Having Our Say: African American Women,Diversity, and Counseling

African American female counseling professionals contribute greatly to the multicultural growth of the counseling profession by spurring the profession's evolution and defining new paradigms and counseling activities. Despite their contributions, they face serious organizational, intrapersonal, and interpersonal challenges to their success in academia. This article seeks to elucidate the challenges to African American female counseling professionals and offers systemic and personal strategies that will facilitate the profession's evolution to culturally competent, ethical, and intentional helping orientations and worldviews.     

Professionalism,Ethics, and Value‐Based Conflicts in Counseling: An Introduction to the Special Section

This introduction to this special section of the Journal of Counseling & Development explores the importance of a code of ethics to the establishment and maintenance of a profession. Recognizing a code of ethics as a communication of a profession's collective values and expectations, the editors of this special section acknowledge the dilemmas that arise when a counselor's personal values do not align with the profession's collective values. The authors of each article address value‐based conflicts in counseling.     

Baby Boomers Mature and Gerontological Counseling Comes of Age

Gerontological counseling is the wave of the profession's future. With the majority of 76 million baby boomers beginning to turn 60 years old in 2006, there will be a great need for preretirement to end‐of‐life counselors. This article focuses on (a) the varied influences of this group on the U.S. and the nation's concerns and (b) theories, models, standards, and competencies for counseling this unique population.     

The Evolution of Specialties in the CACREP Standards: CACREP's Role in Unifying the Profession

This article explores the evolution of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs’ (CACREP's) accreditation of program area specialties and how CACREP's decision to accredit specialties as separate programs has affected the counseling profession's ability to view itself as a single profession. The article links the development of CACREP and its accreditation structure to other historical and political events occurring within the profession and includes documentation of CACREP's efforts to self‐correct through policy development that emphasizes counseling first and specialties second.     

“Heartbreaking” Referrals,Professional “Disgrace”: The Impact of Medicare Ineligibility on the Counseling Profession

To better understand the impact of the Medicare mental health coverage gap, the authors analyzed survey data provided by 1,859 members of the American Counseling Association using a conventional qualitative content analysis. One overarching theme, direct impact of Medicare policy on the counseling profession, is presented, along with 3 thematic categories: emotional impact on providers, economic toll on providers, and negative influence on profession's credibility. Implications for the counseling profession are discussed.     

Legal and Ethical implications of HIV and Duty to Warn For Counselors: Does Tarasoff Apply?

The Tarasoff decision has been used as a benchmark in the professional literature for arguments on a counselor's duty to warn individuals who are sexually intimate with a client diagnosed as having HIV infection. Implications of the current application of Tarasoff principles to those cases are considered and conclusions are drawn that question such an application. The counseling profession's ethical standards related to these issues and the professional literature are reviewed with regard to current legislative and case law. Potential alternate courses of action that would be indicated by a broad application of Tarasoff are presented.     

Affirmative Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Counselor Education and Religious Beliefs: How Do We Bridge the Gap?

The position held by the American Counseling Association, reflecting acceptance, affirmation, and nondiscrimination of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, has created conflicts for some trainees who hold conservative religious beliefs about sexual orientation. This article explores the counseling profession's evolution regarding LGB‐affirmative counseling and examines the potential conflict this evolution can create for counselor educators who are training students with conservative religious viewpoints about sexual orientation. Recommendations for counselor educators to manage this dilemma are offered.     

The Convergence of Counseling and Psychiatric Genetics: An Essential Role for Counselors

Research in psychiatric genetics shows that many mental disorders commonly seen by counselors are associated with the presence of specific genes. Although findings in gene research call for some changes in the way counselors approach intervention, in most cases, the importance of the counseling profession's core commitments is underscored. This article introduces the field of psychiatric genetics, clarifies the importance of counseling interventions in gene‐associated mental disorder, and highlights practice questions stimulated by growing knowledge in pychiatric genetics.     

Issues and Insights: Philosophy,Moral Philosophy,and Counseling Ethics: Not an Abstraction

Despite the counseling profession's relatively nascent status, a complex history of dialogue and debate surrounds the content of counselor preparation curricula and the educational process. Many practitioners and educators acknowledge the important role ethics plays in the helping professions; over the past several decades, increased attention has been given to ethics in the preparation of counselors and psychologists. With that increase comes a small, but growing, number of voices calling for exposure to and integration of not only moral philosophy but other areas of philosophy to enhance understanding and provide a foundation for counseling practice among practitioners and students. The authors review and echo these calls.     

Diversification: Counselors' Investment in Humanity—A Student's Opinion

The author argues that diversification can be the basis of the counseling profession's investment in humanity, attempts to inspire a united stance within the profession, and maintains that counseling professionals have a responsibility to share their knowledge of and respect for embracing all people. These statements attempt to capture the perspective of one aspiring to join the ranks of many dedicated and inspiring counseling professionals. Open your eyes and look for some [person], or some work for the sake of [all people], which needs a little time, a little friendship, a little [empathy], a little sociability, a little human toil. … It is needed in every nook and corner; therefore, search and see if there is not some place where you may invest your humanity, —Albert Schweitzer (As cited in Canfield, Hansen, McCarty, & McCarty, 1997, p. 267)     

Wellness,Prevention, Development: The Cornerstone of the Profession

The American Counseling Association's (ACA), formerly the American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD), unique contribution to a wellness philosophy lies in the profession's concern for development over the life span. In this article, ACA's commitment to and proactive stance toward wellness are described, the relationship between wellness, developmental approaches, and prevention is addressed, and the debate surrounding prevention as a non-third-party-reimbursable mental health service is discussed.     

Career guidance in England today: reform,accidental injury or attempted murder?

ABSTRACT

In 2011 England's career guidance profession lost its ‘own’ public service organisation and its former dedicated stream of public funding. The immediate causes lay in decisions by the government of the day, but this article revisits the profession's history to seek explanations for its later vulnerability. It is argued that decisions taken early in the profession's history, specifically its complete separation from adult employment services and basing claims to professional expertise almost wholly on occupational psychology, though maybe right at the time, were to have fateful consequences. The article proceeds to argue that career guidance will certainly survive its recent trauma, but the most likely outcome of the current ‘reforms’ – a market in career guidance services – will not create the kind of comprehensive education-to-work bridging service that was once intended and which is still needed.     

Accepting Fallibility: A Model for Personal Responsibility for Nonegregious Ethics Infractions

The profession's ethics standards require counselors to self‐monitor their professional actions and take responsibility for misconduct. However, the professional literature has focused on preventing misconduct and on response to serious violations and has offered little guidance regarding the minor infractions that all professionals are vulnerable to committing during their careers. The author presents a 4‐element model to guide counselors in ethically repairing damage when they recognize they have violated ethics codes or ethical principles in minor ways. The model uses the ethical principles that underlie the American Counseling Association's (1995) Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice and J. R. Rest's (1983, 1994) model of moral behavior as a foundation.     

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 Nature of Prejudice Revisited: Implications for Counseling Intervention

This article presents a contemporary perspective on the nature of prejudice and on the counseling profession's role in prejudice prevention. The definition, origins, development, and expressions of prejudice are posited. Increasing race-based intergroup conflict is documented and explained vis-à-vis racial identity theory, rapidly changing demographics, and the Flight or Fight Response Theory of Racial Stress. Specific, developmentally based intervention strategies are presented across the elementary, high school, and college levels. Recommended roles for the counselor in multicultural awareness and prejudice prevention programs are described. Este artículo presenta una perspectiva contemporanea de las características del prejuicio y del papel de la profesión de consejeía en la prevención del prejuicio. Se examina la definición, origen, desarrollo, y expresiones prejuiciosas. Se documenta y se explica el aumento de conflicto racial entre grupos frente a la teoría de identidad racial, el cambio demográfico rápido, y la teoría de fugar o luchar a el estrés racíal. Específicamente, se presentan estrategias de intervención basadas en el desarrollo a través de los niveles de educación primaria, secundaria, o universitaria. Se describen los papeles recomendados para el consejero en los programas de conocimiento multicultural y de prevención del perjuicio.     

The Identification and Modification of Defense Mechanisms in Counseling

This article suggests considerations and strategies for identifying and modifying a client's defense mechanisms in counseling. A systematic approach to a client's mechanisms of defense contributes to therapeutic gain. Inappropriate counselor responses intensify an individual's defenses and undermine the counseling relationship. Definitions of individual defenses and indicators for identifying the mechanisms are provided. A literature review focuses on the counseling implications of the defenses. The process of defense mechanism modification is illustrated through a case example.     

The Value of Social Constructionism for the Counseling Profession: A Reply to Hansen

The authors reply to J. T. Hansen's (2005) call for the profession to revalue the inner subjective experiences (ISE) of clients. Hansen argued that social constructionism has influenced the decline of the counseling profession by obscuring its unique focus on ISE. The authors maintain that social constructionism is a useful framework for counseling, and they articulate a social constructionist position for counseling. Hansen's reasons for arguing that ISE must be revalued are discussed along with future directions for social constructionism and counseling.     

Rogers Redux: Relevance and Outcomes of Motivational Interviewing Across Behavioral Problems

Very little work regarding C. Rogers's (1961) client‐centered counseling has been published in the counseling discipline's journals over the last 20 years. However, during this time there has been an impressive output of empirical research using motivational interviewing (MI) in which C. Rogers's theory and approach are foundational. A review of MI's basic theoretical premises and applications for a multitude of behavioral problems are presented. Justification for integrating MI into counseling practice, training, and research is offered.     

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Counseling Profession: Philosophies in Conflict

This article describes the contribution of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to drug and alcohol treatment. The potential for AA's steps to encourage growth is discussed, and their consistency with counseling philosophy examined. To stimulate constructive discussion, 12 new steps based on counseling theory are proposed and contrasted with AA's steps. The need for counselors to be aware of these differences is emphasized and the move toward more solid boundaries between AA and the counseling profession is advocated.