How does that make you feel?

During our educational path in becoming SLPs, we were often told that counseling becomes a large part of what we do.  This makes sense given that we are taught to be active listeners, how to pick up on body language and tone, and we encourage others to express themselves and communicate.  Most of us in this field are innate empathizers as well, and we are usually the ones who take the time to listen.  People respond to that by feeling comfortable enough to share with us more than they would with other professionals.  I often find myself asking clients how they feel about their disorder or what they think about the progress of therapy or to consider what goals they wish to set.  Sometimes clients reveal too much, and the lines between personal and professional become a little blurred.  We definitely have to be careful about not overstepping our boundaries and learn to recognize when to refer to another professional that is better suited to deal with emotional issues.

I did not realize how much counseling plays a role in our scope of practice until I began my clinical externships.  Parents of children with disabilities share their grief and frustration, students provide intimate details about their personal lives, and patients in fragile medical condition bare their emotions of fear and confusion.  Just today, I met with a new patient who broke down several times while I was attempting to assess her.  All I could do was give her a tissue, hold her hand, and tell her that she was in good hands now, that I was glad to know her, and I would help her in any way I could.  She thanked me profusely for listening and showing that I cared, so even though I did not complete my formal assessment, I learned much about who this person is and how I may be able to help her through our informal interaction.  Of course, I also let the staff psychiatrist know he might want to pay her a visit as well! 

I cannot say that I am uncomfortable with providing some level of counseling to the people I serve; however, I am not completely comfortable with my ability to provide adequate and effective counseling.  This, I think, is more an issue of experience, but I certainly do not have professional training in this area either.  My undergraduate degree did require me to complete an introductory course on counseling, but it was general and not specific to my profession.  Perhaps it is because I am at the end of my academic career and completely burnt out, but I do not think that adding another class to our already demanding course load is the answer to filling in this gap.  We are given enough information to get us through and get us started on all aspects of our field, and none of us graduate as an expert in apraxia, dysphagia, aphasia, and the myriad of other speech-language disorders.  I am sure we have all done independent research on certain topics as they became applicable to our clients at hand.  This led me to wonder what resources there are for those who wish to delve deeper into the topic of counseling, and here is what I found:

Books

• Counseling Skills for Speech-language Pathologists and Audiologists by Lydia Flasher and Paul Fogle.  Available from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Counseling-Skills-Speech-Language-Pathologists-Audiologists/dp/1435499360/ref=pd_sim_b_2

• The Source for Counseling for SLPs by Hope Reed.  Available from LinguaSystems http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10690

• Counseling the Communicatively Disabled and Their Families Ebook by George Shames. Available from onlinebookplace.com http://onlinebookplace.com/counseling-the-communicatively-disabled-and-their-families-a-manual-for-clinicians?region=us&engine=google_pl&gclid=CIio5Ouq6bcCFWFxQgodjEwAmg

Continuing Education

• Practical Counseling Skills for Speech-Language Pathologists (.5 CEUS). Presented by J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP. http://www.yaruss.com/Yaruss-courses.htm

• SpeechPathology.com offers several articles on the topic of counseling that can apply toward CEUs. This requires signing up for access and currently costs $99/yr for professionals and $49/yr for students. http://www.speechpathology.com/articles/search/all/term:counseling/

A Google search will also reveal blog sites from other professionals who have written about this topic and their personal experiences.  Counseling and educating clients and their families is a small but vital part of what we do as speech-language pathologists.  I don't feel we can really help the person until we really know the person and take their personality and experiences into consideration.  It is comforting knowing that other professionals are also aware of this and are willing to share their knowledge on how to develop the skills necessary to provide services in a holistic way.  Hopefully, these resources will help others seeking to further develop their own counseling skills.