Mental health articles

Core Characteristics of Consultation
1. Either the consultee or the client system may be given priority over the
other at a given time, depending on the approach to consultation that is
taken.
2. The consultant provides indirect service to the client system by providing
direct service to the consultee.
3. A consultant can be either separate from or part of the system in which
consultation is to occur. Consultants who are not part of the system in
which consultation is to occur are termed external consultants, while those
who are part of the system are called internal consultants.
4. Participation in consultation is voluntary for all parties involved.
5. Consultees are free to do whatever they wish with the consultant’s suggestions
and recommendations. They are under no obligation to follow the
consultant’s recommendations.
6. The relationship between the consultee and consultant is one of peers—
two equals. Although the consultation relationship is equal in terms of the
power of the consultant and consultee, it is unequal in terms of need; that
is, the consultee needs help with a problem and the consultant does not, at
least as far as the consultation relationship is concerned.
7. The consultation relationship is temporary. Depending on the type, consultation
may range from a single session to weekly sessions for years.
Whatever its length, however, the relationship is always temporary—the
consultant does not replace the consultee.
8. Consultation deals exclusively with the consultee’s work-related or
caretaking-related problems (Herlihy & Corey, 1997). Consultation, by
definition, only deals with the personal concerns of the consultee when
they impact work performance. Sometimes, major personal concerns are
better addressed in psychotherapy.
9. The consultant can take on a variety of roles in consultation, depending on
the nature of the problem, the skills of the consultee, the purpose and desired
outcomes of consultation, and the skills of the consultant.
10. Consultation tends to be collaborative in nature; that is, consultants and
consultees work together to complement each other in solving the problems
defined in consultation. Typically, consultants do not do for consultees
what consultees can do for themselves. One exception is when consultees
have the skills but not the time to do a given task. For example, a consultee
might ask a consultant to lead an in-service workshop on substance-abuse
counseling for the consultee’s organization, even though the consultee is
skilled in that area (Bennett & Lehman, 2003).

Tags: consultation