1 DOCURENT RESUME BD 085 615 i CG 008 509 AUTHOR Danish, Steven J.; And Others TITLE The Developuent of a Helping skills program. PUB DATE Aug 73 NOTE 68P.; Papers presented at the Atierican Psychological } Association Meeting, 26-31 August 1973, Montreal, Quebec, Canada EDRS PRICE MB-$0.65 HC-$3.29 a DESCRIPTORS Counselor Training; *Helping Relationship; *Human Services; *Nonprofessional Personnel; Program hn Evaluation; Research; *Skill Development; Subprofessionals; Synposia; *fraining Techniques ABSTRACT ! Chaired by Bernard G. Guerney, Jr., this program on the development and evaluation of helping skills training included the following presentations: (1) "The Development of a Helping skills Program" (Steven Danish); (2) "Paraprofessionals Assess the Training Program" (Barbara Hakshul); (3) "Research Conducted on the Training of Basic Helping Skills" (Allen Hauer);. (4) "Strategies for the Comprehensive Evaluation of Training Programs for Nonprofessional Human Service Workers" (Anthony D'Augelli); and (5) "Applications of the Basic Helping Skills Program for Counselor Training" (Arthur Horne). (LAA)ST AN 1 FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY is The Development of a Helping Skills Progran! a S Q by | J Steven J. Danish College of Hunan Development ‘The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania 16301 ease" TO NEPROOUCE THis Coty “s euramontetenat™ Paper presented as part of @ symposium entitled: The Development and Evaluation of a Helping Skills Training Program for Hunan Services Para~ professionals and Professionals at the American Psychological Association CGE 908 509 Convention, August, 1973 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. : 9/25/73 188 4785:8IDThe purpose of this paper is to describe the developaent of the hetping skills progi entitled: Helping Skills: A Basic Training ?ro- ) gram (New York: Behavioral Publications, 1973) which Al Haver and 1 : ’ have coauthored. Readers interested’ in a more detailed description of the historical issues involved in the development of the Program should con- sule Banish (1971). Ss a Helper Who An impsctant issue which one faces when developing a program is who is it for, Gne cannot define the dimensions of a progran without under- standing who the helper is ond what he does. A helper, as I see it, is an individual who enga: in planned, "prepared for", interpersonal help. He is different from the good samaritan who helps another in distress oF from the friend who Listens to another friend's problem, These are casual, transient helping relationships. The helper has a role; he has a specific function to perform for which he has been trained. A helper is nore than a helpful person, Mental health technicians, human’ service workers, paraprofe: onals, nonprofessionals and professionals all cone under the rubric of helpers. ‘The above s to be political terms designed to denote differences in status based on pay, education, or degree, A nore appropriate definition would focus on the function(s) being performed, and how skillful they are in performing these functions. [t has b: ny contention that entirely too much time and effort has been spent discussing the use of vat ‘ous “nonprofessional" helpers and too little time spent on how to train,