Helping Hand Questions for NCE-ABE

Transference is a core relationship phenomenon in counseling in which a client unconsciously redirects feelings, expectations, and patterns from important early relationships (often parents or caregivers) onto the counselor. A common form of this is when the client begins to relate to the counselor as if the counselor were a parental figure—idealized, critical, abandoning, overprotective, or nurturing in ways that mirror their early experiences.

This makes B the best answer: it captures the classic understanding of transference as the client viewing and reacting to the counselor in a parental role.

A (wanting a counselor who shares their culture) is a preference about counselor characteristics and is more related to cultural competence and matching, not transference.

C (developing strong emotions) is too broad; clients can have strong feelings without it being transference. Transference specifically involves repetition of earlier relational patterns.

D (wanting a counselor with the same diagnosis) is again a preference for perceived similarity, not an unconscious displacement of past relationship dynamics.

Recognizing and working with transference appropriately is part of the counselor’s core counseling attributes (self-awareness, relationship skills, and understanding of interpersonal processes) as outlined in professional counselor work behaviors.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions work behavior area, counselors are expected to select interventions that are supported by empirical evidence for the client’s specific concerns, including substance use disorders.

Motivational interviewing (MI) (Option A) is a widely researched, empirically supported treatment modality for individuals with substance use disorders. It is a client-centered, directive approach designed to:

Enhance intrinsic motivation for change,

Resolve ambivalence,

Support clients in moving through stages of change regarding substance use.

Core MI skills often summarized as OARS (open questions, affirmations, reflections, summaries) are used to elicit and strengthen “change talk” and reduce resistance. Research has consistently shown MI’s effectiveness in reducing substance use and increasing treatment engagement across various populations and settings.

Why the other options are less appropriate here:

B. Narrative therapy – While potentially helpful for meaning-making and identity reconstruction, it is not the primary empirically validated front-line modality for substance use disorders.

C. Solution-focused brief therapy – Has some supportive evidence for various problems and can be useful in certain substance-related contexts, but MI has a stronger and more direct evidence base specifically for substance use disorders.

D. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) – Primarily validated for trauma-related disorders, particularly PTSD, rather than as a core, primary treatment for substance use disorders.

NBCC-aligned counselor work behaviors emphasize that practitioners should match interventions to the problem using approaches with strong empirical support, making motivational interviewing the best choice among the options for treating substance use disorders.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Within Professional Practice and Ethics, counselors are expected to monitor and evaluate their own effectiveness, seek feedback, and engage in ongoing professional development to improve their practice.

In this scenario, the counselor:

Asks for anonymous written comments after each session

Focuses specifically on the counselor’s own behaviors in the group

Takes steps to protect confidentiality (having comments typed by a third party)

This clearly frames the feedback as a tool for the counselor to evaluate and improve their own performance, which is an example of self-evaluation.

Group stage evaluation (A) would focus on where the group is developmentally (forming, storming, norming, etc.), not primarily on the counselor’s behavior.

Outcome evaluation (B) assesses whether client or group goals are being met (symptom reduction, improved functioning), not how the counselor acted.

Process gradient scaling (D) is not what’s being described here; this is not a formal scaling or rating method of session process variables.

Therefore, the process is best understood as self-evaluation, making C the correct answer.

In the Counseling Skills and Interventions domain, behavioral approaches emphasize observable, measurable behavior change, and the use of practice outside of sessions to generalize and maintain gains. In behavioral group counseling, key principles include:

Setting specific, individualized behavioral goals

Defining goals in observable, measurable terms

Using homework or between-session assignments to practice new behaviors in real-life situations

Option A directly reflects this: group members have individualized objectives to work on between sessions, which is a hallmark of behavioral work and supports skill acquisition and generalization.

B is incorrect because behavioral methods often use more than just verbal interaction (e.g., modeling, role-playing, behavioral rehearsal, reinforcement, feedback systems).

C is partially true that goals should be in performance terms, but the requirement that each member have multiple goals is not a core principle and may even dilute focus.

D contradicts behavioral theory, which holds that environmental factors strongly influence behavior; behavioral counseling explicitly considers and modifies environmental contingencies.

Thus, A best reflects a principle of behavioral group counseling.