Encyclopedia of Human Services

Master Review and Tutorial for the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner Examination (HS-BCPE)

Howard Rosenthal

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136271366
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology

Dr. Howard Rosenthal, author of the best-selling counseling exam book of all time, the Encyclopedia of Counseling, has now created the Encyclopedia of Human Services: Master Review and Tutorial for the Human Services-Board Certified Examination (HS-BCPE). Helpers can read this book to snare the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP) credential to take their career to the next level! Dr. Rosenthal's unique, reader-friendly style actually makes exam prep enjoyable! Reads like a novel, but imparts information like a graduate text. Who else wants to say, "I passed!"?

Chapter 1
Who Else Wants to Say, “I Passed!”?

As I stepped out of the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri, on April 8, 2011, into the scorching hot 95 degree afternoon sun, I couldn’t help feeling terrific. It was truly one of those magical moment days to remember. Perhaps 90 percent of the folks at the American Counseling Association of Missouri (ACAM) Annual Conference, where I had just given a presentation, seemed to know me. Never mind the fact that I only recognized a handful of their faces, at best. The title of my workshop was “Sixteen Sure-Fire Ways to Publish Your Counseling or Self-Improvement Book.”

My final words of the presentation emphasized that a book author should always be working on something new and exciting, and also have a project on the back burner. I suggested that most authors let their minds travel around the globe, when genius (that creative idea for the perfect book) is most likely right in front of their noses.

Having shared that gem of wisdom, honesty compels me to admit that I was personally clueless: I didn’t have the slightest idea what my next frontier was going to be for my subsequent book project. Author, heal thyself!

As we battled the intense heat radiating off the parking lot on the way to the car, my son, Paul, who was with me to help sell books, said, “Wow, dad, you’re a celebrity.”

“I assure you, Paul, I’m not a celebrity.”

“No, you really are dad. Everybody knows you. Look at how many people wanted your autograph. Several even insisted they wanted to get a picture of you with them.”

Okay, I had to admit, I did silently chuckle at the folks who wanted a photo taken with me. Were they really asking me? I mean, you’re kidding, right? The first time something like that ever happened, I looked around the room to see if TMZ, the paparazzi, or perhaps People Magazine were hot on the tail of a movie idol or rock star who had accidentally wandered into the seminar room.

Let me be clear that my notoriety had nothing to do with the workshop I had just presented. So why was I enjoying this mini-celebrity status and, more importantly, why should you care? How in the world is it going to help you? Well, if you can sit tight for just a few moments, you have my word as a gentleman, a scholar, a professor, and the program coordinator of a college human services program that my story is going to benefit you far more than you could ever imagine.

The Strangest Exam Secret

It all started over 15 years ago when I set out to create a set of licensing materials that would help counselors pass a test known as the National Counselor Examination (NCE) to secure state licensing or snare National Certified Counselor (NCC) status.

I thus penned a unique book I titled Encyclopedia of Counseling. Now you’re probably thinking I’m going to say the sales of the book took off like a fighter jet on steroids, but that would be a lie. In reality, the text came out of the starting blocks with all the vigor of a turtle with ankle weights strapped to its feet. But, fortunately, as time went by, that slow-moving tortoise began to gain some serious speed.

The pivotal turning point seemed to occur when one day, I received a message on my answering machine from a counselor educator (a professor who teaches or trains counselors) asking where her students could purchase “The Purple Book.” Several moments later, I punched up my email only to discover a message from another counselor who also wanted to buy a copy of “The Purple Book.” What in the world was “The Purple Book?” I punched the term into a search engine and discovered that counselors writing on Internet discussion groups and chat rooms from coast-to-coast were talking about my book!

The only explanation was that my friend, the slow-moving turtle, put the pedal to the metal and kicked into passing gear. A grassroots movement began to take hold that I, as the author, didn’t even see happening. Permit me to explain. In the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Counseling, we used a purple cover. (The first edition used a green, black, and white color scheme.) At about the same time my book was coming of age, a pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, was advertising a drug called Nexium for heartburn and billed it as “The Purple Pill.” Counselors put a twist on the ad, and my Encyclopedia of Counseling had become “The Purple Book.”

Why was the book becoming so popular? Simple, I actually made exam prep (dare I say it) fun and easy to understand. That’s right, studying became enjoyable. I never believed that education needed to be dry, dull, and boring, and my book went on to prove it. The greatest exam secret is that studying and exam prep can actually be a pleasant experience and something you’ll look forward to doing.

My style in the Encyclopedia (um, excuse me, I mean “The Purple Book”) was upbeat and, at times, humorous. For years now, I’ve been in meetings or conferences where I’ve heard teachers remark, “I’m not here to entertain the students.” Truth be told, I very often heard the exact same thing from professors when I was a student. But you know what: I typically stroll into classes I’m teaching on the first day and tell my students, “A lot of teachers will tell you they aren’t here to entertain you, but actually, I am here to entertain you!”

The Encyclopedia was merely my engaging teaching style in print, and readers loved every minute of it. How do I know? Great question! I could tell you that on many occasions, I’d punch the keyword “counseling” into Amazon or other top booksellers and there I’d spy the Encyclopedia sitting pretty in the top five spots—often number one! In the 2010 Routledge Counseling and Psychotherapy catalog, Encyclopedia was the number one seller in the “Top Ten List.” In 2011, it captured the number two spot, beating out works by many of the top counseling and psychology authors in the world. Yes, success leaves clues, but here is my most convincing argument. Over the years, I’ve received numerous emails from readers who suggested they were sad when their study process ended. Say what? That’s correct, you read it right; counselors were enjoying the exam preparation process so much they didn’t want it to end. Some readers even used the word “grieving” to describe their reaction.

Now Here’s What’s in It for You!

Several days after the conference, I still didn’t have any idea what my next literary mission would be, but then it happened. I was lecturing to one of my classes about a new credential: the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP). A young woman blurted out, “What’s the name of the study guide for the test, Dr. Rosenthal?”

“Oh, you don’t understand,” I replied, “the credential is brand new. I’ve already checked, nobody has written a study guide yet.”

“Well, you should write one, Dr. Rosenthal. You always seem to have a way to make the material interesting.” Now, keep in mind that this student, and most likely the rest of the class, had no idea that my Encyclopedia of Counseling had become the darling of the counseling licensure and certification movement. So, little did my student know, but she just carved out my next literary frontier! Or, as a cowboy might have said to my student in the days of the Old West, “Much obliged, ma’am!”

The Encyclopedia of Human Services: You Will Be Riding on the Coattails of a Winner!

The book you have in your hot little hands is simply a clone of my “Purple Book,” except it’s geared toward the Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner Examination, aka the HS-BCPE. Successfully completing this examination allows you to become a Human Services-Board Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP).

Yep, you’ll be using the same great strategy, but tailored to the personal needs of the human services practitioner (namely, you!) who’s interested in snaring board certified practitioner status.

So what’s really different about this master review and tutorial from study guides of yesteryears?

The answer: plenty. First, I’ll take you by the hand and teach you the material ever so slowly using very tiny baby steps. I’ll use an a, b, c, d question-and-answer format. Unlike traditional exam prep guides and textbook questions, many of my questions and answers are “ringers” in the sense that they are purposely jam-packed with vital information to help you successfully tackle other questions on the actual exam. So, as a simple example, I might say, “William Glasser created reality therapy with choice theory, Carl R. Rogers is the father of the person-centered approach. Who created psychoanalysis?” Notice that the question itself is providing you with key gems of wisdom. The other reason I do this is to help you answer future questions in the book that are more difficult. That said, the very best way to use this book is to begin with question one and work through each and every question in order without skipping a single question.

As a bonus, I’ll provide repetition and alternative explanations when necessary. Unlike other works, this book will not limit itself to a single definition. Often, several descriptions of the same concept will be provided in regard to must-know concepts.

One Weird Trick Improves Your Memory in One Evening

You’re innocently surfing the Internet when you see one of those infamous ads, like “One Weird Trick Allows You To Lose 20 Pounds In 7 Days,” or “One Ridiculously Simple Strategy Gives A 65 Year Old Woman Smoother Skin Than Her Teenage Grand Daughter,” or some such nonsense. Scams—all of them—each and every one of them. You click the link and, lo and behold, the person running the ad has an expensive miracle product to sell you.

Nevertheless, I do have a fabulous strategy—although I don’t know how weird it is—to improve your memory and you won’t even need to send me an extra $39.95 to learn the secret. It’s so simple that, unlike the aforementioned advertisers who are exaggerating, I’m being modest in the sense that you could most likely learn this technique in less than a single evening.

First, let me assure you that I began dabbling in memory devices (also called mnemonic strategies) because I was not blessed with a photographic or even a particularly good memory. My brother, for example, has savant-like memory characteristics. You can ask him what the high and low temperatures were on a certain date in our hometown 30 years ago and he’ll quote you the temperature right down to the exact degree. He can often tell you precisely what he had for dinner on that day to boot!

I once had a mathematics professor who, on the first day of class, would ask everybody to say their name and tell something about themselves. As soon as everyone in the class had spoken, he would repeat back everybody’s name and information, such as “Jane Smith, a philosophy major,” or “Sam Jones, an employee at the shoe store.” His recollection rate for 30 plus students was 100%.

If you possess a memory like my brother, or perhaps my former math professor, I can safely say you don’t need my memory-boosting tips. If, on the other hand, you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us, who can’t remember what you had for breakfast or what your human services theories and skills instructor said just 5 minutes ago, then my ideas will work wonders for you. Have you ever heard the old adage, “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?” After I began pushing memory devices in my exam prep materials, some of my competitors began doing the very same thing. Hey, what can I say but thanks for helping me change the face of exam preparation.

I firmly believe the most effective memory device is to associate the difficult-to-recall principle with something that’s easy to remember. Serious associations often work well, but at other times, the silliest ones can be the best. Also, keep in mind that the memory device only needs to make sense to you. If it doesn’t work for somebody else, well, that’s just tough bananas.

I’ll be giving you a few examples throughout this book but, again, you may need to create personalized ones for yourself if the ones I suggest don’t cut the mustard for you. Here are a few quick examples:

• How do you remember which way to reset your clock when the time changes? Here’s one of the most common memory tricks ever invented. Simply: spring forward, fall back. Get it?
• You’re studying about Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment in which a dog hears a bell that’s presented before some meat and is conditioned to salivate to the bell when the meat isn’t present. How do you remember that the conditioned stimulus in the experiment (or CS) comes before the unconditioned stimulus (the US)? That’s easy. Repeat after me: C comes before U in the alphabet. Again. C comes before U in the alphabet. Thus, the CS comes before the US in the experiment. Nice!
• Sticking with Pavlov’s experiment, how do you remember whether the meat is the CS or US? Yes, this stuff can seem insanely complex, but try this. In the US, we eat a lot of meat. Go ahead and repeat it out loud. Just shout, “In the US, we eat a lot of meat.” Your family won’t think you’re abnormal. Actually, they might, but you really need to pass this exam, so who cares! Once again, “In the US, we eat a lot of meat.” When you see the US (the unconditioned stimulus), it’s the meat in the experiment. Case closed. I doubt that you’ll ever forget it again.
• A cholesterol test yields two readings, the LDL and HDL cholesterol levels. How do you remember which type of cholesterol is the good kind (and thus you want to raise the number) and which is bad (and therefore you want to lower the statistic)? Hey, that’s easy enough. Let’s personalize this one. My first name (Howard) begins with H and it’s a darn good name, and therefore HDL, which also begins with an H, must be the good cholesterol. And you thought exam prep was always going to be difficult.
• How do you remember that primary groups are targeted toward prevention? That’s easy enough: Primary starts with a “p” and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Who Else Wants to Say, “I Passed!”?
• 2 Assessment, Treatment Planning, and Outcome Evaluation
• 3 Theoretical Orientation/Intervention
• 4 Case Management, Professional Practice, and Ethics
• 5 Administration, Program Development/Evaluation, and Supervision
• 6 Exam Boosters
• 7 Vignettes from the Experts
• About the Author