A counselling internship undertaken in Harlow, England including a research component on the effectiveness of a relationship skills training program

• Main Author: Lehr, Ronald
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1981
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7675/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7675/1/Lehr_Ronald.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7675/3/Lehr_Ronald.pdf

This report outlines an internship undertaken in Harlow, England from April 27, 1980 to July 17, 1980. The purpose of this internship was to provide, under supervised conditions, an opportunity for the intern to practice and refine counselling skills already acquired and to expose him to a different culture so as to gain a more global understanding of the role of the school counsellor. -- During the internship, the intern was provided with opportunities to: compare guidance services in the Harlow area with those available in Newfoundland; examine community services available in Harlow, in the area of counselling, education, and social welfare; improve on skills as a group leader and facilitator; perform individual counselling with children from different cultural backgrounds; study the services and facilities available for the mentally handicapped; broaden knowledge in the area of Special Education; develop the ability to collect, analyze and interpret data; and, to report the results of a research study. -- The purpose of the research component of the internship was to see if teacher interns' ability to relate interpersonally would improve after exposure to the Relationship Skills Training Program (Weissberg et al., 1978). At the end of the program, responses on the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (Watson and Friend, 1969) showed no significant reduction in anxiety associated with interpersonal anxiety. On the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (Watson and Friend, 1969) and the Interpersonal Relationship Rating Scale (Hipple, 1972), subjects showed significant decreases in fear of negative evaluation by others and a significant increase in personal growth. -- A series of recommendations for improvement of the internship experience and for applying the results of the research study are also presented.