No abstract

NSSI is common in college populations but varies significantly by sex and sexual orientation. NSSI disclosure is low among both sexes.

Counselors in all settings work with clients who are survivors of trauma. Vicarious trauma, or counselors developing trauma reactions secondary to exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, is not uncommon. The purpose of this article is to describe vicarious trauma and summarize the recent research literature related to this construct. The Constructivist Self-Development Theory (CSDT) is applied to vicarious trauma, and the implications CSDT has for counselors in preventing and managing vicarious trauma are explored.

Focus groups are becoming a popular research approach that counselors can use as an efficient, practical, and applied method of gathering information to better serve clients. In this article, the authors describe focus groups and their potential usefulness to professional counselors and researchers. Practical implications related to the use of focus groups in counseling practice are discussed, and case examples are provided demonstrating how focus groups can be useful to counselors.

The authors advance motivational interviewing and the transtheoretical model of change as a conceptual framework for counseling clients who engage in nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. The major principles of motivational interviewing are applied in a case study of a client who self-injures. Recommendations are made for mental health counseling practice.