Part I: Consultation and Consultants, Collaboration and Collaborators

1. Part I:Consultation and Consultants,Collaboration and Collaborators

2. Chapter I: The Foundations of Consultation and Collaboration

3. The Promise of Consultation and Collaboration • A cornerstone activity for members of the helping professions • Attempt to alleviate current problems while preventing the their future occurrence • Attempts to promote the psychological well being of society though indirect methods • Often viewed as an alternative to direct methods such as one-on-one and group counseling/psychotherapy

4. Consultation Defined • A process in which a human services professional assists a consultee with a work-related (or caretaking-related) problem with a client system, with the goal of helping both the consultee and the client system in some specific way

5. Consultation Defined cont’d • Consultation deals exclusively with consultee’s work-related or caregiving-related problems • Consultant and consultee work together in solving the problems defined by consultation

6. Characteristics of Consultation • Voluntary for all parties • Relationship of peers • Collaborative • Temporary • Remedial or developmental • Role of human service professional • Problem-solving process • Triadic in nature • Helping relationship • Internal or external

7. Consultative Relationship • Relationship between the consultee and consultant is one of peers, of two equals • Though the two roles are equal in terms of power, it is the consultee who has the greatest need within the consultative relationship

8. Consultation and Consultants • Who are consultants? • Who are consultees? • Who is the client system?

9. Consultants and Consultees • Priority can be given to either consultee or client system depending on the approach used by the consultant • Consultant provides indirect service to the client system by providing direct service to the consultee

10. Rights of Consultation Participants • Participation in consultation is voluntary for all parties involved • Consultees free to do whatever they wish with consultant’s suggestions and recommendations

11. Length of Consultation • Though consultation relationship is temporary, the length of consultation may range from a single session to weekly sessions for more than a year

12. Triad of Consultation Consultee Consultant Client System Figure 1.2 The triadic relationship in consultation

13. Collaboration Defined • Collaboration is very similar to consultation in that it follows the same problem-solving process • Collaboration involves the interactive exchange of resources, interdependence, and a focus on decision making

14. Collaboration cont’d • Collaboration is a service in which the helper accepts responsibility for the mental health aspects of a case.

15. The Relationships of the Parties in Collaboration Collaborator # 1 Collaborator # 2 Client System Figure 1.3 The Relationships of the Parties in Collaboration

16. A Distinguishing Difference Between Consultation and Collaboration • In consultation, the consultee retains responsibility for the outcome, is considered to be the determiner of the suitability of possible interventions, and is responsible for adequate implementation of the intervention (i.e., ensuring treatment integrity) • (Zins & Erchul, 1995)

17. Multicultural Limitations of Consultation and Collaboration • Developed from Eurocentric models • Limitations make person-in-environment perspective important • Cultural competence in service delivery essential • Some multicultural models available (e. g., Ingraham)

18. Multicultural Consultation • Consultant, in a culturally sensitive manner, adjusts services to accommodate and value cultural differences • Through employing multicultural framework, consultants are in better position to provide services with multicultural competence

19. Multicultural Framework • consultant knowledge, skills and dispositions related to cultural competence in consultation • understanding consultee needs for development in knowledge, skill, confidence and objectivity • cultural variations in the parties involved in consultation (e. g., consultant-consultee similarity) • contextual influence (e. g., organizational culture) and power influences (difference in power among parties in the consultation relationship) • methods for supporting consultee success in multicultural situations

20. Levels of Prevention • Preventive vs. remedial perspectives • Primary prevention • Secondary prevention • Tertiary prevention • Universal • Selected • Indicated

21. Historical Overview • Prototypic roles: healer and technological adviser • Started in modern times as a clinical expert role • Currently, focus is on facilitation of consultee’s professional development in current and future situations

22. Compared to Other Human Service Activities • Counseling and psychotherapy • Supervision • Mediation

23. Chapter II: Consultants, Consultees, and Collaborators

24. Skill Areas for Consultants and Collaborators • Interpersonal skills • Communication skills • Problem-solving skills • Skills in working with organizations

25. Skill Areas for Consultants and Collaborators cont’d • Skills in dealing with cultural diversity • Group skills • Ethical and professional behavior skills

26. Roles of the Consultant The consultant can take on a variety of roles depending on several factors: • Nature of the problem • Purpose and desired outcomes of consultation • Skills of the consultant • Skills of the consultee

27. Common Consultation and Collaboration Roles Directive * Advocacy Expert Trainer/Educator Collaborator Fact Finder Process Specialist * Non-directive

28. Emergence of Advocacy • The use of advocacy has received increasing attention • There has also been an increase in the use of the advocacy role in consultation

29. Roles cont’d • Expert role is NOT opposite of collaborative role • The collaborative role in consultation is not the same as the service of collaboration • It is useful to think of the collaborative role being implemented on a continuum from nondirective to directive

30. Internal/External Consultants • Consultant can either be separate from (external) or part of (internal) system in which consultation is to occur • There are both advantages and disadvantages to being internal or external

31. Orientation to Models of Consultation • Mental health • Behavioral • Organizational

32. Consultee as a Variable • Consultee variables include: • knowledge • skills • attitudes • personal characteristics

33. Consultation research suggests that consultation has efficacy even though consultation practice has outpaced its body of research. Research in Consultation and Collaboration

34. Research cont’d • The research on collaboration is very limited • Increase in the use of qualitative and mixed methods • Behavioral research most heavily researched • School-based also heavily researched

35. Chapter III: The Generic Model of Consultation and Collaboration

36. Stage I: Entry • Phase One: Exploring organizational needs • Phase Two: Contracting • Phase Three: Physically entering the system • Phase Four: Psychologically entering the system

37. Stage II: Diagnosis • Phase One: Gathering information • Phase Two: Defining the problem • Phase Three: Setting goals • Phase Four: Generating possible interventions

38. Stage III: Implementation • Phase One: Choosing an intervention • Phase Two: Formulating a plan • Phase Three: Implementing the plan • Phase Four: Evaluating the plan

39. Stage IV: Disengagement • Phase One: Evaluating the process of consultation • Phase Two: Planning post-consultation matters • Phase Three: Reducing involvement and following-up • Phase Four: Terminating

40. Putting the Generic Model into Practice • Equal attention should be paid to what you are doing and to how you are doing those things • Very important to get supervised practice in consultation • Implement in a collaborative manner whenever possible

41. Multicultural Competence Using the Generic Model • It is key to effective implementation that the generic model be adapted with cultural competence in order to be relevant to the needs of consultees and their clients systems • Designed to take consultees where they are and can be adapted to their style of problem management and cultural context

42. Consultee Readiness for Change • Stages can assist consultants to assess consultee’s stage of change and increase likelihood of a successful consultation experience • Success of generic model is tied to consultee readiness for change

43. Resistance to Consultation • Resistance: The failure of a consultee or organization to participate constructively in the consultation process • Reluctance: The hesitancy of the consultee to engage in consultation

44. Types of Resistance • Systems-level • When unhealthy is due to lack of insight regarding the need to change • Consultee • There are a variety of sources of resistance (e. g., a consultee’s misconception concerning the nature of consultation)

45. Dealing Effectively with Resistance • There are several things consultants can do to minimize resistance: • Create strong relationship to build trust and alleviate fear • Demonstrate cultural competence and sensitivity • Collaborate whenever possible • Create conditions so that a consultation has a satisfying outcome and is worth the effort

46. Personalizing the Generic Model • As consultant or collaborator, you are your best intervention • Who you are as a person can affect the outcome of consultation or collaboration as much as what you do when you engage in these services

47. Chapter IV: Entry Stage

48. Stage I: Entry • Phase One: Exploring organizational needs • Phase Two: Contracting • Phase Three: Physically entering the system • Phase Four: Psychologically entering the system

49. Phase One: Exploring Organizational Needs • To consult or not to consult: • Why am I here? • Who are you? • What is likely to happen? • What will be the result? • What can go wrong?

50. Phase Two: Contracting Reason for contracting: • To clearly define expectations of both consultant and consultee Elements of a contract: • Goals • Time frame • Responsibility of consultant and agency • Boundaries • Review and evaluation