I have read and heard that the need for counseling and/or life coaching among people with acquired neurogenic communication disorders far exceeds the qualifications or training of many practicing SLPs. I am seeking any studies providing evidence of this, and also any that include a call to action to address this.
This one does! I had a fabulous course (along with our audiology classmates) in counselling taught by David Luterrman as part of my graduate program at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) and although I am currently working with paeds only now, I had worked about 12 years with a mixed caseload including adults with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. Counselling is needed for both populations! In Canada, the hours required for certification do not require counseling...which is unfortunate...It does appear to be a weakness in students I have supervised in recent years. I would be most interested in what you find...
Thanks, Rhonda. Counseling courses do not tend to be required globally for SLPs. It is more common for counseling modules or readings to be assigned in disorder-specific courses. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence that just taking a course actually leads one to be a better counselor.
When you said "this one" were you referring to a study or to your own experience? Do you know of any literature addressing such under-preparation?
Thanks! Anyway, really glad you had a good experience and had Dr. Luterman as your mentor!
Hi Brooke, I am a post graduate student at La Trobe University, Australia, and will be studying this area over the next few years. I am also a clinician with experience in adult rehabilitation. Please find attached a recent publication that found currently Australian speech -language pathologists largely feel underskilled and uncomfortable with counselling people with post stroke aphasia. However they describe to use a range of counselling approaches in their therapy in this group. Your questions of what counselling training is available to speech pathologists and what (training) does make for effective counselling in adult neurogenic clients (I my case people with post stroke aphasia) are questions I have begun to investigate.
I have read Dr Luterman's work and he sounds an inspiring gentleman!
I hope this helps?
Regards
Jas
Thank you so much, Jas! This is terrific and I had missed it in my search. I'll be citing this in my upcoming book for sure. Great work. I think we all know the basic finding to be true. I am glad to see your evidence to support it. Keep up the good work! Thanks again.
No worries Brooke! Please do let me know when your book is out too or send us a link via research gate when available. Thanks for your positive feedback :) Best wishes. Jas
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