Whereas multicultural advances in the area of gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues have been made for increased knowledge and awareness, little development has been made regarding counselor skill building. This article outlines a model of training using role-playing to enhance counselor skill when working with gay male, lesbian, and bisexual male and female clients.Mientras que avances rnulticulturales en el carnpo de cuestiones hornosexuales, lesbianas y bisexuales han resultado en un aurnento en el conocirniento y la conciencia, poco desarrollo ha resultado en cuanto a la habilitacion de consejeros. Este articulo traza las lineas generales de un modelo de entrenarniento que utiliza el juego de roles para mejorar las tacticas del consejero cuando trabaja con clientes homosexuales, lesbianas, y bisexuales. s the twenty-first century becomes well established, the importance of multicultural (MC) counseling has also been well established; how-A ever, the importance of MC training (MCT) has fallen behind. A number of different racial and cultural groups are now recognized as having unique counseling needs (Langman, 1995;Pedersen, 1988;Pope, 1995). A number of researchers have defined cultural identity as including demographic variables such as religion, gender, physical ability, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation as well as ethnographic variables like racial/ethnic identity (Pedersen, 1999). We also support a broad definition of MC counseling, specifically one that includes issues relevant to sexual orientation. This article focuses on gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) MCT issues for counselors and the methods used to help increase MC counseling competency. Although scholarly work is needed regarding transgendered individuals, this article focuses on GLB training issues because of space limitations. The concept of MC competency was first proposed by and continues to be written about by S.

The relationship between supervisory identity development and supervisory experience, counseling experience, and training in supervision was examined for Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) members. Analyses indicated that supervisory experience and training were related to supervisory identity development, whilst counseling experience was not. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the importance of supervisor credentials.

As counselling is a developing profession without statutory regulation in Australia, anyone can engage in counselling practice and use “counsellor” as a professional title. Not much is known about those who call themselves counsellors in Australia. This survey research in a field setting aimed to describe Australian Yellow Pages Advertised Counsellors, thus providing a snapshot of advertised counsellors in Australia. This research was thus designed to describe those who are engaging in advertised counselling practice in Australia. Data was collected using a multiple mailing survey method and resulted in a 62.2% return rate. The counsellors' (1) demographic characteristics, (2) counselling training and development, (3) provision of counselling services, and (4) professional involvement were assessed. Advertised Australian counsellors tend to be female, mature, Caucasian, married or partnered, heterosexual, have families, and hold Christian beliefs. The majority of counsellors live in urban areas. The field could arguably benefit from increasing the diversity of its members. Nevertheless, advertised Australian counsellors are qualified professionals who tend to hold university qualifications and are likely to have received their training in counselling from a university provider. They are experienced service providers and engage in ongoing supervision as a supervisee. Moreover, these counsellors are involved in a variety of professional organizations. Advertised Australian counsellors, however, often struggle with issues related to burnout. They demonstrate their belief in the power of counselling by engaging in personal counselling. Advertised Australian counsellors actively engage in professional development, read professional journals, and report wanting further training regarding cognitive behaviour therapy, family therapy, EMDR, hypnosis, and trauma‐related difficulties. The majority of counsellors indicate making $40,000 or less per year. Survey results clearly indicate that the professionalisation of counselling is underway.

No abstract

This survey research in a field setting aimed to describe psychologists who advertised themselves in the Australian Yellow Pages as counsellors, thus providing a snapshot of advertised counselling psychologists in Australia. Data was collected using a multiple mailing survey method and resulted in a 62.2% return rate. The psychologists' (a) demographic characteristics, (b) training and development, (c) provision of services, (d) professional involvement, and (e) their self perceived competence in working with (i) depression, (ii) anxiety, (iii) substance use, (iv) clients from non English speaking backgrounds and Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander individuals, (v) clients who are same sex attracted (gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals), and (vi) clients using electronic mail and instant messaging were assessed. Advertised Australian counselling psychologists tend to be female, mature and Caucasian. The majority of the psychologists surveyed live in urban areas. Master and Bachelor level degrees were most often reported, a minority held doctoral degrees. The average psychologist charged $96.32 per hour, less than the Australian Psychological Society (APS) recommended fee for an hour of service. Eclectic and cognitive behaviour therapy were indicated most often as the theoretical orientations guiding psychological work. Psychologists belonged almost exclusively to the Australian Psychological Society as a professional association. Surprisingly, 2.9% of psychologists indicate not following an ethical code in their work and 3.9% failed to ensure that their work was covered by professional indemnity insurance. Advertised psychologists are thus described and suggestions are given for the further development of the profession. Regarding their self perceived competence, Australian advertised psychologists present as having self perceived strengths and areas of weakness regarding their counselling competence. This indicates that they are aware of their varying ability to work with various issues and populations. The self perceived competence of Australian psychologists in six specific counselling practice areas and suggestions for future training and development are provided.