Disability-Affirmative Therapy (D-AT) helps clinicians put the disability of a client into proper focus, without making one of the usual mistakes associated with cross-cultural therapy: overinflating the role of the disability, or underestimating its profound effects. D-AT provides a template for evaluation - nine areas to be discussed with the client - that allows understanding of the client's lifetime experiences with disability.

This comprehensive volume provides the knowledge and skills that mental health professionals need for more effective, informed work with clients with disabilities. Combining her extensive knowledge as a clinician, researcher, and teacher with her personal experience as someone with a disability, Olkin provides an insider's perspective on critical issues that are often overlooked in training. A lucid conceptual framework is presented for understanding disability as a minority experience, one that is structured by social, legal, and attitudinal constraints as well as physical challenges. Illuminating frequently encountered psychosocial themes and concerns, chapters describe a range of approaches to dealing with disability issues in the treatment of adults, children, and families. Topics addressed include etiquette with clients with disabilities; special concerns in assessment, evaluation, and diagnosis; the impact of disability on sexuality and romance, as well as pregnancy, birthing, and parenting; the use of assistive technology and devices; disability and substance abuse; and more. Filled with clinical examples and observations, the volume also discusses strategies for enhancing teaching, training, and research.

This award-winning, bestselling reference for professional counselors and graduate students is extensively updated and expanded to encompass critical developments that are immediately relevant to the counseling professions, including the 2014 American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, CACREP/CORE accreditation standards, DSM-5, the Affordable Care Act, and many other important changes. It reflects the ongoing consolidation of a strong identity for professional counselors and the need to address mental health and other counseling concerns amidst marked socio-cultural changes. The only resource of its kind, it is an extremely useful guide for counseling students working toward licensure and certification as well as experienced counselors, counselor educators, clinical supervisors, psychologists, and social workers. The second edition offers a unique interdisciplinary approach inclusive across all counseling disciplines and features contributions from over 110 highly regarded experts in counselor education, research, and practice. It is based on the core content and knowledge areas outlined by CACREP and CORE accreditation standards and disseminates, in 93 chapters, both contemporary insight and practical strategies for working with the complexity of real-life issues related to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse clients. New chapters address military and veteran health issues; evidence-based practice for training; counseling transgender individuals, partners, and families; counseling caregivers;; social justice; and so much more. In addition to being a quick-access resource for all counseling professionals, the second edition serves as a concise, accessible reference for graduate students preparing for certification and licensure exams. It features an expanded, comprehensive self-exam of over 340 multiple-choice items based on the CORE/CACREP core content and knowledge areas for counselor education and training. New to the Second Edition: Updated and expanded discussion of the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics Affordable Care Act and its impact on delivery of mental health services Coverage of DSM-5 Promotes an interdisciplinary approach inclusive across all counseling disciplines Includes an expanded self-exam with over 340 study questions for NCE and CPCE prep New chapters on military and veteran mental health issues New chapter on evidence-based practices for counseling New chapter on behavioral health and health disparities in the U.S. New chapter on social justice and health equity issues New chapter on counseling caregivers New chapter on counseling children with psychiatric conditions New chapter on counseling for wellness New chapter on counseling survivors of natural disasters New information on complementary, alternative, and integrative approaches New information on counseling LGBTQ couples, partners and families Key Features: Covers all key foundational content for CACREP/CORE-accredited programs within one volume Provides quick access to a vast compendium of counseling information Edited and authored by leading counseling scholars, educators, and practitioners Relevant across all counseling specialties Updated to reflect 2014 ACA Code of Ethics, Affordable Care Act, DSM-5, and revisions to licensure requirements in many states

All the answers straight clinicians need to work effectively with gay and lesbian clients. It has been over three decades since the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality as a category of deviant behavior from the DSM. Same-sex marriage is recognized in certain states, gay-straight alliances are springing up in high schools across the country, and major religious denominations are embracing gay clergy. Yet despite the sea change of attitudes toward homosexuality, many well-meaning straight therapists are still at a loss as to how to effectively counsel their gay and lesbian clients. This book will offer straight therapists the tools they need to counsel gay and lesbian clients effectively.

The impetus for this volume is the growing awareness within the mental health and larger community of a culturally affirmative model for understanding and assisting deaf people. In contrast to the "medical-pathological" model which treats deafness as a disability, the "cultural" model guides us to view deaf persons in relation to the deaf community--a group of people with a common language, culture, and collective identity. A primary tenant of culturally affirmative psychotherapy is to understand and respect such differences, not to eradicate them. The contributors to this volume present a practical and realistic model of providing culturally affirmative counseling and psychotherapy for deaf people. The three dimensions of this model have been delineated by the multicultural counseling literature. These dimensions assert that culturally affirmative psychotherapy with deaf persons requires therapist self-awareness, knowledge of the deaf community/culture, and understanding of culturally-syntonic therapeutic interventions. The first to exhaustively delineate the implications of the cultural model of deafness for counseling deaf people, this book is essential reading for anyone who works in an educational or counseling capacity with the deaf. This audience includes not only psychotherapists, but also vocational, guidance and residence counselors, teachers, independent living skills specialists, interpreters, and administrators of programs for the deaf.

This book takes a nonpathological approach to disability, viewing it as part of diversity rather than as deficit. The opening chapters introduce basic knowledge of teaching in disability communities, covering attitudes and behaviors that may be difficult for instructors to relate to. Next, the book delves into the three activities sections that increase in difficulty over the course of the book. The activities highlight barriers and psychosocial impediments that hamper progress in disability communities. Designed by an expert educator and clinician who is also an insider in the disability community, each of the 34 activities translate well in classroom environments or as homework, and each can be done individually or in group settings. All activities include a list of required materials, time expectation, goal setting criteria, possible outcomes, and talking and debriefing points for reflection, thereby facilitating effective planning and execution. The activities also recommend possible modifications to adjust the difficulty of the activities. This flexibility makes this a valuable resource for a wider audience of expertise and settings, ranging from introductory to sophisticated readers and users, students and non-students, in classrooms, in workshops, or in other surroundings. Lastly, the book concludes with a chapter on accessing outcomes, with six measures for evaluating knowledge and skill. Teaching Disability is a well-rounded, highly applicable tool for instructors and students in the disability community.

Clinicians outside of rehabilitation psychology do not receive training on how to work with clients with disabilities. Nonetheless, given that people with disabilities comprise over 15% of the population, virtually all clinicians will have clients with disabilities in their practice. Without education or training in disability, clinicians are prone to make errors in estimating the role of disability in the presenting problems and the case formulation. Disability-Affirmative Therapy (D-AT) helps clinicians put the disability of a client into proper focus, without making one of the usual mistakes associated with cross-cultural therapy: overinflating the role of the disability, or underestimating its profound effects. D-AT provides a template for evaluation - nine areas to be discussed with the client - that allows understanding of the client's lifetime experiences with disability. The template is not a theory of therapy, but an overlay onto the therapist's own approach, thus having broad appeal and utility. D-AT is a positive and affirming approach to therapy with clients with disabilities, regardless of the theory of therapy used. The book contains many vignettes to illustrate key points and an extended case example to which the D-AT template is applied. Grounded in social and clinical psychology research, this book will be an important and unique guide to all clinicians working with clients with disabilities and their families.