Interviewing and Counseling Techniques

Okun, of Northeastern University, offers practical help for the developing empathetic helper, providing techniques for self-assessment, perceiving non-verbal messages, and behavioral strategies. A counselor cannot hope to help others without a certain degree of self-awareness, and Okun's work provides a framework for that self-examination. One has to understand contemporary social forces in order to appreciate what happens in an effective helping situation. Theory is important, too, as well as skill in developing genuine compassion. Her work with theories provides a mental framework for understanding what to do with the counseling client, and she touches on some of the new theories of constructivism, feminist therapies, and integrative therapies. Okun believes on focusing on solutions in the counselor-client relationship.

Historically, one of the core issues in counseling theory is the dichotomy of free will versus determinism. Depending on how one is based philosophically, professionals in the field generally will have a certain placement on the continuum that feels comfortable and rig

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eling. Weinrach and Thomas state that this new dialogue is about a "postmodern clash of values." This new area of focus in counseling goes by various namesùcross-cultural counseling, multicultural counseling, and counseling for diversity. This focus includes thinking on such variations of age, culture, disability, education level, ethnicity, gender, language, physique, race, religion, urban, suburban, rural, sexual orientation, socioeconomic situation, trauma, and multiple groupings of any of these. Earlier in the cultural diversity movement in counseling, writers focused only on racial minority groups. Counseling as a whole mostly comes from a primarily European American (white) worldview. However most persons in the counseling profession would say they value a culturally pluralistic society and have regard for racial and ethnic minorities. Weinrach and Thomas have the interesting point of view that one's human identity is not primarily culturally dependent. In other words they do not teach people how to do black counseling or Hispanic counseling. Culture is enormously important, but the practicing counselor would do well not to arbitrarily impose an agenda on the counseling relationship that has to do with ideas about
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Approximate Word count = 2398
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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