No abstract

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) is a global public health issue. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the highest risk factor and predictor of IPH. The emotional and psychological distress from IPV often leads clients to seek counseling services. As a result, counselors interact with individuals experiencing IPV who are at risk of IPH. The counseling literature is replete with IPV counseling interventions and discussion, but scant attention has been paid to IPH in counseling journals. Increasing discussion of IPH in the counseling literature helps counselors gain insight into preventative measures and interventions, such as assessing risk, expanding resource accessibility, and developing a safety plan to better ensure client safety. This article examines IPH literature, IPH vulnerabilities and risk factors, prevention efforts, and recommendations for counselors, such as assessing IPH risk, providing referrals to community resources, and developing safety plans.

Child sex trafficking (CST), the unlawful recruitment of any minor to engage in commercial sexual exploitation through force, fraud, or coercion, is a growing epidemic worldwide. Sex trafficking can have devastating consequences for children, including long-lasting physical and psychological trauma. Counselors working in clinical and school settings have first-hand access to a number of at-risk populations due to the nature of their work. Yet, counselors in the United States report lack of training on CST as a limitation to their ability to identify and effectively work with CST victims. Limited training derives from the absence of competency standards to guide counselors working with CST victims. To address this critical gap, this research study utilized expert consensus to develop an initial list of CST competencies for counselors working in the United States. A heterogeneous sample of 19-CST experts participated in a four-round Delphi process. The expert panel reached a consensus on 128 CST competency statements organized into five domains: (a) intervention strategies and the helping relationship, (b) trauma and sex trafficking, (c) assessment of risk factors and indicators, (d) ethical practice, and (e) cultural diversity and human growth and development. This article assists in identifying standards of practice necessary for counselors to detect, prevent, and assist sex-trafficked youth. Creating an initial list of competency standards can serve as guiding points for clinical practice training curricula, and quality control assessments for counselors, and possibly other mental health professionals, working with CST.