Consultation is an important aspect of providing psychological help. It involves two psychologists, one who plays the role of a consultant and the other who plays the role of a client. In a way, consulting is like counseling. Goals are set, solutions are tested and evaluated, and eventually the relationship ends.
However, there is a clear difference. While counseling involves helping a client to solve their own problem or to progress in their own psychological nature, counseling occurs when a psychologist helps another psychologist to successfully treat their clients. Both psychologists focus on the client of the consulting psychologist. It is important to note that the consultant does not assume the role of consultant.
They do not deal directly with the client of their consultation unless it is an important part of a treatment solution. Their relationship with the subject of treatment is more remote. A common situation that requires consultation is the observation of a possible ethical dilemma involving clients, colleagues or students. You can easily find several professional consulting degrees related to companies or businesses available in any telephone directory or on the Better Business Bureau list.
Subsequently, the consultant interprets and describes the results for the respondent in an effort to help resolve potential problems or identify structural problems, concerns, or conflicts. In more formal environments, such as companies, consultations usually take place in the context of a contractual relationship between the consultant, who has some experience in a specific area, and the consultant, who has identified a need or a potential need, but does not have the necessary knowledge or skills to address the issue. This mode of consultation is the essence of the scientific-professional model of counseling psychology. As with therapy, the phases of evaluation, conceptualization, and solution development usually take place as the consultant continues to build the consulting relationship.
Initially, the consultation was conducted on an individual basis between individual consultants and medical professionals. From the 1930s to the 1950s, mental health consulting began to partner with institutions that had designated consultants. Nowadays, consultation is considered a situation in which a person with generalized knowledge seeks advice and assistance from someone with specialized knowledge. Since Caplan's work, consultation has expanded to include school counseling and education, group and process promotion and consultation.
This collection provided a summary of training needs and proposed practical definitions of consultation, as well as competition rules. A common form of consultation is the informal or formal exchange of information that occurs in the professional lives of counselors as they move towards the improvement of their own clinical techniques, the acquisition of experience in a certain branch of study, or the improvement of a design, method or approach. Once a working relationship has been established, clearly defining the problem, concern or issue in question becomes fundamental to the success of the consultation process. At the beginning of the 20th century, mental health consulting began to be associated with institutions that had designated consultants.
Perhaps one way to ensure competent consulting in today's mental health professions is to better quantify and define the basic concepts of competency-based training, courses and field experiences.
