Essay about Consultation & Advocacy

Family and Marriage therapists identify a wide variety of mental and behavioral issues within a family, individuals, and marriages. (HealthcareColleges.net, 2011) These therapists enable society to tackle their problems and move forward in a positive direction. Family and Marriage therapists are responsible for gathering information by testing and observing their patients. (mymajors.com, 2011) After receiving this information they are required to document and record information gathered from the patient sessions. (mymajors.com, 2011) Therapists should encourage individuals to use skills or strategies when faced with a problem and need to maintain an updated knowledge as new information develops. (mymajors.com, 2011) Some family and

The role of a school counselor is an intriguing one because they do not work with a specific type of client. While they will always be working with young children or teenagers, the problems their clients come to them with can be so different from client to client. One session might be dealing with questions about career choices. Another might be about dealing with bullying. Some days a school counselor may even have to be there for a child who was a victim of sexual or physical abuse. It is because of this wide range of demands that a school counselor should be well-versed in many types of counseling theories.

This paper will serve as a synthesis of my emerging philosophy and practice about the role of the school counselor. I will discuss my theoretical orientation and how it is relevant to K-12 settings, and my view of the practice of school counseling, including how counselors will have a positive and measureable impact on student learning. I will discuss how the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Ethical Standards guide my practice, the areas of special interests I have regarding school counseling, and how I will incorporate social justice into my philosophy of school counseling.

To examine the profession of school counseling, one must look at both the historical implications and the state of the profession. In addition, we must acknowledge the pressing struggle with role identity of the professional school counselor, as such identification lacks clear direction and is interpreted variably between administrators, state departments, and supplementary components that encompass the school setting.

The professional school counselor is first and foremost a collaborator with the student being his first client. It is the counselor’s responsibility to champion the cause of the student who has lost all options by collaborating with families and other educators. As a collaborator, the counselor gives other stakeholders options to choose and avenues to meet goals so that the student can succeed. It can be tricky to make suggestions to teachers or administrators that have given up on a student to help them see that the student can overcome past mistakes. The counselor who can suggest a plan of action to help a student get back on track and then have administration and teachers think it was their plan is truly resourceful. The ASCA National Model asserts that “school counselors can access a vast array of support for student achievement and development that cannot be achieved by an individual, or school, alone (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 6).” Collaboration is vital to effectiveness of a school counseling program.

In order to respond to the thesis questions presented in this paper, we must first define consultation and social justice advocacy within the counseling context.

The U.S. Congress established the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in 1974 to promote equality in the justice system. Today, the access and affordability of legal services, especially for the poor, continues to be an issue. According to the LSC’s 2017 Justice Gap Report, “Eighty-six percent of the civil legal problems faced by low-income Americans in a given year receive inadequate or no legal help” (Legal Services Corporation, 2017, p. 30). The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. constitution and relevant case law details the universal application of both American citizens’ and noncitizens’ right to legal counsel. By examining possible policy alternatives through the lens of the rationalism

As a therapist, I provide a non-judgmental and affirming space that acknowledges and celebrates individual differences and creates a treatment plan that is unique to each person’s needs. It is my job to guide and advocate for my clients while they take responsibility in making the decisions as to which direction they are going to take on their path. My primary interest’s areas are strength based theory, narrative theory, feminism, and sex-positivism. I welcome all people, no matter your race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender, relationship status/variance, class, or disability.

Terri described her relationship has been abusive for over three years. During her assessment, she disclosed that her boyfriend expected her to fulfill traditional roles of the white cisgender male society. Terri did not work and if she shared her feelings of working with her boyfriend he would tell her he missed the times they would get high together. This causes her to have lapses in her recovery. Social justice was not in my purview at the time of the counseling session. I was focused on addressing the pathology. Now I realize that addressing social

Advocacy is defined as any action that speaks in favor of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends or pleads on behalf of others. Originally, advocates were referred to as “ombudsmen”, which means an official appointed to investigate individuals’ complaints against maladministration. In the 1970s rape crisis centers were the first to empower their clients. These pioneers in advocacy were victims and knew first hand what the injured victims were going through. Advocacy is described as being ‘at heart of social work’. It’s a key function of social work practice in terms of helping service users become independent from service providers and in the process of developing the skills to advocate for themselves. The notion of advocacy as a mechanism is to promote social justice is an element of other advocacy definitions from various sources. Social justice reflects the activism of advocacy and has been explained as an idea that mobilizes people to act in order to bring about change.

Why is the initial consultation so important? What factors will an ethical therapist cover at this time?

Smith, Foley, and Chaney’s article, “Addressing Classism, Ableism, and Heterosexism in Counselor Education,” talks about the importance of how all the isms are part of the multicultural education and social justice curriculum that is an essential part of being a counselor. All of these issues tend to not exist without the additional aspects of other issues thus; there are intersections between these issues.

Social justice in counseling represents the process of reaching out to individuals with regard to the fair treatment of all. There are many aspects to consider within the interaction between counselor and client in order to provide the most fairest treatment available. These aspects are derived from the dynamics of the goals and process of the counseling session and constituted by policy and law development. The goals and processes are focused upon embodying individual and family systems and the policies and law development is developed through advocacy of making the focus more just and equal to the communities and society at large. Counseling professionals who are established in providing social justice in their framework focus upon the principles of harmony, access, equity, and participation when developing interventions and programmatic responses to the needs of their clients. The interventions and programmatic responses are designed to be comprehensive and preventive in nature.

High school counselors also encounter structural constraints at the district and state level that prevent them from offering adequate college counseling for students. For example, financial constraints at the administrative level prevent school from hiring more school counselors when there is a need. At one time, college counseling was a high school counselor’s primary task, with counselors acting as “gatekeepers” to help a privileged few access college (Rosebaum, Miller, & Krei 1996). During the 1970s, counselors took on more visible administrative duties in order to maintain their positions (Lambie & Williamson, 2004). However, as responsibilities were added, none were removed, and high school counselors’ professional identities shifted,

In order for advocacy to be a justifiable part of social work, it is essential that the professional feels confident in the role and that adequate training and support have been provided by the agency (Trevithick, 2002). Some professionals do not have the confidence or the correct knowledge around the subject in order to advocate on a service users behalf and this can be detrimental to the process (Braye and Preston-Shoot, 1998). There can be a danger when a professional advocates for a client, that the client is disempowered by the process. This can be because the professional has taken over the situation and the client has lost the chance to learn to empower themselves, so it is essential that adequate and thorough training is provided in order to train workers who deal in advocacy (Dalyramble and Burke, 2003). Like other social work skills, Advocacy is a skill which can be learnt and which can be developed over time through experience and resulting confidence.