From: JSY
Date: 10/14/00
Time: 1:24:30 AM
Remote Name: 205.201.41.109
Hi Mary - Thanks for your comments -- your concern is commonly raised among speech-language pathologists who may be uncomfortable with their counseling skills.
Put simply, I absolutely believe we should have training in counseling at the graduate level. That is why I teach a required graduate counseling class. When I taught at a different University that did not have this requirement, I spend a significant portion of time in my graduate fluency class addressing the fundamentals of counseling.
The code of ethics says that clinicians should not do anything they do not feel competent to do...this is a good guideline and one that must be followed, I believe. There are ways to practice counseling microskills before one tries to use them with clients, and this is an essential aspect of the development of the skills...
As to whether or not we call it "psychotherapy" -- this is merely an issue of semantics...If we are helping people, AND have the skills to be helping them in that way, then it matters little to me what we call it (provided of course that we stay within the realm of speech-language pathology).
Hope this helps... S