Enhancing Counselor Education and Supervision through Deliberate Practice

Abstract: Professional and student counselors must develop and maintain their counseling skills in order to engage in ethical and effective counseling. Recent research suggests that graduate education and supervision has little effect on client outcomes. Investigations of expertise development have given rise to deliberate practice, a framework which structures skill development research and instruction. Deliberate practice involves individualized coaching, repetition, and solo practice in development of optimal performance. This conceptual article introduces deliberate practice as a framework for enhancing effectiveness of counselor education and supervision practices. Applications of deliberate practice to teaching and supervision and suggestions for future research are provided. What is the public significance of this article?: Counseling pedagogy uses a variety of methods in classrooms and supervision to help novice counselors develop key skills for their work. Deliberate Practice may be an effective method to help counselors develop more effective skills for working with their clients. Deliberate Practice provides a unified framework to help integrate common methods across teaching and supervision, and emphasizes the use of repetitive practice and individualized feedback

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: A Contemporary Phenomenological Approach

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a contemporary qualitative research method grounded in phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography. The philosophical principles and rigorous methodology make this approach well suited for research in counselor education and supervision. This primer introduces counselor educators to IPA theory and methodology and discusses considerations for implementation

Expanding the Role of Social Class in Multicultural Counselor Education Curricula

Although professional counselors are called to develop Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2016), and social and cultural diversity are highly researched (e.g., Barrio Minton et al., 2014), social class as a multicultural construct has received less attention and is often reduced to being defined as socioeconomic status (SES). Therefore, this article provides a brief historical context of social class, explores the current state of social class research in counseling and counselor education, and suggests methods for increasing inclusion of social class in counselor educators’ multicultural pedagogy

Teaching Trauma Theory and Practice in Counselor Education: A Multiple Case Study

Teaching about trauma theory and practice is an integral part of counselor preparation. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand how counselor educators (CEs) designed and facilitated significant learning experiences regarding trauma theory and practice. The researchers aimed to answer two research questions (1.) how do CEs choose which content to address in trauma courses and (2.) which teaching methods do CEs use to facilitate significant learning experiences in trauma courses? The study participants were three CEs teaching trauma courses in multiple formats (face-to-face, online, and hybrid) in CACREP programs. The results indicated that instructors faced unique situational factors that impacted their choice of teaching and learning activities and assessment measures. The themes Instructor Role, Instructor Identity, and Eliciting Fundamental Change in Learners impacted which teaching methods were chosen to facilitate significant learning experiences. The manuscript includes implications for CEs designing and teaching trauma courses

Anti-Racist Considerations for Teaching CACREP Assessment and Diagnosis Courses

Professional counselors must act as anti-racist social justice advocates throughout the counseling relationship, including assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning. Due to internalized racism and inappropriate instruments, assessment and diagnosis are two critical areas where marginalized populations have historically experienced misdiagnosis and pathologizing impacting overall client care and wellbeing. Inappropriate instruments, inadequate training, and counselor bias have profound impacts on access to treatment and resources for individuals holding marginalized racial identities. Although the call for anti-racist counseling is clear, the profession is still unclear on how to teach these concepts to counselor trainees. Counselor educators must be intentional about incorporating anti-racist concepts into all counseling courses including assessment and diagnosis. Situated by the historical context of racism within helping professions, we aim to provide practical teaching implications for infusing anti-racist content into assessment and diagnosis courses in counselor education

Exploring Counselor Educator Dispositions Related to Teaching

This study explores students’ preferences for counselor educator (CE) teaching dispositions. Forty-eight counselor education students completed a Q sort and answered post-sort qualitative questions. The study found four types of student preferences: a focus on experiential teaching, a focus on content and affect orientation, a focus on the educator-student relationship, and a focus on developing clinical skills. Also among the findings are a set of items that were unanimously unimportant to the participants: CE engagement in research and gatekeeping. These preferences are situated within the scholarship of teaching and learning and evidence-based practices in counselor education. Practical and research implications are shared

A Systematic Approach to Multiple Case Study Design in Professional Counseling and Counselor Education

Case study research is a qualitative methodology that allows researchers to explore complex phenomena in a structured way, that is rigorous and provides an enormous amount of depth. Three scholars are credited with major contributions to the case study literature: Merriam (1998), Stake (1995/2006), and Yin (1994). The purpose of this paper is to explore case study design for use in the counseling profession. The authors provide instruction on the case study scholars, data collection, analysis, and reporting for both single and multiple case study research designs. Finally, implications for student counselors, counselor educators, and counseling professionals are provided

Exploring Possibilities of Predicting Positive Counselor Qualities in Counseling Students from Personality Domains

In this pilot study, the authors investigated the degree that Big Five personality domains may predict the positive counselor qualities among 160 students enrolled in sections of a combined undergraduate/graduate Counseling Skills course. Positive counselor qualities of focus in this study are empathy, mindfulness or self-awareness, and unconditional positive self-regard in students studying counseling skills. The results do not suggest a significant predictive role for the Big Five personality domains for the Counseling Skills students, except that the Big Five domain of neuroticism predicted enough variation in mindfulness and unconditional positive self-regard to be practically significant. Limitations and potential implications of these findings for counselor educators and for future research are discussed

Signature Pedagogies: Doctoral-Level Teaching Preparation

In response to Baltrinic and Wachter Morris (2020), this article includes a history of teaching preparation in counselor education, exploration regarding current status of doctoral-level teaching preparation in counselor education, and review of literature regarding strategies for preparing doctoral students to teach. Supervision and mentorship emerged as key themes in this relatively new area of preparation. The author explores whether current practice is sufficient to identify these processes as signature pedagogies

Historical underpinnings, structural alterations and philosophical changes: Counseling practice implications of the DSM-5

Regardless of theoretical orientation or work setting, professional counselors should have a thorough understanding of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This article includes an overview of the most recent revision process and identification of key structural and philosophical changes in the DSM-5. The authors conclude with a summary of practice implications for counselors, including specific guidance for recording diagnoses, using diagnostic specifiers and incorporating emerging assessment measures