Counselor Identity Research Articles

The Synonymic Nature of Professional Counseling and Humanism: Presuppositions That Guide Our Identities

The authors present the argument that professional counseling is philosophically grounded in humanism. As evidence, 5 major presuppositions of professional counseling—relationality, development, empowerment, wellness, and social justice—are situated as fundamental to the understanding of humanism. These tenets are presented as a foundation to ground professional counselor identity as humanistic, and thus position humanism as synonymic with professional counseling.

Professional Identity of Counselors in Mexico: A Commentary

The authors conducted an exploratory study using cultural domain analysis to better understand the meaning that advanced students and professional counselors in Mexico give to their professional identity. More similarities than differences were found in the way students and professionals define themselves. The most relevant concepts were empathy, ethics, commitment, versatility, training and support. Students gave more weight to multiculturalism and diversity, whereas professionals prioritized commitment and responsibility at work. Prevention did not appear as a relevant concept, posing challenges for professional counselor training programs in Mexico.

Counselor Identity Development: Toward a Model for the Formation of Professional Identity

The purpose of this examination is to identify how counselor educators can assist students in developing professional identity. We propose that this process consists of three learning domains: knowledge, skill, and attitudes. Focusing on the attitudinal, we suggest use of the Context-Phase-Stage-Style (CPSS) model. We propose several practical methods counselor educators can use to attend to the development of professional attitudes among counselors-in-training, using the CPSS model, including mentoring and specific pedagogical techniques.

A Grounded Theory Investigation into the Process and Effects of Service Learning in Counselor Education

Service-learning is an approach to experiential learning that is relatively unexplored among graduate students. The authors of this study sought to understand the process and effects of service-learning among 76 graduate counseling students enrolled in an “Introduction to Community Counseling” course over three semesters, 40 of whom engaged in service-learning. Analyzing students’ reflection papers, projects, and blog entries via a grounded-theory approach, the study generated a model of how service-learning impacted these students’ learning and sense of counselor identity. Students went through a process of development: They began with personal engagement, became overwhelmed, readjusted their expectations, and then reconstructed their individual counselor identities.

Identifying Role Diffusion in School Counseling

Role ambiguity in professional school counseling is an ongoing concern despite recent advances with comprehensive school counseling models. The study outlined in this article examined role diffusion as a possible factor contributing to ongoing role ambiguity in school counseling. Participants included 109 graduate students enrolled in a CACREP-accredited counseling program at a large southwestern university. Findings suggest that providing direct counseling services is the most unique and least diffused role for today's school counselors. The authors also review implications for professional school counselors and recommendations for future research.Keywords: school counselors, role ambiguity, role diffusion, comprehensive school counseling, direct counseling servicesSchool counselor roles and functions have been examined by scholars for many decades (Astramovich, Hoskins, & Coker, 2013; Burnham & Jackson, 2000; Gysbers 2004; Herr, 2003; Lieberman, 2004; Myrick, 1987). As professional school counseling evolved, standards of practice were developed as a means for solidifying professional identity and to help guide the specific duties expected of school counselors (Dahir, Burnham, & Stone, 2009; Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012). School counseling as a distinct profession has proliferated in the 21 st century, yet inconsistencies in school counselor roles and functions have continued to challenge the field (Astramovich, Hoskins, & Bartlett, 2010; Culbreth, Scarborough, Banks-Johnson, & Solomon, 2005). This article defines and presents the results of a study of role diffusion among school counselors and calls for renewed emphasis on the professional counseling function of today's school counselors.Historically, several school counseling models have been discussed in the literature, each emphasizing various school counselor roles. Myrick (1987) and Gysbers and Henderson (2006) created developmental guidance models for school counseling that emphasized individual and small-group counseling services, guidance lessons, individual planning, and system support duties. Schmidt (2003) promoted an essential services model of school counseling that focused on the individual and group counseling, appraisal, coordination, and consultation roles of the counselor. Campbell and Dahir (1997) presented a set of national standards for school counseling programs that emphasized school counselor duties in the academic, career and personal-social domains. Based on the work of Campbell and Dahir (1997), the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2003) published its initial National Model for school counseling programs. Later, Brown and Trusty (2005) suggested a strategic comprehensive school counseling model that emphasized the developmental and preventive roles of the school counselor along with a focus on supporting student academic achievement. Most recently, ASCA (2012) published an updated edition of its National Model that emphasized the school counselor's role in the implementation of a school counseling core curriculum, individual student planning, and responsive services, including individual, group, and crisis counseling. A common goal of these organizational frameworks for school counseling programs was to identify appropriate roles and duties for school counselors.Models of school counseling were developed in part to strengthen and clarify the professional identity of school counselors, yet the specific roles of school counselors in educational systems have continued to be debated and refined (ASCA, 2012; Keys, Bemak, & Lockhart, 1998; Whiston, 2002,2004). During the past decade, the Transforming School Counseling Initiative (TSCI; The Education Trust, 2009) and ASCA's (2012) National Model have been discussed extensively in the school counseling literature. In contrast to earlier school counseling models, both the ASCA National Model and TSCI placed an increased emphasis on the academic support and advocacy roles of professional school counselors, while minimizing the role of providing direct counseling services to students (Astramovich et al. …

Perceived Impact of Professional Counselor Identity: An Exploratory Study

Counselor educators (N= 378) provided their viewpoints regarding the impact of counselor identity on professional advancement and recognition. Respondents indicated that counselors, the American Counseling Association, and other counseling organizations are responsible for advocacy of the counseling profession. Collaboration among counselors for the development of a single coherent message is necessary for advocacy efforts aimed at congressional Medicare leaders, managed care organizations, state licensing boards, and allied professions.

CACREP Accreditation: A Solution to License Portability and Counselor Identity Problems

A confluence of forces addressing counselor identity occurred with the 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling initiative, the 2009 Standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP), and the quest by the American Association of State Counseling Boards to establish license portability. This article provides a historical context for the profession's struggles with these issues, 1 state's experience, TRICARE's impact, and the role CACREP standards can play in their resolution.

The Role of School Counselors in Meeting Students’ Mental Health Needs: Examining Issues of Professional Identity

The professional identity of school counselors has evolved over time. This article traces the historical context driving this evolution, and suggests it is time for the profession to conjoin the roles of educational leader and mental health professional. This proposal is prompted by heightened awareness of unmet student mental health needs, referrals that go unmet, school counselors displaced by other mental health providers in schools, the potential loss of the unique school counselor role, and the natural link between the mental health professional role and the array of personal-social factors that impact student achievement. A conjoint professional school counselor identity that includes the roles of both educational leader and mental health professional positions school counselors to better respond to all students, including those with mental health needs. This article discusses potential roadblocks and offers suggestions for action.

The Role of School Counselors in Meeting Students' Mental Health Needs: Examining Issues of Professional Identity

The professional identity of school counselors has evolved over time. This article traces the historical context driving this evolution, and suggests it is time for the profession to conjoin the roles of educational leader and mental health professional. This proposal is prompted by heightened awareness of unmet student mental health needs, referrals that go unmet, school counselors displaced by other mental health providers in schools, the potential loss of the unique school counselor role, and the natural link between the mental health professional role and the array of personal-social factors that impact student achievement. A conjoint professional school counselor identity that includes the roles of both educational leader and mental health professional positions school counselors to better respond to all students, including those with mental health needs. This article discusses potential roadblocks and offers suggestions for action.

Are We Going in the Right Direction? Concerns about School Counseling

School counseling is at a crossroads. External pressures, such as education reform, the development of a single counselor identity, and serving the needs of all stakeholders, are exerted on school counseling. In 2009, the Journal of and Development published a special edition specifically asking, Where lies the future? for school counselors (Dahir, 2009). School counseling, as a specialization of the counseling profession, appears to be experiencing a crisis of identity. Historically, school counselors viewed their role as mediating the physical, personal, social, and behavior obstacles impeding students' academic success (Erford, 2011; Schellenberg, 2008). Currently, there is an attempt to shift school counselors to become education reform leaders focused on academic achievement of youth (Erford, 2011; Schellenberg, 2008). The departure from the traditional role of the school counselor seems to be redesigning the school counselor as an academic interventionist (Baker, 2001). Essentially, the crisis appears to be centered on whether school counselors are educators (with knowledge of counseling theories and techniques), or counselors (working within an educational environment), and whether academic achievement or holistic student development is the primary focus of school counselors. The future of school counseling may depend on which road is selected during this crisis of identity. While it has been acknowledged that there is more than one possible pathway in the future development of school counseling (Dahir, 2009), we believe that the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has selected an avenue of identifying school counselors as educators primarily focused on academic achievement that could be potentially devastating to school counseling. Background School counselors clearly have responsibilities to the counseling profession and to the students of the schools in which they work. This past decade, school counselors were pressured by leadership to change their role within schools. This intentional role change seems to be influenced by education reform efforts, and how leadership has interpreted the call for change. Role and Identity Historically, over the past century, role ambiguity has been a central issue for school counselors, yet the leadership has suggested, identity is not a central concern to ASCA (Kraus, Kleist, & Cashwell, 2009). Perhaps it is in the opinion of leaders that they have sufficiently met their goal to one vision, one voice for school counseling programs (ASCA, 2005; ASCA, 2012). The question remains, whose vision and voice? The vision and voice does not seem to be aligned with the other counseling organizations, including the American Association (ACA), which is the largest organization that represents counselors, and a parent organization of ASCA. ACA has been working to establish a professional identity that can be shared by all counselors, no matter their specialty (ACA, 2010; Kraus et al., 2009, p.60), including school counselors. The 20/20 representatives, which included such groups as CACREP, NBCC, Chi Sigma Iota, and the divisions of ACA (including the leadership), identified seven principles critical to the mission of continuing to move the counseling profession forward (ACA, 2010). The Principles were endorsed by 29 of the organizations that represent the specialty areas, in addition to the certifying and accrediting bodies, within the counseling profession. ASCA, however, declined to support the seven principles, but indicated that if the statements were to be operationalized, and believed that the statements represented the views of ASCA, that they would sign on at that time (R. S. Wong, personal communication, July 30, 2009). After the seven principles were adopted by the other counseling organizations, the 20/20 representatives used the Delphi Method to create a visioning statement, Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals (ACA, 2010, para. …

Shifting landscapes of counselling identities in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT The professional identity of counsellors and guidance practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand is currently under review as a result of the passing of legislation regulating health professionals and the proposed introduction of national registration of counsellors. In this paper I explore this debate, and examine the professional identities claimed by counsellors, counselling psychologists and psychotherapists. The current discussion in this country is both informed by and provides an illuminating lens on professional identity issues in Australia, the UK and the US. An alternative construction of professional identities that are localised and dynamic, yet distinctly of Aotearoa New Zealand, is proposed.

Addiction Counseling Licensure Issues for Licensed Professional Counselors

Go To DigestThis article addresses the obstacles of effectively integrating addiction counseling into a nationwide definition of professional counseling scope of practice. The article covers an overview of issues, specific licensure and credentialing frameworks in two U.S. states, and recommendations to effectively bridge the gap between professional and addiction counseling.The question of professional identity within the counseling profession, first considered during the founding of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (Sweeney, 1995), still exists today (Calley & Hawley, 2008; Cashwell, Kleist, & Schofield, 2009; Mellin, Hunt, & Nichols, 2011; Myers, Sweeney, & White, 2002; Nassar-McMillan & Niles, 2011; Remley & Herlihy, 2009). One possible reason for the continual debate around professional identity may lie in the multitude of specialty fields (e.g., addiction, career, and school) within counseling (Gale & Austin, 2003; Myers, 1995; O'Brien, 2010). Remley (1995) underscores that unlike psychology, psychiatry and social work, counseling is the only mental health profession that licenses specialty areas. Specialty areas such as career and school counseling only denote a practice area or population; whereas addiction counseling actually entails a DSM-IV-TR Axis I disorder (i.e., Substance Use Disorders; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). No other Axis I or Axis II disorder receives such attention.Addiction is considered a part of professional counseling as implied by the latest CACREP standards (2009). However, a separate licensure track exists for the profession of addiction counseling. If the practice of addiction counseling really is a part of counseling (as implied by the latest 2009 CACREP standards), then the time has come to recalibrate the rest of the counseling profession to better fit an inclusive and unifying professional counseling identity that includes addiction counseling. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to start the dialogue regarding the mixed-messages on the issue of counselor identity and specialization for addiction counseling (Morgen, Miller, Culbreth, & Juhnke, 2011; Tabor, Camisa, Yu, & Doncheski, 2011). The article is divided into an overview of issues, specific licensure and credentialing frameworks in two sample states (New Jersey and North Carolina), and recommendations in response to the concerns discussed.Overview of IssuesHenriksen, Nelson, and Watts (2010) criticize the counseling specialty system by arguing that counseling specialties do not define counseling, but merely denote a practice area and that counseling specialty licensure/credentialing implies that only a small proportion of the counseling profession is qualified to work with this population. The addiction area is one such area of specialization that comes with a separate licensure/credentialing process. The authors believe that in regard to addiction counseling, the additional supervisory and training hours required for addiction licensure/credentialing (in addition to the supervisory and training hours required for licensure as a professional counselor) implies that addiction content falls outside the professional counseling scope of practice.For instance, if the graduate counseling program does not possess an addiction track, a cursory review of curriculum at CACREP and non-C ACREP programs found the typical option of one addiction course as an elective. However, curricular reviews of numerous programs find few to no electives on other DSM-IV-TR disorders (e.g., mood, anxiety). Thus, the authors argue this produces a confusing mixed-message in that licensure as a professional counselor covers practice areas that typically receive minimal exclusive attention (e.g., one-week discussion on anxiety disorders in a maladaptive behavior course), yet an area where one (or more) electives are typically offered for in-depth study of a disorder (such as addiction) comes with an entirely unique and separate licensure process. …

Counselor Identity - A National Imperative

The author presents evidence that supports Professional Counseling as a national, professional organization. The history of the profession will be briefly delineated followed by the component parts of professional identity relevant for professional counselors. The future challenges for the counseling profession will be discussed and implications for future articulation of the national counselor identity will be considered.

An International Perspective on Professional Counselor Identity

Recent developments in technology and communication contributed to increased international collaboration in counseling practice, education, and research. The availability of information outlining the international trends in professional counseling allows an international perspective on the topic of professional counselor identity. A common aspect of international counselor identity is the early development of school counseling with the exception of Italy and Denmark. A challenge to the development of the counseling profession is the limited availability of training in many countries. Also, early in the development of the profession, it may be difficult to establish training and practice standards. Standards and regulation are necessary to ensure adequate and appropriate training and practice. Regulations and government policies allow counselors to define their scope of practice and professional role. Finally, the cultural implications of the adoption of training and models from other countries pose an additional concern to counselor identity and practice. It is necessary for counselors to inform training and practice with local cultural values and norms.

Emerging Counselor Identity through the American Counseling Association and the Texas Counseling Assoication: An Historical Perspective

The American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Texas Counseling Association (TCA) both are professional organizations with distinct and unique ties to the counseling profession. Though their existence is nearly parallel, if not congruent, as both officially came into existence in the early 1950s, their purposes and services converged in some aspects but diverged in others. Both have enjoyed growth in membership and in the representation of counselors’ special interests. Their professional foci began to distinctly diverge in the 1990s. Though still connected by charter, they now offer their members similar services and representation but seem to maintain different purposes and foci. In this manuscript, I will outline their parallel development in an attempt to discern this recent divergence of purpose and foci.

Current and Emerging Ethical Issues in Counseling: A Delphi Study of Expert Opinions

A Delphi study was conducted to ascertain the opinions of panel experts regarding the most important current and emerging ethical issues facing the counseling profession. Expert opinions on ethical issues in counselor preparation also were sought. Eighteen panelists responded to 3 rounds of data collection interspersed with feedback. Themes that emerged as important ethical issues were ensuring that counselors practice ethically and abide by the American Counseling Association (2005) ACA Code of Ethics, dealing with social justice and diversity issues, strengthening the professional identity of counselors, and ensuring competence in providing services within a climate of change.

Best Practices: A Critical Yet Inclusive Vision for the Counseling Profession

Substantial controversy has surrounded the concept of best practices (BPs) in counseling; in particular, the consequences of deriving practice guidelines from empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Criticisms of EST methodology, assumptions, and findings are summarized, and implications for core counseling values, including multiculturalism, are discussed. The authors further elaborate an inclusive view of BP that can facilitate the use of research to inform and enhance counseling services while rectifying problems associated with methodological and theoretical bias.

A Study of the Overlap of School Counselor Identity and Duties

Professional school counselors (N=92) across grade levels completed the Professional Identity of School Counselors survey (PISC) online to provide their views of professional identity and the concepts of leadership, collaboration, advocacy, multiculturalism, and the general delivery (e.g., counseling, consulting, individual planning, and guidance curriculum), management (i.e., how school counselors organize their time in meeting student needs), and accountability (e.g., collecting, using, and reporting the results of data) tasks of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. Participants identified advocacy, delivery services, and collaboration as most important to the professional identity of school counselors. None of the top activities were leadership or da-ta collection tasks. Implications and practical suggestions for counselor educators and professional school counselors are provided.

A Study of the Overlap of School Counselor Identity and Duties

Professional school counselors (N=92) across grade levels completed the Professional Identity of School Counselors survey (PISC) online to provide their views of professional identity and the concepts of leadership, collaboration, advocacy, multiculturalism, and the general delivery (e.g., counseling, consulting, individual planning, and guidance curriculum), management (i.e., how school counselors organize their time in meeting student needs), and accountability (e.g., collecting, using, and reporting the results of data) tasks of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. Participants identified advocacy, delivery services, and collaboration as most important to the professional identity of school counselors. None of the top activities were leadership or da-ta collection tasks. Implications and practical suggestions for counselor educators and professional school counselors are provided.

The evaluation of comprehensive guidance and counseling programs based on school counseling and guidance services model by school counselors

In this study, the amount of time that school counselors devote for program development, implementation and evaluation processes for generating and implementing comprehensive counseling and guidance program, which is based on the School Counseling and Guidance Services Model, as well as the problems they encountered were explored. Total of 207 school counselors, 113 of which from elementary and 94 of which from high schools participated in the study. The Survey of Roles and Responsibilities of Counselors were administered to school counselors. The quantitative data were analyzed using frequency distribution and qualitative data were analyzed by descriptive content analysis method. The findings indicate that, the implementation of comprehensive counseling and guidance program in schools, were evaluated positively especially in terms of ensuring the integrity of applications, meeting the developmental needs of students, and identity and visibility of school counselors are evaluated positively. However, some difficulties have been identified in terms of the school counseling program content and scope of competence of personnel in program implementation.