Q: What do you think of the consult model? I got into this profession to work directly with children, and now I am being told I have to engage in a pure consult model. I am mad and frustrated.

I find several problems with the consult model.

• Young therapists coming out of school are being asked to consult with parents when they actually have not figured out how to do therapy themselves yet.
• Without working directly with clients, young therapists are being denied the actual experiences they need to grow their professional skills.
• Children almost never work as well with their parents as they do a professional.
• Many of the parents we serve are completely ill equipped to do the kind of work required of good professional SL therapy. Parents often do not have the intellectual capability to understand the work, and other children and circumstances distract them.
• Even worse–– some of our parents are on drugs and alcohol, some are not very communicative themselves, some are unable to read and write, and some do not even speak the language!

I have been asking myself several questions along this line lately––

• Why are we hell-bent on giving our profession away in this manner?
• Why do we degrade our own skills so much that we think anyone can do this work as well as we can?
• What is the point of getting a Master’s Degree and then allowing everybody and their brother to do this work instead of us?

I do not get it.