Counseling in South Africa: Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow

This article discusses counseling in South Africa by delineating three developmental periods: (a) the stage in which psychology aided and abetted apartheid, (b) the stage in which it professed political neutrality, and (c) the current stage in which psychotherapeutic professionals are actively rebuilding a society nearly destroyed by apartheid.     

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.     

Advocacy for Counseling and Counselors: A Professional Imperative

Although advocacy both for clients and for the profession is essential for the future of counseling and counselors, advocacy for the profession has received little systematic attention. A national plan for advocacy is needed, the effectiveness of which depends on achieving consensus concerning professional identity, promoting a positive public image, establishing effective intraprofessional and interprofessional collaboration, and obtaining the participation of each counselor in advocacy activities. Specific professional advocacy skills and techniques are described.     

Professional Counseling in Romania: An Introduction

The formalization and professionalization processes in Romania resemble the early history of counseling in the United States, where development initially took place in the educational and career/vocational sectors. Brief accounts of the relationship between select periods in Romanian history and access to education and career/vocational support services are presented to provide a context for present‐day counseling activities. Information on the development of counseling in Romania, current practices, and future opportunities are presented as well.     

Ethnolinguistic Vitality Under a New Political Dispensation in South Africa

Abstract

The dimensions and group expectations of ethnolinguistic vitality in the new South Africa were investigated in random samples of 460 Whites (347 Afrikaans- speaking; 113 English-speaking) and 466 Blacks. By means of a factor analysis, 5 factors were distinguished: Institutional Support, Group Status and Power, Maintenance of Identity, Maintenance of Symbols, and Threat to Identity. The expectations of groups differed significantly in regard to the dimensions of ethnolinguistic vitality. Relationships between these dimensions and other variables and the implications of the findings were discussed against the background of sociopolitical and economic changes in South Africa.     

Professional Counseling in Hong Kong

The authors provide an overview of recent developments in professional counseling as related to schools, career counseling, and community services in Hong Kong. The strategic position of counseling professionals, counseling associations, and counselor certification is discussed. The future development of counseling in Hong Kong is also considered.     

Professional Counseling in Taiwan: Past to Future

Because of the recent introduction of a licensure law, professional counseling has grown rapidly in Taiwan after decades of slow development. The authors provide a historical review of the development of professional counseling in Taiwan and discuss the current status and future trajectory of professional counseling in Taiwan.     

Pastoral Counseling Down Under: A Survey of Australian Clergy

This survey research describes the attitudes and practices of Australian Christian clergy regarding counseling in their pastoral care roles. Data has been collected by use of a mail survey of 1954 Australian clergy residing in the state of Queensland from Dec 2007 until March 2008. 758 useable surveys were returned resulting in a return rate of 40.1%. The clergy’s (a) confidence in handling seven different counseling situations, (b) counseling preparation, (c) professional knowledge about counseling, (d) counseling modality, and (e) demographics were assessed. Australian Christian clergy are thus described with a discussion of a number of implications for training organisations such as Bible Colleges and Seminaries.     

Traditional Healing in Africa: Implications for Cross-Cultural Counseling

Even though the change in Africa from traditional societies to modern ones is evident in many institutions throughout the continent, the transition is uneven. One institution that seems to have changed little over the years is the healing establishment. In general, traditional healers still treat their patients as their forebears did in the distant past. This article indicates who the indigenous doctors are, the role the family plays in health maintenance, the nature of the healing relationship, what diagnostic techniques are used, the specific healing methods used, how music is used as a therapeutic accompaniment, how healers are selected and prepared, and the implications of traditional healing for cross-cultural counseling. Aunque el cambio en Africa desde sociedades tradicionales a sociedades modernas es evidente en muchas instituciones por todo el continente, la transición es desigual. Una de las instituciones que parece haber cambiado poco a través de los años es la del curandero. En general, los curanderos tradicionales todavía tratan a sus clientes de la misma manera que sus antepasados. Este artículo indica quienes son los doctores indígenas, el papel de la familia en el mantamiento de la salud, el cáracter de la relación de curación, las ténicas de diagnóstico que se usan, los métodos específicos de curación, cómo se usa la música como acompañamiento terapeútico, cómo se escogen y preparan los curanderos, y las implicaciones de la curación traditional en la consejería intercultural.     

Memory and Narrative Healing Processes in HIV Counseling: A View from Africa

The AIDS pandemic in Africa has wreaked pain on millions of people, particularly the youth. Beyond physical symptoms, the disease destroys the emotional and psychological well-being of its victims and their families. Although psychotherapists are desperately needed, most of those in Africa have not been given sufficient training in HIV counseling. In addition, access to specific models of healing for those traumatized by the news of infection with HIV disease is hardly available. Memory healing processes, which are essential in grief work in Africa, can be combined with ritual theory within a narrative framework to provide a model for bringing healing to clients traumatized by the news of HIV infection. Augustine Nwoye, Ph.D., is presently Associate Professor, and formerly Chairman, Department of Psychology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. A first version of the paper was presented as a Keynote Address at the International Conference in Durban, South Africa, organized by the South African Association of Marital and Family Therapy, May 2004. I thank Dr. Frida Rundell, the then President of the Association, for her invitation and hospitality.     

Chuck Warnath: Visionary Gadfly of Professional Counseling

Charles F. “Chuck” Warnath, professor emeritus and former university counseling center director, was interviewed about his personal life, early training with Donald Super, counseling center experiences, convictions about professional counseling, dedication to issues of equality, and current struggles with the progressive effects of retinitis pigmentosa.     

Philosophy of education in South Africa: A Re-vision"

In this article an attempt is made to provide a re-vision of philosophy of education that will redress the legacy of the past in South Africa, and contribute to laying the foundations of a critical civil society with a culture of tolerance, public debate and accommodation of differences and competing interests. This re-vision of philosophy of education, which finds its roots in developments in philosophy in the twentieth century, and especially in the discourse of postmodernism, directs attention to a pluralistic problem-centred approach to philosophy of education.     

Teachers' Gender Stereotypes in South Africa: A Case Study

The study investigated Teachers' gender stereotypes in the Eastern Province of South Africa. Participants were 65 Junior Secondary school teachers (females= 40 and males = 25) who assembled together at a seminar organized by the Department of Education. They completed a ten-statement questionnaire on gender stereotypes that would apply to school boys and girls. Data were analysed by means for differences in proportions endorsing stereotypes in relation to school activities. Gender stereotypes were apparent in the pattern of activities endorsed for males and females.     

The Cross‐Cultural Relevance of Person‐Centered Counseling in Postapartheid South Africa

In this article, the need for effective cross‐cultural counseling in South Africa is emphasized against the background of the country's sociocultural context. The characteristics of person‐centered counseling that make it cross‐culturally suitable in the South African situation are discussed. Rogers's cross‐cultural group work during his visits to South Africa is briefly described. The ways in which specific cross‐cultural obstacles can be overcome by means of the person‐centered approach are pointed out. The relationship between person‐centered counseling and traditional African healing practices is described. Finally, ways to address the language barriers in cross‐cultural counseling in South Africa are discussed.     

The Development of Professional Counseling in Botswana

Among African countries, Botswana stands out for achieving lasting political and economic stability, which has enabled the government to develop a strong system of educational and social services for its people. Development of professional counseling in the country has occurred both through targeted efforts to provide a strong system of guidance services in schools and in response to the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This article reviews the development of professional counseling in Botswana and highlights trends likely to shape its future.     

The Marikana Violence in South Africa: A Brief Psychodynamic Extrapolation

This study applies psychoanalytic concepts in making sense of the individual, group and collective factors that may have contributed towards the Marikana violence. Speculatively, individual factors might include the death instinct, repetition compulsion, and intra-psychic splitting. Related group dynamics such as identification with the aggressor, group and projective identification might be relevant as would the collective psychological influences of history of oppression, severe trans-generational traumatisation, and mystical cultural interpretations in a divided society. Further public truth, reconciliation and forgiveness processes in addition to other integrative forms of healing are proposed.     

Value Analysis: A Model of Personal and Professional Ethics in Marriage and Family Counseling

The Ethics Model of Marriage and Family Counseling derived from an integration of an ecosystem and a dialectical framework is presented, and its underlying assumptions are discussed. Six basic counseling values including responsibility, integrity, commitment, freedom of choice, empowerment, and right to suffer are analyzed as they relate to the individual level of the counselor microsystem, the family level of the client microsystem, and the overlapping mesosystem of the counseling process. The discussion also takes the societal value context as the macrosystem into account. As an example of possible value clashes between counselor and client level, suicide is discussed as a means of applying the presented six basic values to the model and of describing possible strategies in response to this specific value dilemma.