The Relationship Between Consultation And Advocacy
Consultation and advocacy can sometimes be misconstrued as similar acts. Consultation is a tripartite relationship among at least three parties; the consultant, the consultee, and the consultee's client or client system. Consultation is very common within the mental health professions. Consultation is defined as a process in which a human services professional assists a consultee with a work-related problem with a client system, with the goal of helping both the consultee and the client system in some specified way. (Dougherty, 2009)
Advocacy is a very important part of the mental health profession. It compliments social justice. Social justice is the commitment to promote access and equity with the aim of empowering and ensuring full participation …show more content…
of all people in a society, especially those who have marginalized and systematically excluded or other characteristic of group membership (Jencius & West, 2003). Advocacy translates that commitment into action. Counselors as advocates are able to intervene not only to improve the lives of individual clients but also in the social context that affects client's lives.
As a mental health counselor, consultation should be used when it is necessary to have the opinion of another counselor, medical professional, or any other professional. Consultants provide knowledge and skills that are unique to certain situations, including crisis intervention skills or knowledge of how to develop a disaster plan. For example, a mental health professional may have trouble on how to develop a treatment plan for a surgeon that struggles with suicidal thoughts while at work. This is a very sensitive matter due to the nature of the surgeon job and the fact that other lives may be at risk if he is not treated properly. A consultant will be able to help the mental health counselor in regards to policies in regards to notifying others and even intensive coping skills for the surgeon.
Advocacy is a natural role of a mental health counselor. Advocacy involves the counselor placing themselves in a position to confront social issues that negatively affect clients and working to eradicate systems that perpetuate discrimination. For instance, a mental health counselor may have a transgender client that struggle with severe depression due to lack of acceptance in their family and community. It is vital to the client's treatment that the counselor seeks to promote acceptance in the community by attending rallies and speaking at different events to promote awareness. The mental health counselor can also advocate for the client to his/her family members as well through family counseling sessions. It is important for counselor to stay up to date on social issues in their community and those that affect their clients (Jencius & West, 2003).
Clients benefit from counselors advocating for social issues. Standard A. a, addresses the obligation in the statement " counselors advocate at individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to examine potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit access and/'or the growth and development of clients" (ACA, 2005). Clients can be confident that their counselor is knowledgeable about the cultural values, biases, and assumptions of their cultural group as well as others.
As a mental health counselor, it is important to understand what situations are beyond our level of expertise. Counselors should continue to network and have a strong circle of professionals to depend on for consultations. For example, a mental health counselor that encounters a client that is struggling with depression that ultimately affects his family and marriage may need to consult with another professional. The mental health counselor will be able to assist with the depression however, a consultation with a marriage and family therapist will be more helpful when addresses the issues regarding his marriage and family.
Part 2
An adult client that is suffering with depression is undergoing a number of psychological changes that most likely could have been triggered by a stressful event. This particular client has been receiving treatment by a mental health counselor. However, the client may be feeling a sense of hopelessness with just therapeutic treatment along. The client is asking for medication in hopes of feeling better quickly. As the mental health counselor, it is important to consider multicultural perspective regarding clients with depression. Gender and cultural background have an effect on depression. Women tend to be twice as likely as men to receive a diagnosis of depression (Mc Sweeney, 2004). Women also tend to be younger when depression strikes and to have more frequent and longer lasting bouts and to respond less successfully to treatment (McSweeney, 2004). Women experience may become depressed due to hormonal changes, societal experiences, and body dissatisfaction. Men are sometimes less likely to even admit that they are experiencing feelings of depression. The mental health counselor must take into consideration and have a keen knowledge of the different experiences that male and females undergo in an effort to provide proper treatment.
Cultural background also has a major effect of those suffering from depression.
Specific ethnic groups living under unusually oppressive circumstances sometimes do have strikingly high rated of depression (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Hispanic Americans and African Americans are 50 percent more likely than white Americans to have recurrent episodes of depression (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Depression is more common among Hispanic and African Americans born in the United States than Hispanic and African American immigrants (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Also, the likelihood of depression increases with the person's degree of poverty, family size, and number of health problems (Comer, 2013). Mental health counselors should maintain competence of different cultural backgrounds in order to respond to the varied needs of their …show more content…
clientele.
When providing counseling to a client suffering from depression and is seeking medication therapy, it is important to understand whether the client will benefit from medication. As the counselor it is important to consult with a psychiatrist to ensure whether medication would be of overall help to the client. The counselor can refer the client to a psychiatrist as a "second set of eyes". This will allow the client to receive the best treatment possible from to collaborating professionals.
The client may be dealing with certain social barriers that may inhibit their readiness of seeing a psychiatrist.
Certain cultural backgrounds, may feel uncomfortable receiving treatment from two mental health professionals. Clients may not understand why the counselor is unable to prescribe their medication. In such cases, the counselor should be competent in their knowledge to educate the client on their role and the role of the psychiatrist. Some counselors may find it difficult to acknowledge that they are not competent to provide professional services to every client who might request their help. However, the key is for counselors to understand their boundaries and refer when necessary and extending their areas of competency by keeping clients in other
situations.
When addressing multicultural issues and advocating for diverse populations dealing with depression, the key is selecting appropriate counseling strategies and techniques. Counselors who espouse traditional counseling techniques must be aware that these approaches have limited applicability in working with culturally diverse clients (Jencius & West, 2003). It is important not to overlook a client's historic experiences with discrimination and oppression. When counseling clients with depression of a diverse population, counselors must consider their value of cooperative relationships and those of cultures whom expect the helper to take an active role. Taking on the role of advocacy and assistance will be beneficial to those clients dealing with depression from an oppressive culture. Counselors must have repertoires of helping strategies that extend beyond those offered by traditional counseling theory, which were created by and reflect the worldviews of White males (Jencius & West, 2003).
Counselors have the natural desire to advocate for others. Yet, there are some issues that could hinder and enhance their ability to do so. Managing a crisis is important to counselors from a legal perspective. Because they may be liable for harm that comes to their client if a crisis situation is not manage properly, counselors must understand and react well in crisis. A client could possibly be depressed due to their sexual orientation. Although on a federal level LGBT community is allowed to marry, there are other community groups that do not accept their new rights. Counselors clearly should not provide legal advice to their clients; rather, counselors should refer their clients to attorneys or legal advocacy groups. A counselor's advocacy can be hindered as well through false accusations of illegal discrimination through the population they choose to advocate for. When counseling does with depression, mental health counselors have numerous responsibilities related to safeguarding the clients welfare. One of the most important responsibilities is honoring diversity in an effort to promote the welfare of the client and to respect their dignity.
Advocacy is a very important part of the mental health profession. It compliments social justice. Social justice is the commitment to promote access and equity with the aim of empowering and ensuring full participation …show more content…
of all people in a society, especially those who have marginalized and systematically excluded or other characteristic of group membership (Jencius & West, 2003). Advocacy translates that commitment into action. Counselors as advocates are able to intervene not only to improve the lives of individual clients but also in the social context that affects client's lives.
As a mental health counselor, consultation should be used when it is necessary to have the opinion of another counselor, medical professional, or any other professional. Consultants provide knowledge and skills that are unique to certain situations, including crisis intervention skills or knowledge of how to develop a disaster plan. For example, a mental health professional may have trouble on how to develop a treatment plan for a surgeon that struggles with suicidal thoughts while at work. This is a very sensitive matter due to the nature of the surgeon job and the fact that other lives may be at risk if he is not treated properly. A consultant will be able to help the mental health counselor in regards to policies in regards to notifying others and even intensive coping skills for the surgeon.
Advocacy is a natural role of a mental health counselor. Advocacy involves the counselor placing themselves in a position to confront social issues that negatively affect clients and working to eradicate systems that perpetuate discrimination. For instance, a mental health counselor may have a transgender client that struggle with severe depression due to lack of acceptance in their family and community. It is vital to the client's treatment that the counselor seeks to promote acceptance in the community by attending rallies and speaking at different events to promote awareness. The mental health counselor can also advocate for the client to his/her family members as well through family counseling sessions. It is important for counselor to stay up to date on social issues in their community and those that affect their clients (Jencius & West, 2003).
Clients benefit from counselors advocating for social issues. Standard A. a, addresses the obligation in the statement " counselors advocate at individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to examine potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit access and/'or the growth and development of clients" (ACA, 2005). Clients can be confident that their counselor is knowledgeable about the cultural values, biases, and assumptions of their cultural group as well as others.
As a mental health counselor, it is important to understand what situations are beyond our level of expertise. Counselors should continue to network and have a strong circle of professionals to depend on for consultations. For example, a mental health counselor that encounters a client that is struggling with depression that ultimately affects his family and marriage may need to consult with another professional. The mental health counselor will be able to assist with the depression however, a consultation with a marriage and family therapist will be more helpful when addresses the issues regarding his marriage and family.
Part 2
An adult client that is suffering with depression is undergoing a number of psychological changes that most likely could have been triggered by a stressful event. This particular client has been receiving treatment by a mental health counselor. However, the client may be feeling a sense of hopelessness with just therapeutic treatment along. The client is asking for medication in hopes of feeling better quickly. As the mental health counselor, it is important to consider multicultural perspective regarding clients with depression. Gender and cultural background have an effect on depression. Women tend to be twice as likely as men to receive a diagnosis of depression (Mc Sweeney, 2004). Women also tend to be younger when depression strikes and to have more frequent and longer lasting bouts and to respond less successfully to treatment (McSweeney, 2004). Women experience may become depressed due to hormonal changes, societal experiences, and body dissatisfaction. Men are sometimes less likely to even admit that they are experiencing feelings of depression. The mental health counselor must take into consideration and have a keen knowledge of the different experiences that male and females undergo in an effort to provide proper treatment.
Cultural background also has a major effect of those suffering from depression.
Specific ethnic groups living under unusually oppressive circumstances sometimes do have strikingly high rated of depression (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Hispanic Americans and African Americans are 50 percent more likely than white Americans to have recurrent episodes of depression (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Depression is more common among Hispanic and African Americans born in the United States than Hispanic and African American immigrants (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Also, the likelihood of depression increases with the person's degree of poverty, family size, and number of health problems (Comer, 2013). Mental health counselors should maintain competence of different cultural backgrounds in order to respond to the varied needs of their …show more content…
clientele.
When providing counseling to a client suffering from depression and is seeking medication therapy, it is important to understand whether the client will benefit from medication. As the counselor it is important to consult with a psychiatrist to ensure whether medication would be of overall help to the client. The counselor can refer the client to a psychiatrist as a "second set of eyes". This will allow the client to receive the best treatment possible from to collaborating professionals.
The client may be dealing with certain social barriers that may inhibit their readiness of seeing a psychiatrist.
Certain cultural backgrounds, may feel uncomfortable receiving treatment from two mental health professionals. Clients may not understand why the counselor is unable to prescribe their medication. In such cases, the counselor should be competent in their knowledge to educate the client on their role and the role of the psychiatrist. Some counselors may find it difficult to acknowledge that they are not competent to provide professional services to every client who might request their help. However, the key is for counselors to understand their boundaries and refer when necessary and extending their areas of competency by keeping clients in other
situations.
When addressing multicultural issues and advocating for diverse populations dealing with depression, the key is selecting appropriate counseling strategies and techniques. Counselors who espouse traditional counseling techniques must be aware that these approaches have limited applicability in working with culturally diverse clients (Jencius & West, 2003). It is important not to overlook a client's historic experiences with discrimination and oppression. When counseling clients with depression of a diverse population, counselors must consider their value of cooperative relationships and those of cultures whom expect the helper to take an active role. Taking on the role of advocacy and assistance will be beneficial to those clients dealing with depression from an oppressive culture. Counselors must have repertoires of helping strategies that extend beyond those offered by traditional counseling theory, which were created by and reflect the worldviews of White males (Jencius & West, 2003).
Counselors have the natural desire to advocate for others. Yet, there are some issues that could hinder and enhance their ability to do so. Managing a crisis is important to counselors from a legal perspective. Because they may be liable for harm that comes to their client if a crisis situation is not manage properly, counselors must understand and react well in crisis. A client could possibly be depressed due to their sexual orientation. Although on a federal level LGBT community is allowed to marry, there are other community groups that do not accept their new rights. Counselors clearly should not provide legal advice to their clients; rather, counselors should refer their clients to attorneys or legal advocacy groups. A counselor's advocacy can be hindered as well through false accusations of illegal discrimination through the population they choose to advocate for. When counseling does with depression, mental health counselors have numerous responsibilities related to safeguarding the clients welfare. One of the most important responsibilities is honoring diversity in an effort to promote the welfare of the client and to respect their dignity.