Pre-Practicum in Counseling



SYLLABUS

Autumn, 2008

Pre-Practicum in Counseling -- 18-CNSL-884-001

Instructor

Geoffrey Yager

511A T.C., 556-3347 geof.yager@uc.edu

Catalog Description

Supervised experiences and critiques of reocrded materials to learn opening, closing and reflective techniques in counseling

Objectives/Expected Outcomes

Pre-practicum focuses upon the skills necessary to counsel effectively. During the next three weeks, you will have the opportunity to discuss, to observe, and to demonstrate effective counseling behaviors.

Before the end of the course, you will have learned and will have demonstrated the following skills:

a. explaining the counseling relationship to a client

b. communicating empathically at an interchangeable level

c. challenging a client with a variety of discrepancies in behavior and/or verbal expression

d. collecting information related to the concern expressed by the client

e. setting appropriate and obtainable long-term goals for counseling.

Required Texts:

Benjamin, A. (2001). The helping interview: With case illustrations. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Egan, G. (2007). The skilled helper: A systematic approach to effective systematic helping and interpersonal relating. (8th. Ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Meier, S. T. & Davis, S. (2007). The elements of counseling. (6th Ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

General Statement of Course Content:

Following the first class, you will be assigned an individual supervisor. These supervisors are all advanced students. In addition to their supervisory duties, these individuals often aid directly in the teaching of the lecture/discussion portions of the course. After your supervisor has been assigned, you will meet with this individual once per week for the remainder of the term. The total number of meetings must include a minimum of seven occasions (it is hoped that you will be able to meet with your supervisor closer to 9 or 10 times). At least three of your supervision meetings must be scheduled as individual sessions -- the remainder may involve other supervisees in a group setting. Each supervision meeting should last an hour. These meetings will be set at times which are convenient for both you and the supervisor. Students and supervisors are asked to write a short comment in reaction to each supervisory sessions. (See forms for this purpose at the back of the course syllabus)..

Consistent behavioral feedback will be given to you to aid in the development of counseling skills, both within the class (during group practice times) and individually outside of class (through work with your assigned supervisor).

Also, as part of your supervision, you will be required to make audio recordings each week to demonstrate the skills you have been practicing during that week. Although as the term continues, you may choose (when you are the (client( in these role plays) to discuss issues and concerns in your (real life,( initially, it is suggested that you focus primarily upon being a realistic client. In doing so, your objective is to give the individual who is practicing counseling skills the best opportunity to practice that you can accomplish. So . . . don(t be either too (easy( a client or too (difficult( a client. Try simply to interact in a manner consistent with the individual you are presenting. To differentiate clearly those practices that are role plays from those in which you are discussing your own worries, please clearly state at the start of the recording that the role play is (pretend( or (real.( (This will help your supervisor in his/her review of the content of the recording.) When using (real( issues, please be sure to choose a relatively simple concern with as many feelings involved as possible. You would not want to select a particularly deep and difficult concern because, of course, a pre-practicum practice is not really counseling, and your role playing counselor might feel overly responsible to try to provide counseling help for your concern rather than merely practicing his/her skills. Your supervisor will listen and give you feedback regarding each of these audio recordings. Before asking that your supervisor review your audios, you must briefly critique the recording yourself. For most of these reviews, you need no more than two or three paragraphs (these may be hand-written) in which you list the "good" and "bad" aspects of the counseling session that your supervisor will review. For three of the audio recordings, please use the attached Pre-practicum Recoding Review form to react to your performance. (Although it is likely that you will do this with the final three audios, it is not necessarily required that you use the critique form on the final recordings.)

The audio recordings that you will be making will involve role-plays with other class members. To the extent possible, you are encouraged to choose a specific, on-going partner for the class role-plays. You and your partner would, then, make each of your audio recordings together. You will serve as the counselor for your partner, and s/he will later be your counselor while you role-play a client. We will take some time during an early class to facilitate this matching process.

Seven written assignments will be completed during the course. All are very short and are based upon class readings.

1. As you read class assignments, you should develop questions that you might like to ask Gerald Egan, Alfred Benjamin, or Scott Meier / Susan Davis if they were to come to class. The generation of these questions will require very careful and critical reading. Jot notes in the margins to remind yourself of potential questions as they come up during your reading. As you proceed with your reading, evaluate whether or not the question has been answered (either in the book or through class discussion). Each of these two written assignments will involve two such questions with each submission. The first set of questions (with an explanatory paragraph to clarity the thinking which led to each of the questions) will be due on October 23rd . The second set of questions is due December 11th. If possible, ask each of your two questions from different texts.

2. You are asked to read the weekly article appearing on Blackboard ( ). Approximately every second week (a total of five assignments), you will be required to write a two-page critique discussing your thoughts and reactions to the Blackboard readings. Each critique should address your personal reactions to what you’ve read. These critiques should be typed and cannot be longer than two pages in length. Due dates for the critiques are: October 2nd , October 16th, October 30th, November 13th, and December 4th.

Also as part of pre-practicum, you will complete two interviews during class time with role-playing, coached clients. On October 30th, you will counsel one of these clients for 15-20 minutes. On December 4th, you will work with another client for close to the same period of time. You may wish to arrange to record these two role-plays for your supervision meetings.

Grading for the class will be either a "P" or an “I” grade. If you have not completed the course requirements at the end of the term (and I do not expect that anyone will fall into this category), you will receive an incomplete until you have finished the course satisfactorily. Attendance and punctuality will be important to the final grade. (To many this will appear to be a very odd requirement, but the nature of the course demands such attention. As an experientially-based class, pre-practicum can produce maximal learning for those who are present in class to experience it! Any individual missing more than one or two classes will miss some very important aspects of the course, and s/he will be asked to drop the course and retake it at a later time.)

The University Rules, including the Student Code of Conduct, and other documented policies of the Counseling Program, the Division of Human Services, the College of Education, Criminal Justice & Human Services, and the University of Cincinnati related to academic integrity will be enforced. Any violation of these regulations, including acts of plagiarism or cheating, will be dealt with on an individual basis according to the severity of the misconduct.

If you have any special needs related to your participation in this course, including identified visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment, communication disorder, and/or specific learning disability that may influence your performance in this course, you should meet with the instructor in arrange for reasonable provisions to ensure an equitable opportunity to meet all the requirements for the course. As the discretion of the instructor, some accommodations may require prior approval by the university’s Office of Disability Services.

Class will be held Thursday afternoons from 4:00 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. If you cannot attend a class, please let the instructor know in advance.

Assigned Course Readings:

Reading assignments do not directly parallel the experiential portions of the class. You will, however, be expected to read the texts as assigned each week. On occasion, there may well be discrepancies between the content of the class discussion and the material presented in the texts.

It will be important to your learning that you point out these discrepancies for discussion during class time. The course assignments below should spread out your readings to allow ample time for class discussion of each topic covered in the text. Don't fall behind in the reading because each class builds upon the earlier classes.

Weekly Course Assignments

September 25th Introductory class

October 2th Meier and Davis (entire book);

Egan (Chapter 1); Benjamin (1-20)

Blackboard Critique #1

October 9th Egan (Chapter 2 and 3); Benjamin (21-66)

October 16th Egan (Chapters 4); Benjamin (67-100)

Blackboard Critique #2

October 23rd Egan (Chapters 5)

First set of Book Questions DUE (Please type, if possible)

October 30th Egan (Chapters 6); Benjamin (111-128)

Role Play Session #1

Blackboard Critique #3

November 6st Egan (Chapters 7 and 8); Benjamin (129-164)

November 13th Egan (Chapters 9 -10); Benjamin (165-204)

Blackboard Critique #4

November 20th Egan (Chapters 11 and 12); Benjamin (205-274)

November 27th Thanksgiving Holiday

December 4th Egan (Chapter 13 and 14)

Role Play Session #2

Blackboard Critique #5

December 11th Final Check-off of skills

Completion of all audio recordings of skills

Second set of book questions DUE

[NOTE: Since there is no final exam, a regular class is scheduled during finals week.]

Giving and Receiving Feedback

The most significant criterion that "useful feedback" must meet is simply that it be intended to be helpful to the recipient. Ask yourself: "Do I really feel that what I am about to say is likely to be helpful to the other person?"

Suggestions for Giving Feedback

1. Intended to help the recipient.

2. Given directly with feeling and respect. Feedback is most helpful when it is based upon a foundation of trust between the giver and the receiver. (For example, "I thought your empathy statement could have been even a little closer to the client's feelings if you'd used the word 'guilt' or 'embarrassment.'" This is much more direct than, "I thought your empathy was outstanding, although I think you missed the client's real feelings of 'guilt.'")

3. Specifically descriptive of what the receiver is doing and of the effects that he/she is having. Feedback should not be threatening, judgmental, or evaluative about what the recipient is as a person. By avoiding threat, judgment, and evaluation, the individual giving feedback reduces the chances that a recipient will react defensively. Give good, clear, and observable examples of the behavior to which you are referring.

Example 1 -

NOT: "You really blew that session! Your client must have felt awful!"

RATHER: "As I heard it, there were a number of cases where the client directly expressed feelings and you did not respond to those feelings. Now, let's see, the first instance I noted of this was as the client said . . ."

Example 2 -

NOT: "I don't like your overly directive manner of handling the client."

RATHER: "It seems that you talked right over your client's comment at that point. Were you aware of what he said at that time? My guess would be that the client was feeling rather overwhelmed or even hurt. What would you say?"

4. Directed toward behavior that the receiver can change. Frustration is only increased when a person is reminded of some shortcomings over which he/she has no control. (For example, avoid such comments as "What bothers me about your counseling is the fact your eyes are a little crossed, and it's impossible to know exactly where you're looking.")

5. Solicited rather than imposed. Feedback is most useful when the receiver has formulated the kind of question which those observing can answer. (Example: "I'd really appreciate it if you'd watch to see if I'm saying 'You know' too much during this interview.")

6. Well-timed. In general, feedback is maximally helpful at the earliest opportunity after the given behavior has occurred. (This depends, however, upon the person's readiness to hear the feedback, the available support, and the importance of the behavior.)

7. Checked out. Feedback ought to be verified, if at all possible, with other members of the supervision group. One person's perceptions of the situation may or may not be a variance with the other observers' perceptions.

Suggestions on Receiving Feedback

1. Try to look at what is being said with an open mind. Attempt to understand the feedback by avoiding the tendency to say to yourself something like, "They simply don't understand; that isn't what I meant at all."

2. To be sure that you understand the feedback, it is good to try to summarize briefly your understanding of the information you have just received.

3. Try to avoid defensiveness but explore openly your thoughts and feelings about why you tend sometimes to behave in a given way.

Professional Disclosure Statement

Geoffrey G. Yager

Counseling Psychologist (Ohio License # 2571)

Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (Ohio License #E 528)

National Certified Counselor (Certificate #3835)

NBCC Approved Clinical Supervisor (Certificate #3835)

Yager and Associates: Holistic Counseling Care of Cincinnati, 3345 Whitfield Ave., Suite #2, Cincinnati, OH 45220-2053 -- (513) 665-4444; FAX (513) 665-4476

Holistic Counseling Care of Cincinnati is committed to the implementation of an approach to counseling and psychotherapy that combines biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of our clients' lives. This holistic philosophy directly involves an awareness of culture and supports gender sensitivity in our counseling work with individuals, couples, and groups.

Education:

1969 - 1973, Ph.D., MICHIGAN STATE UNIV. -- Counseling, Personnel Services & Educational Psych.

1966 - 1967, M.A., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY -- Guidance in Higher Education

1962 - 1966, B.A., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON -- Biology

Areas of Competence and Services Provided:

Holistic Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy; Counselor Supervision - theory and practice; Individual and Group Counseling; Career Development and Life Planning; Marriage and Family Counseling; Counselor Education

Fee Schedule, Billing and Payment Policy::

Individual Counseling (per hour) - - $ 115.00

Family/Marital/Couples Counseling - includes 2 counselors - (per hour) - - $ 140.00

Group Counseling (per individual per hour) - - $ 55.00

(per individual per 90 minutes) - - $ 70.00

Career Planning/Assessment - pretesting session, assessment sessions, and

two interpretation sessions (all testing costs are included) - per individual- - $475.00

Consultation and evaluation letters (per hour) - - $125.00

Initial Assessment Session - - $140.00

Clients are asked to provide at least a four hour advance notice of cancellation unless otherwise specified in order to avoid a session charge. Monthly statements of services will be provided and your account needs to be kept current. You are expected to pay a portion of your fee on a per session basis. Insurance reimbursements or extended payment plans can be negotiated. Many insurance plans reimburse for all or part of treatment under coverage for counseling and psychotherapy. You are responsible for contacting your insurance company to determine your personal coverage plan. Although monthly statements document all of the information necessary to submit a claim to your insurance company, our office would be willing to handle the insurance submissions for you. Some insurance companies request additional information which will be supplied with your consent. You, of course, remain responsible for your bill with our office. We will provide any assistance that you need to obtain insurance reimbursement. This information is required by the Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage & Family Therapists Board, which regulates all licensed counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists in the State of Ohio. As of April 14, 2003, HCCC is in compliance with the Federal HIPPA (Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act) requirements.

Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage & Family Therapist Board State Board of Psychology

LeVeque Tower 50, West Broad Street, Suite 1425 395 East Broad St., Suite 310

Columbus, OH 43215-5919 Columbus, OH 43215

(614) 466-0912 (614) 224-0034

Additional Information Regarding the Nature of Counseling

In order to benefit maximally from the process of counseling, it is in your best interest to know as much as possible about your counselor's beliefs concerning the process of counseling. In order to provide this information to you, I have included the following brief summary of my assumptions about counseling.

Purpose: The purpose of counseling is to provide you with the opportunity to explore a variety of concerns and to begin to make a variety of changes in order to improve your life. Counseling, therefore, will focus on you and on aspects of your experience that are of concern to you. Any area of concern to you is appropriate for exploration during counseling: self-esteem, social relationships, family, career, school, financial, spiritual, sexual, or any other.

Responsibilities: Both counselor and client have responsibilities during counseling. As a client, your initial responsibility is to be as open and honest as possible in discussing your concerns. The more you allow yourself to address all aspects of a troubling area, the more beneficial the counseling sessions will be. In addition to openness, you will also be expected (at a later point in counseling) to make direct efforts to begin to accomplish some changes in your behavior and in your life to move yourself in the direction of change that you desire.

Although I, as your counselor, might wish that I could "magically" change your life for you, I am only able to help you identify the kinds of changes you want/need to make and to aide you in generating methods to implement your desired changes. You will need to make efforts, a little bit a time, to accomplish your goals. In addition to helping you identify these small steps to change, as a counselor, I will make every effort to listen carefully to what you say to me. Although, initially, much of the time I may be silent, I will be thinking very hard in my attempts to understand what you have been saying. In making this effort, I will be listening both for the content of what you say and for the feelings behind that content. As I am able to understand your concerns, I will certainly try to communicate to you what I have been able to understand of both the content of what you've said and of the emotions behind that content.

Focus: Initial counseling sessions will almost inevitably deal with a wide variety of concerns, hassles, and worries. At some point later on in counseling, however, we will focus our sessions on one or two primary concerns. This is necessary in that it is very difficult to accomplish changes in many areas of one's life all at one time. Focusing on one or two concerns will allow us to maximize our effectiveness in helping you achieve desired changes.

Limitations of Counseling: There are several limitations to the counseling relationship that should be mentioned.

Confidentiality: Whatever is discussed during counseling is information that is solely between you and me. Although I may discuss aspects of your situation with one of my professional colleagues, I would do this only within the context of a professional, supervisory relationship which would assure you of maintained confidentiality. Beyond such a professional discussion (for my benefit in an attempt to be more helpful to you), I will not discuss the content of our sessions with anyone without your direct permission. The sole exceptions to this confidentiality arise in situations where you might directly or indirectly communicate intent to cause personal or physical harm to yourself or others. Were I to feel that such was ever the case in our relationship, I would inform you immediately, but, at the same time, I would take whatever steps that might be appropriate to protect yourself or others involved. I believe the important part of this statement is that I would make every effort to work out a manner to reduce whatever threats are involved through close communication with you prior to getting other people involved.

Audio Recording: I will make an audio recording of each of our counseling sessions. This recording is directly of value to me as a source of additional information that may prove helpful in aiding you through our counseling. Despite my efforts to listen to everything that you are saying during a counseling session, experience tells me that I will miss some of what you've said. Having the audio recoding available allows me to review the session at a later time and to hear certain aspects of your communication that I had missed the first time. Should there be a time during counseling that you want to say something that you definitely do not want recorded, please let me know, and I will turn off the recorder.

If, as we talk, you realize that you've said something you don't want recorded, I would be very willing to record over that section. In any event, I will not be saving the audios that I make for more than a week. Each recording will be rerecorded as we begin our next session.

Voluntariness: Counseling is a voluntary process. Since you cannot be required to talk openly about your concerns, you cannot be forced to be a client. If you decide to discontinue counseling at any time, that is clearly your decision. It would be appreciated if you would tell me before you discontinue counseling, but you need not feel uncomfortable or guilty about making such a decision.

Time limits: Each individual or marital counseling session will be no more than 50 minutes in length. Group counseling meetings are often set for two hours. Although there is no maximum number of counseling sessions, I feel it is appropriate to discuss the likely continuation of counseling on a periodic basis. Thus, if you choose to continue counseling for more than 10 sessions, we will review our agreement regarding the continued benefits of counseling every 10 - 15 weeks thereafter.

CRITIQUE OF PRE-PRACTICUM

COUNSELING SESSION

Counseling Pre-Practicum -- 18-CNSL-884

Counselor ____________________________________________ Supervisor _______________________________________________

Client______________________________________ Session #__________ Date _________________________________

How was the session begun?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY CRITIQUE COMMENTS

What did you particularly like or dislike about this session? What does this session lead you to want to work on for the next recording?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

M. Ingram, University of Cincinnati, 1994

COUNSELOR/CLIENT STATEMENTS AND RESPONSES

2. Client statements made during the session -- followed by counselor response:

CL 1. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 1. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 2. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 2. ____________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 3. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 3. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 4. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 4. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 5. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 5. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

M. Ingram, University of Cincinnati, 1994 Page 2

CL 6. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 6. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 7. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 7. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 8. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 8. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

CL 9. _______________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CO 9. ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Type of Response __________ Empathy Rating (if appropriate) __________

3. Tally of Skills Employed During the Session (Tally occurrence of the skills below):

|Empathy (Respect) ______________________________ |Silence ________________________________________ |

| | |

|Challenge _____________________________________ |Questioning (Probing) ____________________________ |

| | |

|Giving Information ______________________________ |Goal Setting ____________________________________ |

M. Ingram, University of Cincinnati, 1994 Page 3

SUPERVISOR COMMENTS

Autumn, 2008

Student _______________________

Supervisor ____________________

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Supervisor Comments

Page 2

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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Supervisor Comments

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Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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COUNSELOR COMMENTS

Autumn, 2008

Student _______________________

Supervisor ____________________

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Counselor Comments

Page 2

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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Counselor Comments

Page 3

Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

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Date _____________

Content of Supervision and Personal Reactions:

Pre-Practicum Sign-Off Sheet

Autumn, 2008

Name_______________________________________________________________________

Supervisor___________________________________________________________________

Skill Demonstration Complete Date Supervisor Initials

Explanation of Counseling _________ ____________________ ________________

Empathy _________ ____________________ ________________

Challenging _________ ____________________ ________________

Information Collection _________ ____________________ ________________

Goal Setting _________ ____________________ ________________

Supervisor Comments (To be completed at the end of the class):

Audio Recordings Reviewed (Supervisors are expected to review an audio each week. Three recordings must be accompanied by the Critique of Pre-practicum form.)

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Critique Form? _____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Critique Form? _____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Critique Form? _____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Critique Form? _____ Supervisor ________

Date ______ Self-Critique? (Y or N) ____ Critique Form? _____ Supervisor ________

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