Professional Orientation to Counseling

Nicholas Vacc, Larry C. Loesch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135841317
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy Counselling
• Index: Psychology

A highly collaborative effort, the third edition of this classic text brings together the latest developments in the evolving area of professional counseling. Presented in this edition are current issues regarding ethics and legal issues, multicultural and diverse populations, individual and group counseling, assessment and appraisal, career development, counseling theory and practice, research, and an orientation to the profession of counseling. This book is a rich compendium of information for students and professionals who are seeking an overview of the profession or an opportunity to review curricular content required for licensure, certification, or comprehensive examinations in counseling. This important resource offers clear and current information on all of the eight core areas required by CACREP, and an integrated review of the profession and the most recent empirical research. It is an ideal book for a first course in a counselor training program and as a review text concerning the profession. As such, the book was chosen for inclusion in the Official Study Course for the NCE (NBCC).

PART

I

THE COUNSELING PROFESSION

Section 1: Professional Counseling

Chapter 1: Professional Counseling: A Point of View

1

CHAPTER

Professional Counseling: A Point of View

What is counseling? Professional responses to this question have been many, diverse, and varied. For example, Nugent (1994) wrote:

Professional counseling is a process in which a trained counselor helps an individual, groups of individuals, or family members gain self-understanding and understanding of others in order to solve problems more effectively and resolve conflicts in everyday living. This voluntary and confidential process involves a professional relationship in which counselors and clients jointly participate in problem resolution. (p. 5)

Similarly, Miars, Burden, and Pedersen (1997) wrote:

In the helping [counseling] relationship, individuals work together to resolve a concern and/or foster the personal growth and development of one of the two people. (p. 65)

Others have emphasized that counseling is a process. For example, Hansen, Rossberg, and Cramer (1994) wrote:

The counseling process consists of establishing a cooperative interaction and using that relationship to help clients explore themselves and their situations, gain a clearer understanding of both, and then try out appropriate actions. The therapeutic process extends over a considerable period with numerous interviews that gradually produce changes in how clients view themselves and lead to overt or covert behavior changes. (p. 189)

A similar emphasis on counseling as a relationship was supported by Capuzzi and Gross (2000).

Peterson and Nisenholz (1999) focused on the importance of counseling as a relationship between individuals and wrote:

The counselor is the most important element in the helping [counseling] relationship; the next most important element is the therapeutic alliance, or working relationship, between the counselor and client. (p. 71)

Nystul (1999) characterized counseling as both an art and a science and wrote that:

The art and science of counseling represent an extension of the scientist-practitioner model. From this perspective, the science of counseling generates a knowledge base that has been shown to promote competency and efficacy in counseling. The art of counseling involves using this knowledge base to develop skills that can be applied sensitively to clients in a multicultural society. (p. 2)

***

To call counseling an art suggests that it is a flexible, creative process whereby the counselor adjusts the approach to the unique and emerging needs of the client. (p. 3)

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The science of counseling provides a balance to the art of counseling by creating an objective dimension to the counseling process. (p. 4)

Still others have chosen not to define counseling directly, but rather to focus on the knowledge, skills, characteristics, and abilities effective counselors must possess, specifically including mutlicultural competence (e.g., Axelson, 1998; Corey, 1996; Egan, 1997; Gladding, 2000; Ivey, Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 1996; Kottler & Brown, 1999).

So what is counseling? Obviously no simple answer to this question exists. Therefore, it may be more helpful to look at the question from a slightly different perspective and ask, what is the general professional agreement about relative to counseling? There does appear to be professional agreement about at least ten aspects of what counseling is. First, counseling is a process; it is not a singular, one-time event or action. Second, the essence of the counseling process is the relationship (or therapeutic alliance) between the person(s) giving assistance and the person(s) receiving that assistance. Third, the persons providing the assistance are known as counselors (or sometimes simply as helping professionals). In most counseling relationships, one counselor provides the assistance. However, there are some situations (e.g., in co-led group counseling) in which more than one counselor may be fully involved in the counseling process. Fourth, the counselor is a professional. In this context, professional means that the counselor has appropriate (usually postbaccalaureate) academic and experiential preparation, holds credentials widely recognized and honored by members of the counseling profession, and adheres to standards of behavior in counseling that are established and endorsed by members of the counseling profession. Fifth, the persons receiving the assistance are known as clients (or sometimes as helpees or counselees). Clients may receive counseling individually, as members of a group, or as members of a family unit. Sixth, counseling proceeds through an orderly, evolving, and identifiable set of stages. Seventh, counseling is a multidimensional process that necessitates consideration of a wide variety of characteristics of the client(s) and of the counselor. Eighth, counseling potentially can be provided through a variety of modalities, although the efficacy of counseling provided through emerging, nontraditional modalities has not yet been evaluated fully. Ninth, counseling may be provided from within either remedial or preventive perspectives, or both. And finally, counseling is based on an identifiable knowledge base, is practiced in a manner in which the relationship between the knowledge base and counseling behaviors can be identified, and is amenable to evaluation through application of professionally accepted methodologies.

This multifaceted characterization acknowledges the comprehensiveness of the activity known as counseling. To help clients enhance their lives, professional counselors apply knowledge, skills, and techniques derived from the areas of human growth and development, the social and behavioral sciences, and from counselor education. Their work may involve individual interpersonal relationships, social or small-group interactions, or community-wide involvements. They also may be involved with personal, social, familial, or vocational concerns. Finally, they may be involved with either direct or indirect service delivery.

The comprehensive nature of the activity known as counseling leads to the conclusion that no one person can, or does, practice all aspects of it effectively. Thus, counseling activities are more commonly clustered in counseling specialties. Typically, counseling activities (and counselors) are subdivided under the general rubrics of mental health counseling, school counseling, and family counseling. However, these broad areas are usually subdivided into even more distinctive counseling specialties. Sometimes a counseling specialty designation reflects the nature of the counseling service modality, such as individual, group, or marriage counseling. In other cases, a counseling specialty designation reflects the nature of the type of problem being addressed, such as addictions, gerontological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or career counseling. And in still other cases, a counseling specialty designation reflects the setting in which counseling is provided, such as community agency counseling or counseling in business and industry. A brief overview of some of the counseling specialties follows.

Specialities in Counseling

Mental Health Counseling

Mental health counseling emphasizes the provision of services in the community, business or industry, or in private practice. Within these settings, professional counselors are involved in the provision of many types of mental health counseling services. For example, they may provide family, adult, adolescent, or child counseling services; administer preventive mental health programs; provide consultation services; or help people find and achieve appropriate vocational goals and placements.

Marriage and Family Counseling

The specialty of marriage and family counseling views the family unit as having unique characteristics that require special knowledge and skill in order for counseling to be effective. Professional counselors working in this specialty are interested in specific problems that impede effective family functioning. Counseling practice with a focus on the family includes working with couples concerning training in parenting skills, relationship enhancement, or premarital counseling. These areas of focus, as well as implementation of systemic intervention, are directed toward assisting a significant portion of the family (i.e., those who are defined as a part of the family, whether remarried, part of a stepfamily, a single parent, divorced, or a significant other) achieve an effective, functional, and mutually beneficial identity as a family unit.

Counseling in Student Affairs Practice

Student affairs practice in higher education refers to the other-than-academic services provided for students on college or university campuses. Student affairs practice is based on the recognition that undergraduate and graduate students’ problems have to be considered in the context of the total college or university environment. Professional counselors in higher education settings have special concern for the university community and problems unique to it. They may be occupied with recruitment (admissions), managing a counseling program, overseeing student residence life, career planning and placement, addressing student mental health, advising on student activities (e.g., fraternities and sororities), advocating for special student groups (e.g., students with disabilities, foreign students, and students requiring educational opportunity programs), administering student discipline, retention, advising, or student development in general.

School Counseling

Professional counselors in this specialty area view the school as a unique community that must be understood distinctly if the people in that environment are to be assisted with their educational, personal, and social developments. All people working in the school (e.g., administrators, supervisors, teachers, cafeteria workers, secretaries, custodians, volunteers, and teacher aides) are viewed as important contributors to the achievement of educational goals and to the quality of life in a school. However, the professional counselor in the school setting specializes in facilitating the development of children and adolescents, with emphases on interactions among children, school personnel, and parents.

Counseling in student affairs practice in higher education and school counseling share a concern for understanding the settings in which behavior occurs. Professional counselors in these settings bring their knowledge, skills, and techniques to the situations, and apply them to the problems presented within these special environments (i.e., unique places in which people live, work, and study).

Rehabilitation Counseling

This counseling specialty involves provision of counseling services to persons having relatively substantial physical ability challenges, such as visual, auditory, skeletal, muscular, or neurological impairments. These counseling services are often provided in conjunction with medical services to assist persons to cope with the psychosocial and personal difficulties associated with their physical ability challenges. There is also considerable emphasis in the rehabilitation counseling profession on helping individuals with physical ability challenges find effective, meaningful, and satisfying vocational adjustments. Rehabilitation counseling services are often provided through community agencies, although there is an evident increase in private practice rehabilitation counseling.

These counseling specialty designations are helpful for discussion purposes. However, they should not overshadow the reality that there is much in common among the specialties and the professionals who provide the respective specialized counseling services. In particular, counselors distinguish themselves by the applied nature of their work. In addition, there is much commonality in the counseling activities used for the various counseling recipient groups, problem types, and settings. Regardless of specialty, a common bond exists among professional counselors: the goal of helping people to cope and to find effective solutions for problems that can arise at any point in the lives of otherwise primarily normal people.

Collectively, the above information provides a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface to the Third Edition
• Part One: The Counseling Profession
• Part Two: Core Knowledge Areas for the Professional Practice of Counseling
• References
• About the Authors
• Index