Counseling and Speech Therapy
Hello, my name is Paige, and I am a speech-language pathology graduate student. I am currently taking a course for fluency disorders, and have learned about some of the counseling aspects of speech therapy. I know that speech therapy for fluency disorders will often have a counseling aspect to it at times, but I was wondering are there certain situations that an SLP should refer a client for psychological counseling because of the emotional aspects of their stutter?
Paige,
HI! This is a wonderful question and I’m glad you asked. Congrats on being in school! Where are you at school?
Counseling is a huge part of being an SLP for all clients and families. It cuts across everything that we do to interact with peers, clients and anyone we work with. So learning counseling skills and practicing them daily on ourselves and others is the key to being effective counselors.
The first situation we want to refer out is when a client discloses suicidal ideations or behaviors. It is good practice to keep some phone numbers handy and the Suicide Hotline handy in case such a situation arises (1-800-272-8255 or tile 988). We want to keep clients safe and in the room until we have support with such a situations. SLPs are mandatory reporters. This same encouragement is for any mental health disorder that the client might disclose and is not getting assistance for.
If a client discloses physical or mental abuse at the hands of someone else. If the client discloses drug abuse of any kind. We are not trauma counselors or drug counselors. If the client discloses wanting to hurt someone else is another case we need to refer out and get help.
The bottom line is we don’t promise clients “I won’t tell anyone.” We need to keep our client and others say by getting support for us and for the client.
Does that help? The above are just a few instances that we need to call other professionals for support.
Keep asking questions!
With compassion and kindness,
Scott