Canadian Counselling Psychology Research Articles

Student Advocacy in Canadian Counselling Psychology Programs: 2018 CCPC Working Group Outcomes

The second Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference, held in Calgary in October 2018, provided an opportunity for conference attendees to participate in one of seven working groups that met over the course of 2 days. Members of one group were tasked with delving into the topic of student advocacy in Canadian counselling psychology. Student advocacy was defined as students speaking up for themselves about what they need in their various graduate programs and educational experiences across Canada. The resulting discussion identified the following broad areas of need and potential program improvement: (a) practicum process and opportunities, (b) preparation for the “real world,” (c) partnerships between university programs and professional communities, (d) increased student funding, and (e) clarity and consistency in program requirements and professional credentialing. Members of the working group developed detailed recommendations and plans of action for each of these areas. This paper reviews the relevant literature on the above topics and expands upon the group’s recommendations for addressing the needs of counselling psychology students in Canada.

Internationalization of Canadian Counselling Psychology: A Collaborative Endeavour Grounded in Social Justice

During the Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference held at the University of Calgary in 2018, participants in a working group met to discuss the internationalization of counselling psychology and to articulate the ways in which the values of Canadian counselling psychology can inform international interactions. As an outcome of the working group process, the authors report on the themes that emerged: mapping the territory, movements and tensions, and challenges and opportunities. Taking these themes into consideration, the authors discuss the implications for researchers, educators, and clinicians in Canadian counselling psychology.

The Future of Counselling Psychology Education and Training in Canada: A Post-Conference Reflection

This article summarizes and elaborates upon the themes discussed by members of the “Future of Counselling Psychology Education and Training in Canada” working group at the 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference (2018 CCPC) by 19 participants in attendance. Complexities in program requirements, external and internal program regulations, research competency and advancement, and cultural/social justice responsiveness and internationalization are explicated and analyzed. The current state of counselling psychology education and training is highly intricate and nuanced, while many strengths and opportunities for growth exist despite some long-standing tensions. It is hoped that this article not only will help outline and contextualize the current status and challenges facing the future of counselling psychology education and training in Canada but also will recruit others in helping to improve Canadian counselling psychology education and training. Advocating for what is needed to achieve this is consistent with the theme of the 2018 CCPC. Continued dialogue, program evaluation, theorizing, and research are needed on the nature and dynamics of Canadian counselling psychology education and training.

Counselling Psychology and Under-Represented Groups: A Vision for Advocacy as Mutual Transformation

The discipline of counselling psychology in Canada has aligned consistently with social justice principles. Consistent with this, a working group at the 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference was assigned to consider the role of Canadian counselling psychology in advocating for the needs of members of under-represented groups. This brief report captures insights from the working group and focuses on two primary themes: a critical reformulation of advocacy as mutual transformation for personal and social change and a need to engage with change processes at multiple levels. The group conceptualized effective advocacy as recentring historically marginalized perspectives while decentring “expert” roles and traditionally dominant perspectives.

Reconciling Relations: Shifting Counselling Psychology to Address Truth and Reconciliation

In 2018, the Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference (CCPC) convened a working group to address how the field of counselling psychology ought to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Attendees were asked to share their perspectives on reconciliation, current efforts toward reconciliation in counselling psychology, and recommendations for the future of counselling psychology in relation to reconciliation. The current paper documents the findings and implications of the working group, offering concrete suggestions for how researchers, educators, clinicians, and trainees in the field can support reconciliation in a good way, shifting counselling psychology to serve Indigenous people and communities better.

The Responsibility of Canadian Counselling Psychology to Reach Systems, Organizations, and Policy-Makers

Social justice is becoming an increasingly important aspect of counselling psychology in Canada, and more research is needed to understand how to make a difference outside of one-on-one counselling sessions. Twelve individuals (including students, researchers, clinicians, and professors) comprised a working group entitled “The Responsibility of Canadian Counselling Psychology to Reach Systems, Organizations, and Policy-Makers” and discussed the role of counselling psychology in reaching beyond individual change. Discussion generated three main themes: identifying needs, using our unique training, and infiltrating and navigating the system. Future directions for social justice and advocacy in counselling psychology are discussed in relation to systemic change.

Clinical Practice and Clinical Supervision: Building a Firm Foundation

In this paper, the authors report on the “Foregrounding Clinical Practice and Clinical Supervision” working group of the Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference held on October 26 to 28, 2018, at the University of Calgary. Of the 12 working group participants, nine self-identified as students and three identified as licensed practitioners (two of the practitioners also held academic positions). This group of mostly early-career professionals identified an overarching theme of building a firm foundation for their future practice. Working group members identified three important contributors: the development of a strong, multi-faceted professional identity, including issues of licensure and certification, the interplay between counselling and clinical psychology, and the place of career psychology; the importance of clinical supervision, including the perceived variable quality of supervision and the apparent shortage of practicum placements; and professional role models. The authors provide their perspectives on the issue the working group raised and offer recommendations for counsellor educators and practice leaders.

Advocating for Ourselves, Advocating for Our Communities: Canadian Counselling Psychology Into the Next Decade and Beyond

This special issue of Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy is an outgrowth of the landmark 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference called “Advocating for Ourselves, Advocating for Our Communities: Canadian Counselling Psychology Into the Next Decade and Beyond.” This conference centred on seven working groups: the future of counselling psychology education and training in Canada, foregrounding clinical practice and clinical supervision within the field of Canadian counselling psychology, student advocacy in Canadian counselling psychology, responding to the TRC in Canadian counselling psychology, internationalization of counselling psychology, the role of Canadian counselling psychology in advocating for the needs of members of under-represented groups, and the responsibility of Canadian counselling psychology to reach systems, organizations, and policy-makers. This introduction highlights the seven articles included in this special issue, each of which summarizes the discussion included within one working group and elaborates upon topics that emerged within each working group discussion. We expect that, after reading the articles contained within this special issue, readers will be able to experience some of the intellectual stimulation and inspiration felt by many who attended the working groups in person. We also hope that this collection of articles will inspire those who did not attend the conference to advocate for and to help increase the presence and the influence of Canadian counselling psychology locally, provincially, nationally, and globally as it seeks to promote the best interests of the various communities it serves.

A descriptive examination of canadian counselling psychology doctoral programs.

There have been rapid and dramatic developments in the field of Canadian counselling psychology over the last several years. This has included membership tripling in the Canadian Psychological Association's (CPA's) Section on Counselling Psychology in approximately six years (Bedi et al., 2011), an increasing sense of shared professional identity (Haverkamp, Robertson, Cairns, & Bedi, 2011), the first nationally endorsed definition of counselling psychology (Beatch et al., 2009), and the first national Canadian counselling psychology conference (see Sinacore, 2011). These examples are by no means comprehensive. Young and Lalande (2011) provide a listing of other key defining moments in the field. Currently, there are five counselling psychology programs in Canada (all of which are accredited by the CPA and all of which are located in primarily English-speaking institutions): the University of British Columbia (UBC), the University of Alberta (UA), the University of Calgary (UC), the University of Toronto (UT), and McGill University (McGillU).As part of the increased visibility of counselling psychology in Canada, there have been augmented efforts to differentiate it from other related areas such as clinical psychology and counsellor education (e.g., Beatch et al., 2009; Bedi et al., 2011; Bedi, Klubben, & Barker, 2012; Haverkamp et al., 2011), which has paralleled historical and current efforts in the United States (e.g., Brems & Johnson, 1997; Fitzgerald & Osipow, 1986; Morgan & Cohen, 2008; Neimeyer, Rice, & Keilin, 2009; Norcross, Sayette, Mayne, Karg, & Turkson, 1998). However, in doing so, the withinspecialty variability of counselling psychology programs in Canada has been largely neglected. The lack of a unified understanding of the field, until quite recently (Bedi et al., 2011), has compelled Canadian doctoral programs in counselling psychology to formulate their own definitions and foci that are sometimes inconsistent with one another. This has led to disparate education and training emphases and partially divergent views of scopes of practice. Although accreditation standards mandate specific minimum requirements, they allow flexibility in how these standards are met and permit programs to enhance their curriculum in whatever manner they see fit. It is reasonable to then assume that key differences among these doctoral programs would lead to somewhat distinct education and training experiences for students studying counselling psychology in Canada.The purpose of this article is to bring to light similarities and differences among all the Canadian counselling psychology doctoral programs by (a) describing the general landscape of Canadian doctoral training in counselling psychology, and (b) comparing the programs across over 100 dimensions or variables falling under the following categories: program characteristics, program descriptors, faculty characteristics, student characteristics, student outcomes, curriculum, applied training, and admissions information. The focus in this research study is just on doctoral training. Although each of these doctoral programs are in departments that also offer master's degrees in counselling psychology or counsellor education, this latter information was not included in this study. At the time of data collection for this study, all of the Canadian doctoral programs required completion of a terminal master's degree prior to admission-that is, there did not exist integrated master's or doctoral training programs. This is different than in the United States, where students are usually expected to progress from a master's to a doctorate in the same university and department (and students are often admitted with a bachelor's degree). To substantiate this claim, one can simply review a sampling of the American Psychological Association accredited programs listed at http://www.apa.org. Given the scarcity of doctoral programs in counselling psychology, coupled with the abundance of master'slevel training in counselling psychology or counsellor education (Haverkamp et al. …

Counselling Psychology in Canada

Counselling psychology in Canada has experienced tremendous growth and greater recognition within the last 30 years. However, there is little empirical research on the practice of counselling psychology in Canada and the characteristics of Canadian counselling psychologists. We administered a 74 item questionnaire to 79 counselling psychologists who were members of the Counselling Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association, achieving a 35.4% response rate. The survey asked various questions organized under the headings of: Background Information, Theoretical Orientations, Professional Activities, Training and Career Experiences, and Future. Overall, these Canadian counselling psychologists seem to see the discipline as moderately different from clinical psychology and from counsellor education, and are largely satisfied with their choice of career in counselling psychology. Results further indicate that independent practice is the most common work-setting and that respondents spend a large share of their time providing individual, non-career related, counselling/psychotherapy of primarily a rehabilitative/treatment-oriented nature. A strengths-focused approach was also highly valued by the sample. The development of the field, distinctive characteristics of Canadian counselling psychology, the place of counselling psychology in the Canadian health care delivery system, credentialing, professional organizations, education and training issues, allied professions, opportunities for the field, and threats to the field are also discussed.

Canadian counselling psychology coming of age: An overview of the special section.

This paper provides a brief overview of each of the papers published in this special section on Canadian Counselling Psychology and details how the special section articles further the development of the discipline by highlighting Canadian authored scholarship, mapping out the history and current state of the discipline, and considering how the unique Canadian context shaped the literature reviewed. Specifically, this introduction outlines how the articles to follow cover the following topics: (a) the history of Canadian counselling psychology; (b) professional issues and identity; (c) counselling, training, and supervision; (d) research and scientific issues; and (e) counselling psychologists' contribution to applied psychology. Keywords: Canadian counselling psychology, professional issues, research, practice, multiculturalism, health, career In just 25 short years, Canadian counselling psychology has grown from a grassroots initiative of a few dedicated individuals to the Canadian Psychological Association's (CPA) Section for Counselling Psychology, with 358 members in 2010 (Hurley, 2010). Historically, Canadian counselling psychology has often been misunderstood when compared with other disciplines such as clinical psychology. As well, counselling psychology has been a relatively unknown specialization within applied and professional psychology in Canada. As a distinct entity, Canadian counselling psychology has its early roots in the United States, where the discipline was established well before it developed in Canada. Nonetheless, Canadian counselling psychology is a byproduct of Canada's unique cultural context, thereby distinguishing it from its U.S. counterpart, while simultaneously allowing it to benefit from the well-known American counselling psychology identity and infrastructure. Yet, there are very few Canadian-accredited doctoral counselling psychology programs and predoctoral internships for counselling psychology trainees, rendering it difficult to develop a doctoral candidate's Canadian counselling psychology identity. Likewise, there is a dearth of peer-reviewed publication outlets for counselling psychologists in Canada, leading individuals to publish in the United States or internationally. These realities often obscure the profile and visibility of Canadian counselling psychology. One strategy that Canadian counselling psychology leadership has utilized to address these professional identity issues is to participate in the CPA accreditation process for professional psychology training programs and internships. However, as a result of the generalist nature of accreditation criteria, there is an everpresent challenge to ensure that Canadian counselling psychology values are embedded in the few existing accredited doctoral training programs. Another step forward in further solidifying a Canadian counselling psychology identity was the development of an official definition for the field (see, Beatch et al., 2009) that differentiates Canadian counselling psychology from other likeminded psychology professions, informs the requisite professional competencies for the field and clarifies the limits of professional practice. Clearly, Canadian counselling psychology's participation in the CPA accreditation process and establishment of the official CPA Canadian psychology definition solidifies the foundation of the discipline as we know it today. With the accreditation process and official definition in place, I believe an important process had begun, and should be continued. As such, in November of 2010, 1 chaired The Inaugural Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference (ICCPC) in Montreal. This conference gathered the leading counselling psychologists, counselling professionals, and students from across Canada to document the history of the discipline, identify current issues, and conceptualise future directions for the field. Thus, for the first time in the history of Canadian counselling psychology, the ICCPC catalyzed a pan-Canadian dialogue with regard to the discipline, its identity, and its future. …

Canadian counselling psychology: From defining moments to ways forward.

Counselling psychology in Canada is a distinct and vibrant professional area representing the contributions of many people and events within a unique context. This article elaborates a number of moments or actions that reveal the distinct nature of this professional area through a recursive and interactive process with the social context. A number of ways forward are proposed as specific professional developments, as well as the resolution of a number of substantive issues identified within the recently adopted definition of counselling psychology. Moving forward as a discipline and a practice will actualize the potential of counselling psychology as both world and life enhancing. Keywords: counselling psychology, Canada, history, future The counselling psychology field in Canada has a rich history contributing to a prospering and dynamic professional area with a promising future. This article begins with a description of the moments within Canadian counselling psychology that contributed to a distinct and vibrant professional field. These moments represent the efforts and achievements of many people over the years who shaped counselling psychology within the unique Canadian context, which itself also influenced the process. One particularly important moment was the definition of counselling psychology in Canada, discussed in this article. This definition implicitly identifies a number of substantial issues that will contribute to the ways to move forward for counselling psychology in Canada. These issues include counselling as a practice with its emphasis on empathy and emotion; the social context in which lives are lived which includes culture, indigenity and social justice; and the conceptual and research frameworks, including qualitative research. Our conceptualisation of moments and possible future directions for this professional area, draws from contextual action theory and sociological theory of professions. From contextual action theory, as described by Young and Valach (2004) and Young (2009), activities are complex, interacting with each other and with the context in which they take place. The sociology of professions, also conceptualizes the process of professional identities as a recursive and interactive process (Brock, 2006; Morell, 2007), involving individuals, groups and organisations that influence the nature of the field in everyday actions. Counselling psychology is, therefore, influenced by the social context in which it is enacted, but also has influence on Canadian society and culture. This active process creates the potential for future developments in counselling psychology to have a significant impact locally and internationally. Defining Moments in Canadian Counselling Psychology Selecting and describing the moments within the professional area of Canadian counselling psychology will be guided by the meaning of the word defining (Merriam- Webster, 2011). Defining refers to acts of identifying the essential qualities of something, clarifying its limits, and detailing what is distinctive about it. It involves taking action to discover and manifest the essence of what is being created in the moment. However, moments are considered to mean more than the simple act of defining. Defining moments are particular points in time during which the essential nature of something is revealed, each of which is an occurrence that typifies or determines all related events that follow (Dictionary.com, n.d.). It is presumptive of us to choose moments within the professional area of counselling psychology, because we are not able to predict the future and know with any certainty that these acts will be essential to the meaning of this professional area. We also realise that the day-today practices of individual counselling psychologists comprise moments as each one individually interprets and creates the meaning of counselling psychology within a unique context. …