issues about where to obtain one's education, the accrediting of professional helping bodies, retirement, exercises, and vitality issues related to helping.The discussion on vitality issues, in many ways, reminded me of chapter 13 of Corey and Corey (1998), in which the authors extensively discuss ways helpers might be able to nurture themselves in an effort to regain their vitality and vigor.Nevertheless, what seems uniquely different in the Srebalus and Brown book is that the authors provide ideas about developing a healthy lifestyle and then move to an area not as heavily explored in helping, namely, spirituality.Although the discussion on spirituality, on one hand, is not a complete expository of elements of spirituality as Stump (1993) in Reasoned Faith would have it, on the other hand it does not extol or diminish beliefs of any kind. Readers, therefore, need to be cautioned about the danger of Srebalus' and Brown's book supposing a counseling religion (or speaking of replacing spirituality with religion) or inadvertently clamoring for a pantheistic conception of spirituality (which may be of a bit of a stretch here). In my mind, the book at this juncture seems to address the possibility that there are those clients for whom the concept of spirituality requires "establishing an intimate relationship with this higher power" (p. 297). The chapter ends with quizzes and suggested learning activities.I find the book quite interesting and would like to recommend it to both first-year graduate and undergraduate students in any helping profession.
Divorce and Family Mediation represents a comprehensive text for practitioners and educators in the fields of divorce and family mediation. The text is written to clarify theory, describe approaches, deal with specific parenting and family situations, and provide a focus for the field in one volume.The first chapter provides a good overview of the evolution of divorce and family mediation. Four current models of practice are discussed: facilitative mediation, evaluative mediation, transformative mediation, and the hybrid model of mediation. Each model is discussed at length in separate chapters.Critical issues regarding the field of divorce and family mediation are emphasized. These issues include certification and credentialing, training, diversity of practice models, financial realities, educating the public, practice issues, and the future of the field.Conflict resolution strategies are discussed for specific situations, including therapeutic mediation with high-conflict parents. In each chapter that focuses on the theoretical models, conflict resolution suggestions are also made. A chapter on mediation and affairs also addresses conflict resolution and emphasizes a systems approach to mediation. Other models are also discussed.Although the editors have organized and written some of this book, nationally recognized authors have also made contributions to specific chapters. These include briefly: chapter 2, "Facilitative Mediation," by Bernard Mayer; chapter 8, "Working With Children," by Donald T. Saposnek; chapter 17, "Mediating in the Shadow of an Affair," by Emily M.
Chronic illness in the gay community . . . Does the mind register anything besides AIDS and HIV? The millions of gay men currently living with non-HIV chronic illnesses in the United States are likely to respond in the affirmative.Benjamin Lipton's Gay Men Living With Chronic Illnesses and Disabilities: From Crisis to Crossroads acknowledges these individuals and their conditions-hepatitis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and so on-and encourages readers to relinquish AIDS/HIV-centric conceptions of gay illness. The greater goal exists in expanding culturally competent services for gay men who are HIV negative and reliant upon health organizations focused toward the general, heterosexual public.This six-article compilation is an invaluable resource for therapists and social service providers working with gay men who are chronically ill and their family members. Theory and data are presented in a variety of writing styles-academic and theoretical analyses, first-person narrative, and straightforward descriptions of clinical issues-and augmented by case studies from client perspectives. The final essay is a narrative piece, written from the author's perspectives as a gay, HIV-negative man with chronic illness, practicing psychotherapy and social work with patients with AIDS. The articles speak to a diverse audience, considering the perspectives of clinicians (chronically ill and/or gay) working with chronically ill gay men. As readers are constantly reminded that chronic illness in homosexual and heterosexual men are two distinct experiences, the articles note additional marginalizing factors, such as race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation. Lipton's contributors present their insights and experiences as clinical and counseling psychologists, social workers, rehabilitation counselors, professors, health care consultants, research scientists, divinity scholars, and gay and lesbian advocates.Lipton and his contributors challenge readers to reconceptualize exclusionary notions and to regard HIV as simply one of many chronic illnesses within the gay community. At the same time, however, the articles candidly expose the complicated psychosocial dynamics, which continue to perpetuate this divide, and they acknowledge the need for awareness and sensitivity toward these issues. Readers are dissuaded from assuming that intersecting gay and ill minority identity models accurately represent the experiences of gay men who are chronically ill. Lipton shuttles his audience into the gay community, explaining that in addition to shouldering the stigmas of being gay in a hetero-centric society and being sick in a culture intolerant of illness and disability, gay men who are HIV
flower essences. This informative piece challenges practitioners to become aware of what clients may consider useful to foster their sense of wellness.Perhaps what makes this book attractive to mental health practitioners, other than social workers, is the bio-psychosocial emphasis that challenges physicalistic diagnoses and treatment practices. This emphasis is bound to bring practitioners together to converse about the importance of clients' experiences in medication management. The ethical concern for promoting clients' well-being is evident throughout the pages, despite the use of exclusive language (e.g., pharmacological terms) necessary to express conceptual concern for the apparent gap between medicine therapy and talk therapy.Certainly, the proposals presented in this book raise critical questions about the conceptual validity of medications vis-à-vis clients' emancipation and participation in their own treatments. Five positional articles and two research outcomes are sure to provide practitioners in helping relationships with enough material to generate reflective-based best practices that may contribute to the overall promotion of client welfare, the ultimate goal of all therapeutic enterprises.
Carlson and Nieponski: What is the basic theory or the premise behind the Mars/Venus approach? Gray: The Mars/Venus approach is an educational approach that models communication skills. People are shown how to correctly interpret their partner's messages, respond appropriately, how to communicate their needs, and how to anticipate their partner's needs. Because we don't understand the differences between men and women, our instinctive reaction is counter to what our partner would really appreciate or desire. When individuals understand their partner's uniqueness, they are able to focus their attention and energies in ways that are meaningful to their partner. Individuals can then be more successful in nurturing their partner's needs as well as getting their own needs nurtured. Ultimately, what every couple wants to do is to love and be loved. Unfortunately, the way we give love is the way we would want to get love rather than the way our partner would want to get love. The Mars/Venus approach advocates that by focusing on communication skills, couples are able to adjust the way they give and receive love based upon the information they receive. Carlson and Nieponski: Then relationships are improved through communication? Gray: That is only the first phase of the Mars/Venus approach. The second phase involves assisting couples to look at what blocks them from giving the love to their partner that their partner wants and needs. We shift their orientation from one of blame to a sense of responsibility by looking at what within myself, within my childhood, within my past blocks me from giving my partner what they need or from correctly interpreting their messages to me. For example, men often stop talking to cope with stress. Rather than viewing that as a dysfunction, the Mars/Venus approach recognizes it as a valid stress reaction. His partner takes this personally because she doesn't understand that this is not about her, it is just about a need that he has. If she can't understand it that way and instead feels hurt, we help her to look at what causes hurt in this situation. The counselor using the Mars/Venus approach would then lead her back to her sense of abandonment or betrayal in her childhood. The counselor helps each partner to look within themselves to understand what keeps them from being more peaceful, more loving, more understanding, more compassionate, and more forgiving of their partner. Carlson and Nieponski: Can you talk about how you derived this approach? Who influenced you? Gray: My background and training is eclectic. I have drawn from a wide variety of sources but particularly from my own intuitive sense and practice. I am fortunate to be able to observe patterns between people and discern them in simple ways and then offer suggestions. This is 7 THE
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