforself-de t.ertrlinat.ion.
lBr i t i s h Association for Counsell ing, n.d.}.
At the very least then, counselling is readily seen as a comp l e x processof human int e raction.
The evol ut i on of counselling as a profess ion has witnessed th e eme r g e nc e of app roaches to .counselling which have their foun dat.ions in different
schools of psychology.
"
These approaches include the psychoanalytic , existent ial . person-cen tered . behavior, and rational-emotivether a pi e s. to name but a few. Compila. tions of the many andvari e d approaches can be found in many texts (e. g . Braswell & seev. 1984; Kuta s h "Wolf, 1986; Belkin , 1987 ; Burke , 1989; Corey, 1991 ) . New or re formulated approaches, whic h tend to be less theoretical and more skills based. continuall y emerge (e.g. Carkhuff, 19 69;
Kagan , 1980; Ivey, 198] ; Burke , 1989; Egan . 1994; Gazda, Asbury, Balzer, ch i l d e r s, & Walters, 1991). Given the variety of approaches to counselling, and Eh-ediversity of the theories which support the m. most couns el lors tend to adopt an ec l e ct ic approach (Norcross & Proc h aska, 1988) . De s p i t e the divergence, there is comfort in knowing that, no matte r what schoolor approachto counselling is beingused, the ultimate goal is to help clie nts to manage th e i r own lives more effectively (Egan, 1994). In that, we ha v e a commo nth r e a d .
The que s t forcommon threads, or themes, incou ns e lling is one th a t has gained some impe tus in rec ent yea r s IGo ld fr i e d, 1982; Erskine&Moursund, 1988}, but it isnot a The foundation for this quest was laid, pe rha ps , by Carl Rogers who, in the 1950's, maintainpd tha t th ere are six necessary and sufficientcon d itions for pe rs on a li t y changes to occur in counselling .
summarized the conditions as follows :
In a 198 7 work, he
"
1.Twopersons ar e inpsyc holog ica l conta ct. 2.The first , whom ...e shall term the client . is
experienci ng incon g ruency.
J.The secon dpe rson,whomwe shall term the therapist, iscongruent or inte g r a t e dintherelati onship . 4.The ther apist expe r i en c e s unco nd i t i o n a l positive
regard orrea l caring for the cl i e n t.
S. The therapis t expe r i en c e s anempa t h ic unde rstanding of the clien t's in t e rnal fr ame (\f reference and endeavours to commun i c a t e this eX}.'eri ence to the client.
6.The communica t ion to the clie:ltof th e th'.!rapist·s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is toami nima l degree achiev e d (pp.39- 41). However, despite the perceived importanc e of th e facilitativeconditio ns positedby Rogers,resea rchevidence suggest th a t the s e condi tio ns may not be sufficien t to produce clie ne chan g e (Miec h e ll. Boz art. &.Krauft. 1917 ; Parloff. Wa skow, " Wol f e, 197 8 ; Lambert. DeJulio. " Stein.
1978 1. A mor e comprehe nsive see-·of variables affect.ing the r a peu t i c outcome s would in c lud e th e r a p i s t techniques, clie n t vari a bles. the r a p i s t va r i ables. the therapeutic relati ons h ip (wi th a Roqe ri an base). and external fact-ors (Hill, 1989). This broader perspect ive would be more in kee pi ngwithth eperspective found in currentliterature.
The therapeut icproces s, then, is nece s s ar i ly a comp l ex Hi ll and O'Grady (1 ~ 8 5 l ap t ly, and succinc t ly , describe the typical processes which ar e likely to take place duri ng a couns e l lin g se ssion . Summa r ily, the therapist inte grates anenormous amount of datafro m global
J6
variables (s u c h as the presenting problem, the setting, and so forth) and fromimmediate variables {s uc h as behavioral observati on s andpersonal reactions I. Basedupon expe r i e n c e and training , the therapist will develop these data into counselling intentions which are then transla ted into interventions . After each intervention, the cli ent responds, providing new data and stimulati ng further int entions and interventions on the part of the th e r a p i st . An interactive, re c iprocal , and cyc li c pattern develops and continues.
Clearly. both overt and cover t processes are taking place in th e counselling session (Hill. 19921. Th e re ar e observablL counsellor in t e rve n t i o ns and client responses. But there are also unobservable processessuchas coun sellor in t ent i on s and internal client reacti ons. In ot herwo rds, the counsell ing session is comprised of cognitions, feelings, and behaviors on the part of both the rapi s t and client . Empirical studies ought to pay attention to all threeof theseandattempt tofu r t her understandthe natu re of theirinteraction (Kelly, Hall, &Mi ller , 1989).
It is into this we bof co mp l e x human inter action th a t the new counsellor is thrust. In prepa ration for the demands that await them, professional trainee s must ac qu i r e compe t encies within two distinct realms of kno wl edg e (Berna rd & Goodyear , 1992). The fir st includ es the knowledge which derives fr om formal theories an d
37
obs e rv ation sI the second is the knowledge andskil l s ac c ru e d th r o u g h theprofessional expe ri encesof pr ac titione r s. Egan (1994) positsthat the laU e r re al m of knowledge and ski l l forms an essentialpartof a practicalcur riculumfor helper (i. e.co uns e llor)deve lopment.
Corey (1991 ) con t ends ehe ne ed for coun s e llor s to in c o rpo r a t e illwide range of responses into their th e rap eutic sty l e. Ivey (19B J) goes fur t her to advocate th a t the counsellor 's repertoire of skil ls shouldbe expanded to the point that the co uns e llor can generate an almost infinite numberof response s toany client statementwitha predicted re s u l t in cli ent behavior. The importanc e of therapist skil l s an d th e need for their cont inue d de v elopme nt we ll beyo nd that attainedto meetminimum tr a ini ng re qu i r eme nt s is furthe r hi gh lig h t e dbyGa zda ,Asbury, Balzer.Childers, "
Walters, (1991).
As ski llst.h ey are dimensions of our beingwith people that can be asse s s ed , that pe rmit ident ificat i on of stren g t.hs onddefici t s, and that with pr ac t i c e we can enhance, building on our stre ngths and gr a du ally eliminating our defic i ts. The process of learning to be an eff ect i ve he l p e r re qui res, mo r e than anything else a willingness to examine one self int e rpers ona lly wi tho ut thre a t ... and to persevere in training. (p.
10) •
"
The impor tance. and the effectiveness, of the many and varied skills which counsellors bring to the counselling situation is attracting considerable attention in the are!' of counselling research (e . g. seca-aeker & Friedlander . 1987;La r r a be e, M.J ., 1982; Feldman, Strong, " Danse r, 19 82 1 sbcbem-sefcmcn. Avner, & Neeman, 19 89 1 Stiles. Shapiro, "
Firth-Cozens, 1988). Some therapist techniques, such as interpretation and self-disc losure, are identified as important skills in virtually all studies of counselling behaviors,
The importance of, and advocacy for, continued professional development through skill acquisition and reflective practice. and the growing body of lite rature supporting the effectiveness of certa i n therapis t techniques . provide the context within which the int ern conducted the studybeing reported her e. It is from this perspective that the intern examined his typical verbal behaviors in counselling sessions with a vi ew toward expanding and refining them. Barkhamt.Shapiro(1996) posit that a promising approach to the analysis of verba l behaviors involvestheircl a s s if i c a t i on into verb al respo nse modes (VRM's ). Ove r 30such classificationsystemshavenow been developed (Hill. 1989), and the intern adopte don e of these to classify and to analyze his verba l be ha v i ors . classi ficat ion system was us e d to classify the typ e, and .frequency,of his verbalrespons esincounse llingsess ions .
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Secondly, in ad d i t i on to studying hi s behavio ral techniques , th e intern examined his cogniti ons during counsel l ing se ss i ons. More spe c i fi c ally . the in t e r n iden tif ied and examinedhis inte n t ions th a t were associated with particular interventions which he made du r i n g cou n s e l lin g sess i ons. Inrecent decades, a clear emphasis on cogni t ions and cognitiv e processes has emerged in some approaches to counselling psycho logy (e.g . Ellis, 1977, Meichenbaum. 1977 : Beck . 1986). Co gn itivi s t s maintain tha t thereis a causal interact i ve relationshipbetween though ts and ove r t behavior wh i ch is fundamental to a ful l understanding of be ha v ior and how itisacquired (Sa f r a n &.
Greenberg, 1982; Martin, 1984; Lazarus, 19 84; Gardner, 1985). Counsellor inte nt i on s fall under the umbre lla of cognitions, and Kelly Hall, &.Miller (1989) found that it is cle a rly desirable for counsellors to know what their inte n t i o n s are in or d e r to facilitate positiv.e thera peutic outcome for clients. The study of cou nsel lor intentions undertakenbyth e inter n isin ke e p i n g withcurrent re s e arc h in counselling.
Fina lly. the internexamined the effectiveness of his responses to clients when clients experienced a negative reaction in the counselling situation. This part of the research delved into theth i r d dimensionof the counselling process, the affectivedomai n. As Corey (1 9 91 ) points out.
proficiency in counsellingrequireseffectiveness in dealing
with all three of the behavioral, cognitive, andaffec t i ve processes. In are c e nt, extensive reviewofthere s e arch on the r a p i s t techniques ,Hill (1992) adv isedthat mor e resea r ch is needed on how thera pis t s can intervene when they are awareof negative clientreactions. This piece ofre sea r c h represents a small, but sig nificant, step toward answering that need.
In conc l u s ion then, it is readily appar en t that, in recent years, the r e isinc r e a sedadvocac y tha t pr o f essiona l counsellors adopt a "r e f l e c t i ve practitione r"approachas a means of enhancing their continuedprofessiona l developme nt.
Essential to such an approach is the ac qu isi tion by counsellors of the skills, knowledge, and self -aw areness necessary for ongoing self-analysis of, and reflec tio n on, their counsellingpractices. The study beingrep orted he r e is consistent with both this ooncept.uaLf aatLo n of se lf- directed professiona l development and its implica tions fo r the novice coun s e l lor, in particul ar.
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Methodology Participant'
The intern originally intended to videotape five con s ecu t i v e couns~lling sessions wi t h eachof two clients from the skJll. £or Youth programme , for a total of ten videotaped sessi ons. However , one of the two clients cri gi na l l y select ed discont inu ed counsellingafterth e first session. Anoth erclient was then selected from the Sldll.
£or suee••• programme toparti cipate in the study. Hence, eleven videotapes were made. and the results of all eleven are incl u ded in thi sRe p o r t. Th e twocl i e n t s selected from theSk i l l . Lo r You t hprog<:arnrne were 14 year oldmale s1 th e client selectedfrom the SkIll.£orSUCCI• •programmewas a 20year oldmale .
a.lIgtton Proe'4ut.
Clien ts were selected for the study in the followi n g The intern expl a ined th e purpose and design of the study to eachnew ""Uent who indicateda desire to continue in counselling for a minimum of five more sessions. Of thosewho were interestedin pa:cticipatingin thestudy, the intern, in consultation withhi s field supe:tvisor, sele cte d those clients who appeared to have the maturity and dependability to accur atel y execute the ta s k s that were to be requiredofthe m.
.,
A client consent form for participation in the st udy was obtained from all three client participants (Se e AppendixB) . For th e two participants from theSk.:Ul. ~or Youebpr og r amme . twoother consent forms were alsoobtained.
First, parental consent was obtained for having the stude n t participate in t-he study (Se e App endix C). Second, since each of these two clients were reg istered with the Roman Catholic Schoo l Board for St. John's, it was necessary to obtain permission for videotaping their counsel ling sessions. Th is permission was ob t ained from these clients and their parents in accordance with the reg ulatio ns for videotaping that are set by the sc hoo l board. A copy of these regulations. and the consent form used , are included in Ap pendixD.
For the purposes of this study, a counse l lor verba l response unit wasdefinedas eve ry thi ng that the coun sellor (i n t ern ) sa i dbetwee n twoclien t speech ac t s.
R.1p(uln. . . RatingScalf
The client-s used a helpfulness rat-ing scal e whi ch was designed by El l i o t t , Barker, Caske y, and Pi strang (1982). This is a 7-p o i n t bipola r Like rt scale whi ch allows the
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client to rate counsellor responses from •extremel y hindering- [lJ to "ext.xemeLy helpful" [71 (see Appendix E).
This par ticu lar scale is considered to be an improvem ent upon the unipolar helpfulness rating scales used in earlier studies (Stru p p, Hadley, & Gomez-Schwartz, 1977). Th e s e scales tended to bias clientsbecause clien tswe re not able to give hinde ring ra t i ng s.
CQun.,lqr ' • •P9D'. Taxonomy
The intern ce teger! zed hisresponsemodes according to the taxonomy developed by Glenda Riteff (1989).
Essentially, Rite ff added three new catego ries (i,e. lis t e n i ng response, positive feedback, and futur e planning) to the taxonomycreated by Egan (1984). Eganhad included eight response categories: empathy, probes, con f ron ta tion, self-disclosure, immedia-::y, informat ion giving, adva nc e d empathy, and summarizing. Wi th th e addi tions made by Riteff , the tax ono my nowconsists of eleven verba l res p ons e categories wh icharedescribedin Appendix F.
The internchose to use this taxonomy fortwo princ ipa l -eesone . First, theta xo n omy is quit e comp r ehens i ve andthe intern felt that i t shouldaccount fo r all verba l res p o nses made by him. Second, th e taxonomy is based large l y on Gera rd Egan 's (1984 ) taxonomy- one withwhich the int ernis quite famil i a r. As part of his counsellor education program, the intern became very familiar with Egan ' s mod e l
for counselli.ng end uses that mode l extensive ly to inf orm his prac tice.
The actual form which the intern used to tally his responses is includedin Appendix G.
Coual.lortpuntiCtAScab
The Hill and 0IGrady ccuneetorIntentionScalewas us ed by the int e r n in th i s study. This scale has been use dby counsellors from a wide variety of theoretica l orienta tions. J:t is see nto have face validity.and to be inclusive of the range of counsellor intentions. J:t consi sts of 19 categories wi t h minim al overlap be t ween th e m. These ar e: set limits. get information , give information, support, foc us , clarify, hope, cathars, co~nitions, behav i ours, se lf- control, feelings. insight , change, reinf orce ch ang e, re s i s t anc e , chal leng e relatio nships, and the r apist ne eds (see Appendix H) .
The actual form which the intern used to tal ly his in t en t i o ns is included in Appendix I.
Eachof th e 11 video tap e s was analy ze d by the int e r n and the client according to thefo llowi ngprocedure .
1. Within 24 hours of each videotaped coun s e lling session, the intern and the client sat to revie w the ta pe. The client wa s told that. when watching th e tap e , he wa s to
"
identify those moments during the counselling session when he experiented a negative reaction. Th e inte r n woul d explain (or re-explainl to the client what thatme a n t. That is, the intern explained to the client that a client negative reaction refers to those moments duringthe session when the client began to experience, or experienced an increase in, any negative feeling(sl thought(sl associated with anger. fear, anxiety, boredom. confus ion , disappointme nt, frustration, guilt, hurt. inf e r i o rit y, loneliness, rejection, repulsion, sadne s s. embar ras s men t, and so forth. The tape was thenplayedand. on c ethe clien t identified a negative reaction, the tape was stopped. Th e intern noted whether or not he had bee n awa re of the nega tivereaction. The tape was restarted, andtheintern ' s firs t verbal response unit after the clie n t-id e ntified negative reaction was played. The tape was stoppe d a:;Jain, and the clientwas aske d, -wnen I said that, did i t hinder or heIp you?". The client was then asked to rate the response unit on the HelpfUlness Rating Scal e. Th e int e rn also clas sified tha t pa r t i c u l a r response unit ac cording to the Co unsel l c r Response Taxonomy. The form used 11:' the intern throughout this procedure is includedinAppend i xJ.
Clients were remunerated at the rat eof$12.00foreach video tape..hat they revi ewed.
2. Wi t h i n 24hours of the counsellingsessionthetape was reviewed a second time by the intern. The intern
..
categorized eachcou n s e l l or response unit according to the Co u nse l l o r Response Taxonomy. Some response units, es p e cia l l y lon ge r ones. were assign e d to more than one re s pons e categ ory. Furt hermore , the inte rn iden tified the inte nti o n{s ) associa ted wi th ea ch of the above response un i t s in ac cordance with the Hill and O'Gr a dY Counselor In tent i on Scale. Ag ai n, any giv en response uni t could be assigne d tomore tha none in t en t ionca t e go r y.
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Results and Analyei.
The for"!90ing stu dy had three distinct components . These includedanexamina ti onof (a) the counsellor's verbal responsemodes. (h I the counsel l or's in t en t i on s, and (e) the effec t i ve ne ss of the coun se l lo r's responses to client neg a tive rea c t ions . Data on ea ch of these three components wascollectedandanaly zedseparately.
Coun nUo r verb al'''POD' . "od.'
In acco r d a nc e with the procedur es ou t l ine d above, the inte r n reviewed the video t apes of hi s counselling sessions and cl a s si fi e d eachof hi s verbalresponse unitsaccording to the taxonomy develop e dby Riteff {l98 9 1 . The raw data co lle c t e d through this procedure is presented in Table 3.
Ea c h number in the table represents the actual number of ve r ba l response uni ts which the counsellor assigned, in wholeor inpart, to each responsecategory for apa r t io:u l a r cli e n t in a part i cular session . I t is stated that the responses are assigned "in whole or in part" because, as indi c a t e d in the procedure, some response un i t s, especially longerones,wereassignedto morethan one category.
A PreUminaryAna,ly . iI
A preliminary analy si s of these re s ult s indicates tha t, in three separate counselling sessions, the couns el lor ex ndbd t.ed a significantly high nwnber (Le. ne a r two
