Counseling Comps Exam Review

• The Comps exam is an all-day event running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a lunch break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
• It consists of three questions in total: one in the morning session and two in the afternoon.
• Citing is required during the exam.
• Notes are not allowed during the exam.

Format

• The exam includes a case study, selection from two scenarios to answer
• Involves the Role of the SC in addressing critical issues, select one from two scenarios
• Consists of a Program Evaluation, answering one scenario

Recommended Topics to Review/Study

• Program evaluation
• Role of School Counselor and ASCA National Model
• Critical Issues (covered in COUN 695C)
• Case Conceptualization
• Counseling Theory
• Multicultural Identity Theory/Racial Identity Theory (know at least 1 theory)
• Human Development Theory (know at least one theory)
• Legal/ethical decision making
• Individual vs. System Barriers

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• Primary concept is that people control their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• These three components are interconnected and influence each other.
• It focuses on learning and reinforcement, where changes in behavior occur as people replace problematic behaviors with more appropriate ones.
• Challenging unhealthy thoughts and replacing them with realistic, healthy ones is a key aspect.
• It is understood that feelings, thoughts, and behaviors all influence one another and are affected by the individual's core beliefs.
• Counselor and student work together to solve problems, with the counselor not positioned as the sole expert.
• An event is viewed along with thoughts, attitudes and personality to recognize student interpretation with emotional and behavioral response.
• The goals include helping students become aware of distorted cognition and identifying how these distortions relate to negative feelings and behaviors.
• This includes modifying distorted thinking and maladaptive behavior with strategies.
• Techniques include the ABCDE Strategy, where A is the Activating event, B is how the student evaluates the event, C consists of the Consequences/feelings, D is Disputing arguments, and E represents answers to questions regarding rationality.
• Setting an agenda, reviewing homework assignments, goal setting with new skills and practice, feedback, homework are steps in the generalization- teach skills to transfer to other situations.
• Socratic questioning is used to identify incomplete or inaccurate ideas, and problem-solving techniques are utilized.
• Cognitive restructuring is employed to reduce, replace, and modify cognitive distortion, often using a 3-column worksheet and corresponding feelings.
• Self-monitoring involves students keeping logs of events, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, including situational variables and adaptive responses.
• Self-regulation involves students comparing their use of maladaptive behaviors with their use of adaptive thoughts and behaviors.
• Affective education and mindfulness involving role playing and modeling exercise are utilized.
• Relaxation training is used to reduce internal stress, incorporating deep breathing, positive self-talk, and muscle relaxation procedures.
• Modeling as well as exposure therapy or imagery are used on students who have developed a fear, although are rated using SUDS before doing so.

Solution Focused Brief Therapy

• The focus is on the future rather than the past, emphasizing what is possible rather than the problem.
• Behavior change is needed to assist the student with the goal to be accomplished that they want to choose.
• The main goal is to effectively resolve problems and move forward quickly
• There is rapid working alliance between the SC and the student
• The approach leverages students' strengths, competencies, and adaptive capacities, while highlighting that change is possible.
• This includes clear specifications of achievable counseling goals
• The average length is three to eight sessions, though one session is most common.
• Optimism and building on students’ hope and creating positive expectations that change is possible are important.
• Focus remains on what is working vs what is not
• Key assumptions are that people can change quickly, and they can resolve issues.
• Optimistic conversations involving the counselor adopting the not-knowing position are helpful, and students are considered the experts.
• Forming well-formed goals as soon as possible is important
• Exception questions are used to remind students that problems are not permanent and can encourage them to discuss strengths.
• Miracle questions are used as a technique by visualizing solutions
• A question example is “Suppose you go to sleep tonight and while you are sleeping a miracle happens without you knowing about it. When you awaken the problem that brought you here has been solved.”
• Scaling questions allow students to discuss changes in their feelings and reflect on their progress.
• Mind mapping and cheerleading - show progress/ acknowledge smallest of accomplishments

Feedback

• Genuine compliments are helpful
• Suggested tasks or “homework"
• Observation
• Self-monitoring

Positive Goal Setting

• “What is your goal in coming for counseling?" and, "What would need to happen for you to consider your counseling sessions with me a success?" are important questions.
• “What would you be doing that would indicate you are behaving better?" is an important question.

Human Development Theory- Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model

– How society and culture contribute the psychological development of a child

• Human development happens or occurs through interactions between the human organism and the persons, objects and symbols in its environment which must happen regularly and over time. Ο Proximal processes- forming interactions with the immediate environment Ex: parent-child, child-child activities, groups or solo play, reading learning new skills, studying, athletic activities and preforming complex tasks
• Proposition 2 states that the form, power, content and direction of how the person interacts is affected by the environment- immediate and distal, characteristics of the person, and the nature of the developmental outcomes under consideration
• The example of mother-infant interaction between low birth weight and normal and SES is important to see the rate of behavioral problems, more for poor care vs good care based on characteristics- weight a. Proximal process- mom care b. Power- Social class differences

Goal

• The ecological environment I conceived as a set of nested structure, starting from the inner one to all the way to the outer Russian dolls, onion The levels are the following:
  • Microsystems:
• The immediate environment- family, school,peer groups, workplace
  • Mesosystems
• The link between two or more settings -Ex: school and home
• A system if microsystems

Exosystems

• External environments that indirectly affect the individual, like a parent's workplace or social services
• 3 main exosystems : -Parents workplace -Family social networks Neighborhood-community contexts Macrosystems:The broader cultural, societal, and economic context, including laws, values, and customs.
• Societal blueprint Chronosystems : The element of time, reflecting how transitions and historical events impact development. It has an influence over his development

Multi-Cultural Theory- Intersectionality

• Personality is the composite of how one thinks, feels and behaves, as a manifestation of one's identity
• Individuals culture is the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience,beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, roles, customs and traditions over their lifespan
• Cultural identity: refers to an individuals's sense of belonging to a specific group and the part of one's personality that is attributable to membership in a group.
• It is the influence of culture on the individual as well as the person's sense of connection to cultural realities
• Composed of a number of sociocultural factors
• Intersectionality refers to the convergence and interactions of the multiple dimensions that make up cultural identity
• Ex gender and how there are other variables with additional dimensions such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status
• In counseling this means understanding how your student makes meaning from the perspective of multiple identities
• A framework for assessing the multiple dimensions of client identity and how they interact to shape personality
• Clients' realities are composed of multiple identities
• The degree in which client's multiple identities overlap and subsequently interact
• Ac clients;s personality cannot be explained by a single dimension of identity
• Identity needs to be considered from a multifaceted perspective
• Important to understanding the individuals overall reality
• WE with each identity or collectively

Program Evaluation

• is a broad term used to represent activities, small interventions, class based projects, school-wide programs, district or state initiatives

Steps

1. Program Description
2. Logic Model
3. Evaluation Questions
4. Evaluation Design
5. Data analysis and Interpretation
6. Reporting

Program Description

• This is your first APA heading and serves as the foundation.
• It describes the essence of the program: the purpose, how it is implemented, and the key components, while being the foundation for evaluation and explaining critical elements

Logic Model

• has a visual representation
• Details program strategies and activities to the stated goals.

Core components

• Inputs: what is needed to ensure the program operates
  • Staff, time, funds, materials, curriculum, partnership
• Activities: what we do-together they make up program design -Small groups, class lessons, school-wide programs, parent engagement activities, team meetings
• Outputs: descriptive indicators of what the specific activities generate
  • Number of students/parents participating in activity
• Outcomes: changes in awareness, knowledge, and skills or behaviors Learning (short-term) Action (medium-term) Impact (long-term) Increase college and career readiness, increase social skills, decrease ODR, improved schoolclimate
• **add this to notes, MUST be memorize ***
• Assumptions: why the program should work
• External Factors: what is going outside of the school that is impacting the program.
• All the stuff going outside of the school building impacting kids directly and indirectly Student culture, economics, housing, health, environmental issues, political environment,media, policies
• Evaluation Questions

Provide direction, focus, and foundation for evaluation

• The description of the developing evaluation questions is the third step in progress

Be ready to develop 1-3 questions Example: what interventions are most effective, how are outcome, what is the impact of attendance in interventions for 9th-grade students Guided through program description and logic model

Evaluation Design

• Aligned with evaluation questions Appropriate for the context of the program and values of the stakeholders Describes process for how you will collect data to answer evaluation questions

Descriptive Case Study Design

• Focuses on a case (programs, a classroom, a group of students, one students)
• Multiple measures - quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (what people say; e.g., surveys, office referrals, interviews, attendance data can all be used)
• The data in-depth description and understanding. The design is practical that allows for freedom
• Rates data, quotes for students, interviews, impact statements and why it is necessary to focus on one case allowing for the use of multiple measures ex. ODR, student voice

Data Analysis & Interpretation

• Requires you know what data you will collect and how you will analyze it, or interpret the information

Reporting

• Inform appropriate audience and engage in meaningful dialogue by reporting results and improvements for the following years

MTSS Framework

• MTSS is a framework for effectively and efficiently organizing and delivering academic, social, emotional, and behavioral resources and support

ASCA National Model

Across all Tiers, School Counselors: ###DEFINE MTSS and SC program:

• Grounded in Mindsets & Behaviors and professional standards ###MANAGE MTSS and SC program: -Belief, vision, mission, goals ###Program planning tools -Data and action plans ###DELIVER prevention and intervention activities that are: ###Assess MTSS and SC programs: -Program/SC assessment & appraisal ###Incorporate ASCA THEMES:
• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Advocacy
• Systemic Change ###ASCA National Model
• The students' knowledge will determine the program specifics to prioritize building and implementation; using ethical standards, mindsets and behaviors to guide the program in a data driven format.
• The counselor establish goals, setting clear and measureable goals aligned with students in the comprehensive curriculum for academic skills that delivers to students across all grade levels. ###Delivery
• Includes direct (80%) and indirect services depending on student needs (20%)
• Every service as counselors requires collaboration with admin, parents, school psychologist, community partners, and other school personnel and aligning with the overall mission of the school that takes the efforts of all school personnel to build a culture in the school that supports this. The school counseling program aligns with the mission of the school ###Manage Advocacy
• It provides a comprehensive school counseling program that centers on organizing and structuring to ensure effectiveness and alignment with student needs and school goals with a focus on beliefs, visions and statements. ###Assess Systemic Change
• The purpose of assessment: is to inform potential improvements to scho counseling program design and delivery and to show how students are different as a result of the school counseling program (ASCA, 2019) by using the ASCA component of assess, this helps to measure progress and effectiveness of school counseling program. ###Individual vs System Barrier
• It understands how each impacts the students including personal characteristics, self-perceptions, or behaviors experienced differently by individuals ###Situational (external):
• Refers to aspects of students' circumstances of the inability to control or predict circumstances that they might have.
• It addresses issues like the role of school counseling in bullying, leadership in counseling with bullying, mention the four teams- leadership, advocacy, collaboration and systemic change*