Clinical Psychology

■ Placing responsibility on the individual gives a
degree of legitimacy to attempts to intervene at
the person level (as is common in traditional
clinical psychology).
Caplan and Nelson (as well as others) hope to
highlight these factors, which may serve to influ-
ence how we conceptualize the cause(s) of social
problems. As a result, we may be better able to
resist the temptation to“blame the victim”when
it is not justified.

The Focus on Intervention Strategies. One way
of contrasting traditional clinical and community
orientations is by focusing on intervention strategies.
Such strategies, according to Heller et al. (1984), can
vary along two dimensions: theoretical (deficit vs.
competence) and ecological (the individual, the
organization, or the community). Table 16-2 sum-
marizes the way these dimensions operate.

METHODS OF INTERVENTION

AND CHANGE

We now shift our attention to methods of interven-
tion. Here our focus is on patterns of service
delivery.

Consultation

What isconsultation? Orford (1992) offers the fol-

lowing definition:

Consultation is the process whereby an

individual (the consultee) who has

responsibility for providing a service to

others (the clients) voluntarily consults

another person (the consultant) who is

believed to possess some special expertise

which will help the consultee provide a

better service to his or her clients. (p. 139)

In a world short of mental health personnel,

the basic advantage of consultation is that its effects

are multiplied like the ripples from a stone thrown

into a pond. Using individual techniques of inter-

vention, the mental health specialist can reach only

a very limited number of clients. But by consulting

with other service providers, such as teachers,

police, and ministers, he or she can reach many

more clients indirectly (Orford, 1992).

Consultation can be viewed from several orien-

tations, each springing from a somewhat different

historical perspective (Brown & Schulte, 1987;

Heller et al., 1984; Nietzel, Winett, MacDonald, &

Davidson, 1977; Orford, 1992). First, there is mental

health consultation. This grew out of the psychoan-

alytic and psychodynamic tradition. It was often

T A B L E 16-2 Strategies for Change as Determined by Theoretical Orientation and Level
of Analysis

Level of Analysis

Theoretical Orientation Individual Organizational Community

Deficit Somatic therapies to
correct biochemical or
physiological imbalance

Group psychotherapy or

sensitivity training to correct

interpersonal problems

Institutionalization or special

facilities built for the disabled or

emotionally disturbed

Competence Most forms of behavior
therapy, particularly skill
training

Training and consultation to

increase job competencies

of organization members

Creating new settings and

alternative programs

Prevention programs for

high-risk persons

Prevention programs to

reduce organizational stress

and increase coping

Community-wide prevention

programs to reduce

environmental stress and increase

citizen competencies

SOURCE: Adapted fromPsychology and Community Change: Challenges of the Future, by K. Heller, R. H. Price, S. Reinharz, S. Riger, and A. Wandersman.
Copyright © 1984 by Kenneth Heller. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, a division of Wadsworth, Inc.

476 CHAPTER 16