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This study used parallel questionnaires to gauge the level of agreement between 31 pairs of clients and their counsellors. Topics investigated included clients' help-seeking behaviour, the working relationship, events regarded as helpful and unhelpful, the importance of counselling versus outside factors in achieving positive outcomes, and terminating. Results indicated that there was group agreement between clients and their counsellors on many aspects of their counselling experience. However, pair-specific agreement was less common with levels varying from low to moderately high. The findings suggest that understandings of the client/counsellor relationship based on group analyses can mask the actual relationship revealed by pair-specific analyses. The findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature and implications for practice are suggested. (Contains 3 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to explore the help-seeking behaviour of a sample of counselling clients using a questionnaire and follow-up, semi-structured interviews with 20 counselling clients who were seen at a walk-in, affordable counselling agency located in a mid-sized city in New Zealand. Specifically, clients were asked if they had received counselling previously, what efforts they had made to solve their problems before seeking counselling and with what success, why they chose this particular agency, their initial impression of their relationship with their counsellor, and their reactions to participating in the research. The data were analysed to ascertain themes associated with their decision-making and choices. Findings were discussed in relation to the literature on seeking counselling, how clients determine their need for counselling and the process they go through in deciding when and where to get it. Implications for counsellors are discussed. (Contains 2 notes.)

Purpose ? Owing to the increasing debt students are accumulating to finance their tertiary study, many are having to work during term time. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of this paid employment on their study time and other aspects of their lives. Design/methodology approach ? Eighty three undergraduates completed a questionnaire about their academic workload, their paid employment commitments during term time, their earnings and expenditure, and their recreational and cultural activities. Findings ? Results indicated that 81 per cent of the students held at least one job during term time for an average of 14 hours per week. The money earned was typically spent on essential living expenses. Working left less time than desired for social activities, study and recreation. Research limitations/implications ? The findings are limited by the relatively small sample size of self-selected students mainly young, female and enrolled in Arts courses. Practical implications ? The results suggest that working is not always detrimental to students academic efforts, particularly if the hours worked are manageable given their course load. Lecturers should be more aware of the busy lives students lead and try to structure assignments and course requirements to recognise this, including the scheduling of class times and the offering of study support services. Originality/value ? The study adds to the growing body of international data that reports on the effects of a user-pays approach in tertiary education. There is no similar data in New Zealand.

To estimate the overall effectiveness of counselor training, tested student counselors to explore "response-shift bias." Results from three groups of trainees spanning three years revealed the presence of a response-shift bias, confirmed the effectiveness of the training program, and demonstrated that students continually analyzed their counseling skills. (RJM)

Background: In New Zealand and elsewhere, the workloads and counselling impact of counsellors in private practice have been seldom researched despite them comprising a substantial proportion of practitioners. Aim: This study sought to establish a profile of one self‐employed counsellor's caseload over several years, assess the impact of counselling using the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and provide an example of collaborative, practice‐based research (PBR). Method: A retrospective client review of client records included demographic information and ORS scores. Analyses identified the nature of any clinical change and its association with client demographics. Results: The average age of 720 clients was 41.5 years; 44% were male; and 71% were Pākehā versus 23% Māori. The average number of sessions was 2.4. For the 274 clients with first‐ and last‐session ORS scores, repeated ANOVAs revealed significant changes in ORS scores over time, irrespective of client characteristics and no significant interactions between any of the variables and gains over time. The effect size (0.9) was 'large', and Reliable Change Index indicators were comparable to overseas studies using adult subjects in public health settings. Discussion: The counsellor's caseload profile was similar to an earlier one and the gain in clients' ORS scores was comparable to those in several other countries and not associated with clients' demographic data. There are several reasons for counsellors to collaborate with others in analyses of their practice. This research provides a useful example of such collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand primary school teachers can be seen as comprising groups of those who experience moderate levels of job satisfaction and stress and those who experience high stress and little professional satisfaction. Disruptive pupils and task overload are the key stress factors.

Increasing research productivity among practicing counsellors has long been an aim of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors as evidenced by several articles addressing the topic published in the New Zealand Journal of Counselling over the last 20 years. Similarly, in a profession increasingly pressured to be more accountable, it is no longer considered good enough for counsellors and counselling agencies merely to espouse the "art of counselling" perspective in justifying their practices. Instead, researching counselling, especially counselling impact, is vital to the wider acceptance of the profession. Such research depends, in large part, on encouraging more counsellors to participate in researching their own casework, either as individuals or as a member of a research team or group. This article references two examples of the second of those options (specifically, collaboration between a counsellor in private practice and outside researchers) to demonstrate that even rudimentary collaboration between counsellors and researchers can produce useful knowledge about the process and impact of counselling and can have positive effects on a counsellor's practice. Increased collaboration of this sort is one way to fulfil the need for counsellors and researchers to generate more practice-based research (PBR), especially outcome research (Sexton et al., 1997). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brief counselling is pervasive in the international counselling and therapy literature. Average sessions per client of fewer than ten are the rule, not the exception, and the modal number of sessions is most often one. Earlier data from New Zealand were consistent with these findings (Manthei, 2017), and more recent research has provided additional support. This additional research is summarised in this article and the implications for counsellor-educators and practitioners discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a rationale for client choice of therapist or therapy as an alternative form of matching and discusses implications for clients, therapists, and helping agencies. A review of the limited research encourages client participation in therapy decisions but shows mixed results on client choice of therapist. (Author/JAC)

In order to compare what happens in counselling agencies with what takes place in private practice, an evaluation of counselling records provided by a counsellor in private practice was carried out for the years 2012-2017. The information gained from 762 closed counselling cases was analysed, summarised, and then compared with similar data taken from over 5,500 clients in a Christchurch agency during the years 2010-2014. Results showed that the counselling in this particular private practice was briefer (99% of clients had fewer than ten sessions vs 90% in agencies); more clients were male (46% vs 37%, respectively) and Mäori (18% vs 5%, respectively); and counselling involved, on average, fewer sessions (3.1 vs 4.6, respectively). Although the data revealed ways in which what happened in this one private practice was similar to what happened in a large agency, they also indicated the need for further research of this sort. For the counsellor involved, the analysis provided detailed information with which to re-evaluate his work. Finally, the results indicated the need for counsellors and counsellor educators to acknowledge the general brevity of counselling relationships and, consequently, the goal for all counsellors to be prepared for and competent to deliver brief counselling to the majority of their clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An updated evaluation of the counselling provided by a Christchurch counselling agency was carried out during the years 2010-2014. The information gained was then combined with two other sources of similar data, one from an earlier review of the same agency and the second from an additional agency. Data from the three sources provided a sample of over 5,500 clients who had completed their counselling. The counselling spanned nine years and involved some 65 counsellors. Results showed that counselling was overwhelmingly brief (90% of clients had fewer than 10 sessions) and pointed to ways in which the agencies could cut their costs and improve their services by looking further into the reasons for cancellations and possible ways of reducing them, planning for and implementing brief counselling, and instituting clinical reviews for lengthy counselling. The need for further research of this sort was emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]