Consultation: Creating School Based Interventions
by Jon Carlson and Don Dinkmeyer, Jr.
If your work involves children—either directly or indirectly—understanding how to consult with parents and teachers is a crucial clinical task. Here, watch two seasoned experts present key ideas and interventions for conducting successful school-based consultations.
Although child therapy resources are abundant, much less common are strong instructional guides for working with parents and teachers—the adults with whom our young clients interact with daily. To be effective with children, therapists must also learn how to influence the system at a higher level; this insightful video offers compelling strategies for doing just that. Here, Drs. Jon Carlson and Don Dinkmeyer draw upon their combined decades of experience to demonstrate necessary skills for creating school-based interventions. You’ll find essential tools for working with the belief systems that govern many adult-child interactions, and discover tangible ways to support adults in making positive changes.

Carlson and Dinkmeyer introduce the video with a brief overview of key consultation theories and the skills needed to work with “managers” of the system, including alliance building and informative psychoeducation. You’ll then watch each clinician conduct a series of real consultations, ranging from meetings with individual teachers to parent-child pairs and finally, a group of five mothers. Carlson and Dinkmeyer eschew the traditional “identified patient” model so often brought to therapy, and throughout the video, they emphasize the role of the adult’s response to the child as central to effective change.

As the sessions progress, you’ll understand the underlying needs that can result in power struggles, academic problems, tantrums, and other types of child misbehavior, and you’ll find out how Carlson and Dinkmeyer address these issues in consultation. Each communicates in a collaborative, empathic way that harried adults can hear, and their practical recommendations are grounded in an intention to support children in making healthy choices.

At a time when reactivity and stress define all too many adult-child relationships, this video can help you ease family communication, support parents and teachers in owning their authority, and help build a child’s sense of autonomy. If you work with children or the adults who care for them, be sure to take a look.

What therapists are saying…

"In 2001, Don Dinkmeyer, Jr., and Jon Carlson published a comprehensive guide for consultation. The practice can be quite complicated, because the consultant is attempting to help a consultee help someone else with whom she or he is in a relationship. Still, this video with its multiple live sessions demonstrates the powerful change that can occur quickly when the consultant is grounded in a sound theory and protocol for effective practice. These are the best demonstrations of consultation with teachers, parents, and parent consultation groups ever recorded. Thanks for making them available to all of us."

-- James Robert Bitter, Professor of Counseling and Human Services, East Tennessee State University
In Depth
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Bios
Successful school-based consultation requires an understanding not only of child behavior, but also of the myriad issues children’s parents and teachers bring to the table. In this rich video, Drs. Jon Carlson and Don Dinkmeyer offer insight and strategies that will not only support your growth as a consultant, but also help you make a deeper impact on youth by targeting the “managers of the system.” Here, you’ll learn about the underlying messages of different types of child misbehavior, get tools for helping adults recognize and soften their own reactivity, and find realistic ideas for shifting these fraught dynamics.

Seasoned experts in the field, Carlson and Dinkmeyer begin with an overview of key school-based consultation theories, such as the “useless triangle,” and skills such as empathy, communication analysis, and focusing on the adult’s responses to the child. Throughout the video, they highlight the complex issues that can result in power struggles, academic problems, and tantrums.

You’ll also see each clinician conduct several actual consultations, including meetings with individual teachers, parent-child pairs, and a group of five mothers of children varied in age. You’ll watch Carlson work with a pre-kindergarten teacher so frustrated by her 4-year-old student’s antics that she’s ready to send him to special education; an exacerbated mother who’s resorted to “pleading” with her son to do his chores; and a resigned father whose inability to enforce his son’s bedtime has led to the son’s “tuning him out.” You’ll also witness Dinkmeyer in action, working with a teacher’s aide who’s at a loss with her sixth grader’s lack of school preparation, as well as the aforementioned mother’s group.

Collaborative and empathic while also direct and practical, Carlson and Dinkmeyer each lead their clients to positive, hopeful outcomes. If you’re looking for a primer on school-based consultations or examples of work with real clients, this video will help you quickly upgrade your skill set.

By watching this video, you will:
  • Understand the theoretical foundations of school-based consultation.
  • Learn how to speak with teachers and parents in an empathic way that also supports change.
  • Discover key interventions for addressing the underlying needs of child misbehavior.

Length of video: 1:51:02

English subtitles available

Individual ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-466-5

Individual ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-466-6

Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-467-3

Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-467-3

Jon Carlson, PsyD, EdD (1945-2017) was distinguished professor of psychology and counseling at Governors State University, University Park, Illinois. He was the author of 40 books, 150 journal articles, and the developer of over 200 videos featuring today's leading experts in the fields of psychotherapy, family therapy, brief therapy, substance abuse and treatment, parenting and couples education. Carlson received the distinguished Services awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, and the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology. He was named one of five "Living Legends in Counseling" in 2004 by the American Counseling Association.

Don Dinkmeyer, Jr., PhD, is co-author of the STEP (Systematic Training for Effective Parenting) parent education programs. He has also co authored numerous educational programs such as Systematic Training for Effective Teaching (STET), Preparing Responsible and Effective Parents (PREP), as well as professional articles and textbooks. He has conducted workshops for parents, teachers and families across the world for more than 30 years, believing "every child has the right to an education—of their parents." He is the second generation of a family whose commitment to helping families has touched millions across all continents (except Antarctica).
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