Counseling Psychology in Hong Kong: A Germinating Discipline

Cet article décrit la psychologie du counseling comme discipline émergente à Hong Kong. L'analyse SWOT a été utilisée pour examiner les forces et les faiblesses internes, les opportunités et les menaces externes de cette profession. A partir de cette matrice, des questions stratégiques relatives à l'accroissement et au développement de la psychologie du counseling sont identifiées et discutées. Une vision de la psychologie du counseling à Hong Kong dans la prochaine décade est présentée.
This article describes the emerging counseling psychology discipline in Hong Kong. A SWOT analysis was used to examine internal strengths, internal weaknesses, external opportunities, and external threats confronting the counseling psychology profession. Through this process a number of strategic issues central to the growth and development of counseling psychology are identified and discussed. A vision of the counseling psychology discipline in Hong Kong for the next decade is presented.     

George Gazda: Steps Ahead of the Group

Dr. George Gazda has been and remains a pioneer in the counseling profession. During the past several decades, he has been instrumental in several movements and has influenced the direction of the field of counseling. His leadership in bringing group counseling to the respected status it holds today is a remarkable feat. The development of the comprehensive and practical “Life Skills Model” has influenced the way many counselors work with clients. In this brief interview, he talks of the significant people in his professional development, and some of the many people he has touched speak to his caring and commitment to his chosen profession. This short synopsis of Dr. Gazda's career hardly does justice to his many contributions. He is indeed a remarkable professional and person. The counseling profession, in may ways, owes him considerable credit for where we are today and for where we may strive in the future. His dreams provide a true vision for the rest of us.     

The application of solution‐focused work in employment counseling

The author explores the applicability of a solution‐focused therapy (SFT) model as a comprehensive approach to employment counseling. SFT focuses the client on developing a vision of a preferred future and assumes that the client has the talents and resources that can be accessed in the employment counseling process. The solution‐focused counselor enters the therapeutic relationship from a point of “not knowing” and works with the client in job transition to develop possibilities that evolve from the client's strengths and knowledge. Examples are given of how solution‐focused employment counseling could be practiced.     

Transforming a Past into a Future: Counseling Psychology in South Africa

Cet article décrit une analyse SWOT de la profession de psychologue du counseling en Afrique du Sud. Deux sources d'information constituent la base de cette investigation: une revue de la littérature sur la profession et l'analyse thématique d'une enquête réalisée auprès de psychologues du counseling pratiquants ou en formation. Il apparaît que cette profession cherche à se constituer une identité pertinente qui serait en prise avec les problèmes spécifiques relevant de l'histoire sociopolitique et socioéconomique de l'Afrique du Sud. On envisage différentes pistes esquissant une vision d'avenir de la profession aussi bien dans un contexte national qu'international.
This article describes a SWOT analysis of the counseling psychology profession in South Africa. Two sources of information formed the basis for the analysis: An examination of the literature on the profession and a content theming of a survey conducted with practising counseling psychologists and those in training. The analysis suggests that the counseling profession is struggling to establish a relevant identity that will address the inherent problems created by South Africa's sociopolitical and socioeconomic history. Several suggestions are made for creating a future vision for the profession within both a national and an international context.     

Is the Best Practices Movement Consistent With the Values of the Counseling Profession? A Critical Analysis of Best Practices Ideology

The counseling profession has increasingly embraced a medicalized vision of counseling processes. The latest manifestation of this vision is the best practices (BP) movement. This movement is critically examined to determine if it is consistent with the traditional values of the counseling profession. The author concludes that BP ideology is inconsistent with the value the counseling profession has traditionally placed on the counseling relationship and diversity.     

When Lightning Strikes: Reexamining Creativity in Psychotherapy

Creativity is paramount to the therapeutic process. This article explored the role of creativity in counseling and psychotherapy through a critical analysis of several key articles in a special issue of The Journal of Clinical Activities, Assignments, & Handouts in Psychotherapy Practice (L. L. Hecker, 2002). Implications for counselors/therapists and the future of the field are discussed.     

Counseling on the Information Highway: Future Possibilities and Potential Problems

The evolution of the Internet into the information highway offers many future possibilities and potential problems in the delivery of counseling services. Features of the current Internet are briefly reviewed, and the results of an analysis of counseling applications on the Internet are presented and discussed. Current experience with computer networks, counseling applications, and the likely features of the future information highway provides a foundation for exploring the potential benefits and limitations of using this technology in counseling.     

Finding order and direction from chaos: a comparison of chaos career counseling and trait matching counseling

Chaos career counseling, based on the Chaos Theory of Careers (R. G. L. Pryor & J. E. H. Bright, 2003a, 2003b), was compared with trait matching career counseling and a wait list control. Sixty university students who attended the Careers Research and Assessment Service seeking career advice were randomly assigned to the chaos intervention, the trait matching intervention, or a wait list control group. Both chaos and trait matching counseling had a positive impact; however, chaos counseling had a more lasting effect. Overall, results support using the chaos counseling approach as a valid alternative to trait matching approaches. Implications for counseling practice as well as future research are discussed.     

Reason,Intuition, and Social Justice: Elaborating on Parsons's Career Decision‐Making Model

Nearly a century ago, Frank Parsons established the Vocation Bureau in Boston and spawned the development of the counseling profession. Elaborating on Parsons's socially responsible vision for counseling, the authors examine contemporary perspectives on career decision making that include both rational and alternative models and propose that these models be integrated. Returning to counseling's roots in early 20th century social and political reformation movements could ultimately lead the profession to a renewed vision that comprehends career decision making and counseling as a socially situated process entailing purposeful reasoning, prudent intuition, and sustained efforts at ameliorating social injustice.     

Maintaining the viability of counseling psychology: The role of research training

Data and trends affecting the future of counseling psychology are discussed. It h concluded that the future existence of the specialty is largely influenced by the research productivity of counseling psychologists. A major factor affecting that productivity is the quality and effectiveness of research training provided to graduate students. The empirical literature on research training is reviewed with respect to procedures for increasing research productivity. Suggestions for modifying graduate research training are discussed.     

The religious and moral foundations of pastoral counseling

This paper explores the significant issues related to the articulation of distinctions between pastoral counseling and the secular psychotherapies. The argument is made that pastoral counseling can be distinguished from the secular psychotherapies because the former is grounded in the moral vision of the religious traditions as well as the growing body of clinical knowledge the secular psychotherapies have made available to the culture. A dialectical model of moral inquiry is then presented as the most adequate for the pastoral counseling enterprise to carry out its inescapable moral task.He is a Candidate-in-Training at the C.G. Jung Institute in New York City.     

Research Competencies in Counseling: A Delphi Study

Research quality has become the focus of a nationwide discussion, one from which the counseling field is not exempt. One hindrance to improving counseling research is the lack of guidelines for research competence. The purpose of this study was to develop an initial list of research competencies for the counseling field using the Delphi method. An expert panel of counseling researchers reached consensus on 159 research competencies. Suggestions for implementation and future research are discussed.     

An Assessment‐Based Model for Counseling Strategy Selection

This article presents a counseling strategy selection model grounded in technical eclecticism (A. A. Lazarus & L. E. Beutler, 1993) and based on thorough assessment of the client's problems. Assessment should consider client mental health, counseling goals, problem complexity, and capacity and desire for insight. Distinguishing between simple and complex problems can aid assessment and provide direction for counseling modality selection (L. E. Beutler & J. F. Clarkin, 1990). Behavioral interventions are more appropriate for less complex problems or when capacity or desire for insight is low. Insight‐based interventions are more appropriate for more complex problems or when capacity or desire for insight is high.     

An exploration of factors contributing to multicultural counseling self-efficacy in addiction counselors

A non-experimental, correlational survey design was used to explore relationships between counselor recovery status, training, and counselor demographic variables on multicultural counseling self-efficacy in addiction counselors (N = 283) using the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy – Racial Diversity Form. A multiple-indicators and multiple-causes model analysis indicated significant differences based on race, multicultural education, and CACREP program attendance on multicultural counseling self-efficacy. Implications from this study and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Counseling in an Enlightened Society: Values for a New Millennium

In the year 2001, civilization will enter a new century and a new millennium as well. For counseling professionals the start of a new millennium encourages an examination of the philosophy and practice of mental health intervention. The purpose of this article is to share a vision that can possibly lay the foundation for an enlightened world society. It also attempts to outline how the counseling profession can influence the possibility of such a society.     

A Call for Greater Collaboration Between the Counseling Psychology and School Counseling Professions

Recently, The Counseling Psychologist (Vol.32[2], 2004) published a special issue titled “Counseling Psychology and School Counseling.” A cadre of counseling psychologists and counselor educators was assembled by the special issue editors, F. A. Hoffman and R. T. Carter (2004), to react and respond to J. L. Romano and M. M. Kachgal's (2004) article that stressed the need for greater collaboration between the counseling psychology and school counseling professions. A range of perspectives and views was represented in this issue. The current article summarizes these accounts and offers implications for counseling psychology.     

Technology of Counseling and the Science of Behavior: A Rapprochement

Analysis reveals that as the profession of counseling has increasingly been defined by the solitary practice of counseling, it has narrowed its vision and mission. Misdirected specialization has resulted in a highly skilled technology with a primary emphasis on the method(s) of counseling. In turn, this specialization has restricted the focus of counseling to areas amenable to that technology. Part of the diminution of counseling perspective is the result of a distancing of the counseling profession from the social and behavioral sciences, the humanities, and philosophy. The article presents examples from the social and behavioral sciences to demonstrate how their contributions could strengthen the profession and practice of counseling.     

Increasing Severity of Presenting Problems in College Counseling Centers: A Closer Look

Dealing with increasing numbers of college students who present with serious psychological problems has been identified as a significant challenge for counseling centers in the current decade. On the basis of their review of research, G. L. Stone and J. Archer (1990) concluded that the level of psychopathology among counseling center clients increased during the 1980s and likely would continue to do so into the 1990s. A closer look at the research shows that there is the perception among counseling center practitioners that psychopathology is on the rise but little direct evidence to support such a trend. Although not necessarily on the increase, there is empirical evidence that certain forms of psychological disturbance are not uncommon among clinical and nonclinical college student samples. Implications for counseling center research and practice based on this literature review are discussed.     

Perspectives on Counseling Psychology: Portugal at a Glance

Les auteurs décrivent le statut actuel et réfléchissent à l'avenir possible de la psychologie du counseling au Portugal, cela à partir de ses forces, de ses faiblesses, de ses opportunités et de ce qui la menace. Le counseling est de plus en plus une aide proactive au développement individuel, plutôt qu'une solution aux situations problématiques. Dans ces conditions, l'une des orientations possibles de la psychologie du counseling est le traitement de la diversité des approches théoriques et techniques pour mettre au point des méthodes d'intervention communes. Les défis que rencontreront prochainement les psychologues du counseling sont analysés à partir des demandes universitaires et autres, la qualité des services et la nécessité d'une réglementation officielle. On propose enfin des recommandations relatives à l'avenir de la psychologie du counseling.
Based on an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the authors discuss the current status and possible future directions for counseling psychology in Portugal. Counseling is increasingly being viewed as a proactive support to individual development, rather than as a remedial solution to problem situations. In this environment, pursuing diversity in theoretical and techniques approaches to find common intervention methodologies is one possible direction for counseling psychology. The challenges encountered by counseling psychologists in the near future are analysed relative to academic and other demands, the quality of the services, and the need for statutory regulation. Recommendations pertaining to the construction of the future for counseling psychology are proposed.     

Client Accounts of Hope in Early Counseling Sessions: A Qualitative Study

Hope enables individuals to envision a future in which they wish to participate ( Jevne, 1994 ) and is foundational to counseling practice. However, there has been little research examining client accounts of hope in session. Using basic interpretive inquiry, this case study examines clients' accounts of hope during counseling using video‐assisted recall. Three categories emerged: hope‐fostering counseling relationship, supportive identity development, and perspective change. Implications for counseling are discussed.