Assessing and utilizing client strengths in counseling
Expert counselors and educators Victoria Kress and Matthew Paylo share the rationale and concrete recommendations for integrating strengths-based counseling into courses and practice, preparing your students to create individualized, culturally sensitive treatment plans.
Victoria Kress, Distinguished Professor, Youngstown State University
Matthew Paylo, Director of Counseling Programs, Concordia University Irvine
Counselors are trained to diagnose and treat psychopathology, but focusing only on deficits can neglect clients’ strengths. Recognizing and enhancing strengths can boost self-efficacy and protect against future issues. Using identified strengths, counselors can create individualized, culturally sensitive treatment plans. This presentation will provide an interactive learning environment where attendees will learn how to integrate strength-based counseling practices into their work. Attendees will receive concrete recommendations for strength-based assessment, interventions, and treatment planning.
About the speakers
Victoria Kress, Distinguished Professor, Youngstown State University
Victoria E. Kress, Ph.D./LPCC-S (OH), NCC, CCMHC, is a distinguished professor, counseling clinic director, and the director of the clinical mental health and addictions counseling programs at Youngstown State University. She has extensive experience advocating for the counseling profession and those served, and she previously worked as the Director of Advocacy for the National Board of Certified Counselors. She has nearly three decades of clinical experience working with youth and adults in various settings, which include community mental health centers, hospitals, residential treatment facilities, private practices, and college counseling centers. She has published over 140 refereed articles and book chapters, and co-authored six books on counseling youth and adults. CACREP honored her with the Martin Ritchie Award for Excellence in Advocacy. She also received many ACA awards, including the ACA Fellow Award, the Distinguished Mentor Award, the Counselor Educator Advocacy Award, and the Government Relations Award. She has also worked and volunteered in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Rwanda promoting mental health awareness and training and the professionalization of counseling.
Matthew Paylo, Director of Counseling Programs, Concordia University Irvine
Matthew John Paylo, Ph.D./LPCC-S (OH), LPC (GA), is the director of counseling programs and professor at Concordia University Irvine. He has over 15 years of experience in counselor education and 20 years of clinical experience in various settings, including community mental health centers, prisons, hospitals, adolescent residential treatment facilities, and college counseling centers. He is passionate about implementing evidence-based interventions within therapeutic relationships that highlight empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness. He has presented and published extensively in the areas of diagnosing and treating mental and emotional disorders. He co-authored two books on assessing, diagnosing, and treating mental and emotional disorders. In addition, he has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on trauma, evidence-based treatments, offender treatments, adolescent counseling, social justice counseling, and the implementation of the DSM. He has also received several teaching and research awards, including the Distinguished Professor of Teaching at Youngstown State University and the Research and Writing Award from the Ohio Counseling Association (OCA).