College counseling: between the rock and the hard place

Professional counseling in institutions of higher education is facing a serious crisis. The crisis is not due simply to the fact that institutional administrators are asking their professional counselors to account for their activities, nor is it due simply to the fact that professional counselors have lost touch with an increasing proportion of students who are turning to self-initiated counseling arrangements for their most immediate needs. The crisis of counselor survival arises mainly from the fact that those services that administrators expect professional counselors to perform as part of their organizational role are actually counterproductive to the establishment of trusting and meaningful relationships between counselors and students.