As a counselor and counselor educator, I am often pondering the recent trend of developing professional identity and what that means in applicable terms. Professional identity development has been heralded as involvement in professional organizations, legislation, mentoring, continuing education and supervision. These are effective ways to develop your own personal
Tag: Professional Issues
Professional Issues
When addressing race-based topics in counselor trainings, have you noticed times when learners’ emotional reactions inhibited their abilities to absorb training material or your ability to instruct? If the answer is yes, know that you are not alone. Race-based trainings are not for the faint of heart — at least
The American Counseling Association recently released its 2014 counselor compensation survey, the organization’s first large-scale effort to determine the salary levels, health care and other benefits earned by those in the counseling profession. The project determined that the average primary salary for counselor educators is $66,405 annually. Rehabilitation counselors make
Diagnosisitis. Or, as it’s more commonly known, overpathologizing — an affliction that affects many counselors both seasoned and new. People most often come to counselors because they have a problem and need help. As counselors, whenever someone comes to see us, we flip the switch and turn on the counselor
The adjective “schizophrenic” needs to be removed from counselors’ vocabulary, says Elizabeth Prosek, a counselor and assistant professor at the University of North Texas (UNT). Schizophrenia has a great deal of stigma and negative connotations associated with it, and referring to clients in the first person can lessen these, she
Modern counseling models and techniques are as varied and diverse as the counselors and clients who use them. Most counselors have a particular theory, method or school of thought that they embrace, whether it is cognitive behavior therapy, solution-focused therapy, strength-based, holistic health, person-centered, Adlerian or other. Yet all of
It is widely acknowledged that men are less likely than women to seek help for mental health issues. At the same time, men’s issues can be misunderstood or overlooked by counselors, the majority of whom are women, say Matt Englar-Carlson, Marcheta Evans and Thelma Duffey, the authors of A Counselor’s
The counseling environment is an essential component of the counseling process. Typical environments include the plush offices of private practitioners, the sterile rooms in public agency buildings and the generic spaces in school settings. The amount of space, the arrangement and quality of furniture, lighting and many other variables all
Despite the American tradition of “rugged individualism,” working successfully is rarely a solitary activity. Although counselors are proud of their professional identity and strive to be experts in whatever their specific disciplines may be, there is still room for — even a need for — communication and the exchanging of
“I want what I’m worth, and there’s no shame in that.”