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Remediation is an essential gatekeeping responsibility, yet counselor education lacks consensus on the best way to approach student remediation. We used Q methodology to explore the remediation practices of 28 counselor educators employed full-time in accredited university programs. Four factors emerged: Due Process, Reflective Practice, Remedial Coursework, and Preserve Programmatic Status.

Schools have a demonstrated need for student non-suicidal self-injury protocols and school counselors play an important role in the development and implementation of such procedures. This article presents an overview of school counselor considerations related to developing and implementing a self-injury protocol. It provides an example of a comprehensive school counseling protocol for addressing student self-injury, including a sample safety plan. The authors present a case study application and discuss implementation considerations.

This article examines the behavioral treatment of Trichotillomania. A brief overview of the diagnosis and assessment of Trichotillomania is provided. Guidelines for a structured clinical evaluation when working with people diagnosed with Trichotillomania are supplied. The most effective behavioral interventions and treatments for working with clients diagnosed with Trichotillomania are discussed.

As the counseling profession evolves, educational standards for counselor licensure must be standardized from state to state. In this article, the authors discuss historical and current influences and present an advocacy model that has been used to standardize educational requirements in state counselor licensure laws.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that may protect or insulate people from engaging in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). College students (N = 14,385) from 8 universities participated in a web-based survey. Results of bivariate correlations and multiple regression revealed that spirituality/religiosity, life satisfaction, and life meaning were predictive of NSSI. The authors provide practice suggestions for college counselors and other professionals charged with helping those at risk for NSSI.

This article presents guided imagery as an intervention that can be used to address clients' nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. Guided imagery is a behavioral therapy technique that involves the use of positive thoughts or images to regulate negative emotional experiences, and it can be used to prevent and manage impulses to self-injure. Examples of guided imagery scripts that can be used with those who self-injure are provided, as are recommendations for counselor practice.

Counselors are regularly confronted with children and adolescents who reside in violent or potentially violent living environments. In this article, safety plans are presented as a tool that counselors can use to promote the safety of children living in unsafe family situations. Ethics-related counseling issues that should be considered when counseling children living in violent living homes are also discussed. A case example is provided to illuminate the presented concepts.

The authors examine eating disorders through the conceptual framework of relational cultural theory (RCT). Taking into account the importance of relationships and connection, it is suggested that RCT may be a useful lens for conceptualizing and working with people who are experiencing eating disorders. Ways that RCT can be applied to enhance prevention efforts and recommendations for combining relationally focused counseling with evidence-based individual eating disorder treatment are presented.

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 used to demonstrate the concepts discussed in the article.

This article presents a school counselling intervention that utilises letters written from the future. Few peer-reviewed articles have addressed the use of letter writing in a school counselling context, and none have focused on the use of letters from the future as a means of school counsellor intervention. The authors present a theoretical framework and specific guidelines for using letters written from the future in school settings. Case examples of letters written from the future are provided.

The use of reused or recycled materials in counseling interventions provides counselors with an opportunity to use unique counseling mediums while simultaneously being socially and fiscally responsible. In this article, ways that reused or recycled items can be used in counseling are discussed. Practical suggestions for using reused or recycled items in counseling and specific creative interventions in which recycled materials can be used are provided.

Counselors frequently counsel clients who live in poverty. The authors describe the new CARE model that addresses the influence of multiple systems on poor clients' experiences. A social justice, humanistic intervention, the CARE model emphasizes cultivating a positive counseling relationship with poor clients, empathizing with their unique realities, and working to remove barriers to future success and well-being by building on their strengths.

There are numerous ethical considerations inherent within the process of assigning a "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (4th ed., text rev.; "DSM-IV-TR"; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) diagnosis. In this article, general ethics considerations such as informed consent and confidentiality, accuracy of diagnosis, and multiple relationships are examined as they relate to clinical mental health counselors' use of the "DSM-IV-TR". The article concludes with the authors' suggestions for ethically sensitive diagnostic practices.

Family therapy can be an important component of a comprehensive treatment plan when counseling adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury. The authors provide a rationale for the use of letter writing as a therapeutic intervention when counseling families in which an adolescent engages in nonsuicidal self-injury. Descriptions of types of therapeutic letters are provided and illustrated in a case example.

This article presents a review of creative interventions that can be helpful in facilitating the resolution of traumatic grief in children and adolescents. Traumatic grief is conceptualized as a condition in which a person loses a close loved one (e.g., a parent or a sibling) in a traumatic manner, and ensuing trauma-related symptoms disrupt the normal grieving process. The presented creative interventions will be conceptually linked to an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral treatment model that can be used in addressing traumatic grief. The creative interventions presented will include the use of writing, storytelling, drawing, commemorating, and ritualizing in relation to traumatic grief.

Counselors will regularly counsel children and adolescents with histories of sexual abuse and be challenged with providing supportive and empowering interventions that serve to move the client from victim to survivor status. Therapeutic stories are a creative counseling technique that can be used when counseling child and adolescent sexual abuse survivors. Theoretical support and guidelines for using therapeutic stories when counseling sexual abuse survivors are presented. In this article, case examples, sample therapeutic stories, and applications of therapeutic stories are provided.

Professional development plans (PDPs) are contracts used to address problematic student behaviors in counselor education. The PDP can be used to systematically document and address (a) faculty expectations of the student, (b) specific behaviors required of the student, (c) tasks in which the student and faculty will engage to facilitate student success, and (d) consequences if the student does not successfully address the expected tasks and engage in the required behaviors. A sample PDP is provided, and practice suggestions are discussed.

The definition and measurement of counsellor trainee competency is an issue that has received increased attention yet lacks quantitative study. This research evaluates item responses, scale reliability and intercorrelations, interrater agreement, and criterion-related validity of the Professional Performance Fitness Evaluation/Professional Counseling Performance Evaluation, a measure used by counsellor educators to evaluate professional fitness. The results identified several scale items that were insensitive to substandard skill levels and indicated that university and site supervisors' trainee ratings did not agree. Both site and university supervisors did identify a majority of students demonstrating substandard skills, and when the site and university supervisors' ratings were combined, the supervisors identified 79% of the noncompetent trainees.

In the context of counseling sexual abuse survivors, the creative counseling technique of having clients write letters--to themselves or others--from a future context is described. A theoretical framework for writing letters to oneself from the future is presented. Specific types of letters from the future are explained, and case examples and applications are provided.

The purpose of this article is to present an intervention, the externalization of client problems, which can be used to address non-suicidal-self-injurious behavior. Specific externalization techniques are discussed, including naming the problem, letter writing, and drawing. A case application and implications for practice are presented.

This article describes a solution-focused and Ericksonian group counseling model that can be used with adolescent girls who have been sexually abused. An overview of the components of this approach is provided. A postintervention focus group provided additional results and ideas for the future development of the group counseling model.

The authors explore the issue of consensual sexual relationships between counselor educators and students. The American Counseling Association's (2005) "ACA Code of Ethics" is consulted, and the complex issues associated with these relationships are discussed. A case example is provided that generates suggestions to guide counselor educators' decision making related to consensual sexual relationships with students.

Focus groups are becoming a popular research approach that counselors can use as an efficient, practical, and applied method of gathering information to better serve clients. In this article, the authors describe focus groups and their potential usefulness to professional counselors and researchers. Practical implications related to the use of focus groups in counseling practice are discussed, and case examples are provided demonstrating how focus groups can be useful to counselors.

This article explores ethical considerations that school counselors may need to address when providing counseling services to self-injurious students. Ethical issues related to student confidentiality, responsibilities to parents and to the school, and professional competence are discussed in relation to the American School Counselor Association's (2004) Ethical Standards for School Counselors. Implications and recommendations for school counselors working with self-injurious students are provided.

The authors examined the impact of a mandatory, coeducational sexual assault prevention program on college freshmen's rape myth attitudes. Data from 174 college freshmen required to attend the program indicated that, regardless of gender, the proposed sexual assault prevention program significantly decreased participants' rape myth acceptance attitudes. Implications of the findings for college counselors and directions for future research are discussed.

An annual project involving students and faculty in a collaborative, 6-month planning process that culminates in a half-day program with both didactic and experiential components is presented as a model for creating powerful learning experiences external to the classroom. This article examines the CACREP (The 2001 Standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) standards relating to issues of curricular and cocurricular experiences, as well as requirements for preparation in gender issues, specifically women's issues. Next, a description of the Women's History Month Event, including its evolution, planning, implementation, evaluation, outcomes, and benefits, is presented. Specific information on program topics and the relevance of these topics to gender issues in counseling are described. Suggestions for ways this program could be replicated in other counseling training programs, with similar benefits, and how the process could be applied to other populations and issues are discussed.

In response to the increase in severity and prevalence of student-presented mental disorders on college campuses, a comprehensive campuswide identification and intervention program titled "The New Diversity Initiative" was developed to help college counselors and student personnel staff address students with severe mental disorders. Details of the program and recommendations for college counselors interested in implementing such a program are provided.

Although counselors receive training in both diagnosis and cultural foundations of human behavior, little literature or research integrates these 2 areas in order to facilitate culturally sensitive diagnostic practices. The authors attempt to rectify that lack by providing a review of the literature on the controversies associated with traditional diagnosis of cultural groups that differ from the dominant culture. Practical guidelines for culturally sensitive diagnosis are provided.

Master's students and graduates in two Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) clinical mental health counseling programs participated in the Role of Meaningfulness Survey. The results indicated that a sense of meaningfulness and being true to yourself may particularly be important for those who choose a high "burnout profession," as it can contribute to their resiliency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of trichotillomania (the recurrent desire to pull out one's hair). The authors provide a brief review both of proposed etiologies of trichotillomania and of the diagnostic and assessment issues related to this disorder, and they discuss interventions and treatments that have been shown to be most efficacious when working with clients diagnosed with trichotillomania.

This article explores strategies for school counselors to use in intervening and managing adolescent students who engage in self-injurious behaviors. The school counselor's roles in intervention, referral, education, advocacy, and prevention are discussed, Implications and recommendations for school counselors are addressed.

Counselors in all settings work with clients who are survivors of trauma. Vicarious trauma, or counselors developing trauma reactions secondary to exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, is not uncommon. The purpose of this article is to describe vicarious trauma and summarize the recent research literature related to this construct. The Constructivist Self-Development Theory (CSDT) is applied to vicarious trauma, and the implications CSDT has for counselors in preventing and managing vicarious trauma are explored.

College counselors need to be informed of effective interventions when counseling students who have been sexually assaulted. This article applies research and theory from the general literature on counseling sexual assault victims to college counselors' work with this population. An overview of the effects of sexual assault is followed by specific implications for counseling students who have been sexually assaulted. (Contains 45 references.) (Author)