Consultation

... research resources for counselling students

Web Destinations

Key Sites for Practitioners

In actuality, there are no "key sites" for practitioners. Many sites identify themselves as consultation sites, but they are primarily seeking clients. Many professional organizations have bulletin boards online. Below is a nonaffiliated site.

PsychoBabble
Dr. Bob's Psycho-Babble is a bulletin board chat room developed for educational and support purposes. New messages are highlighted. Files include tips, rounds, pamphlets, statistics, support, and links.
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble

Professional Development

Professional Organizations
Not applicable. Although there are no professional organizations for consultation in counseling, such organizations exist in business and management consulting. Code of Ethics

There are no specific ethical codes for consultation in counseling; however there are specific ethical problems.

American Counseling Association Code of Ethics
This website contains the ACA Code of Ethics and Standards for Practice. http://www.counseling.org/content/navigationmenu/resources/ethics/ aca_code_of_ethics.htm

Annotated Bibliography

Consultation is an activity of most counselors, including those working in mental health, higher education, school counseling, career development, and counselor education. A consultant is one who is called in as a resource to help solve specific problems. Although there are the beginnings of a foundation in literature, few counselors work solely as consultants.

Foundational Works

Caplan, G. (1970). The theory and practice of mental health consultation. New York: Basic Books.
Caplan's original work is considered to be a basic resource on theories and techniques of collaboration. Caplan's work had a profound impact on the nascent community mental health system in the United States during the 1970s because it addressed methods for working with other mental health and other social service providers. Kurpius, D., & Robinson, S. E. (1978). Overview of consultation. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 56, 321-323.
Kurpius and Robinson have written a good summary of the field. It is a good starting point for those new to the area. It covers a wide range of consulting activities and settings from school to business.

Schein, E. H. (1978). The role of consultant: Content expert or process facilitator? Personnel and Guidance Journal, 56, 339-343.
As the title suggests, Schein's often-quoted article identifies the consultant in counseling as a facilitator rather than merely a source of information.

Key Current Works

Brown, D., Pryzwansky, W., & Schulte, A. C. (2000). Psychological consultation: Introduction to theory and practice (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
This book outlines the major theoretical approaches to consultation, along with techniques to follow.

Caplan, G. & Caplan, R. (1999). Mental health consultation and collaboration. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
This book is an expansion of Caplan's previous book, Theory and Practice of Mental Health Consultation. This book outlines principles of mental health consultation in a variety of settings. Caplan offers case studies and examines consultation in practice.

Dougherty, M. (2000). Consultation: Practice and perspectives (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford.
Dougherty sets consultation into action. The reader follows nine cases, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Marks, E. S. (1995). Entry strategies for school consultations. New York: Guilford.
This book addresses the issues that outside consultants face when consulting with the closed system of a school. Marks' emphasis is on developing supportive relationships with faculty and staff, along with developing programs to work with parents. The book contains checklists, forms, and questionnaires for evaluation and needs assessment.

Newman, J. L. (1993). Ethical issues in consultation. Journal of Counseling & Development, 72, 148-156.
Newman addresses specific ethical issues in consultation, including the consultant/client relationship, confidentiality, informed consent, power, dual relationships, values, competence, and evaluating effectiveness.

Siskind, D. (1997). Working with parents: Establishing the essential alliance in child psychotherapy and consultation. New York: Jason Aronson.
The focus of the book is on building the consulting relationship with parents of children who are in psychotherapy or who are experiencing problems in school. This includes providing parenting assistance. The emphasis of the book is on developing collaboration to prevent the obstructionism that can interfere with a child's treatment.

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