A Study Of The Application Of Intake At College Counseling Center In China And A Try To Make The Intake Work Model

The purpose of the study was to understand the current status of application of Intake at college counseling center in China, and try to make a basic work model for it. This research was using a semi-structured interview for 16 intake interviewers and counselors working at campus counseling center in two colleges in Taiwan and Nanjing. After the interview, we tried to make codes for the 16 manuscripts using qualitative analysis software called NVivo 10.0 and tried to analysis. The results of the study includes (1) the aim of intake:collecting common information, a primary analysis, dealing with crises, making an appropriate connection between counselors and clients, clearing working process, helping clients prepare for the sessions, and a chance for counselors to prepare.(2) what should an intake includes:clients’information, supporting systems, life events, and growth history; clients’counseling experiences, symptoms and the histories, medicinal taking, clients’expectation and aim to the following sessions, clients’ problems and puzzles, dangerous clients, intake interviewers’first impression and a primary analysis to clients, new counseling interaction, measurement for clients, support for them and help them understand inform consent. (3)the abilities and competence to a intake interviewer:common interacting skills and interviewing techniques, competence to analyze clients’ symptoms, help clients learn a whole working process of the institution and make appropriate match between counselors and clients, competence to collect useful information, to comfort clients, give them sense of support and safety, and to make them have a chance to freely express themselves, be sensitive and high awareness, competence to dealing with dangerous clients and working crises, could choose appropriate measurements for clients and could give corrective explanation, have a common understand to different kinds of clients and their symptoms. (4) the influence and meaning for clients by performing an intake:feeling be understood, supported, and accepted, being comforted, make the counseling aim and process clearer, feeling safe and could get help, become confident to following sessions, have a good expectation to counseling, less nervous and anxious, choose a counselor and enhance effort to improve and to grow. (5) the meaning and role of intake for improving and training new counselors:offer a transition period for new counselors to improve professional skills and to learn to make effective interaction with clients, less work pressure and responsibilities, learn to distinguish crisis situations and try to deal with them, become familiar with working environment and working process. (6) the influence of setting up a intake before counseling sessions:a preparation for both counselor and client, offer first impression to help set up a new counseling relationship, and also, clients’changes between intake interview and the first counseling session are important signals and points for counselor to advert.We found that setting up the intake program before counseling sessions is meaningful and useful. First, for college counseling centers, intake could make client-counselor matching and could improve the efficiency of the center. Second, for clients, intake is to help them clarify cases and have a study of working arrangements of institutions, keep clients staying calm and get ready for the counseling sessions. Besides that, intake includes crisis case evaluation and offer a preliminary assessment and diagnosis to clients. For counselors at counseling centers, intake helps to collect basic information of clients and is a preparation for counselors. Also, new and intern counselors could get a chance to train and improve professional skills by being a intake interviewer.