NCE-ABE National Counselor Examination Questions and Answers

Within the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, CACREP emphasizes that effective counseling is grounded in the therapeutic relationship—especially the quality of the working alliance (agreement on goals, tasks, and the emotional bond between counselor and client). Across theories and techniques, outcome research consistently shows that the strength of the counseling alliance is one of the most powerful and consistent predictors of positive client outcome, often more predictive than the specific technique or theoretical orientation used.

While hopefulness (C) and evidence-based treatments (D) are important, they are not as consistently predictive across all modalities and client populations as the quality of the alliance. Technique choice (e.g., CBT, option B) also matters, but CACREP-aligned training and NCE materials repeatedly highlight the helping relationship and working alliance as central to successful outcomes. Therefore, A. A strong alliance with the client is the best answer.

In the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, CACREP describes typical stages of group development (initial, transition, working, termination). The working stage (often called Stage III):

Is characterized by greater cohesion, trust, and openness,

Members assume more responsibility for the work of the group,

The leader shifts from high structure to a less directive, more facilitative role.

Because the group is more mature and self-directing in Stage III, the leader usually provides less overt intervention (Option A), while still monitoring process and safety.

Resistance (B) is often highest in earlier or transition stages; in the working stage it is present but more manageable.

Conflict resolution (C) certainly can occur, but conflict is often addressed more effectively by members themselves at this point.

Self-disclosure (D) typically increases, not decreases, in the working stage.

Thus, the most accurate distinction is A. Less leader intervention.

In the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, CACREP emphasizes the importance of group leadership skills, including self-awareness, emotional regulation, and the impact of the leader on group dynamics.

A central principle is that affect in groups is contagious:

When leaders are visibly anxious and do not manage or contain that anxiety, members often mirror or absorb it, leading to increased tension, defensiveness, or withdrawal.

Effective leaders are aware of their own emotional reactions and manage them so the group environment remains safe, stable, and facilitative of growth.

While:

Ethical and professional standards (option A) do require competence and self-monitoring, the primary reason in group dynamics terms is the direct effect on members.

Option C (improving cohesion and effectiveness) is a positive outcome but is more general and indirect.

Option D (member expectations) may be true, but expectations alone are not the main professional rationale.

The most direct and group-dynamics–based reason is B. Their anxiety can increase that of members.

In the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, CACREP emphasizes the importance of Rogers’ core conditions: empathy, genuineness (congruence), and unconditional positive regard.

Unconditional positive regard is the counselor’s nonjudgmental acceptance of the client as a person, without placing conditions on their worth or requiring them to think, feel, or behave in specific ways in order to be accepted.

In this scenario, the counselor continues to work with the client without insisting that they confess, change their choice, or think differently, which directly reflects unconditional positive regard.

Empathy (B) is understanding and feeling with the client; congruence (C) is the counselor being genuine; fidelity (D) is about loyalty and keeping commitments as an ethical principle. The description most clearly matches A. Unconditional positive regard.

Within Group Counseling and Group Work, CACREP emphasizes that group leaders should:

Attend to here-and-now interactions,

Acknowledge and name feelings expressed in the group,

Promote safety and constructive processing of conflict.

Client B’s response shows clear anger, defensiveness, and possible threat of confrontation outside the group. The group leader’s first responsibility is to contain and process the emotional intensity in the moment.

Option D, acknowledging the anger response (e.g., “I see you’re really angry about what was just said”), aligns with core group leadership skills: recognizing and reflecting affect, de-escalating potential conflict, and opening space to explore what is happening between members.

The other options are less appropriate:

A (telling B to apologize) is prematurely directive and may escalate defensiveness rather than explore the underlying issue.

B (pressuring A to provide “evidence”) can intensify conflict and shift the group into a debate rather than a therapeutic exploration.

C (remaining silent) neglects the leader’s responsibility for group safety and guidance, especially when a verbal threat is implied.

Therefore, D is the most appropriate leader intervention.

This question falls under Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice, especially ethical standards, professional responsibility, and client rights.

Option A – Using techniques without prior trainingEthical standards require counselors to practice within the boundaries of their competence, which is based on education, training, supervised experience, and appropriate professional experience. Using counseling techniques for which the counselor has no prior training or competence violates these standards and may place clients at risk. This breaches ethical practice.

Option B – Imposing personal valuesCounselors are expected to avoid imposing their own values, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors on clients, especially when such imposition may interfere with the counseling process or clients’ autonomy. Ethically, counselors must respect the dignity and autonomy of clients and support their ability to make their own decisions. Imposing the counselor’s personal values is clearly unethical.

Option C – Charging higher fees than others in the areaEthical codes state that counselors must establish fees that are consistent with accepted professional practices, explain fees and billing to clients in advance, and avoid exploitation of clients. However, it is not an ethical requirement that a counselor’s fees match or be similar to other providers’ fees in the area.A counselor may charge higher fees if:

The fees are clearly disclosed to the client beforehand,

The client agrees voluntarily, and

The fee structure is not exploitative or fraudulent.Therefore, simply charging higher fees than others does not, by itself, constitute an ethical violation, making C the correct answer.

Option D – Disclosing notes and records without permissionEthical standards emphasize confidentiality as a core duty. Counselors must not disclose client information, counseling notes, or records without the client’s informed consent, except under specific legal or ethical exceptions (e.g., risk of harm, court order, etc.). Disclosing records without permission generally breaches confidentiality and ethical practice.

Because A, B, and D all represent clear ethical violations, while C describes something that is not inherently unethical when done transparently and non-exploitatively, the only option that does not breach ethical counseling practice standards is C.

Within the Assessment and Testing core area, CACREP notes that diagnosis is not based only on signs and symptoms, but also on the impact on functioning. In line with diagnostic standards (e.g., DSM), counselors must determine whether symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Therefore, beyond symptom observation, counselors must assess for functional disturbances—how the client’s life, work, school, or relationships are being affected.

Length of time in counseling (B), client’s goals (C), and client’s view of the problem (D) are clinically important, but they are not the core additional criterion for diagnosis. Diagnostic decisions hinge on both symptom patterns and functional impairment, making A the correct answer.

In the Assessment and Testing core area, CACREP requires that counselors understand:

The use of diagnostic classification systems (such as DSM),

The difference between identity or behavior and a mental disorder, and

The central role of distress or impairment in making a diagnosis.

For gender dysphoria, diagnostic criteria emphasize that:

A person may experience incongruence between their experienced/expressed gender and assigned sex,

However, this incongruence alone is not sufficient for a mental health diagnosis,

A diagnosis is appropriate only when the experience is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Evaluating the options:

A. Considering surgical reassignment – Not required for diagnosis. Many individuals with gender dysphoria may never seek surgery.

B. Strong dislike for their anatomy – This can be one feature, but by itself does not justify a diagnosis without associated distress or impairment.

C. Desire for secondary sexual characteristics of another gender – Again, this can be part of the experience but is not sufficient alone to meet diagnostic criteria.

D. There was clinically significant distress. – This is the essential condition across DSM diagnoses: the symptoms must cause clinically significant distress or impairment. Without that, a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria should not be made.

Therefore, the counselor would only diagnose gender dysphoria if D (there was clinically significant distress) is present.

The Group Counseling and Group Work core area highlights the importance of group norms, ground rules, and structure in promoting effective group functioning. When group rules are clear and explicit:

Members know what behavior is expected and what is inappropriate,

There is a shared understanding of participation, confidentiality, respect, and attendance, and

Members can self-regulate and hold each other accountable, rather than relying solely on the leader.

Thus, Option A is correct: clearly stated rules increase the likelihood that members will follow the group guidelines in their participation.

Why the other options are less accurate:

B. Move through stages more slowly – Having explicit rules generally supports smoother movement through group stages by reducing confusion and conflict, not slowing development.

C. More work for the leader – Explicit rules typically reduce the leader’s enforcement burden because expectations are shared and can be maintained by the group.

D. Increased reliance on the leader – Clear, agreed-upon rules foster greater group autonomy, not greater dependence on the leader.

Therefore, consistent with CACREP’s emphasis on understanding and facilitating group norms, A is the best answer.

In the Career Development core area, CACREP emphasizes that counselors must be able to use career information resources (like the Occupational Outlook Handbook) to help clients understand the nature and scope of the world of work, including job duties, training requirements, labor market trends, and related occupations.

In this scenario, the client knows only a very limited set of occupations, and none are appealing. The most appropriate use of the Occupational Outlook Handbook here is to:

Broaden the client’s awareness of the vast range of occupational choices.

Provide structured, accurate information about many different fields.

Help the client see new possibilities they have not previously considered.

This is exactly what option D describes: helping the individual gain an understanding of the wide range of options.

Options A and B are narrower and do not capture the primary purpose of using this broad informational resource. Option C (exploring resistance) is more of a counseling process goal and not the main reason for introducing the Handbook at this stage.

In the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, systemic and family counseling approaches emphasize that:

A family is a system, and problems (such as parental conflict and stepfamily tension) are best understood by observing the entire system interacting.

Early sessions often focus on joining with the whole family, clarifying roles, boundaries, and interaction patterns, especially in blended families where alliances and loyalties can be complex.

Option B, seeing the family as a whole in the first session, allows the counselor to:

Directly observe parent–child and stepparent–stepchild interactions,

Hear each member’s perspective on the arguing and its impact,

Begin to restructure communication and set shared goals collaboratively.

The other options fragment the system:

A (see each child separately) misses the systemic interaction at the heart of the complaint.

C (see parents together) may be useful later but does not initially address how the conflict is affecting the children or the overall family dynamics.

D (each parent with their stepchildren) reinforces existing divisions and alliances rather than treating the family as a single integrated system.

Therefore, B is the most appropriate first-session technique for this blended family issue.

In the Group Counseling and Group Work core area, CACREP includes knowledge of group leadership styles, including approaches grounded in person-centered (client-centered / group-centered) theory.

A group-centered leader, drawing from person-centered principles, typically:

Holds a positive view of human nature,

Believes members have an innate tendency toward growth and self-actualization,

Trusts that, given the right conditions (empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard), people will move in constructive directions.

This matches D: seeing people as basically positive in their intentions.

Why the others are not best:

A (pessimistic about human nature): More consistent with some strictly psychoanalytic or control-oriented approaches, not group-centered leadership.

B (seeing people as reactive to their environments): Sounds more like behavioral or social learning perspectives, not specifically group-centered.

C (focused on redirecting negative impulses): Implies a directive, control-focused stance, rather than the non-directive, facilitative stance of a group-centered leader.

Therefore, the characteristic that best fits a group-centered leader is D. Seeing people as basically positive in their intentions.

In the Assessment and Testing core area, CACREP highlights the importance of understanding test limitations, response biases, and sources of error in measurement—especially when using self-report instruments.

A major concern with self-report is social desirability responding, where individuals intentionally or unintentionally answer in ways that:

Present themselves in a more favorable light

Conform to perceived expectations or norms

Minimize or hide behaviors or attitudes that might be viewed negatively

This bias can seriously affect the accuracy of self-report measures when they are used as criterion measures (standards against which other instruments are validated).

Homogeneity of variance (A) is a statistical assumption, not a specific self-report response bias.

Halo effect (B) is more commonly associated with rater bias (e.g., supervisor ratings), not with standardized self-report questionnaires.

Type I error (C) is a statistical concept (rejecting a true null hypothesis), again not a specific behavioral response style in self-report.

Thus, the most relevant and problematic issue when using self-report as a criterion measure is D. Social desirability responding.

In the Human Growth and Development core area, middle adulthood (approximately 40–65) is commonly associated with life review, reappraisal, and concerns about time and life goals. Theories such as Erikson’s generativity vs. stagnation and life-span models emphasize:

Awareness that time is finite,

Reflection on accomplishments vs. unfulfilled goals,

A possible sense that some earlier aspirations may no longer be realistic or attainable.

This makes Option A consistent with core developmental theory for this age range.

Option B is inaccurate because men and women often experience different developmental stressors, roles, and expectations (e.g., caregiving, menopause, occupational shifts).

Option C overgeneralizes; while peer deaths may trigger grief and reflection, severe distress and heightened spirituality are not universal or predicted outcomes.

Option D is not characteristic specifically of ages 40–65; significant memory decline is more commonly associated with older adulthood, and even then, it tends to be more complex than “short-term down, long-term up.”

Therefore, A best reflects what human development theory tells us about midlife adults.

Within the Assessment and Testing core area, counselors are expected to distinguish between screening instruments and diagnostic assessments.

The SASSI-4 (Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory) is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. It:

Uses both face-valid (obvious) and subtle items.

Classifies individuals into categories indicating the likelihood (probability) of having a substance use disorder.

Ethically and professionally, screening tools such as the SASSI-4 are used to:

Identify those with a high probability of SUD,

Guide decisions about further assessment or referral,

But not to independently confirm a diagnosis.

Therefore, the results indicate the probability that a person has a substance use disorder, making D correct.

In the Assessment and Testing core area, counselors are expected to understand different types of tests, including the distinction between maximum performance measures (e.g., ability, aptitude, achievement) and typical performance measures (e.g., personality, interests, attitudes, self-concept).

Ability tests (including aptitude and achievement) are designed so that each item has one correct answer. They measure how well a person can perform on tasks that have objectively right or wrong responses.

Measures of personality, interest, and self-concept do not have right or wrong answers; they assess typical ways of thinking, feeling, behaving, or preferences.

Because the question states that each item has only one correct answer, this clearly describes a measure of ability, making B the correct answer.

Within Counseling and Helping Relationships, CACREP highlights core conditions from person-centered theory: empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness (also called congruence).

Genuineness/congruence means the counselor’s outer responses match their inner experience—they are authentic, real, and not putting on a professional façade.

Among the options, “congruence” (B) is the technical term that directly corresponds to genuineness.

Paraphrasing (A) and empathic responding (D) are important attending and empathy skills, but they do not automatically mean the counselor is genuine. Self-disclosure (C) can be a tool that may express genuineness, but it is not, by itself, the definition of genuineness and can even be misused.

Therefore, the counselor behavior that most clearly and directly demonstrates genuineness is B. Congruence.

In the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, students are expected to understand psychodynamic concepts, including defense mechanisms.

Displacement occurs when a person redirects emotional reactions (often anger or hostility) from the true source (seen as threatening or unsafe) to a safer or more acceptable target.In this case, the client is actually angry with her spouse but expresses that hostility indirectly toward her supervisor through criticism and gossip. This is classic displacement, making B correct.

Rationalization (A) is offering excuses or justifications to make unacceptable behavior seem reasonable.

Reaction formation (C) involves behaving in a way that is opposite to one’s true feelings (e.g., being overly nice to someone one dislikes).

Projection (D) means attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else (“He’s the one who’s angry, not me”).

Only B matches the described pattern.

The Social and Cultural Diversity core area emphasizes that counselors must develop culturally responsive interventions and treatment plans that consider clients’ cultural identities, including religion and spirituality. CACREP-aligned training highlights:

The importance of integrating clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices into treatment,

Respecting clients’ spiritual and religious traditions as meaningful components of identity, and

Using culturally congruent resources and supports in counseling goals and interventions.

Looking at the options:

A. Continuous monitoring to maintain rapport – Good general counseling practice, but not specifically an example of addressing diversity in treatment objectives.

B. Assessing individual and family dynamics – Important for case conceptualization, but still not explicitly diversity-focused unless clearly tied to culture.

D. Measuring the client's beliefs of societal systems – This may be part of multicultural assessment, but it is more evaluative than clearly a treatment objective that incorporates diverse resources.

C. Including spiritual and religious resources – Directly exemplifies integrating cultural, spiritual, and religious dimensions into treatment objectives, which is exactly what multicultural counseling competency requires.

Therefore, C (including spiritual and religious resources) is the best example of explicitly addressing diversity in treatment objectives.

Within Human Growth and Development, counselors are trained to understand how individuals adapt and sometimes grow in response to trauma. Post-traumatic growth is conceptualized not merely as “positive thinking,” but as a process and outcome in which people:

Engage in adaptive coping after trauma,

Do meaning making about what happened,

Experience personal growth (e.g., deeper relationships, new life priorities, greater appreciation of life).

Option B captures this standard definition: it emphasizes both process (coping and meaning making) and outcome (personal growth) following traumatic experiences.

Options A, C, and D are incomplete or overly simplistic—focusing on theory labels or “positivity” rather than the well-established process/outcome framework used in counseling literature and CACREP-aligned training.

In the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, counselors are trained to develop treatment plans and goals that are grounded in a clear understanding of the client’s presenting concerns, assessment data, and diagnostic impressions.

Treatment goals should flow logically from the client’s current diagnosis and presenting problems as identified through assessment and clinical formulation. This ensures that interventions are appropriate, evidence-informed, and clinically justified for the condition being treated.

Past goals may provide historical context but should not dictate current treatment if the client’s situation, functioning, or diagnosis has changed.

Internal consistency is a psychometric concept usually referring to the reliability of items within an assessment instrument, not a direct client factor used to anchor treatment goals.

Counselor’s expertise is important ethically (practice within competence), but it is not a client factor; treatment goals must prioritize the client’s needs and diagnosis, not simply what the counselor is most comfortable doing.

Because treatment goals in professional counseling are expected to be aligned with the client’s current diagnosis and presenting clinical picture, the best answer is B (Current diagnosis).

In the Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice core area, CACREP highlights counselors’ roles in prevention, psychoeducation, and developmental interventions, including creating and using media and materials that promote mental health, safety, and wellness.

Developmental/preventive media refers to educational materials or presentations (e.g., videos, brochures, classroom presentations, campaigns) designed to promote healthy development and prevent problems before they occur.

In option B, the counselor is facilitating the creation of a video about sexual violence to be shown in school classes. This is clearly a preventive educational tool (media) targeting a large audience to increase awareness, promote safety, and reduce risk—exactly what developmental/preventive media are used for.

Option A (compiling a referral list) is about resource referral, not the creation of media.

Option C (compiling a service report) is program evaluation/administrative documentation, not preventive media.

Option D (creating a needs assessment survey) is used to assess needs, not to directly deliver developmental/preventive content.

Therefore, the best example of a counselor preparing developmental/preventive media is B. Having students in a drama club create a video about sexual violence to show in school classes.

O D. creating a needs assessment survey to be distributed to potential clients.

In the Social and Cultural Diversity core area, counselors study how gender roles and stereotypes affect individuals’ experiences at home, at work, and in society. A well-established theme is the “second shift” or “double burden”, where employed women are often expected to:

Perform paid work and

Take on a disproportionate share of caregiving and household responsibilities, such as child care, elder care, managing the home, emotional caretaking, etc.

These expectations are rooted in traditional gender norms that associate women with nurturing and caregiving roles, even when both partners are employed.

Educational (B) and supervisory (D) responsibilities are not systematically placed more on women because of gender stereotypes in the same pervasive way.

Financial (C) responsibilities are more often stereotypically associated with men as “breadwinners,” not women.

Thus, the type of responsibilities women are especially socialized to take on, compared with employed men, is caregiving (A).

Within the CACREP core area of Counseling and Helping Relationships, students are expected to understand major counseling theories, including psychodynamic concepts such as defense mechanisms. In classical and contemporary psychodynamic theory, defense mechanisms are defined as automatic psychological processes that protect an individual from anxiety or internal/external stressors by distorting, denying, or falsifying reality.

A key feature taught in counselor education is that defense mechanisms:

Are involuntary and automatic (not under conscious control),

Function to reduce anxiety and protect self-esteem, and

Operate primarily at the unconscious level of awareness.

Therefore:

Conscious (A) is incorrect because, if a person is fully aware they are distorting reality, it is not considered a classic defense mechanism.

Subconscious (C) and preconscious (D) are sometimes used colloquially, but in counseling theory aligned with NCE content, the standard wording emphasizes that defenses operate unconsciously.

Because defense mechanisms deny or distort reality and operate unconsciously, B (unconscious) is the correct answer.

This question draws on both Social and Cultural Diversity and Counseling and Helping Relationships core areas. Counselors are expected to:

Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and responsiveness with clients from marginalized groups, including transgender clients.

Respond to potential bias, discrimination, or microaggressions in ways that prioritize the client’s safety, dignity, and emotional experience.

Use empathic, client-centered responses to explore feelings before problem-solving or taking action.

Option analysis:

A. “I’ll help you file a complaint…” – Advocacy and support may be appropriate later, but jumping straight to action skips the crucial step of understanding the client’s internal experience.

B. “What feelings came up for you when your advisor told you that?” – This response is client-centered and explores the student’s emotional reaction to a potentially discriminatory event. It aligns with core counseling skills and multicultural competence, making it the best initial response.

C. “How do you think that being transgender would negatively impact your career choice?” – This subtly assumes that being transgender is a negative factor and risks reinforcing stigma, which is contrary to multicultural and ethical principles.

D. “You need to do what is best for you regardless of what your advisor says.” – This is advice-giving and bypasses exploration of feelings, context, and potential systemic issues.

Because the first task in a counseling relationship—especially around identity and discrimination—is to understand and validate the client’s emotional experience, Option B is the most appropriate initial response.

Within Counseling and Helping Relationships, counselors must understand major counseling theories and their conceptualizations of emotional and behavioral problems.

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis, holds that:

People do not simply become disturbed by events themselves; rather, they become disturbed by how they interpret the events through irrational or illogical beliefs.

These beliefs are often rigid (“musts,” “shoulds,” “have tos”) and self-maintained by ongoing self-talk and interpretations.

Emotional and behavioral disturbances are thus seen as the result of these self-sustained, irrational thought patterns, and counseling focuses on identifying, disputing, and replacing them with more rational beliefs.

Reality therapy (A) emphasizes choice, responsibility, and meeting basic needs, not primarily irrational beliefs.

Transactional analysis (C) focuses on ego states (Parent, Adult, Child) and life scripts.

Behavior therapy (D) emphasizes learned behaviors through conditioning and reinforcement, typically without the central emphasis on irrational beliefs as the main cause.

Therefore, the approach that specifically maintains that emotional and behavioral disorders stem from clients’ self-maintained illogical beliefs is Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (B).

Within the Career Development core area, counselors are trained to view work, career, and leisure as integrated components of overall life satisfaction and well-being. A foundational assumption is that:

Individuals can meet psychological needs (e.g., achievement, affiliation, autonomy, creativity, meaning) through both work roles and leisure activities.

Satisfaction in life may arise from a combination of paid employment, unpaid roles, and leisure pursuits, depending on the client’s values and circumstances.

Thus:

Option C reflects the principle that personal need satisfaction and fulfillment can come from either or both work and leisure, which guides holistic counseling around lifestyle, not just employment.

Options A and D overemphasize a rigid “work-first” ethic and are more value-laden than is appropriate for ethical, client-centered counseling.

Option B assumes that leisure is “preferable” for most adults, which is not supported as a universal counseling assumption and may conflict with many clients’ values around meaningful work.

Therefore, the assumption most aligned with CACREP-based career counseling concepts is C. Personal need satisfaction may be derived from either work or leisure activities.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions area, counselors must be able to select and apply theoretical approaches that fit client needs, preferences, and readiness. A client who is skeptical and questions the treatment plan often responds well to an approach that is:

Structured and transparent

Collaborative, with shared goal-setting

Evidence-informed, with clear rationales for techniques

A cognitive behavioral approach (CBT) emphasizes:

Clear explanations of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related

Time-limited, goal-oriented treatment plans

Homework and behavioral experiments that allow clients to “test” ideas and see concrete outcomes

This tends to be particularly effective with clients who want to understand how and why therapy works and who are questioning its effectiveness.

A humanistic approach (A) strongly values the relationship and empathy but is often less structured and may not directly satisfy a skeptical client’s desire for clear rationale and techniques.

Psychodynamic (C) and analytical (D) approaches typically focus on unconscious processes, past experiences, and symbolic material, which may feel too abstract or indirect to a skeptical newcomer to therapy.

Thus, B. Cognitive behavioral approach is most consistent with effectively engaging this type of client.

Career construction counseling (Savickas) is a narrative, meaning-based approach to career development. Its central activity is helping clients tell, explore, and organize their life stories in a way that reveals recurring life themes and preferred ways of being in the world. These themes then guide career choices and roles that feel coherent and meaningful.

Thus, option C. Identifying life themes is correct, as it captures the core narrative task of career construction counseling.

A. Analyzing temperament fits more with trait-based or psychometric approaches.

B. Documenting experience may occur, but it is secondary to making sense of those experiences through themes.

D. Practicing interview skills is a useful career skill-building task but is not the central activity of career construction counseling.

NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas expect counselors to understand major career theories and approaches, including narrative and constructivist models that emphasize life themes, meaning-making, and storytelling in career development.

When planning treatment for substance use disorders, counselors are expected to prioritize immediate safety and stabilization, followed by the development of skills and environmental changes that support abstinence and recovery. Early treatment typically focuses on:

Physical concerns (A): addressing withdrawal, medical risks, and overall health stability is often the first priority.

Managing stress without substances (B): clients need early coping strategies to handle cravings and stressors without returning to use.

Dysfunctional lifestyle (C): examining and beginning to modify high-risk routines, relationships, and environments that maintain substance use is an early and ongoing focus.

Personality traits (D), while potentially relevant, are typically not an initial focus. Deep exploration of personality structure, enduring traits, or complex characterological issues usually comes later, after stabilization, reduction of use, and establishment of basic coping skills. Addressing these too early can be overwhelming and may distract from urgent recovery tasks.

Therefore, the factor not initially addressed is personality traits, making D the correct answer.

Top of Form

Extended thinking

Bottom of Form

Reality therapy, grounded in choice theory, emphasizes that clients are responsible for their choices and can learn to make more effective ones. In group counseling, the approach focuses on:

What members are doing and thinking in the present.

Encouraging effective action plans.

Acknowledging feelings but emphasizing choices and behaviors.

Personal responsibility and evaluation of whether current behavior is helping members meet their needs.

Option D accurately reflects this: reality therapy groups highlight actions, thinking, feelings, and individual choice, with particular attention to behavior and responsibility within the group context.

Why the others are incorrect:

A. Nondirective stance: Reality therapy is typically active and directive, not nondirective; the leader is engaged, confronts inconsistencies, and helps members plan.

B. Emphasis on the analysis of resistance: Rather than deeply analyzing “resistance,” reality therapy focuses on what the member is willing to do now and helping them design realistic, responsible plans.

C. The leader outlines a strategy: In reality therapy, the counselor helps members formulate their own plans; the leader does not simply prescribe or impose a strategy.

This matches NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas for group work and interventions, which expect counselors to understand how theoretical orientation shapes the focus of group sessions, the leader’s role, and the type of change process emphasized.

In outplacement and career transition counseling following a reduction in force (RIF), counselors are expected to understand that clients often first experience shock, grief, anger, anxiety, and loss. Early in the process, the primary clinical need is emotional stabilization and support, not immediate job-search strategy.

D. Cope with the resulting feelings is the immediate priority: helping clients process reactions to job loss, normalize emotional responses, reduce acute distress, and restore enough psychological stability to engage in problem solving.

A (retraining information), B (interview skills), and C (lifestyle integration) are important later-stage goals once the client is more emotionally grounded and ready to plan and act.

Thus, in the early stages of RIF outplacement counseling, helping clients cope with the resulting feelings is the central immediate counseling goal, making D correct.

In the intake, assessment, and diagnosis domain, counselors must distinguish among common mental disorders based on symptom patterns. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by:

Excessive anxiety and worry occurring more days than not

Worry that is difficult to control

Concerns that are broad and diffuse, often about everyday events or activities

Associated symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, irritability, and sleep disturbance

This is captured by Option D: continual yet diffuse and overly-intense reactions to day-to-day stress.

The other options describe different clinical patterns:

A: A persistent lack of enthusiasm with fatigue is more characteristic of depressive disorders.

B: Overconcern with bodily functioning and possible ailments fits somatic symptom–related or illness anxiety presentations, not classic GAD.

C: Repetitive thoughts and ritualistic actions are typical of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Thus, the symptom pattern most consistent with generalized anxiety disorder is D.

Counselors are expected to understand major theoretical orientations and how they conceptualize the family and the individual in context. Within this competency, Alfred Adler is recognized as the theorist who emphasized:

The family constellation, including the structure and dynamics of the family system.

The impact of birth order (e.g., oldest, middle, youngest, only child) on personality development, beliefs, and interpersonal style.

How these early family experiences shape a person’s sense of belonging, inferiority/superiority, and lifestyle.

Adlerian theory holds that an individual’s position in the family constellation influences roles, expectations, and perceived significance, which in turn affect behavior and psychological functioning. Counselors use this understanding to conceptualize clients within their relational and familial context.

Why the other options are not correct:

B. Carl Jung focused on the collective unconscious, archetypes, and individuation—not birth order.

C. Jean Piaget is associated with cognitive development in children, not family constellation dynamics.

D. Virginia Satir worked extensively with families and communication patterns, but she is not the theorist associated with birth order as a core conceptual tool.

This aligns with the NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Area expectations that counselors understand key theorists and use family and developmental context when conceptualizing client concerns.

Feminist counseling emphasizes how social, political, and cultural structures contribute to client distress, especially for women and other marginalized groups. A core idea is that personal problems are often rooted in systemic oppression, and therefore counseling is not only about individual change but also about social transformation.

Option C reflects this: feminist counselors view individual counseling as a potential tool of social change by helping clients recognize oppressive systems, develop critical consciousness, and become empowered to challenge inequities in their lives and communities.

A focuses narrowly on the mother relationship, which is more aligned with psychodynamic approaches, not feminist theory.

B is incorrect because feminist counseling explicitly recognizes that women do not have full social equality.

D conflicts with feminist principles, which stress self-empowerment and mutual empowerment, rather than empowerment being bestowed by a more powerful group (e.g., men).

This fits within Areas of Clinical Focus, where counselors must understand theoretical orientations that address power, oppression, gender roles, and social justice in clinical work.

The term “outsider witness groups” comes specifically from narrative therapy. In this approach, clients tell and re-author their stories, and selected others (outsider witnesses) listen to these stories and then respond by sharing what moved or resonated with them. This process:

Brings in social resources and supportive witnesses.

Strengthens the client’s preferred identity and alternative story.

Helps the client feel seen and supported in a broader community context.

Thus, option D. Narrative therapy is correct.

Adlerian therapy (A) uses family constellation, early recollections, and encouragement, but not outsider witness groups as a standard technique.

Gestalt therapy (B) emphasizes experiential awareness, here-and-now work, and empty-chair techniques.

Community psychology (C) incorporates social systems and resources but does not specifically use “outsider witness groups” as conceptualized in narrative therapy.

NBCC Counselor Work Behaviors expect counselors to know the distinctive concepts and methods of major counseling theories, including narrative therapy’s use of outsider witnesses to support client change.

In accountability and program evaluation, counselors are expected to use data that reflects actual client change to demonstrate effectiveness. Within professional practice, the most powerful and persuasive evidence is outcome data, because it shows:

What changed for clients (e.g., improved career decision-making, job placement, satisfaction with career choice).

The degree to which program goals and client objectives were met.

The impact of services on client functioning and development.

By comparison:

Input data focuses on what resources went into the program (e.g., staff, time, materials).

Context data describes the environment or client population characteristics.

Process data shows what was done (activities, number of sessions), but not whether it worked.

NBCC-aligned counselor work behaviors emphasize using results-focused (outcome) data for accountability to stakeholders and for improving services, which is why outcome data has the greatest impact.

Within professional practice, counselors are expected to recognize how organizational environments can increase or reduce the risk of compassion fatigue, burnout, and impairment. An agency culture that discourages open discussion of stress, emotional impact, client crises, and critical incidents is an organizational risk factor for compassion fatigue.

A culture of silence means staff are less likely to:

Debrief after difficult cases.

Seek support or supervision when overwhelmed.

Normalize and process the emotional toll of their work.

This isolation can increase emotional exhaustion and secondary traumatic stress. Recognizing and addressing such organizational patterns is part of ethical responsibility to maintain counselor wellness and protect client care.

Why the others are incorrect:

B. Competition between agencies for resources is a systemic or macro-level pressure but is not, by itself, a direct internal organizational risk factor for compassion fatigue.

C. Predisposing personal characteristics and issues are individual risk factors, not organizational ones.

D. Providing required supervision and training opportunities is a protective factor, not a risk factor; supportive supervision actually helps reduce compassion fatigue.

This aligns with the NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas, which emphasize monitoring the impact of work settings on counselor functioning and advocating for healthy organizational practices.

In assessment and testing, counselors must understand how different standardized scoring systems relate to one another in a normal distribution so they can interpret results accurately for clients.

A z score of 1 is one standard deviation above the mean. In a normal distribution, this corresponds to about the 84th percentile.

A T score typically has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. One standard deviation above the mean (z = 1) equals a T score of 60.

A percentile rank of 84 also corresponds to being about one standard deviation above the mean in a normal distribution.

So options A, B, and C all describe roughly the same relative position in the distribution: one standard deviation above the mean.

A stanine scale ranges from 1 to 9, with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of about 2. A stanine of 5 represents the average range (around the mean), not one standard deviation above it. A score one standard deviation above the mean would fall closer to stanine 7, not 5.

Therefore, stanine of 5 (D) is not equivalent to the other three scores and is the correct answer.

The techniques listed come from different theoretical orientations:

Relaxation training – commonly associated with behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches.

Covert modeling – a behavioral technique using imagined models.

Mental imagery – used in both cognitive and experiential/affective approaches.

Interpretation – often associated with psychodynamic and insight-oriented therapies.

Empty chair – a hallmark of Gestalt and other affective/experiential approaches.

Because this list spans multiple theoretical orientations, the best match is D. Eclectic, where counselors intentionally draw techniques from different theories and apply them in an integrated manner based on client need rather than allegiance to a single model.

NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas describe effective counselors as able to:

Select and apply a variety of interventions.

Match techniques to client goals, problems, and preferences.

Integrate methods from different orientations when appropriate.

This is the essence of an eclectic approach, making D the correct answer.

Within Counseling Skills and Interventions, counselors must understand how specific theories (such as reality therapy) are applied in practice, including the use of concepts like positive addiction.

In reality therapy (developed by William Glasser), positive addictions refer to healthy, constructive activities that a person engages in regularly (for example, running, meditation, or creative pursuits) which:

Enhance psychological strength and self-esteem

Support a sense of competence and control

Contribute to personal growth and self-actualization

The primary purpose of encouraging positive addiction, especially with adolescents, is to help them develop life patterns that support growth, responsibility, and a stronger, more confident sense of self—essentially encouraging movement toward self-actualization and a belief in their own worth and potential.

A. Increase physical fitness may be a side benefit (e.g., with exercise-based activities) but is not the central counseling purpose.

B. Help the client abandon negative addictions can be an important outcome, but the core rationale in reality therapy is to build new, healthy patterns that support growth rather than focusing solely on stopping negative behavior.

C. Help clarify new support systems can be useful, but this is not the primary definition or goal of positive addiction.

The central therapeutic aim is to foster healthy, growth-oriented habits that strengthen the self and support self-actualization, making D the best answer.

When a client repeatedly circles back to the same topics or themes, the counselor can help them gain insight by pulling these pieces together into a brief, organized statement. That is the skill of summarization.

Summarization highlights patterns, recurring themes, and connections across what the client has been saying over time, which helps the client see the “big picture” and deepen understanding.

Why the others don’t fit as well:

Reflection (A) focuses on mirroring back content or feelings in the moment, but it does not necessarily organize repeated themes over time.

Clarification (B) aims to clear up confusion about a specific statement, not to tie together multiple recurring topics.

Confrontation (D) is used to point out discrepancies or inconsistencies, not simply to help the client recognize themes they keep bringing up.

NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas include effective use of attending and responding skills, such as summarizing client material to enhance self-understanding.

When working with older adults in group counseling, counselors must adapt interventions and structure to the developmental stage, life circumstances, and typical perspectives of this population. Older persons often benefit from:

Clear structure and purpose in group activities

Concrete, goal-directed tasks

A sense of predictability and safety in the group process

Option A, increasing the use of purpose-specific, structured group activities, aligns well with these needs and is consistent with best practices for group work with older adults.

B is inappropriate: pre-group screening is especially important with older persons to consider cognitive, emotional, physical, and interpersonal factors and to ensure appropriate group composition.

C overemphasizes developing new interpersonal skills; while growth is possible and important, many older adults bring extensive life experience, and group work often focuses more on support, coping with transitions, loss, health changes, and life review than on entirely new humanistic skill sets.

D is contrary to established practice: personal reminiscence and life review are often highly therapeutic and developmentally appropriate for older adults, and should usually be supported, not avoided.

Therefore, the most appropriate action for a counselor is to increase structured, purpose-specific activities, making A the correct answer.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions work behavior area, counselors must understand major counseling theories and their associated assessment and intervention methods.

Individual psychology, developed by Alfred Adler, is an approach that emphasizes the holistic understanding of the person, including goals, social interest, family constellation, and life themes. A central tool in Adlerian/individual psychology is the lifestyle assessment, which explores:

Early recollections

Family constellation and birth order

Private logic and core beliefs

Patterns of behavior and goals of behavior

The purpose of lifestyle assessment is to understand the client’s unique way of viewing self, others, and the world, and to identify themes that influence current functioning and problems.

Gestalt (A) focuses on present awareness, unfinished business, and experiential techniques such as role-playing and empty-chair work, not lifestyle assessment.

Psychoanalytic (B) emphasizes unconscious processes, early childhood conflicts, and defense mechanisms, using tools such as free association and dream analysis.

Reality therapy (D) focuses on present choices, responsibility, and meeting basic needs, often using tools like the WDEP system (Wants, Doing, Evaluation, Planning), not lifestyle assessment.

Because lifestyle assessment is a hallmark of Adlerian/individual psychology, the correct answer is C.

In counseling assessment, informal observation refers to the counselor naturally noticing client behaviors in real situations without using a standardized procedure, rating scale, or structured task.

D is the best example: the counselor notices each time a client stutters during family visitation. This is a naturalistic, unstructured observation made during a typical interaction.

Why the others are not informal observations by the counselor:

A. Determining if a client can act out written instructions involves setting up a deliberate, structured task, closer to a formal or planned observational assessment.

B. Offering a handshake is a counselor behavior, not an observation. While the counselor could observe the client’s response, the option itself does not describe an observation.

C. Asking the client to keep a tally of nonverbal tics is self-monitoring, where the client—not the counselor—is doing the observing and recording.

The NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas emphasize that counselors must be skilled in both formal and informal observational methods as part of Intake, Assessment and Diagnosis, using what they notice in session to inform conceptualization and treatment.

Kohlberg’s theory states that young children (preschool age) typically operate at the preconventional level of moral development. At this level, moral judgments are based mainly on the consequences of actions, especially punishment and reward. Children see behaviors as “good” or “bad” depending on what happens afterward, not based on internalized values or concern for relationships.

Option B reflects this: decisions based on the outcomes of specific acts (e.g., “If I do this, will I get in trouble or get a reward?”).

Options A, C, and D reflect more advanced moral reasoning: peer influence, concern for relationships, and ethical principles—all of which appear later in Kohlberg’s stages. Understanding developmental theories like Kohlberg’s helps counselors conceptualize client behavior across the lifespan, which fits within Areas of Clinical Focus in the NBCC Counselor Work Behavior framework.

In the Professional Practice and Ethics domain, counselors are expected to follow a systematic ethical decision-making process and to document:

The model or steps they used.

The consultations they sought.

The options considered and the actions taken, along with the rationale.

This documentation serves several purposes, but a key function is to show that the counselor acted in a thoughtful, reasonable, and professionally responsible manner if their decisions are later questioned by a licensing board, court, or ethics committee. This most directly aligns with:

C. to protect the counselor if decisions are challenged.

Why the other options are less accurate:

A. to protect the client if records are subpoenaed – good documentation can benefit the client, but the primary emphasis in ethical decision-making documentation is on demonstrating professional due diligence.

B. to protect the profession when reviewed by other professionals – while sound documentation reflects well on the profession, this is not the main purpose.

D. to protect the integrity of the client–counselor relationship – maintaining integrity is crucial, but documentation of an ethical decision-making model is primarily a risk management and accountability tool.

NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas stress that ethical practice includes using structured decision-making models and documenting the process to demonstrate adherence to professional standards and to protect the counselor in the event of scrutiny or challenge.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions domain, counselors are expected to know and apply core cognitive-behavioral strategies, including how to help clients and families learn and practice new behaviors.

Modeling (B) is a technique in which the counselor (or another family member) demonstrates a desired behavior, allowing others to observe and then imitate it. This approach is rooted in social learning principles: people learn new behaviors by watching others perform them and seeing the positive outcomes that follow. In family counseling, modeling can be used to teach communication skills, problem-solving, emotional expression, or conflict-resolution behaviors.

The other options are related but not as directly focused on teaching new behaviors through demonstration:

Intensification (A) is more associated with structural family therapy, where the therapist heightens or intensifies interactions to promote change in family structure.

Reinforcement of incompatible behaviors (C) is a behavior modification method that increases behaviors that cannot occur simultaneously with the unwanted behavior. It shapes behavior but does not inherently rely on demonstration.

Extinction (D) reduces a behavior by removing the reinforcement that maintains it.

While several behavioral techniques can support change, modeling is specifically designed to help family members develop and learn new behaviors by observing them in action.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions domain, counselors are expected to use basic attending and responding skills to facilitate understanding, rapport, and client growth. One of the core skills is reflection.

Reflection involves the counselor restating or paraphrasing the client’s message, often focusing on feelings and meanings, using the counselor’s own words while staying close to the client’s experience. Reflection may:

Clarify what the client is expressing

Highlight underlying emotions

Help the client feel heard and understood

Bring important themes or aspects into focus

In the scenario, the counselor is:

Restating the client’s concern using different words

Including possible emotions and relevant factors

This matches the definition of reflection (sometimes called paraphrasing with feeling), not the other skills.

Reframing (A) involves offering a new, alternative meaning or interpretation of a situation (changing the “frame” through which the client sees the problem), rather than simply restating it.

Confrontation (C) involves pointing out discrepancies, contradictions, or distortions in the client’s words, behaviors, or beliefs.

Summarization (D) is a broader pulling together of themes and content over a longer segment of the session or several sessions, not a single restatement of the presenting problem.

Therefore, the counselor is using reflection, making B the correct answer.

Within Professional Practice and Ethics, counselors are expected to be aware of how their words and behaviors can harm clients, especially in multicultural and diversity contexts. A microaggression is a subtle, often unintentional, verbal or behavioral slight that communicates negative, dismissive, or stereotypical messages toward individuals from marginalized or underrepresented groups. Even when the counselor does not intend harm, microaggressions can damage the therapeutic alliance, invalidate the client’s experience, and create an unsafe counseling environment.

Ethical and professional standards emphasize that counselors must monitor their own biases and communication, recognize when a microaggression may have occurred, and take responsibility for repair in the relationship.

The other options are not best described as unintentional offenses toward the client in this sense:

Countertransference (A) is the counselor’s emotional reaction to the client, often rooted in the counselor’s own history. It can lead to problems, but it is primarily about the counselor’s internal process.

Redirection (B) is a counseling technique, such as gently shifting focus, and is not inherently offensive.

Introjection (D) is a defense mechanism in which a person absorbs others’ beliefs or attitudes as their own; it describes client dynamics, not counselor offense.

Recognizing and preventing microaggressions is a core expectation under Professional Practice and Ethics, especially in working with diverse populations.

The scenario highlights that:

The client changed their thought process during anxious episodes.

Their reactions were less intense than before.

This indicates the client is applying a coping or cognitive skill learned in counseling—for example, cognitive restructuring, grounding, or other anxiety-management techniques. That is using an acquired skill (B).

A. Collaborative goal-setting is important early in treatment but does not itself explain why symptom intensity decreased.

C. Counselor’s emotional support can be helpful, but the change described is specifically tied to the client’s own cognitive work, not simply emotional support.

D. Time heals all wounds ignores the active, skill-based nature of counseling progress.

NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas emphasize helping clients develop, practice, and generalize skills so that they can independently manage symptoms—exactly what is described here.

Within the Intake, Assessment and Diagnosis work behavior area, counselors are expected to systematically gather sufficient, relevant information before arriving at a diagnostic conclusion. Observations from an initial contact—such as disheveled appearance, confusion, rapid speech, agitation, and paranoia—are important, but they are only part of a complete assessment.

An appropriate diagnostic next step is to obtain additional information (Option A). This includes:

Conducting a more thorough mental status examination.

Gathering history of present illness, psychiatric history, medical history, and substance use history.

Exploring onset, duration, and course of symptoms.

Considering differential diagnoses, including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, substance-induced conditions, and medical causes.

The NBCC-aligned counselor work behaviors in this domain emphasize:

Avoiding premature diagnostic closure.

Using multiple sources of information (client report, observation, records, and collateral sources when appropriate).

Integrating behavioral observations with history and contextual factors before assigning a diagnosis.

Why the other options are not the best diagnostic next step:

B. Establish a safety plan – Safety planning can be crucial, but it follows from a formal risk assessment (e.g., suicidality, homicidality), which has not yet been described. It is an intervention step, not the immediate next step in making a diagnosis.

C. Discuss the client’s addiction problem – No information has been presented that confirms a substance use disorder; assuming this would violate the expectation to base diagnosis on adequate assessment data.

D. Seek a 72-hour hold on the client – Involuntary hospitalization requires clear evidence of danger to self, danger to others, or grave disability. The scenario only notes symptom presentation; a more complete assessment (Option A) is required before considering such action.

Thus, the response that best aligns with NBCC’s expectations for competent diagnostic practice is to obtain additional information before forming or finalizing a diagnosis.

When assessing intellectual disability, severity is determined primarily by adaptive functioning, particularly in conceptual, social, and practical domains, rather than by etiology or isolated mental status features. For a seven-year-old, the counselor would consider how the child:

Understands and uses concepts (e.g., time, quantity, basic academic skills).

Solves problems and learns new information appropriate to their developmental level.

Option D. Concept formation aligns with this focus on conceptual functioning, which is central to determining the severity of intellectual disability.

A. Pressured speech and B. Agitation are more associated with mood or anxiety disorders (e.g., mania, acute distress) rather than severity of intellectual disability.

C. Genetic factors may help explain the cause of the disability but do not determine its severity.

The NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas emphasize accurate use of diagnostic criteria and understanding that severity ratings for intellectual disability are based on everyday functioning in key domains, not just on symptoms or etiology.

Counselors must understand major theories of human development as part of their Areas of Clinical Focus. Carol Gilligan (A) is known for her work on moral development in females, challenging Kohlberg’s male-centered model. She argued that women’s moral reasoning often emphasizes care, relationships, and responsibility, and that this pattern was not adequately captured in earlier theories that relied heavily on male samples.

Her research opened the door for a more nuanced understanding of gender differences in moral reasoning, which is important for counselors when conceptualizing clients’ values, decision-making, and developmental tasks.

The other theorists focus on different areas:

Virginia Satir (B) is associated with family systems and communication patterns in families.

Anne Roe (C) is known for a theory of career development related to early child–parent relationships.

Karen Horney (D) contributed to neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theory and explored personality and feminine psychology but did not specifically develop a major model of moral development in females.

Gilligan’s work supports counselors in recognizing diverse developmental pathways and avoiding gender-biased assumptions when understanding clients’ moral judgments and values.

Effective treatment planning is described as a dynamic, ongoing process. Counselors are expected to regularly review treatment goals and progress and revise the plan as needed to reflect the client’s current status.

When a client meets treatment goals earlier than expected, the most appropriate step is to revisit the treatment plan, confirm which goals have been successfully achieved, and then:

Decide whether to add new goals,

Shift focus to maintenance or relapse prevention, or

Begin planning for termination if appropriate.

Option C captures this responsibility to review and revise the treatment plan based on actual client progress.

A (changing medication) is a medical decision and may or may not be relevant; it is not the primary treatment-planning response.

B (referral to group) could be appropriate in some cases, but it should follow a thoughtful treatment-plan review.

D (understanding attitude toward treatment) may be clinically useful, but again it is not the primary, required next step in structured treatment planning.

This directly reflects the Treatment Planning work behavior: monitoring progress and modifying plans to ensure services remain appropriate and goal-directed.

Client-centered (person-centered) counseling, based on Carl Rogers’ theory, is grounded in a fundamentally positive view of human nature. People are seen as having an innate actualizing tendency—a built-in drive to grow, develop, and move constructively toward fulfillment when provided with appropriate conditions such as empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard from the counselor.1

Because of this, client-centered counselors view people as essentially:

Forward moving – oriented toward growth, change, and self-improvement.

Capable of realistic perception when not distorted by conditions of worth or external pressures.1

This aligns directly with Option A: forward moving and realistic.

Why the other options are incorrect:

B. Incongruent in most aspects of their lives.While Rogers acknowledges that incongruence (a mismatch between self-concept and experience) can occur and lead to distress, he does not define people primarily as incongruent in “most aspects” of their lives. Rather, incongruence is seen as a condition that can be reduced in a supportive therapeutic relationship.1

C. Incapable of unassisted change.Person-centered theory emphasizes that clients possess their own resources for growth. The counselor’s role is to provide facilitative conditions, not to act as the expert who “changes” the client. People are not viewed as fundamentally incapable of change without a counselor.1

D. Seeking to purge the evil from their lives.This reflects a moral or theological framing, not the humanistic, nonjudgmental stance of client-centered counseling. Rogers did not conceptualize people as evil; he saw them as basically trustworthy and constructive.1

In the Core Counseling Attributes area, NBCC emphasizes that counselors hold attitudes that respect the client’s inherent capacity for growth, autonomy, and self-direction—exactly the view reflected in Option A.

In family and systems counseling, NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas highlight the importance of understanding circular causality—the idea that behavior in a system is both a cause and an effect of other members’ behaviors, forming interactional patterns rather than simple “A causes B” chains.

Option B best reflects this systemic, circular view: an older sibling’s rebellious behavior has drawn parental attention and shaped the family pattern; the younger sibling then steals to impress the older sibling and participate in that same pattern of rebelliousness and attention. The younger sibling’s behavior is influenced by the existing family dynamic, and in turn, that behavior will further affect the family’s interactions, reinforcing or modifying the pattern. This mutual, looping influence exemplifies circular causality.

Option A describes a largely linear chain: personal anxiety → yoga and avoidance. The interaction pattern within a system is not clearly illustrated.

Option C is also linear: cheating → improved chances of passing → college admission; it does not show reciprocal influence between people in a system.

Option D reflects ambivalence and a complex relationship, but it does not clearly illustrate a pattern of mutual, cyclical influence among system members.

NBCC’s expectations for counseling skills and interventions in systemic work include recognizing and working with these circular patterns, rather than focusing solely on linear “cause–effect” explanations for a single individual’s behavior.