In the Counseling and Helping Relationships core area, CACREP includes knowledge of major counseling theories, including Reality Therapy/Choice Theory. Reality therapy emphasizes:

Personal responsibility for choices and behaviors

Focus on current behavior rather than the past

Collaborative evaluation of whether the client’s behavior is helping them meet their needs

The counselor’s role is not to act as an authority who fixes the client, but as a collaborative partner who:

Builds a warm, involved relationship

Helps the client evaluate their own behavior

Encourages the client to accept responsibility and make more effective choices

Therefore:

Option A (consultant solving problems) is too expert-driven and takes responsibility away from the client.

Option B (effective listener) is necessary but does not capture the responsibility-focused, collaborative nature of reality therapy.

Option C (parental surrogate) conflicts with the reality therapy emphasis on adult responsibility, not dependency.

The best description of the reality therapy counselor’s role is D. A partner who helps the client accept behavioral responsibility.