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UNAM

Title: Brief Therapy in College Counseling and Mental Health. By: Cooper, Stewart, Archer, Jr, James, Journal of American College
Health, 07448481, Jul1999, Vol. 48, Issue 1

Database: Academic Search Complete

BRIEF THERAPY IN COLLEGE COUNSELING AND MENTAL HEALTH

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American Accent
Abstract. Several factors have converged to make brief counseling and therapy the preferred mode of individual service delivery for college
counseling and mental health services. The authors introduce the topic of brief therapy, offer a rationale for its use in college contexts, and discuss
significant issues, research findings, and therapist attitudes in support of successful use of these approaches. This is followed by a description of
issues of implementation, including assessment processes, interventions (short-term intermittent approaches, very brief therapy, single-session
counseling, crisis intervention within brief therapy, connections with multiculturally oriented psychology, and brief group therapy), and referral
issues. General conclusions about brief therapy in college settings and recommendations for research on furthering use of these approaches are
offered.

Key Words: brief therapy, college counseling, psychotherapy

The brief therapy research literature provides a great deal of evidence to support the efficacy of brief, targeted approaches to counseling. Bloom(
n1) and Steenbarger( n2) presented extensive reviews of the research on brief therapy, and both concluded that there is strong evidence that
planned, short-term therapy is effective with a wide range of problems and is often as effective as longer term, unlimited therapy. Although the brief
therapy literature has traditionally been divided into psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, and strategic concepts and techniques, many advocates of
short-term therapy recommend use of integrative approaches.( n3) Precursors to such integrative brief therapy models include multimodal therapy,(
n4) solution-focused therapy,( n5) and systemic therapy.( n6)

RESEARCH FINDINGS
That short-term therapy is practiced de facto in college settings is documented by the consistently low mean number of sessions counselees obtain
from college mental health centers.( n7-n9) The first scholarship on brief therapy in college settings consisted of case studies. In 1982, Barrow(
n10) presented two case examples illustrating the use of short-term coping-skills training with college students facing significant environmental
demands. Five years later, Burlingame and associates( n11) published a detailed description of the treatment of a female client using an eclectic, time-
limited therapy model developed at the University of Utah.

Several empirical studies have been reported in the literature. Mathers et al( n12) measured client changes on the General Health Questionnaire
before and after counseling. All 45 participants were using the counseling center for the first time and the majority requested assistance for
psychological and emotional problems. Change scores indicated significant improvement after brief therapy. Quintana and Meara( n13) explored the
internalization of therapeutic relationships in short-term psychotherapy. Client-counselor complementarity increased over the course of treatment, they
reported. Interpersonal theories of psychotherapy hold that such complementarity is essential for successful counseling.

May,( n14) in discussing the scope of college student psychotherapy, shared anecdotal information that brief therapy is well suited to the needs of
college students. Most students, the author noted, manifest characteristics congruent with successful brief analytic counseling, such as strong object
relations and high intelligence. Borkovec and Whisman( n15) considered the separation-individuation dynamics present in most college students,
along with their here-and-now focus and the challenges they face in coming to terms with the existential realities of loss, limitation, termination, and
death. Talley( n16) examined symptom reduction and client satisfaction as mediated by client and interactional factors, presenting a model for very
brief psychotherapy in college mental health settings.

Rationale for Use

We devoted significant attention to brief therapy in our book, Counseling and Mental Health Services on Campus.17 Specifically, we articulated the
following six reasons for employing brief therapy as the model of choice for college and university counseling and mental health programs:

1. growing research evidence of its effectiveness with a wide range of clients and problems;
2. the types of developmental, crisis, and situational problems often presented by students who are particularly well suited to brief therapy;
3. the realities of limited resources that necessitate rank-ordering services to provide as equitable a distribution as possible;
4. the need for consultation and prevention work on serious campuswide issues, such as HIV, sexual violence, and diversity, that demand time and
attention from college counselors;
5. the need for consulting and program development to help students integrate personal and classroom learning and use their educational
opportunities effectively as higher education dollars are further stretched and less individual attention is available to students;
6. the growing demand for counseling created by the increasing awareness and acceptance of therapy as a reasonable and normal way to
confront problems.( n17)(p47)

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Inclusion/Exclusion Issues
The efficacy of brief therapy for many of the problems presented in college mental health settings is supported by a considerable amount of
evidence. Inherent in any brief therapy program for counseling services, however, are decisions concerning which students can succeed with a brief
therapy model and how to handle those students who need long-term therapy that is not available as part of college counseling or mental health
programs. For example, Whitaker( n18) argued in a 1996 article that brief therapy is insufficient for students with disabling emotional problems;
referring them off campus is often not affordable, or the needed level of services may not be available. This cost-care dilemma, he added, is especially
likely to emerge in students with major personality disorders for whom inadequate treatment frequently leads to overwhelming disruptions to
themselves and involved others.

The pressure on college mental health workers to meet the needs of students with severe psychological problems without adequate staff and
program resources is perhaps the most vexing problem they face. The question is how best to respond to clients who need more extensive treatment
in order to be functional. For example, what is to be done for students who are victims of incest or other childhood abuse or who suffer from serious
addiction problems? What is to be done for the increasing numbers of matriculates who enter college with evidence of personality disorders?

Some partially successful alternatives do exist. One strategy is for those in authority to attempt to maintain a certain percentage of the counseling and
mental health center resource base for longer term counseling, arguing that the ultimate value to society of a student who overcomes a substantial
mental health problem justifies the cost. Another strategy is to develop extensive treatment programs for specific, well-understood problems, such as
eating disorders or substance abuse, that may include longer term individual counseling and group counseling. A third alternative, which is possible
in some areas, is to develop effective referral networks that allow students with more extensive needs to be seen in local clinics or by local mental
health practitioners.

Many students have health insurance that covers some mental health treatment. Interpretations of the Americans with Disability Act( n17) have not
thus far required colleges and universities to provide more extensive mental health services, but litigation may lead to clearer case law in this area.

Therapists' Attitudes Toward Brief Therapy

Not all college counseling center and mental health professionals have embraced short-term models of counseling. Steenbarger( n3) articulated
two sources of resistance to such approaches: (a) professional autonomy is reduced and (b) improvements made through abbreviated treatment are
less important than those from long-term interventions. In focusing on the psychodynamic issues, Burrall( n19) described the losses, such as the
increase in the number of counseling relationships terminated inherent in brief approaches, that psychotherapists treating college students
experienced with the forced movement toward time limits on their counseling. Such losses are keenly experienced when a strong therapeutic
relationship attachment has existed. Another source of loss Burrall described derives from pressure on therapists to refer their more intense cases to
community mental health providers-cases that are often a source of professional stimulation and satisfaction for many college counselors.

To support success in short-term therapy, the counselors may have to make a major shift in their view of good therapy and how to do it. Pinkerton20
wrote that mental health service providers must have the following attitudes and skills to be effective in brief therapy:

belief in the effectiveness of brief therapy

comfort with a position of authority
comfort with modest goals
ability to come to a rapid and accurate assessment
ability to establish a positive relationship rapidly.( n20)(pp9,10)

ISSUES OF IMPLEMENTATION Assessment Processes

In our book, we argued that the most difficult problem with a brief therapy model may be developing an assessment and decision-making process to
determine which students can be included for brief therapy and which cannot.( n17) These challenges are just as difficult as those of crisis
assessment, yet they are very different. We offered the following guidelines to assist counseling centers in developing assessment procedures for
brief therapy:

1. The clinical service mission and criteria for counseling service of the agency must be clear, with a well-defined assessment system. This system
could use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed; DSM IV) assessment criteria, specific behavioral assessment, or some
other method for identifying student problems and psychopathology.
2. The staff, college or university administrators, faculty, and students should all be involved in the process of defining criteria for counseling
eligibility.
3. The kinds of counseling services to be offered must be clearly communicated to the campus community. Counseling and mental health center
brochures should not be over-expansive in their attempts to encourage students to seek counseling.
4. The staff should develop specific guidelines to ensure assessment procedures that are congruent with the best clinical and ethical practices and
that ensure consistency among staff members.
5. The assessment process should be monitored and staff members should review their application of the agency criteria and guidelines on a
regular basis.
6. Exceptions to agency guidelines for student and professional development (eg, counselors seeing a certain number of longer term clients) should
be made with great circumspection.
7. Referral and emergency systems must be provided for clients who do not fit the criteria for agency treatment. The issue of referring out a student
whose functioning has deteriorated while he or she is a client is often even more difficult and requires a consideration of legal, ethical, and
therapeutic issues. Mandatory student health insurance or a requirement of other coverage that includes mental health benefits is extremely
helpful in referral situations. Unfortunately, most colleges and universities do not have such mandatory coverage.( n17)(pp 61-62)

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After a merger of the counseling and mental health services units, Kansas State University professionals developed brief therapy
inclusion/exclusion guidelines as part of their efforts to define their mission. They drew on earlier work at Colorado State University in adapting a set of
eight "action markers" and accompanying definers to standardize their decisions in line with available scientific and clinical research regarding
suitability for brief therapy or referral.21 To be eligible for brief therapy, the client must fit one or more of the following action markers:

1. report that issues discussed in prior treatment were developmental and minor rather than pathological and severe (if applicable); 2. report
positive use of prior therapy (if applicable); 3. demonstrate high motivation for change; 4. voice a desire for symptomatic relief; 5. indicate problems
are situational; 6. show the ability to identify clearly a focal conflict or impasse, along with some capacity for internalization; 7. be able to be
introspective and self-monitoring and to experience feelings as well as to hypothesize causes and solutions; 8. show evidences of the ability to
develop trust, be open, and form relationship with therapist and others.

Newton( n21) and his staff provided extensive descriptors for each of these action markers. The larger the number of the action markers that exist for
the client, the more positive is the prognosis for benefits from brief therapy.

Assessment of potential and appropriateness for short-term therapy are perhaps the most difficult challenges for counseling and mental health
centers attempting to establish brief therapy programs. Criteria for inclusion vary considerably, depending upon the theoretical point of view.

Short-term Intermittent Counseling

Because of the kinds of developmental concerns students present at college counseling centers and the impact of class and term academic
calendars, most counseling that university mental health services deliver is de facto short-term and intermittent. The issue of appropriateness of
brief intermittent therapy is critical to performing such work successfully and ethically. Cummings( n22) suggested that counseling should be based
on the "medical family practice" model in which clients seek counseling to alleviate current negative symptoms. When improvement occurs,
counseling is terminated but can be resumed later if and when new issues arise. Although such a model may seem entirely remedial, growth and
development often occur as a consequence of the therapy process. Such short-term intermittent counseling represents an effective match for the
needs of many college students.

This approach might be seen as fostering dependence, with the student clients returning for a "fix" each time they have a problem. One might also
view this approach as an opportunity for students to take control in a preventive way and recognize times when limited professional advice or
encouragement could assist them in further growth and development. It would be up to the therapist and the type of system developed to ensure that
the individual client assumed an active, growth-oriented role.

Prochaska and DiClimente's( n23) transtheoretical stages of change model offers partial support to a short-term, intermittent approach to counseling.
Most counseling theories are predicated on the premise that clients are at the action stage of change--that they are ready and willing to address their
concerns. Prochaska's research has built solid evidence that clients go through a predictable sequence of five stages in the change process: ( 1)
precontemplation, a phase prior to the acknowledgment of a problem; ( 2) contemplation, a period of problem awareness in which the individual is
deciding upon actions to take; ( 3) preparation, further specifying changes needed and beginning to make them; ( 4) action, a phase of change-
focused work; and ( 5) maintenance, in which previous gains are consolidated.

A student in the first stage would probably benefit from a short-term group or individual psychoeducational approach; for example, a student caught for
an alcohol violation in the residence hall might be given a mandate for an assessment and educational intervention. If done well, such experiences can
lead to enhanced awareness and increased readiness to consider behavioral changes later.

An individual who is in the second stage would need a different brief intervention (eg, a female client with bulimia at the contemplation stage might
obtain a few sessions to learn more about the disorder and to enhance awareness of her ambivalence about change). She might be instructed to take
a "therapy break" and return for a more active struggle against the disorder when she is ready to take action. If her health is at risk from the disorder,
however, she might be forced to leave school and provide documentation from outside mental health professionals about her readiness to return to
classes.

Typically, a positive outlook and desire to use the outpatient therapy available at the college counseling center is a necessary component of
continuing recovery. A student in stage three or four would gain from direct applications of the various brief therapy modalities.

The brief therapy literature (eg, Bloom1) supports the effectiveness of intermittent brief therapy. Many of the more ardent short-term therapy
proponents argue that brief therapy is as effective as long-term work. Supporting their position are a number of studies that suggest that the majority
of benefits accrue in the first few sessions, with the rate of improvement decreasing as the number of sessions increases. Not all research findings
concur, however. A large-scale 1995 Consumer Reports survey found a correlation between length of treatment and perceptions of therapeutic gain.(
n24) Although such data must be interpreted cautiously, given the absence of stringent research controls, the study had high empirical validity because
the respondents were clients who had been engaged in personal counseling.

Gelso( n25) cautioned against what he called "myths of brief therapy." He described five myths as follows:

1. Brief therapy is as effective as, or more effective, than long-term therapy.

2. Changes in brief therapy are highly durable, as durable as those in long-term therapy.
3. Because most measurable change occurs during the first few sessions, a few sessions of therapy are all that is needed.
4. Therapist-perceived lack of efficacy of brief therapy is a perceptual error, whereas other rating sources accurately see the true value of brief
therapy.
5. Abbreviating interventions through establishing duration limits inevitably saves agency time.25(pp467-470)

One can argue that brief therapy could do more harm than good for clients with severe problems by creating false hope, reenacting abandonment
experiences, setting up a situation that feels as if the therapist has misjudged the client's needs, or enabling the pathology to continue rather than

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being more effectively treated. Some writers (eg, Gilbert( n26)) call for a policy of restraint in offering inadequate resources, and others (eg, Whitaker(
n18)) discuss the extensive difficulties of providing treatment to this population.

It is clear that brief therapy is not a panacea for all college mental health problems. College counseling and mental health centers that use a brief
therapy model should examine the issues involved in setting limits and, in particular, how to manage cases that cannot be dealt with using brief
therapy. In the brave new managed-care world, the struggle to provide services to large numbers of clients when resources are limited requires
commitment to providing absolutely the best treatment possible while understanding the limitations of brief approaches.

Very Brief and Single-Session Counseling

Gelso and Johnson( n27) described a "change in motion" process that occurred after brief counseling. They referred to clients' tendency to continue
the change process begun in brief counseling even after counseling has been terminated. This phenomenon, described in various ways by brief
therapy theorists, may be enhanced in very brief therapy by using a follow-up procedure, such as a telephone call or e-mail. Single-session theorists
and researchers (eg, Talmon( n28) and Bloom( n1)) also stress the importance of the initial telephone contact as an opportunity for beginning the
change process before client and counselor come together for a more intensive therapeutic encounter.

Single-session counseling is clearly an important part of college counseling and is the modal number of sessions for many campus counseling and
mental health centers. For example, staff members of the Texas A&M counseling service developed a system in which students who request
counseling during the last few weeks of the semester are offered a single session because it is unlikely that they can be seen except for a one-
session intake. Specifically, the students are given an opportunity to elect a single problem-solving session rather than a more traditional intake with
further counseling. This session can also be used to help the students plan an approach to their problems during the break; when they return for the
next semester, they can be seen for a more extensive period of time.( n29)

Pinkerton( n20) separated very brief work (1 to 5 sessions) from more extended time-limited counseling of 6 to 16 sessions. For very brief therapy,
Pinkerton and Rockwell( n30) discussed a number of college student problems, such as test anxiety reduction, stress management, or roommate
conflict, that could be handled in 1, 2, or 3 sessions,

Crisis Counseling Within Brief Therapy

Crisis counseling and short-term therapy are somewhat alike in having a brief time structure. In other ways, however, crisis counseling is very
different from short-term, very brief, or even single-session therapy. Students often enter counseling as a result of an immediate crisis (eg, loss of
relationship, poor grades, parental divorce). Sometimes these crises are quite serious (acute depression or anxiety, rape, death of a friend). Whether
mild, moderate, or severe, such crises tend to bring underlying developmental issues to the fore to be dealt with along with the presenting concerns.

Crisis-precipitated developmental counseling must be differentiated from severe psychological crises needing serious or potentially long-term
intensive therapy. An example of a psychological crisis would be serious suicidal intent subsequent to the onset of a deep depression, whereas
functional decompensation resulting from a flood of childhood trauma memories illustrates a long-term intensive therapy issue. Obviously, careful
differential assessment is frequently necessary to distinguish between these crises and those that are more developmentally based (and more
amenable to short-term counseling approaches).

In the case of either a severe psychological crisis or issues necessitating intensive treatment, the job of the college counselor becomes one of
support, stabilization, and often referral. Referrals can be to community or specialized treatment agencies or providers or for emergency
hospitalization. Counselors in either of these situations (but especially when voluntary or involuntary hospitalization is involved) may need a great deal
of time to serve the client appropriately. Administrators and others may need assistance to understand how time consuming these cases can be. In
areas where community supported crisis intervention networks are not available, colleges and universities must ultimately devise and develop their
own systems. A brief therapy model does not abdicate the responsibility to provide students with needed services for crisis management and
stabilization.

Multicultural Psychology and Brief Counseling

Brief focused and problem-oriented therapy can be particularly effective with many minority and international students and others who view
counseling as a form of directive guidance to solve a particular problem. Although in many instances these students do not fully understand the
underlying dynamics and causes of their problems, they often do not want to use counseling to explore their past history or to search for insight and
understanding.

Geert Hofstede,( n31) a Dutch cross-cultural psychologist, conducted a large-sample study with the support of International Business Machines (IBM)
and found that different cultures differ significantly on such factors as emphasis on personal insight and awareness in contrast to external and group
expectations. Clients from different cultural backgrounds, therefore, may enter therapy with ideas about the process that are quite divergent from
those of the professionals who treat them, most of whom have been taught interventions that deal primarily with White, middle-class, Eurocentric
individuals.

A brief therapy model fits those students who expect a practical and active way to confront a problem or difficulty. The multicultural literature suggests
that such expectations are common in minority clients. The experienced therapist might also indirectly help these students gain some insight and
understanding of themselves so that they leave brief counseling with increased knowledge and problem-solving skills. The therapist can apply those
skills to other situations while, at the same time, emphasizing attention to the expectations of the family, group, or community and the counseled
student's actions within those contexts.

Factors other than a focus on action are often important in conducting brief therapy in a manner responsive to multicultural issues. The first of these is
a multiculturally sensitive needs assessment. Specific suggestions are offered in Multicultural Needs Assessment for College and University Student
Populations.( n32) The authors of this text developed a variety of needs assessment protocols and decision strategies on selection to enhance
services to minority populations in an accurate, fast, and careful manner.

A second factor is the need to match clients on several key dimensions that differ across cultures. These include (a) individual versus collective
orientation, (b) level of emotional/behavioral expressivity versus restraint, and (c) emphasis on insight and awareness in contrast to externals and

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action.( n33) A growing body of evidence suggests that mismatches on these factors may be a significant cause of the higher than average premature
termination rates often observed among minority students.

A third important issue is the need to avoid "over-pathologizing" or "blaming" clients for all of their difficulties by recognizing and specifically addressing
the physical, social, and cultural factors relatedto their problems or concerns. Steenbarger( n34) emphasized the need for effective brief, multicultural
counseling to focus attention on environmental problems. Effective and efficient brief therapy programs, when integrated with cultural competence
and a multicontextual approach, can be particularly important in establishing a productive therapeutic relationship with minority students.

Brief Therapy Group Modalities

Although relatively few studies have investigated individual brief therapy in college contexts, even fewer have been published on short-term group
approaches. Burlingame and colleagues( n35) explored the effects of the therapist's experience and training on outcomes of brief group therapy.
They found that these variables were positively correlated with treatment outcomes. Barney( n36) reported on the effects of short-term group therapy
for incest survivors. Most of the participants expressed a desire for more sessions, and all agreed that the brief group experience had reduced their
isolation and had heightened their awareness.

Burlingame and Fuhriman( n37) conducted a major review of conceptually planned short-term group approaches. They reviewed three key
components of such therapies--structure, time, and therapeutic characteristics. Structure encompassed selection, composition, and pre-group
orientation. Time included duration, session frequency and length, and group development. The therapeutic characteristics they reviewed were focal
themes, interventions, and therapeutic factors. Burlingame et al concluded that although the conceptual base for such approaches is strong, the
empirical research is regrettably rare. It was their sense, however, that structure may be the most important determinant of successful outcomes for
short-term group counseling. They based their conclusions on qualitative reports and preliminary data analyses.

REFERRAL PROCESSES
In the preceding sections, we have described scenarios that culminate in a referral after careful assessment of appropriateness for brief therapy or
need for long-term work or intensive treatment/hospitalization. Most students who seek services from college counseling centers can be effectively
assisted through short-term, very brief, or sometimes single-session therapy. Students who have greater service needs can often be helped on
campus if their problems happen to coincide with an area of specialized, comprehensive offerings, such as those frequently provided for common
problems of the college population, including alcohol abuse, eating disorders, or sexual trauma.

From the perspective of informed consent, the clarity and manner in which the counseling and mental health center's assessment and referral
processes are communicated to the client are important. At Valparaiso University, clients are given an information sheet describing the university's
assessment and referral processes and are asked to sign that they have read and understood the information. The first question all counselors ask at
the beginning of every intake session is whether the client needs clarification of this information sheet. Brief information on assessment and referral is
also formally covered at the beginning of the session and returned to at the end of the session.

Some college counseling centers attempt brief therapy with almost all clients, but they use a maximum session limit (typically ranging from 6 to 12
sessions) as the basis for the referral. Other centers run a series of 3- to 5-session contracts, and an additional set of services requires increased
justification. In either scenario, when it is obvious that the student will need more counseling than the center can provide, referral takes place in the
last few sessions. Other agencies adopt a more process-oriented approach in which such decisions are made as the counseling unfolds.

Although there are pros and cons to a process approach compared with a session-limit approach, a key ethical issue is whether the decision to refer
should be made at the time of assessment, with the work geared toward facilitating the transfer to the needed program. Gilbert( n26) argued that
providing a moderate amount of service when a great amount is needed may be a violation of the ethic of "do no harm." The issues of false hope,
abandonment, and lessened empathy were mentioned earlier in this article.

In our book, we reported on one kind of referral system at a large public university.( n17) The University of Florida counseling center tries to obtain
about 30 community therapists (mental health counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers) each year. These professionals volunteer
their services for one or more students without economic resources. The volunteers receive a thank you letter and a certificate of appreciation at the
end of the year.

CONCLUSION
In this article, we have reviewed applications of brief therapy models to college student mental health with an emphasis on practical application. We
have summarized a number of conceptual works and empirical studies that support the use of brief therapy for a wide range of problems (cf, Bloom1,
Budman et al,( n38) Steenbarger,( n2) Wells and Gianetti( n39)). We have also cited other authors and studies that view brief therapy as ideally
suited to the majority of college student problems (see Archer and Cooper,( n17) Barrow,( n10) Borkovec and Whisman,( n15) Burlingame et al,( n11)
May,( n14) Newton,( n21) and Talley( n16)).

The effectiveness of brief therapy on college campuses can be greatly improved by well-thought-out assessments and treatment systems that
attempt to make explicit what can and what cannot be offered and who best fits which modalities. We have no easy answer for the sometimes
exceedingly difficult problem of how to deal with students who cannot be effectively helped within a brief model. We have articulated several of the
dangers of inappropriate use of brief therapy with students who need more extensive treatment. Although some of these needs will be met by the
limited long-term therapy that some college counseling centers offer, the need will always exceed the capacity, and many centers simply don't have
this option available to them.

More effective use of groups and alternative treatments are called for to meet this need. For example, many of the more difficult problem areas
common to college students, such as substance abuse, can be treated effectively with group therapy. The use of self-help support groups for
students who need ongoing support after therapy has been terminated must also be examined.

Education and the use of peer counselors, although certainly not the answer for seriously disturbed students, can play a role in getting to problems
earlier and perhaps preventing more serious difficulties. Creative use of developing technologies, such as special Internet or intranet Web sites, may
be another solution.

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Issues of how college mental health services might interact with the general mental healthcare system are too complex to discuss in any detail here.
However, colleges and universities certainly should engage in long-term planning regarding how their students who need extensive mental
healthcare, both inpatient and outpatient, can be covered. One fact seems immutably clear: Few, if any, colleges and universities are willing or able to
provide extensive mental healthcare for students. Brief therapy, in addition to having reasonably well-researched effectiveness, is really the only
game in town for most college mental health systems.

We believe that college mental health counselors need to embrace a positive attitude toward brief counseling, learning to use it to the best
advantage with their students. At the same time they must develop mental health systems that include consideration and support for those students
who do not meet the criteria for brief approaches; they must allow for occasional longer term work.

Counselors who wish to enhance their short-term approaches could do so by reading some of the more well-known brief therapy works, including
those from the psychodynamic perspective (Halligan,( n40) Mann,( n41) Strupp and Binder,( n42) and Zeig and Gilligan( n43)), from the behavioral
perspective (Ellis,( n44) Beck et al,( n45) and Meichenbaum( n46)), and from the solution-focused perspective (Walter and Pelletier( n47)). The
excellent collections and integrations that have been published in recent years are of more general use, including Bloom's Planned Short-Term
Psychotherapy: A Clinical Handbook, 2nd ed,( n1) Budman, Hoyt, and Friedman's The First Session in Brief Therapy,( n38) Steenbarger's article
"Toward Science-Practice Integration in Brief Counseling and Therapy,"( n2) and Wells and Gianetti's Handbook of Brief Therapies.( n39)

NOTE
This article is based on material from Archer and Cooper's Counseling and Mental Health Services on Campus: Contemporary Practices and
Challenges. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1998.

Inquiries about the article and requests for reprints should be directed to Stewart Cooper, PhD, Director of Counseling Services, Valparaiso University,
Valparaiso, IN 46383, e-mail: Stewart. Cooper@valpo.edu; or James Archer Jr, Department of Counselor Education, 1215 Norman Hall, University of
Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7046; e-mail: JArcher@coe.ufl.edu

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(n4.) Lazaras AA. Brief psychotherapy: The multimodal model. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior. 1989;26(1):6-10.

(n5.) Molnar A, de Shazar S. Solution-focused therapy: Toward the identification of therapeutic tasks. J Marital Fam Ther. 1987; 13(4):349-358.

(n6.) Searight H, Openlander P. Systemic therapy: A new brief intervention model. Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1984;62(7): 387-391.

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~~~~~~~~

By Stewart Cooper, PhD and James Archer, Jr, PhD

Adapted by PhD and PhD

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9/4/2018 Brief Therapy in College Counseling and Mental Health: EBSCOhost
Stewart Cooper is director of counseling services and a professor of psychology at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, and James Archer, Jr,
is a professor of counselor education at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

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