Counselor educators are charged with facilitating the development of counseling students towards becoming ethical and competent counselors (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2005; Council for Accreditation for Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2009). In addition, counselor educators serve as gatekeepers for the profession and deny entry to counseling students who demonstrate deficiency of necessary competencies (ACA, 2005; Association for Counselor Education and Supervision [ACES], 1993; CACREP, 2009). Numerous assessment tools utilized for the evaluation of counseling competencies have been developed, yet none has gained universal acceptance in the field of counselor education. The Counseling Competencies Scale© (CCS, UCF Counselor Education Faculty, 2009) is a 32 item counseling-student assessment tool developed to measure counselors-in-training counselor competencies (counseling skills, professional dispositions, and behaviors). The psychometric properties of the CCS have been investigated (Swank, 2010); however, questions related to perceptions, purposes, and uses of the CCS remained. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive, exploratory phenomenology was to understand counseling students‘ and practicum supervisors‘ lived experiences with the CCS. The sample included counseling practicum students (N = 23 [individual student interviews only, n = 11; student focus group interviews only, n = 4, individual student interviews and student focus group participants, n = 8]) and practicum supervisors (N = 6) from a CACREP accredited counselor education program in the Southeastern United States. The data was collected through individual interviews and focus groups with practicum students and individual interviews with practicum supervisors. All data was recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes (Creswell, 2007; Moustakas, 1994). The data analyses utilized a research key iv comprised of 34 meaning units (Devenish, 2002; Moustakas, 1994) and identified five themes within the data: (a) Cognitive understanding, (b) Emotional Understanding, (c) Feedback, (d) Trustworthiness, and (e) Gatekeeping. A visual metaphor was developed to illustrate the interaction of the five themes. Trustworthiness measures employed throughout the research included the use of (a) descriptions of researcher positionality, (b) a self-reflective field journal, (c) triangulation (student and supervisor individual interviews, student focus group interviews, and examination of the CCS document), (d) member checking, (e) peer debriefers, (f) an external auditor, (g) an extensive description of previous literature, and (h) an openness to disconfirming evidence (Creswell, 2007; Marshall & Rossman, 2006; Moustakas, 1994). The results supported that counseling students and their clinical supervisors identified the CCS as an appropriate and comprehensive supervisory tool; however, they acknowledged CCSrelated limitations including inconsistent application, problematic scoring system, pass/fail structure, and delivery by instructors and practicum supervisors who demonstrated minimal investment of time and effort. Implications for counselor educators include the importance of program and faculty members‘ engagement and consistency regarding the use of (a) evaluation and feedback tools, (b) remediation and gatekeeping processes, and (c) counseling student performance expectations. Replication of this study at diverse institutions is suggested. In addition, quantitative and qualitative investigations examining counseling student competencies and development (e.g., CCS) would contribute to the counselor education, counseling-student development, and counseling supervision literature. A discussion of the investigation‘s limitations is included.

The counseling relationship has long been considered an essential part of the foundation of positive client outcomes in counseling. While many factors play a role in the therapeutic relationship, the facilitative conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness have been the most-researched components of the Person-Centered construct of the therapeutic relationship. The supervisory relationship parallels the therapeutic relationship in many ways, and as the therapeutic relationship is critical to counseling, the supervisory relationship is foundational to effective supervision. While the facilitative conditions are empirically proven to contribute to positive client outcomes within the therapeutic relationship, the role of the counselor’s supervisory relationship has been largely unexplored in its association to client outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between the facilitative conditions perceived by the client during counseling, and the facilitative conditions perceived by the counselor-in-training during supervision. Additionally, these variables were tested for their ability to predict client outcomes. The sample of this study consisted of 88 clients and 55 counselors-in-training at a large university in the southeastern United States. Both clients and counselors-in-training completed two instruments to ascertain the quality of their counseling and supervision relationships. The Outcomes Questionnaire-45 was utilized to collect client outcomes data. Results validate a correlation between the client’s perception of the therapeutic relationship and client outcomes, however there appears to be no relationship between the supervisory relationship and client outcomes. Further results of the study and limitations were discussed

Counseling and psychology have experienced a conflicted relationship with the issue of spirituality over the last century. Spirituality is a construct that has been receiving more attention in counseling over the last fifteen to twenty years. More counselors and educators are affirming its place and value in the counseling relationship. Yet, there is a disparity between this and what counselors-in-training are being taught regarding spirituality, its value to clients and counselors, and its role in the counseling relationship. Very little research has been done examining spirituality and its relationship to counseling students level of confidence and competence in their work--their self-efficacy. This study investigated the relationship of perceived spirituality to counseling self-efficacy for graduate counseling students in faith-based and secular institutions. Additionally, the researcher studied the relationship of spirituality and counseling self-efficacy to the following demographic variables: age, gender, graduate course hours completed, and practicum versus internship status. The results from a sample of 135 students demonstrated a relationship between spirituality and counseling self-efficacy for students in faith-based and secular universities. The four demographic variables studied-- age, gender, graduate course hours completed, and practicum versus internship status--showed a relationship with counseling self-efficacy but not spirituality. Implications for counseling pedagogy and clinical work are offered. Areas of future research are discussed.

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Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / This case study of a public school district in the Northeast United States explores the leadership practices of elementary and middle school counseling staff and principals in supporting SEL, using a distributed leadership framework (Spillane, 2006). Data sources included 24 interviews with administrators, guidance counselors and social workers and document review. Findings indicate counseling staff support students and staff in a variety of ways through both formal and informal leadership practices. Principals support SEL by establishing SEL programs or strategies to match the needs of their student population. Two different models were found for how guidance counselor and social worker responsibilities are structured. The most common model, in six of the nine schools, is a tiered model where guidance counselors work with the majority of students on academic support/monitoring and delivering SEL lessons. Social workers focus on smaller numbers of students with more intensive needs. The second but less common model, in three of the nine schools, does not differentiate the roles of social workers and guidance counselors and instead assigns responsibilities by grade level. Concerns with this second model were raised by some administrators and several counselors. The quality of peer and administrator relationships was reported to be supportive and collaborative in the schools with differentiated roles. In the non-differentiated schools, it varied, and was related to shifting staff, a misunderstanding of the role differences, and challenges in developing collaborative relationships. Recommendations include assessing support structures to ensure the model adequately supports the SEL needs of the school. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

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Psychotherapy research indicates that the therapeutic relationship influences counselling outcome, though the mechanism by which relationship contributes to change is unkown. This study investigated clients' preceptions of the therapeutic relationship and its role in their change processes. Twelve clients at college based counselling centres were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. The qualitative data obtained in this study was coded and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. A grounded theory was generated, identifying two core categories and five related categories. The theory provides a detailed model of change that highlights the complexities of the therapeutic relationship. Similarities between the theory generated from the data and principles of attachment theory are discussed. / xii, 131 leaves ; 29 cm.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of sex, physical attractiveness, and attitude similarity on the attributions of counseling students for the supposed adjustment problem of a bogus stimulus person presented as having failed to benefit from a counseling experience. Attributions were measured along dimensions of locus of causality (internal-external), stability (stable-unstable), and controllability (controllable-uncontrollable).Many previous studies have investigated various aspects of sex, physical attractiveness, and/or attitudes in relation to interpersonal attraction, but this study attempted to examine all three in the context of an applied counseling setting.The subjects were 70 female and 25 male volunteers, who were enrolled in graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in Counseling Psychology at Ball State University and at Governors State University.The dependent variable measure was the Causal Dimension Scale, composed of three subscales which measure locus of causality, stability, and controllability. The Student Attribution Survey served as a source of eight covariate measures, with two scores, one each for positive events and negative events, for the four attributional dimensions of ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty. The Brief Measure of Activism, Regarding the Nuclear Arms Race was used to ascertain subjects' attitudes toward this issue and to determine whether they were attitude similar or dissimilar to the stimulus person.The study was designed as a 2 X 2 X 2 full factorial with two levels of sex (male-female), two levels of physical attractiveness (attractive-unattractive), and two levels of attitude similarity (similar-dissimilar). The data was analyzed via a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results at or below the .05 level of significance were considered available for interpretation.The results revealed that only the main effect for attitude similarity was significant. Subjects who read a description of an attitude similar stimulus person viewed the person's problem as external, stable, and uncontrollable, attributing it to task difficulty. Subjects who read a description of an attitude dissimilar stimulus person viewed the problem as internal, unstable, and controllable, attributing it to effort. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services