Chapter 16

Consultation and
Collaboration
You must be the change you wish to see in
the world.

Mahatma Gandhi

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Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
• Define consultation and collaboration
• Discuss models of consultation
• Talk about roles of consultants
• Explain collaboration
• Outline ways to build teams
• Describe assessment types and instruments

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 Consultation
• A process in which the counselor
works with (parent, teacher,
administrator) with the goal of positive
change in the child
• Voluntary problem-solving process
with goals of enhanced services and
improved functioning

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Consultation about Children
Typical tasks involve the following:
• professional development workshops
• assisting teachers
• providing resources
• interpreting information
• consult with other specialists

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Mental Health Consultation
• Focus on primary prevention and
helping professionals as well as others
• Interaction between 2 professionals
• Consultant an expert, diagnoses a
problem and provides a solution

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Mental Health Consultation
• Client-centered case consultation
• Consultee-centered case consultation
• Program-centered administrative
consultation
• Consultee-centered administrative
consultation

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 Process Consultation
• A skill, interest in how things happen
rather than what is done
• Set of activities to help the consultee
perceive, understand, and act upon
events within one’s environment
• focus on how problems are solved and
the system in which they occur

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 Process Consultation
Consultant and consultee examine six areas:
• Communication patterns
• Group member roles
• Group problem solving and decision making
• Group norms and growth
• Leadership and authority
• Intergroup cooperation and competition

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 Behavioral Consultation
• More structured model; application of systems
theory and principles of learning to a problem-
solving process:
• Problem identification and analysis
• Selection of target behavior
• Behavioral objectives
• Plan, design, implementation
• Evaluate of behavioral change program
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 Cross-Cultural Consultation
Ingraham (2000) suggests
• Support consultee success
• Value multiple perspectives
• Create emotional safety and support

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Cross-Cultural Consultation
Brown, Pryzwansky and Schulte provide
questions to assess
• Hierarchy
• Who should be involved
• What leads to use
• Allowing the right not to participate

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 The Consulting Process
1. Pre-entry
• look at oneself to see if you are right
for the task and services to be provided
2. Entry, problem exploration and contracting
• learn about needs, presenting problem,
people involved, previous
interventions, and expectations of
seeker

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The Consulting Process (Cont.)
3. Diagnosis stage
• Information gathering, problem
confirmation, goal setting, and potential
interventions
4. Solution searching and intervention
selection
• avoid favorite paradigm
• consider human and structural factors

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The Consulting Process (Cont.)
5. Evaluation
• Ensures professional effectiveness
• Were goals achieved?
• Did interventions work?

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The Consulting Process (Cont.)
6. Termination
• Describe what was and was not
successful
• Look for areas of improvement

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 Myrick’s Approach
1. Identify the problem clearly.
2. Clarify the situation.
3. Determine the desired outcome.
4. Gather any needed information.
5. Develop a plan of action.
6. Evaluate and revise as needed.

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Consultation Interventions
• Role Shift
o changingone’s behavior to elicit
behavior change in another person
• Logical Consequences
o experiencenatural consequence rather
than punishment
o teach rules of society

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Consultation Interventions
• Listing of Behaviors
• Isolation Techniques
o unacceptable behavior results in
removal from group
o quiet place, but not out of sight
o if worse, time out room

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 Collaboration
Friend and Cook (2012) definition:
• A style for direct interaction between 2
co-equal parties voluntarily engaged in
shared decisions making process as
they work towards a common goal.

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 Collaboration
Five stages of problem solving for
collaborative consultation:
1. Coming together
2. Defining a shared vision
3. Developing a plan
4. Taking action
5. Evaluating progress

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Guidelines on Whether to Use
Collaboration or Consultation
• Determine how the two services are viewed
by the consumer
• Counselor should reflect on their personal
reactions to the two services and comfort
with each
• Collaboration may be method if parameters
of consultation impossible
• Fundamental to choice is nature of problem,
the context in which it occurs and the skills of
everyone involved.
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 Reasons for Collaboration
Collaborative efforts may involve nurturing
relationships to:
• increase resources
• enhance effectiveness
• decrease fragmentation
• cost efficiency

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 Teaming
• Specialized work purpose
• Have shared goals and are
interdependent
• Each team member is aware of the
focus, the responsibilities and the pal
for accomplishing the task

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 Assessment as an
Intervention
• Counselors often use a variety of tools
to help understand children
• Some of the more commonly used
assessment tools are interviews, case
histories and behavioral observations

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 Mental Status Exam
Observations include:
1. General appearance, behavior, attitude
2. Speech characteristics and thought
process
3. Emotional status and reactions
4. Content of thought

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 Mental Status Exam (Cont.)
Observations include:
5. Orientation and awareness
6. Memory
7. General intellectual functioning
8. Insight
9. MSE Summary

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 Formal Tests
• Intelligence Tests
• Projective Techniques
• Achievement Tests
• Aptitude Tests
• Other tests, surveys, or scales

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 Summary

• Consultation and collaboration are indirect

ways to assist children in need.
• Consultation refers to the one-to-one
interaction between the counselor and a
significant adult in the child’s life or to a
counselor-led group of significant adults, with
the purpose of finding ways to assist children
in functioning more effectively.

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 Summary
• Counselors will also have opportunities to work
collaboratively with other health services and
educational professionals, as well as other people
who influence a child’s life.
• The use of teamwork allows counselors to
contribute to cooperative efforts on the behalf of
young people.
• Another form of consultation and collaboration
occurs when counselors use and/or interpret
assessment instruments in their practice.
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