triad training model
an approach to training therapists and counselors that is intended to foster understanding of clients from other cultures and develop multicultural counseling competencies. In the model’s didactic simulation, a trainee therapist or counselor from a particular culture is matched with a three-person team: (a) a procounselor, representing the trainee’s own culture; (b) a coached client, who is hostile or resistant to the trainee, the therapy, or the trainee’s culture; and (c) a catalyst anticounselor, who represents the client’s ethnic group, religion, or other affiliation. The catalyst serves as a bridge of communication and support for the client, and the dynamic among all parties reveals issues, content, and effective approaches to the trainee. See also multicultural therapy. [developed by U.S. psychologist Paul Bodholdt Pedersen (1936– )]