Counseling psychology as a
psychological specialty facilitates personal and
interpersonal functioning across the life span with a focus
on emotional, social, vocational, educational,
health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns.
Through the integration of theory, research, and practice,
and with a sensitivity to multicultural issues, this
specialty encompasses a broad range of practices that help
people improve their well-being, alleviate distress and
maladjustment, resolve crises, and increase their ability to
live more highly functioning lives. Counseling psychology is
unique in its attention both to normal developmental issues
and to problems associated with physical, emotional, and
mental disorders. Populations served by Counseling
Psychologists include persons of all ages and cultural
backgrounds. Examples of those populations would include
late adolescents or adults with career/educational concerns
and children or adults facing severe personal difficulties.
Counseling Psychologists also consult with organizations
seeking to enhance their effectiveness or the well-being of
their members. Counseling Psychologists adhere to the
standards and ethics established by the American
Psychological Association. What Do Counseling
Psychologists Do? Counseling Psychologists
participate in a range of activities including teaching,
research, psychotherapeutic and counseling practice, career
development, assessment, supervision, and consultation. They
employ a variety of methods closely tied to theory and re!
to help individuals, groups, and organizations function
optimally as well as to remediate dysfunction. Interventions
may be either brief or long-term; they are often
problem-specific and goal-directed. These activities are
guided by a philosophy that values individual differences
and diversity and a focus on prevention, development, and
adjustment across the life span which includes vocational
concerns. Where Do Counseling
Psychologist Work? Counseling Psychologists
are employed in a variety of settings depending on the
services they provide and the client populations they serve.
Some are employed in institutions of higher
learning--including counseling centers--as teachers,
supervisors, researchers, and service providers. Others are
employed in independent practice providing counseling,
psychotherapy, assessment, and consultation services to
individuals, families, groups, and organizations. Additional
settings in which counseling psychologists practice include
community mental health centers, Veterans Administration
Medical Centers and other medical facilities, family
services centers, health maintenance organizations,
rehabilitation agencies, business and industrial
organizations, and consulting firms. Most counseling psychology
training programs are accredited by the American
Psychological Association. The list of accredited programs
appears each year in the journal, the American Psychologist.
Both accredited and non-accredited training programs are
listed in the book, Graduate Study in Psychology. The APA
accords accreditation to doctoral programs in counseling
psychology that meet certain criteria with respect to
faculty, curriculum, facilities, and other considerations.
Counseling psychology programs usually are housed in
departments of psychology or educational psychology or in
colleges of education. Counseling psychology doctoral
programs usually require at least four to five years of
graduate study, involving coursework and integrated training
experiences in a variety of topical areas and professional
skills. These include (a) instruction in the core areas of
psychology (biological, cognitive/affective, and social
bases of behavior; individual differences; history and
systems of psychology); specialized instruction in theories
of counseling and personality, vocational psychology, human
life span development, psychological assessment and
evaluation, psychopathology, measurement and statistics,
research design, professional ethics, supervision, and
consultation; (c) supervised practica focused on the
development of counseling, psychotherapy, assessment, and
consultation skills; (d) the equivalent of a one year
full-time predoctoral internship in professional psychology;
and (e) completion of an original psychologically-based
dissertation. Entrance to doctoral programs in counseling
psychology is competitive and selective; there are far more
applicants to the programs than can be admitted. Factors
important in the selection process include a bachelor's (and
possibly master's) degree earned from an accredited college
or university, consistently high college grades, and
coursework and/or volunteer or work experience that match
the orientation of the particular doctoral program to which
one is applying. Scores on standardized scholastic aptitude
tests such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) usually are
considered as well. Would You Like to Learn
More? For more information on the
training and professional activities of Counseling
Psychologists, the following sources can be consulted: The
Counseling Psychologist (the official journal of Division 17
[Counseling Psychology] of the American
Psychological Association), Journal of Counseling
Psychology, (published by the American Psychological
Association), the American Psychological Association
(Located in Washington, D.C.), and various textbooks on
counseling psychology. Prepared by The Education
and Training Committee (Now the Continuing Education and
Regional Conferences Committee) of Division 1 7 - Counseling
Psychology American Psychological Association
