MENTAL HEALTH CONSULTATION

1. MENTAL HEALTH
CONSULTATION

2. “Consultation is a problem-solving,
interpersonal relationship that develops
through periodic face-to-face contacts
between consultant and consultee.”
Newsome & Gladding, 2014, p 191
A consultant is a professional providing the
consultation service, while a consultee is a
professional who requests help from the
consultant.

3. DEFINITION OF CONSULTATION
Consultation involves two professionals and/or organizations, the
consultant and the consultee.
• The consultee, who is an expert in his or her own system,
requests that the consultant use his or her expertise to make
recommendations about the best method of intervention, in
order to benefit the consultee’s patients and/or programs.
• The consultant works at the invitation of the consultee. There are
two basic types of consultant.
i. A traditional consultant provides input to the consultee but carries
no administrative authority and no ultimate responsibility for
implementation of intervention. Therefore, within a traditional
consultative relationship, the consultee retains professional
responsibility for the client and is free to follow or not follow the
consultant’s recommendations.
ii. An internal consultant, in contrast, assumes responsibility for youth
and families they see, as they function more in the role of an
independent contractor. However, while assuming direct
responsibility, the internal consultant maintains a collaborative
relationship with the consultee.

4. What is Mental
Health
Consultation?

5. a model of mental health service provision to communities or
specific settings (e.g., schools, organizations) in which a clinically
trained mental health specialist acts as a consultant to assist
and guide an individual or group of individuals (known as
consultees; including professionals, such as teachers, nurses,
primary care doctors, peer counselors, and employers, and
nonprofessionals, such as parents or caregivers) in addressing a
problem presented by clients under the consultees’ supervision
or care (such as students, patients, employees, or family
members).
American Psychology Association, 2020

6. Mental Health Consultation/Collaboration involves a
process of interaction between two professionals
(pertaining to a mental health issue):
• the consultant, who is a specialist, and the
• consultee who invokes the consultant’s help in a current
work problem that he believes is within the area of the
specialized competency.
It can include management of one or more clients or
planning of a program for one or more clients.

7. There is often a dual purpose to mental health
consultation:
i. problem solving with a consultee on a
specific mental health issue with a client and
ii. giving the consultee added skills and
insights that will enhance his or her future
functioning in dealing with a client’s problems.

8. Consultation is certainly not unique
to counseling. As a practice,
consultation is found in many
professions including education,
psychology, medicine, and business.
For counselors, consultation takes on a special meaning…

9. Counselors benefit from consultation because:
 A single point of view isn’t always sufficient.
 Collaborating with others allows for sharing of ideas in
order to develop a hypothesis for action.
 Not having consultation can lessen our objectivity as
counselors.

10. Consultation in counseling represents an indirect, triadic
relationship and is non-hierarchical and non-
authoritative.
Consultation is NOT therapy.
Both consultant and consultee are regarded as experts.
Consultation is confidential.
It is up to the consultee to accept or reject the
consultant’s recommendations.

11. 11
What distinguishes supervision,
consultation, and collaboration?
• Supervision requires monitoring and
evaluation of the work.
• Consultation does not involve authority
although it implies expertise and therefore
responsibility.
• Collaboration involves parallel work without
authority or responsibility for the work of the
other.

13. GROUP ACTIVITY
Discuss the types of mental health consultation using
Caplan’s model.

14. Gerald Caplan’s Four Types of Mental Health Consultation:
Client-Centered Case Consultation:
• Goals include developing a plan to help a specific client and providing consultee
tools for future use. Consultant may evaluate client directly.
Consultee-Centered Case Consultation,
• Goals include improving consultee’s ability to work with a particular case as well
as similar ones. Focuses on consultee’s lack of expertise or
confidence/competence. Consultant does NOT assess client.
Program-Centered Administrative Consultation:
• Goals include helping an individual or group of consultees develop a new program
or build on an existing one. Consultant assesses existing situation, determines
needs, and offers recommendations.
Consultee-Centered Administrative Consultation:
• Goals include helping to assess consultee and/or administrative staff to develop
better professional functioning of an individual, group, or organization.

15. Effective consultation
abilities develop from
a strong foundation of
skills and clinical
expertise.

16. So, What is Mental Health Consultation?
It’s a problem-solving relationship established between two experts,
one of whom invites the other to offer expertise and a second
opinion.
It is an indirect, triadic, non-hierarchical relationship.
It is NOT therapy, and ultimately the consultee, is responsible for
the care of the client.
The consultee gets to decide whether or not to accept the
consultants’ counsel.
And remember, the best consultants bring with them a deep
bench of experience, expertise, and humility.

17. Resources
Newsome, D. W., & Gladding, S. T. (2014). Clinical
mental health counseling in community and agency
settings (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson.
http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/consulting-best-
practices/
Gerald Caplan (1995) Types of Mental Health
Consultation, Journal of Educational and
Psychological Consultation, 6:1, 7-21,
https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532768xjepc0601_1