Client and Counselor SES: Issues and Applications

Proposed as a presentation for 

American Counseling Association

Anaheim, March 2003

 

Presentation Abstract

Social status (prestige) and economic status (SES) are an important source of identity, satisfaction and stress in people’s lives.  SES is a confounding factor in the counselor-client relationship and complicates other diversity issues such as gender, ethnicity, and ability. The goals of this presentation are to present information and stories about SES as a personal and interpersonal issue in individual lives, and to introduce the uses of SES in counseling interventions. Skills in identifying SES issues, counselor SES bias, and in managing SES differences in counseling interventions will be taught. (http://wbarratt.indstate.edu/aca2003)

Presentation Outline

  1. Introductions
  2. Learning goals for this presentation
    1. Gain knowledge about SES
    2. Gain skill in identifying SES related issues with clients
    3. Gain skill in identifying SES issues in the counseling relationship
    4. Gain skill in applying knowledge about SES to counseling practice
  3. Basic knowledge about SES
    1. Description of large scale referent groups (norms) for Social Status (Prestige) and Economic Status (Income and wealth)
      1. Prestige rankings of occupational titles (links)
      2. Income information from the US Census (20th percentile markers, income by population graph, wealth by population graph) make distinction between income and wealth. (links)
    1. Experience - Can you survive sheet (link to experience)
    2. Description of referent groups for individuals
      1. Family of origin SES, Attained SES, Social group SES, School SES, Work SES, Leisure/Social Group SES
    1. Experience in assigning social class
    2. Individual social class markers – dress, grammar, school, poise, touch, etc.
    3. Self Assessment – take a modified Hollingshead
  1. Mental Health Issues and SES
    1. Sources of stress and anxiety for different social classes
    2. Achievement motivation for different social classes
    3. Career aspirations for different social classes
    4. Displacement from family and town of origin
  2. Physical Health issues, SES and their effect on mental health
  3. Violence and SES at home, school and work.
  4. Relationship with the therapist issues
    1. Relationship dimensions of power, support and task orientation
    2. Experience: Stories from the audience about relationship and SES issues
  5. Popularity as a form of prestige and status
    1. Experience: identifying popularity and status groups and exploring the counseling issues for each group
  6. Important related issues
    1. SES and organization, power and structure in schools and at work
    2. Schools as middle classing experiences
    3. SES and gender, ethnicity, religion, politics, ability and other diversity issues.

 

Links to resources on SES

Links to presentation experiences

 

Contact Will Barratt at willbarratt@indstate.edu 

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University Learning Outcomes Assessment

College Student Affairs Personnel Administration Leadership Management Higher Education Graduate Study Program Master's Masters MS M.S. MA M.A. CAS