Microskills Training

Abstract

For more than four decades, the microskills approach has been the dominant paradigm for training entry-level counseling students. At its inception, the model met a critical need: instruction in discrete counseling behaviors, which at the time was conspicuously missing from training curricula. Although these behaviors have become essential components of training in counseling psychology and other mental health specialties, the authors' reexamination of the literature leads them to question the overall adequacy of the model. After reviewing prominent textbooks in the field and evaluating the research on microskills training, the authors identify five serious limitations of the model. While respecting and retaining the positive features of the microskills approach, its limitations bespeak the need to develop training paradigms that embrace a broader model of counselor competence.

Counseling Psychology Trainees’ Knowledge of Cultural Display Rules

“…This is contrasted with about a third of participants describing some type of academic or formal training experience, and about a sixth endorsing more informal or nonspecific types of training. These results are congruent with previous observations that emotion processes are often absent in training programs and texts (Ridley et al, 2011), despite research demonstrating that both client and therapist emotional expression is related to positive client outcomes (Peluso & Freund, 2018). The Training theme results are further illuminated when analyzed in relation to other themes we found, like participants' personal reactions, struggles, and responses to emotion in practice.…”

“…We believe this dualistic perspective about CDR knowledge and awareness represents a unique component of the larger set of multicultural and international competencies. This knowledge and awareness can deepen individuals' understanding of emotion, thereby helping to address the lack of literature devoted to emotion in training broadly (Ridley et al, 2011), and fill the even greater gap in the literature about the emotional lives of culturally diverse individuals. Further, this knowledge base deepens trainees' understanding of the impact of culture on emotional functioning, which has a range of implications (to be discussed further) on improving clinical decision-making.…”

“An Unspoken Level of Comfort”

“…An alternate, more practical strategy would be to expose students to the practice of mindfulness, which also teaches ideas of the fundamental goodness of human nature, the interconnectedness of all beings, and awareness of mind and bodily sensations. Mindfulness has been shown to facilitate therapist self-reflection and meta-cognition (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009), which scholars have recently advocated for in the training of psychotherapists (Jones-Smith, 2012; Ridley, Kelly, & Mollen, 2011). Implementing such changes would likely strengthen the preparation of not only Black students, but all therapist trainees as well.…”

Learning to Practice Compassionate Care: Medical Students Discuss Their Most Memorable Lessons

“…Given what we know from counseling and studies of implicit bias, the notion that acting with empathy and compassion is innate or natural rather than a skill to be developed is particularly worrisome among elite preprofessionals. In other professional training, such as psychological counseling, the technical aspects of interpersonal communication receive special attention because practitioners acknowledge that instinctive reactions can often perpetuate problematic behavior (26)(27)(28). Furthermore, unexamined interpersonal interactions may reflect and perpetuate implicit biases (29)(30)(31).…”