| Behavioral Counseling, an
important behavioral support for the development
of replacement skills, focuses on the teaching of
self-management skills and the subsequent transferring
of those skills to consumers’ everyday lives.
This approach to counseling is goal-oriented, action-oriented,
and practical. Consumers assume an active role from
the outset of the counseling process. Consumers
and counselors work collaboratively to identify
specific goals, agree on the strategies to use to
achieve those goals and work and to enable the consumer
and significant people in their lives (e.g. family
and care-givers) to implement behavioral intervention
strategies outside of therapy sessions as well and
evaluate the success of these strategies in their
daily activities. Progress is reviewed on an ongoing
basis and strategies, or even goals, may be modified
or changed and even whether to pursue or revise
the initial goals. Examples of behavioral techniques
and procedures include relaxation training, systematic
desensitization, guided imagery, biofeedback, exposure
therapy, and assertion training.
Behavioral counseling follows the current trend
in behavior therapy in that it incorporates not
only modifying observable measurable behavior
but also modifying thoughts, beliefs, attitudes,
perceptions, feelings and expectations, all of
which influence behavior. Behavioral counseling
and its behavioral intervention techniques can
be implemented in a variety of settings, such
as consumers’ homes, schools, places of
employment as well as vocational and day programs.
Behavioral counseling techniques can be used to
address concerns and problems of any special population
groups (e.g., individuals with autism, persons
with serious mental illness, individuals with
substance abuse disorders, etc.). Counseling &
Consulting Services clinicians are well versed
in the use of both traditional and cognitively
based behavioral therapeutic techniques. |
Marriage
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