Acquiring Counseling Skills: Integrating Theory, Multiculturalism, and Self-Awareness

352 Pages·2009·70.813 MB·English

by  Kathryn MacCluskie

ACQJJIKING COUNitLINCJ SKILLS
Inh'^ratinq 1 Jfuvnf 'AtH(titu{tura(i<m. and^wtu ss
KATHRYN MACCIUSKI E
Acquiring Counseling Skills
This page intentionally left blank
Acquiring Counseling Skills
Integrating Theory, Multiculturalism,
and Self-Awareness
Kathryn MacCluskie
Cleveland State University
Pearson/Merrill
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Columbus, Ohio
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacCluskie, Kathryn C.
Acquiring counseling skills : integrating theory, multiculturalism, and self-
awareness / Kathryn MacCluskie.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-199133-0
ISBN-10: 0-13-199133-7
1. Counseling. 2. Counseling psychology. I. Title.
BF636.6.M34 2010
158'.3—dc22
2008055874
Vice President and Editor in Chief: Jcffery W. Johnston
Acquisitions Editor: Meredith D. Fossel
Editorial Assistant: Nancy Holstein
Vice President, Director of Sales and Marketing: Quinn Perkson
Senior Marketing Manager: Darcy Betts Prybella
Marketing Coordinator: Brian Mounts
Senior Managing Editor: Pamela D. Bennett
Senior Project Manager: Mary M. Irvin
Senior Operations Supervisor: Matt Ottenweller
Senior Art Director: Diane Lorenzo
Cover Designer: Candace Rowley
Cover Art: SuperStock
Full-Service Project Management: Mohinder Singh/Aptara®, Inc.
Composition: Aptara®, Inc.
Printer/Binder: R, R. Donnelley & Sons Company
Cover Printer: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company
This book was set in 10/12 Garamond by Aptara®, Inc. and was printed and bound by R. R. Donnelley and Sons Company.
The cover was printed by R. R. Donnelley and Sons Company.
Every effort has been made to provide accurate and current Internet information in this book. However, the Internet and in-
formation posted on it are constantly changing, so it is inevitable that some of the Internet addresses listed in this textbook
will change.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Merrill, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458.
All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission
should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use
material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, 501 Boylston
Street, Suite 900, Boston, MA, 02116.
Merrill
is an imprint of
10 987654321
ISBN-10: 0-13-199133-7
PEARSON
ISBN-13:978-0-13-199133-0
www.pearsonhighered.com
This book is dedicated to the students whose aspirations
are to help and serve others. Namaste.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathryn MacCluskie is an Associate Professor of Counselor Education at
Cleveland State University. She completed her undergraduate work and Masters
in Rehabilitation Counseling at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Following
several years working with youth in residential treatment, she earned an Ed.D. in
Counseling Psychology from West Virginia University. Dr. MacCluskie served as
the Drug and Alcohol Program Coordinator at Morgantown Federal Correctional
Institution, and then worked as a therapist in a community mental health center.
She joined the faculty at Cleveland State in 1994, and in addition to leading the Counselor
Education section, also served as Chair of the Institutional Review Board for Human
Subjects. Her professional interests lie in counseling student growth and development, and
the interface between mental health and global sustainability.
PREFACE
This book's title identifies microskills, theory, multiculturalism, and self-awareness as themes
of the text. Microskills, counseling theory, and multiculturalism comprise objective infor-
mation. Yet, we know from learning theory that to a certain extent, learners' acquisition of
new material is modulated by personal characteristics, including learning style and learning
history. We also know that the extent to which a learner can assimilate new information is
related to the personal meaning the learner imbues in the new information. If the learner
finds the material to be personally relevant and can find ways to associate the new material
with the knowledge and experiences that already exist in the memory network, integration
and synthesis will be more efficiently and effectively achieved.
Each strand (theory, multiculturalism, and self-awareness) represents a domain of theoret-
ical and applied knowledge. Many counseling programs offer entire courses devoted to each
of those topics. Multiculturalism is a topic that is currently prominent, not only in the field of
counseling, but in many other academic disciplines as well. Textbooks on multiculturalism
and diversity in counseling often take the approach of reviewing the research findings about
preferences and outcomes of counseling among particular groups of people. Although this
information can be highly relevant, there is little in the way of practical information about
how to understand and communicate about differences in values and worldviews among
clients who differ from the counselor on key variables. Conceptualizing a client's characteristics,
strengths, and challenges on the basis of his or her ethnicity or other variables of diversity is
simultaneously necessaiy, yet also potentially minimizing and prescriptive. To assume that a
client of a particular ethnic descent will require a particular counseling strategy is to neglect
the characteristics that make that person an individual. Our field is lacking an approach that
offers a template for understanding cultural differences.
Due to the lack of a research-based template for cross cultural interaction in counseling
sessions, I selected a model with a high degree of relevance to counseling; the Hofstede model
of cultural values. I chose to use it as the underpinning for the multicultural strand of the
text because although in counseling there are multiple theoretical models for understanding
cultures, Hofstede's model is firmly established empirically. The model of cultural values
consists of five continua (axes) that comprise essential, universal features of all cultures. The
anchor points of each axis are explicitly defined. These axes of values can be applied to
enhance interpersonal understanding regardless of the cultural framework from which the
viewer, and the observed, originate. As stated, the model arose out of a need for enhanced
interpersonal communication in the business realm. Thus, it has obvious limitations when
we attempt to apply it to a counseling context—namely, that the efficacy of the Hofstede
model in counseling has never been investigated.
Nevertheless, there were many advantages of presenting such a versatile template of
cultural differences. Those advantages are
• universal applicability due to the extensive empirical foundation for the model
• relative simplicity of the model
• removal of the need to have specific, particular information about cultural characteristics
that is necessary in a prescriptive approach to cross-cultural counseling
From a teaching perspective, desiring to provide students with specific skills that can
be used with versatility, the advantages significantly outweighed the disadvantage of lacking
vii
viii Preface
empirical evidence justifying use of the Hofstede model specifically in counseling. In the ab-
sence of any other template for cultural differences that had been researched specifically for
counseling, the Hofstede model offers an acceptable compromise, at least until a better-
suited template is articulated and empirically established. Although this model has not been
validated for applicability to counseling, it nevertheless can provide a platform to stimulate
critical thought for readers, opportunity for discussions in class, and offer pertinent insights
into counseling diverse populations.
The self-awareness component of this text thus serves two purposes. One is to specif-
ically draw upon the natural tendency readers will have to associate the objective material
with their prior learning. The other purpose is to introduce and encourage self-reflection
and introspection early in readers' training as mental health professionals.
CHAPTER STRUCTURE AND SEQUENCE
The decision about the best sequence for the chapters was a difficult one. Early versions of
this draft placed the theories at the beginning of the book. From the perspective of con-
ceptual development, it seemed advisable to present a thorough discussion of counseling
theory prior to talking about how each microskill is applied within the context of a given
theory framework. However, most students are veiy eager to begin practicing counseling
skills, and the theories chapter is long and one of the most dense. The final choice was to
move the theories to the latter section of the book and construct the chapter structure such
that other than the microskills chapters, readings could be assigned in any sequence. Those
instructors choosing to cover theories prior to the skill chapters should be able to do so
without compromising the sense of continuity among the other chapters.
CHAPTER FEATURES
The beginning of every chapter includes bulleted items articulating the learning objectives for
that chapter. Each chapter also provides questions for classroom discussion at the conclusion.
Personal Reflection items throughout the text directly ask readers to self-reflect.
Instructors have the option of further capitalizing on the Personal Reflections by having
students keep process journals, or by putting students into small discussion groups to share
their thoughts about their personal reflections.
Each chapter also provides Author's Reflection components; these are anecdotes from
the author's personal and professional experiences. There are several rationales for in-
cluding this feature. One is to model for students the process of self-awareness and the
integration of theoretical material with personal meaning. Another is to give the author
an opportunity to share her voice with readers in an overt manner. Finally, the personal ex-
periences serve to illustrate or emphasize particular points.
MICROSKILL CHAPTERS
The microskill chapters offer some unique components that are consistent throughout all six
of the skills. The material in the skill chapters offers several things:
• An explanation of that microskill in the context of cultural variables, through the lens
of the Hofstede model of cultural variability
Preface ix
• Information about how to access video examples of that skill actually being applied
• A discussion of the microskill in the context of three broad theoretical approaches
• A dialogue example of that microskill as it would be implemented with two clients, an
adult named Carole and a boy named Derek, who are the case study clients through-
out the text
(Note: I omitted a dialogue sequence in the client observation chapter because observa-
tion is, by definition, visual and does not easily lend itself to a dialogue transcription.)
Each microskill chapter concludes with a dialogue with Carole or Derek that is intended to
represent a progression of counseling sessions over a period of time. Then, Chapter 15
provides a culminating experience in which aspects of intakes, aspects of diversity, and
aspects of counseling theory are all integrated in the development of treatment plans for
each of the two clients.
MYHELPINGLAB VIDEO EXAMPLES
Numerous chapters indicate places where watching a video example can enrich readers' un-
derstanding of the skill or topic under discussion. These places are designated with an off-
set box labeled MyHelpingLab. MyHelpingLab is a companion website provided by the
publisher that offers readers a variety of supplemental materials, including over 200 video
clips of real counseling sessions. The video examples can be viewed by registering and then
logging in to the website: www.myhelpinglab.com.
To give your students access to MyHelpingLab with this book for no additional charge,
order package ISBN 0-13-508236-6. If your students purchase a used book without an access
code, they can go to www.myhelpinglab.com to purchase access to this wonderful resource.
Once registered, click on the link "Counseling and Psychotherapy." That will take you to a
page with other links listed down the left side, one of which is "Video Lab." The counseling
videos are organized by theoretical approach, and also are alternatively organized by
course. You can access clips from the video lab either by course or by theoretical approach.
For each spot in a chapter where you are directed to a video clip, the sequence of links you
need to follow is specified.
Please note that you might find it quite helpful to explore some of the other video ex-
amples in addition to the specific clips to which you were directed for this text. Many highly
skilled therapists were recorded working with real clients with actual concerns. You may
note significant differences in styles across different therapists, which can be enlightening to
newcomers to this field.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are so many people whose support and help made it possible for me to complete this
project. My editor, Meredith Fossel, has been phenomenal in her wisdom, guidance, encour-
agement, and professionalism. She helped me maintain a balance between seeing the big
picture and managing the details to make it all come together into a coherent whole. Her ex-
pertise, wisdom, and understanding are what ultimately brought this project to fruition.
I would like to thank the reviewers of this text: Pamelia E. Brott, Virginia Tech; Scott E.
Hall, University of Dayton; Ed Jacobs, West Virginia University; Bette Katsekas, University of
Southern Maine; Debra Leggett, Indiana State University; Allen J. Ottens, Northern Illinois