Introduction—Accountability or A-ccount-ability?

Guest Editors Larry Ellis and William Prochnow introduce this special issue of JEC by raising questions and issues of accountability that affect all professionals in employment counseling. Past accountability definitions hare been narrowly defined using accomplishmen/cost approaches. The Manpower Administration has attempted to use this approach in the provision of and justification for counseling services. Positive outcome data have been obtained for counseled applicants, but the counseling function is still being questioned. This article proposes expanding the concept of counselor accountability and introduces a multi-approach to accountability.     

Accountability Systems in the Employment Service

Counseling services often culminate in various positive outcomes, many of which are difficult to adapt to a system of accountability. If counseling is to continue to develop, then it must become responsive and accountable to priorities determined by management policies. In the employment service this means how well counseling services relate to clients being placed in meaningful jobs. This article discusses the issues of accountability in the counseling profession, provides information on the basic employment service computerized data systems, and introduces two analysis and planning forms which can be used to derive meaningful data from these systems. Information from these sources will enhance budget and resource planning and evaluation of performances as well as provide other information which state and local offices can profitably use in developing a more standardized and accountable counseling program.     

The American Counseling Association Practice Research Network (ACA‐PRN): A New Research Tool

In an era of increasing accountability, there is a need to provide data on counseling outcomes. That is, there is a need to substantiate the claim that counseling works. This article describes the American Counseling Association Practice Research Network (ACA‐PRN), which is designed to provide data on evidence‐based counseling.     

A Case for Standards of Counseling Practice

A mature counseling profession has entered the decade of the 1990s. Several factors including professionalism, accountability, health care consumerism, credentialism, and public demands for quality mental health care indicate a need for more definitive statements on standards of practice in counseling. In response to this need, an 8-point proposal for standards of practice in mental health counseling is offered.     

Counseling centers and the issue of accountability

The authors discuss responses that college and university counseling centers have made to the budgetary attacks now occurring. They stress the importance of accountability and suggest types of data that counseling center personnel might use in developing effective justifications for the expenditure of funds on the services that they provide.     

Program Evaluation and Counseling: Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow

Spawned by intensified demands for accountability, expanding counselor roles and functions, and increased counselor attention both in the counseling literature and in counseling practice, program evaluation has emerged as a vital aspect of counselor functioning in recent years. This article highlights the differences between program evaluation and research, a long-standing source of confusion; presents major issues in the practice of counseling program evaluation; and identifies current trends in program evaluation.     

Stress Counseling Theory and Practice: A Cautionary Review

In this era of growing emphasis on professional and financial accountability, stress counseling remains vague and imprecise. This article grounds stress counseling in responsible clinical methodology through reexamining and organizing the durable empirical literature to help counselors develop credible and effective interventions. A flowchart schema incorporating primary stress coping modalities of environment, cognitions, emotions, and personal life philosophy is presented to systematize intervention efforts to maximize efficient stress counseling services.     

Preventing Dual Relationships in Pastoral Counseling

The practice of pastoral counseling provides many opportunities for dual relationships. Churches and church-related institutions are contexts in which such relationships are easily formed. Some pastoral counselors cope by entering private practice, which may exacerbate the problem by removing resources for collegiality and accountability. Pastoral counselors can avoid dual relationships by understanding their vulnerability, subscribing to and communicating a clear code of professional ethics, becoming aware of personal limitations, and building networks of accountability.     

Accountability: A Total Commitment

The counseling profession has the knowledge and methodology to provide accountability in delivering its services. What remains is for leaders to use these resources and to develop more effective services. This article describes the program concepts and procedures implemented in one state employment service agency to establish an accountable counseling program. These procedures include the development of a compentency-based training and supervision system. The competency model is described and its goals are specified. Accountability at all levels of the system is defined, including the responsibility of management to guarantee the public quality counseling services.     

Program Evaluation: The Accountability Bridge Model for Counselors

The accountability and reform movements in education and the human services professions have pressured counselors to demonstrate outcomes of counseling programs and services. Evaluation models developed for large‐scale evaluations are generally impractical for counselors to implement. Counselors require practical models to guide them in planning and conducting counseling program evaluations. The authors present the Accountability Bridge Counseling Program Evaluation Model and discuss its use in evaluating counseling services and programs     

School Counselor Accountability: The Path to Social Justice and Systemic Change

Expectations run high that accountability for student outcomes will continue to drive the education agenda with reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965). School counselors have also recognized the imperative to connect their work to school improvement goals. This article discusses action research undertaken by school counselors who used data‐informed practice to align counseling programs with the accountability expectations of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) and the American School Counselor Association (2003, 2005) National Model.     

Evaluating Addictions Counseling Programs: Promoting Best Practices,Accountability, and Advocacy

Program evaluation offers several benefits to addictions counselors, including identifying best practices, providing accountability to stakeholders, and advocating for minority client populations. This article reviews the benefits of addictions counseling program evaluation and outlines main steps in the evaluation process.     

A Developmental Approach to Outreach Services for Counseling Centers

Economics, pressure for accountability and changing student needs are forcing counseling centers to evaluate their services and methods of delivery. This article illustrates how a developmental, proactive, outreach approach can be an alternative to the traditional medical model.     

Assessing the Quality of Counseling Services: Developing Accountable Helping Systems

Professional counselors in school, campus, and mental health settings are facing increasing demands for accountability with respect to the cost and quality of their services. This article reviews dimensions of quality and ways of assessing these in counseling settings, with particular emphasis on the development of ongoing programs of quality improvement. Such programs are described as mechanisms for science-practice integration within counseling settings, providing decision support tools for triage, treatment planning, and the management of professional services.     

An Exploration of Young Clients' Experiences in Counseling With Post‐Master's Counselors

This phenomenological study adds to current literature about clients' meaningful experiences in counseling by exploring the experiences of eight young clients (ages 8–18) in individual counseling with post‐master's counselors in an outpatient setting. Interviews with these clients revealed the following six themes: (a) the process of growth, (b) having a safe place to talk, (c) counselor accepts and meets the client where they are, (d) counseling is a team effort, (e) supportive accountability from the counselor, and (f) understanding self and others. The final theme includes two subthemes: learning coping and emotion management skills, and learning better ways to communicate and behave. Findings and implications for counselors are discussed.     

Feedback and accountability

This article describes a communications system for planning and carrying out guidance and counseling activities. In the proposed model not only professional team members but also consumers of professional services are regarded as active participants in all phases of guidance, from goal identification through outcome evaluation. The article stresses the importance of an adequate feedback system used by all participants and describes its relationship to counselor accountability.     

A Counselor Classification System: Accountable

The Wisconsin State Employment Security Division has an employment counselor classification scheme which responds to the cry for accountability. This article discusses (a) technical requirements and performance standards for three levels of employment counselors; (b) specific job duties and levels of skill for Manpower counselors 1, 2, and 3; (c) caseload size, counseling outcomes, counseling and assessment skills, community resources, job development activities, and additional performance requirements expected of the master level counselor; (d) the system of reclassifying a Manpower counselor 2 to the Manpower counselor 3 level; and (e) the use of an on-site review by a state counseling supervisor as the method of evaluating a counselor's Performance. Values of the counselor classification scheme are indicated.     

Counseling— A Friend to Placement

The policy declaring placement as top priority, accompanied by a responsive focus of staff and budget resources, has decreased the availability of counseling services to applicants contacting the employment service. Many people, if they are to be assisted in finding and keeping jobs, need the help given by professional employment service counselors. Management and program planners need an accountability rate of the importance of counseling services in the accomplishment of the placement priority. A study, covering two years of employment activities, was conducted in the Utah agency to gain insight into the question. The statistical material studied concerned available applicants, number placed, number counseled, and counseled applicants placed. The data indicated that counseled applicants have better than twice the chance of being placed on a job than uncounseled applicants. Thus, in Utah, counseling services have a positive influence in the job placement of an applicant.