I kind of
wish that we were asked to read this chapter and article a few weeks ago. I say
this because part of our Comprehensive School Counselor Program group project
is to look at various models of consultation. Wayne and I were charged with
this task for our group and it was a bit of a process though not incapable of
being overcome. Ironically, the model for consultation that we happened across
was the Solution-Focused Consultation model that is proposed by Kahn (the one
we read this week) which we found on EBSCOHost. As informative as the article
was last week for the CSCP project reading it alongside the chapter in regards
to consultation made it much more enlightening.
I think that
this article did an excellent job of reinforcing what I had learned in regards
to consultation based on being in various schools while growing up, as a TSS,
and in shadowing counselors. In that aspect I have seen tremendous counselors
as well as some incredibly bad counselors so I have seen the negatives results
of a lack of consultation and the positive results of consultation as described
in the chapter. I have seen the negative instances described in the text where
the counselor and psychologist step on each other’s toes – especially in the
way of appraisal – rather than work collaboratively. I have seen it where the
counselor is considered an asset to the school rather than an integral or
necessary part. However, on the other side of the coin I’ve seen some
tremendous counselors that manage to affect the entire school body through
consultation as described in the Adelman and Taylor continuum. They have
trained teachers to understand positive reinforcement and acknowledgement of
positive behaviors that fall in line with the counselor’s character education
curriculum. I believe this also falls under the “I think based on my history of
a being a TSS and teachers NOT listening to my advice on this aspect I look
forward to being able to do this as a counselor where there has to be some
fidelity to what I say. This is why I got very excited in reading about the
“Prescription” and “Provision” modes of consulting. I’ve witnessed these modes
a lot in these schools although I did see and do acknowledge that time
constraints could prevent the “Provision” mode which leads back to teaching
teachers how do be faithful to treatment.
However, I
do admit I think consultation – with teachers – is going to be an issue with me
at first. I say this because of the metaphor I use for myself about being a
candle. When I first get to a site I feel I’ll be hesitant and timid until
teachers are willing to approach me because they need my help. In fact, many
counselors I’ve interviewed have stated that they too were like this out of
fear of creating friction with veteran staff by just coming in as the new
person and trying to change the system. However, I feel my natural personality
is the type that eventually blends well with people wherever I am and this will
help faculty come around to being willing to listen to me beyond “Prescription”
and potentially even seek me out for the “Mediation” role.
There were
several more things I found beneficial from the chapter. For instance, as I
said teacher consultation might be rough for me to start, community and parent
consultation feels like a natural strength for me. Therefore the concept of
“Community Mapping” seems like something I very much would enjoy as I’m aware
of several community social service agencies in Lancaster and York. I also
really liked the Culturally Competent Collaboration model as that is something
I love about this program. It has taught me the need for cultural competence at
a systematic level and so therefore seeing a model for it at consultation which
could change an entire system to be culturally competent gets me excited.
Finally, I liked how the Kahn (2000) article started to help me see parallels
between Consultation and Counseling. However, the book kind of pulled me back
showing that while there are some similarities that there are some very clear
differences as well. I felt that explanation was missing in the Kahn (2000)
article as the article kind of made the consultation process seem more didactic
than triadic.
Overall, however, I am looking forward to utilizing
consultation to make whatever site I end up at a better place. Just as I said I
am worried about the initial consultation process with teachers. But as I’ve
been told if you can get administration onboard then it becomes a lot easier so
I look forward to it.
Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive
school counseling programs (2nd
Ed.). New York:
Pearson, Inc.
Kahn, B. B. (2000). A Model of
Solution-Focused Consultation for School Counselors.
Professional School Counseling,
3(4), 248.
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