Introduction to Professional Counseling

Varunee Faii Sangganjanavanich, Cynthia A. Reynolds

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781483322438
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Organized around the latest CACREP standards, Introduction to Professional Counseling integrates key theoretical concepts with discussion of the practical aspects of the field. Drawing from their own experiences as counseling practitioners, editors Varunee Faii Sangganjanavanich and Cynthia A. Reynolds explore what it means to develop a professional counseling identity, emphasizing the importance of intentionality and reflection in practice. Numerous case studies and practice exercises in this innovative text further personalize the content for developing 21st century counselors. Introduction to Professional Counseling is part of the Counseling and Professional Identity Series, which targets specific competencies identified by CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs). To learn more about each text in the Series, please visit www.sagepub.com/vip/cpiseries

Chapter 1 Overview of Professional Counseling

Varunee Faii Sangganjanavanich

Welcome to professional counseling! You have already begun your journey to become a professional counselor. You may feel upbeat in beginning your exciting journey that encompasses your personal and professional goals. You may have dreams and fantasies about your life a few years from now working as a professional counselor in a desirable work setting. What do you hope to see when looking back at your experience during your graduate training? Some of us who are professional counselors remember how overwhelming it was to learn about the profession, but we found that a comprehensive introduction to professional counseling was critical and worthwhile.

Throughout your graduate program in counseling, you will gain plenty of information and experience intended to prepare you to function as a professional counselor. In this chapter, you will be introduced to professional counseling, including its definition and identity. You will learn about the importance of self of the counselor, the therapeutic relationship, and major theoretical approaches in the counseling context. You will also learn about the counseling process and basic skills used in counseling. Reflection exercises and case illustrations will enhance your learning about professional counseling, professional identity, and therapeutic relationship as well as counseling process.

You will find that this chapter provides a brief overview of professional counseling. Later in this textbook, you will be able to obtain more comprehensive information regarding the history of the counseling profession (Chapter 2), counseling professional associations and accrediting agencies (Chapter 10), and credentials of professional counselors (Chapter 11). The information will further facilitate your understanding of the roots, development, and current issues of the counseling profession from macro-level perspectives (e.g., organizations, state laws, policies) and will help strengthen your professional counselor identity. In addition, to start paving your path to become a professional counselor, you can start exploring roles and functions of professional counselors (Chapter 3) and begin to think about your career options, such as types of professional counselors and settings in which they work (Chapter 4). In the appendix, you will also find ways to navigate your graduate program in counseling and make your training experience worthwhile. This is the time to begin your adventurous journey!

Learning Objectives

After reading the information and engaging in the reflection exercises provided in this chapter, you will be able to

1. Describe the professional counseling definition and professional identity of counselors,
2. Identify the characteristics of counselors and counselors in the therapeutic relationship and process, and
3. Discuss major counseling theoretical approaches.

Professional Counseling

Many disciplines, whether closely related to the counseling profession (e.g., social work) or not (e.g., finance, nutrition and dietetics), utilize counseling to describe the nature of their work. At times, the utilization of this term can be confusing to the general public and consumers. It is a guarantee that once in your lifetime as a professional counselor, you will be asked, “What is counseling?” You may also be asked, “Is counseling the same as psychotherapy?” Do you have an idea how to respond to these questions and to describe professional counseling?

There are ongoing debates about the similarities and differences between counseling and psychotherapy. You may find that many counseling scholars and counselors use both terms interchangeably. Historically, psychotherapy was differentiated as a form of helping that focused on serious problems of an intrapsychic nature with treatment delivered by a trained professional (Frank, 1988). Traditionally, professionals have differentiated between the two terms using the following criteria:

• Length of treatment (psychotherapy is long term; counseling is short term),
• Seriousness of presenting issues (psychotherapy is for more serious issues; counseling is for less serious issues),
• Physical location of treatment (psychotherapy is offered in an inpatient setting; counseling is offered in an outpatient setting),
• Focus of treatment (psychotherapy focuses on past issues; counseling focuses on present issues),
• Type of presenting issues (psychotherapy is for long-term personality disorders—mental illness; counseling is for developmental issues of everyday existence—mental health), and
• Outcomes (psychotherapy offers insight; counseling facilitates action).

In practice, these historic and traditional differences have blurred and are no longer justified. As a result, counseling practitioners and consumers often use both terms interchangeably. However, as the practice of professional counseling has become an identifiable profession with educational requirements, training standards, an ethical code, and codification in state legislation and regulations, professional counseling has become a well-defined field with the number of licensed professionals surpassing numbers of practitioners of both psychology and social work (US Department of Labor, 2012).

Definition

What is counseling? Why do we need to know its definition? Professional counseling has an evolving definition. Over a decade ago, the American Counseling Association (ACA) the primary association in the United States representing professional counselors, defined professional counseling as “the application of mental health, psychological, or human development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral, or systemic interventions, strategies that address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology” (Gladding, 2004, p. 6).

More recently, ACA established a task force, “20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling,” to reconceptualize the definition of professional counseling. Currently, professional counselor refers to “a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals” (ACA, 2010). This definition simplifies the nature of the counseling relationship, roles of professional counselors, consumers of professional counseling services, and practicing areas of professional counselors.

Counseling: A Unified Profession

Vision 20/20 was a task force developed by ACA leaders (Kaplan & Gladding, 2011) to strengthen the profession through a clearer mission statement for professional advocacy nationally and in statehouses around the country in a time of diminishing resources. Thirty-two organizations participated in the 20/20 process, including ACA divisions, regions, and interest groups, but not all 32 had voting delegates in attendance. Based on the recommendation of the 20/20 taskforce, Kaplan and Gladding (2011) described seven areas that are critical to promote the mission of professional counseling:

• Strengthening identity
• Presenting ourselves as one profession
• Improving public perception/recognition and advocating for professional issues
• Creating licensure portability
• Expanding and promoting the research base of professional counseling
• Focusing on students and prospective students
• Promoting client welfare and advocacy (p. 369)

With the evolution of professional counseling definitions over 30 years, the definition of professional counseling will likely shift in the future. You, as a professional counselor, will witness the next definition as part of advocating for a unified profession and diverse specialties. Later in this textbook, in Chapter 12, you will learn more about the importance of advocacy for professional counseling and how it directly and indirectly impacts you and your work as a professional counselor.

The definition of professional counseling is evolving. Over the past decade, the definition has evolved from focusing on an individual's development and mental health issues to focusing on an individual's empowerment and wellness. Although its definition has changed over time, one thing still remains significant in the professional counseling relationship—a counselor. In the next section, you will be introduced to the importance of self of the counselor in the therapeutic context.

Exercise 1.1

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Directions: Answer questions below. If you would like, you may definitely discuss your answers with your peers.

First, let's write down your answer to the following questions:

1. What will be the future definition of professional counseling in the next 10 years?
2. What specialty areas of practice are yet to emerge?
3. How will future changes affect the professional identity of counselors?

Next, once you have pondered some answers, let's begin thinking about the following:

1. What does it mean to be a professional counselor?
2. What are common attributes of professional counselors?
3. How does this identity impact you as a professional counselor at the local, state, and federal level?

Self of the Counselor

The counselor is an instrument in the therapeutic process. Many prominent counseling theorists (e.g., Virginia Satir, Carl Rogers) emphasized the importance of self of the counselor. Satir (1987) stated, “Therapy is a deeply intimate and vulnerable experience, requiring sensitivity to one's own state of being as well as to that of the other. It is the meeting of the deepest self of the therapist with the deepest self of the patient or client” (p. 17). Because the self of the counselor is believed to be a vital part of promoting the client's optimal growth and development, Rogers (1961) suggested that, for therapy to be effective, the counselor needs to provide three conditions of growth: unconditional positive regard, congruence, and empathy with the client. Building on Rogers's conditions of growth, recent research studies found that, in order to achieve favorable therapeutic outcome, counselors should be empathic, warm, supportive, and hopeful when working with their clients (Lambert & Barley, 2001). These characteristics of counselors allow clients to feel understood, accepted, empowered, and encouraged. Gladding (2004) further recommended that “counselors should possess personal qualities of maturity, empathy, and warmth” (p. 34) in order to help clients to feel comfortable and to allow clients to share their stories without feeling judged by the counselor. However, you may have heard a story about or may have even experienced an ineffective counselor who does not seem to listen to the client and often expresses anger or frustration toward her or his client. This situation can emerge for various reasons, including ...