Program Goals
TCU Mapping-Enhanced Counseling (formerly known as Node-Link Mapping Enhanced Counseling) is a cognitive technique for incorporating graphic visualization tools, or “maps”, into the counseling process. Developed and researched at the Institute of Behavioral Research at Texas Christian University (TCU), mapping-enhanced counseling works to improve the counselor–client relationship in areas such as goal development, problem solving, treatment engagement, and communication. As such, mapping-enhanced counseling is not an intervention in and of itself, but an addition to the counseling experience, independent of the style or theoretical orientation of the clinician.
Target Population
TCU Mapping-Enhanced Counseling can be used with both male and female adults and adolescents in substance abuse treatment programs, including community-based, residential, and criminal justice programs.
Program Components
The three types of maps that can be used with clients are as follows:
- Free or freestyle maps, in which ideas, thoughts, feelings, or other material is organized using “nodes” (boxes to capture key words or ideas) and “links” (lines that connect and show the relationships among the nodes). Free maps can be created between counselor and client in individual sessions or on an erasable board as part of a group discussion. In addition, clients can be taught how to create their own free maps as part of homework, journaling, or personal problem solving.
- Guide maps, in which mapping templates are used to create worksheets for clients to complete, often using question prompts designed to help guide the client’s thinking about recovery issues such as steps needed to reach a goal or feelings that might lead to relapse. Guide maps may be used as a group activity, a homework assignment, or as an aid to self-study.
- Information maps, in which completed map templates are used to communicate knowledge in “small bites” to help clients learn faster. Information maps can be prepared for groups or individual sessions by a counselor. Alternatively, clients working in groups can be assigned to create information maps based on what they learned in a particular session or from another information source.
Program Theory
Through mapping, nodes and links are created based on key ideas from conversations in counseling sessions to graphically capture the “gist” of these ideas for further discussion and processing. Maps help illustrate thoughts, feelings, actions, and goals and show how they are related or linked together. A “good” map is one that facilitates thinking and communication among all those involved. Mapping is based on cognitive-network models of long-term memory, employing a simple, active declarative grammar that capitalizes on spatial organization to increase understanding and memory. As such, mapping is a cognitive adjunct to effective counseling, not an intervention in and of itself (Dansereau et al. 1996).