When Europeans first made contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, a path toward Eurocentrism was set in the Western Hemisphere. In the years since the conquest and colonization of North America and the establishment of the United States, the cultural values and social policies of this country have

Counselors are not immune to trauma — in fact, far from it. Many practitioners say that personal or familial experience with trauma or mental illness actually spurred them to become professional counselors. The connection between personal experience and the pull to become a counselor is something that is hard to

As a professor of counseling, I am invested in helping students develop the necessary and sufficient skills to become effective psychotherapists. There is a plethora of evidence to support mindfulness as a tool for fostering these skills. Integrating mindfulness training can: Improve how counselors-in-training relate to self and others with

As a newly minted counselor, I sometimes remember back to my early days in the program when my classmates and I shared some deep concerns about “doing it right.” Our heads were full of theories and dos and don’ts, and we really struggled to understand how we could possibly help

The first paragraph of the preface in Richard Balkin and David Kleist’s book Counseling Research: A Practitioner-Scholar Approach acknowledges that research is probably not something that most counselors get excited about. However, it’s a much-needed endeavor and something that counselors are particularly suited for, they write. “Counselors make great qualitative

Counselors around the world have more in common than you might think. Angela Coker, an associate professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL), found herself talking about some very familiar issues with international colleagues recently at a conference in Bangalore, India. Challenges that American counselors face –