Running head: CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

Client-Centered Consultation
Emily James
Drake University

Client-Centered Consultation
Consultation Issue

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

This consultation issue takes place at a small, rural school in the state of Iowa. The school
building holds grades Pre-K through 12, but is separated by different hallways and wings that lead
to the elementary, middle, and high school. In this particular consultation issue, two teachers are
seeking consultation from the school counselor regarding one of their students, Sarah.
The following are facts school administration know about Sarah. She is 18-years-old, lives
in an apartment with her boyfriend, works multiple part-time jobs to support herself, and is
emancipated from her parents. Due to Sarahs hard home life and needing to pay for all of her
expenses, Sarah frequently misses school in order to work her part-time jobs. Additionally, as an
emancipated adult, Sarah is responsible for getting herself to school and excusing herself from
school whether it be for illness or other issues.
With all of these factors being the case, Sarah has missed more school days that most
students miss in their entire high school career and is failing two of the elective classes she needs
to graduate. As March is beginning to come to an end, two of Sarahs teachers approach me, the
school counselor, to see what they can do to further assist Sarah and help her to pass her classes in
order to graduate on time.
Type of Consultation Used
During this consultation I used a client-centered approach and solution-focused theory.
While both teachers are the consultees, Sarah is the person who needs the most attention in this
situation, therefore the client-centered approach seemed to be most fitting. Additionally, solutionfocused theory was implemented during the consultation since time was not in Sarahs favor. With
only one week left of March and seniors last day of school being May 18th, I knew myself and the
rest of Sarahs support team needed to get right on intervention strategies to change her selfdestructive behaviors.

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

In order to help reduce Sarahs absences and improve her grades, myself, Sarahs teachers,
the high school principal, and our at-risk coordinator met on a few occasions to construct a multitiered system of support for her. This system of support included multiple levels in which all
school employees were seen as equals in working towards three goals, which included getting
Sarah to school, improving her grades, and helping Sarah to reach graduation. In the end, all
parties involved, including Sarah, agreed to play vital roles in assuring a successful outcome.

Assessment and Diagnosis

As stated above, all parties involved in Sarahs case played a different role in helping her to
be successful. As Sarahs school counselor I worked with her regarding a few things. Due to
Sarahs frequent absences from her classes, I decided not to pull her out of class unless there was a
dire need. With this being the case, I had to see if it was possible for Sarah to rearrange her work
schedule so that she could meet with me during her senior release hour, 8th period. Luckily, Sarah
was able to do this with ease, so during 8th period each day either myself or our at-risk coordinator
worked on various things, including her late homework assignments, praising her positive qualities
and improving the areas of her life that were lacking. For example, I pointed out to Sarah how
mature she is for her age, how she has already faced greater challenges than most of her peers, that
she already manages money well, and is determined to make a life for herself.
Regarding her areas of improvement, Sarah and I looked at fluctuations in her motivation,
time management and efficacy. Through talking with Sarah, I was able to determine that while she
was motivated to get to work and complete other tasks in her life, she was losing sight on how
important her education was and is to her future. These conversations led to great action steps in
which also brought up Sarahs time management and organization skills. Again, these are two
things that Sarah typically does better than her peers. However, as senioritis and the need for a

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

higher income became more important to Sarah, her organization began to slack, which also led to
time management issues. In continuing our conversations on these topics, Sarah and I determined
that these issues were part of Sarahs attendance problems. Lack of organization led to her work
schedule and school schedule/obligations overlapping. If Sarah wanted to keep her job at the time,
then she couldnt be a no-show at work.
According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief in his or her
capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments (1977, 1986,
1997). Therefore, in addition to working with Sarah on her school work, positive qualities and
areas of improvement, I decided to assess her self-efficacy, as it often reflects confidence in the
ability to exert control over one's own motivation, behavior, and social environment (American
Psychological Association, 2016). While Sarahs presenting problems included her spotty
attendance and low grades, the other issue at hand included the lack of options or opportunities
Sarah would face if she did not graduate from high school. In doing previous work with Sarah
throughout the school year, I knew that she had hopes of pursuing postsecondary education, so
assessing her self-efficacy seemed to be fitting.
In order to test Sarahs self-efficacy, I used an assessment tool developed by E.H.
McWhirter in 2000 and later reviewed by Melinda Gibbons in 2005 during one of our one-on-one
sessions. The assessment, My Perceptions of Barriers, contains a list of 45 barriers in which
students are asked to rate each barrier on how likely it will be a problem for them and how hard
each specific barrier will be for the student to deal with when entering into college or training
school. It is a cognitive self-evaluation that seeks to expose the goals for which people strive, the
amount of energy expended toward goal achievement, and likelihood of attaining particular levels
of behavioral performance (American Psychological Association, 2016).

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

Goals and Intervention Strategies

As a team, our overall goals for Sarah were mainly and solution focused. As her school
counselor, my main goals and action plan for Sarah was as follows:
1. Get Sarah to school and keep her in school as often as possible
2. Help Sarah improve her grades in order for her to graduate on time
3. Assist her in pursuing her postsecondary goals.
At this time, Sarahs low attendance record was beginning to draw attention from the state.
Therefore, getting Sarah to school and keeping her at school proved to be rather important.
Regardless, to accomplish these goals, I delegated roles to each team member in order to help
encourage Sarahs success.
Additionally, when beginning our action plan, I was responsible for tracking down her cell
phone number, as this was one of the only ways to communicate with her at the time. Once I
obtained Sarahs number, I resorted to calling her each morning she was absent from school to
figure out where she was and to see if she need a ride. This phone call served as one of my
intervention strategies. My other role as Sarahs school counselor was to monitor her classes and
to come up with worst-case scenario-type situations for if Sarahs grades didnt improve,
preventing her from graduating on time. This part of my role included collaboration with Sarahs
teachers and our at-risk coordinator to see what intervention strategies we could implement with
Sarah in order to avoid them.
On the days Sarah was present at school, I instructed her teachers to utilize a few different
intervention strategies. These strategies included continuously telling Sarah how happy they were
to see her in class, that they missed her whenever she was absent, and even to ask Sarah how she
was doing each time they saw her. Additionally, teachers were told to constantly ask Sarah if there
was anything they could help her with regarding catching up on her school work. Furthermore,
after some encouragement from myself and the at-risk coordinator, Sarahs teachers also graciously

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

extended assignment due dates for her and did not penalize any work she turned in simply for
being late. Moreover, both of Sarahs teachers also offered her a weekly schedule of class activities
and assignments so that if she did miss school, Sarah could do her best to stay caught up at home.
Nevertheless, even with all of these accommodations in place, Sarah still somewhat
struggled to get to school, stay at school, and to catch up on her missing work. With this being the
case, our at-risk coordinator stepped in to help Sarah with her organization and time-management
skills, which included finding a way to make Sarahs work and school responsibilities mesh well
together. The coordinator also tirelessly worked along side myself and Sarahs teachers to ensure
that everyone was on the same page, including the school principal. Overall, our solution focused
goals for Sarah were simple, but imperative to her success. Sarah simply needed help refocusing
on how important her schooling was to her current situation and future.

Outcomes
When thinking of our goals in terms of the outcomes, I wanted to make sure we had
specific ways to measure them. Measuring our first goal, Sarahs school attendance, was easier to
measure than the others. We simply looked at whether or not Sarah was at school, what class
period she was present for, and so on. Since this goal has a very cut and dry answer, I didnt find it
hard to monitor our progress on.
Secondly, we wanted to help Sarah improve her grades. Like her attendance, this goal is a
little easier to measure since all students have running grades. However, this goal and its related
outcome required much more collaboration with other staff members. As stated previously, Sarahs
teachers needed a little more encouragement than usual to be gracious with her assignments and
grades. Therefore, at first the outcomes of the second goal depended widely on them. Once I got
Sarahs teachers on board though, I measured her outcomes based off of how quickly or slowly she

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

was accomplishing her missing work, how often she was staying after school to complete work,
how often she was speaking with her teachers to discuss her progress, and so on.
My final goal included helping Sarah to realize and pursue her postsecondary goals. Unlike
the first two, this goal was less black and white in terms of measurability. To get a start on this
goal, I met with Sarah and simply had a discussion regarding what she wanted her future to look
like. I asked her to tell me the perfect outcome to her life and future and then explored with her the
options of how we would get there. To measure our progress I also worked with Sarah using a
program called ACT Profile, as well as on life skills like making a resume, writing a cover letter,
interview questions, and so on. These things are more physical, so measuring whether they were
accomplished somewhat consisted of checking them off a list. Regardless, I asked myself a lot of
questions in order to see how Sarah and I were doing as a team.
In the end, after putting in place as many intervention strategies as we could think of, my
team members and I were happy to see Sarah caught up with her schooling within two weeks. As
her attendance began to increase, so did her failing grades. The at-risk coordinator, school
principal, and myself became somewhat less concerned with Sarah not graduating on time, which
freed us all up to help her with other aspects of her life, including her postsecondary goals.
However, throughout the remainder of her high school career, Sarahs attendance was still a
constant issue. While all school officials understood Sarahs responsibilities outside of school, we
still wanted her to be with us as much as possible. With the help and generosity of her teachers,
Sarah was able to graduate from high school on time and continued on her journey of bettering
herself. This would not have been made possible without the help from all parties involved,
especially Sarahs teacher and our at-risk coordinator.
Resources for Consultees

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

As discussed earlier, this specific consultation was more client-centered than consulteecentered. Therefore the resources that were supplied to the consultees, Sarahs teachers, were
minimal. Most of the time I supplied her teachers with ways in which to interact with Sarah that
would encourage her to be at school. I believe these intervention strategies worked, as Sarah felt
as though her teachers were more personally invested in her success. Regardless, I found the below
citations helpful when researching how to assess Sarahs self-efficacy and what to do once she
completed the assessment surveys.

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological

Review, 84(2), 191-215.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman.
McWhirter, E. H. (2000). Perception of Educational Barriers Scale. Lincoln, NB: Author.

Evaluation
When evaluating the effectiveness of this consultation, I did a few things. Firstly, I knew
one of the easiest ways to evaluate our actions was through determining whether or not our team
goals for Sarah and Sarahs individual goals were met. If any goals were left unmet or attended to,
then, as a team, we knew the evaluation of our consultation would be low. For example, questions
such as the following could be asked as outcome measures in order to evaluate the effectiveness of
the consultation.
Did Sarahs school attendance improve
Did Sarahs grades improve in the targeted electives? Additionally, did any of
Sarahs other grades improve?

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

Did Sarahs organization and time management improve as a result of the

consultation and teamwork?

Additionally, I had my consultees, Sarahs teachers, and other school officials involved, fill
out a quick survey regarding their opinions of whether or not the consultation was successful, what
parts of the consultation went well, which parts didnt go well, and what can or should be changed
for the next similar situation. Since Sara is not the only student that will struggle with graduating
from high school. As a school counselor, I am bound to have more similar situations arise with
students. With this being the case, I wanted to make sure all parties involved in this consultation
had an opportunity to provide feedback.
Finally, another way I chose to evaluate Sarahs consultation was through a simple
conversation with her. While Sarah didnt ask to be the center of a consultation issue, her behavior
put her there. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that in preparation for terminating Sarah she also
had the opportunity to express her thoughts and feelings regarding the situation. This conversation
also allowed me to help Sarah figure out what the next steps were for herself after graduation.
Termination and Follow-up
With this consultation taking place in a school and the core subject being a high school
senior, termination was somewhat natural. All of our consultation goals for Sarah centered around
helping her to graduate from high school in May. With this being the case, termination went pretty
smoothly and quickly. As soon as Sarahs teachers became comfortable with her efforts in their
classrooms and Sarahs goals for the rest of the school year, just a matter of weeks, they backed off
her a bit. This allowed the at-risk coordinator and myself to continue working with Sarah towards
her other goals. Each meeting served as a check-in and follow up on Sarahs progress, with the

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

10

eventual termination on her final day at school. Since seniors leave the school year early, I was
able to follow up with Sarah again at her graduation ceremony. We touched base regarding what
she had been up to, but also about what her future held. Despite Sarahs final termination being her
graduation ceremony, I made it clear to Sarah that I am only a phone call or email away and that
she can always contact me, no matter what the issue or conversation entails. Before leaving Sarah
that day I also told her that I would reach out to her at the end of the summer to see how she was
doing.
Contract
Since this consultation takes place in a school and concerns a non-legal issue, I do not
believe an actual consultation contract is necessary for the consultation. However, a sample
consultation contract fom can be found below that could be used in this setting or a similar one.

Consulting Contract
This Consulting Contract is being entered into by __________________, ___________________,
and Emily James (Professional School Counselor) on the day of ___________________ during
the 2015-2016 school year.
1. Work to be Performed: ________________ and _______________will meet with Ms. James
every Monday at 7:15am, in order to collaborate/consult regarding student concerns and needed
services
Named Student to be consulted on: ____________________
If a need to cancel is presented, the Consultee and the Consultant must find an agreed upon time to
meet before the following Wednesday after the missed consultation meeting.
Agreed upon by Consultee:____________________________
Agreed upon by Consultant:___________________________

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

11

2. Compensation: As the counseling relationship between Ms. James and consultee(s)

____________________ is based in the school setting, there is no compensation being exchanged
between the two parties directly.

3. Confidentiality
Student confidentiality must remain the highest priority during this consultation and at all times.
Both the client/consultee are only permitted to speak out confidential student information in the
presence of other professional whom abide by the same confidentiality standards.
By signing below, all parties agree to the terms of this contract.
_________________________________________ ________________
Client/Consultee Signature
Date
_________________________________________ ________________
Client/Consultee Signature
Date
_________________________________________ ________________
Consultant (Ms. James) Signature
Date

CLIENT-CENTERED CONSULTATION

12

References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
Review, 84(2), 191-215.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman.
McWhirter, E. H. (2000). Perception of Educational Barriers Scale. Lincoln, NB: Author.