TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

82 The Symbiotic Relationships of the Counseling Profession’s Accrediting Body, American Counseling Association, Flagship Journal and National Certification Agency Joel F. Diambra Melinda M. Gibbons Jeff L. Cochran Shawn Spurgeon Whitney L. Jarnagin Porche’ Wynn To inform and guide their practices, counselor educators would benefit from having a clearer picture of how the research literature and professional standards of the field correspond and contrast. To elucidate this relationship, researchers analyzed 538 Journal of Counseling and Development articles published from 1997–2006 for fit with the 2001 and 2009 eight core areas of Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The articles fell into three tiers delineated by year and based on the number of articles assigned to each core area. Human Growth and Development and Helping Relationships are the two core areas most frequently represented across the 10 year time span examined. Keywords: professional standards, research literature, CACREP, NBCC, ACA, Human growth and development, helping relationships There is an inherent symbiotic relationship that exists among related professional organizations. Within the counseling profession, there are a number of organizations or entities that coexist, support one another, encourage and challenge one another, disseminate information, and act as gatekeepers. These major counseling entities include the American Counseling Association (ACA), the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and the Journal of Counseling and Development ( JCD ). These entities mutually influence each other by acting and reacting to needs, changes and research findings within the counseling profession. Given the new CACREP 2009 standards, it is now time for counselor educators to review and possibly revamp their training programs to better reflect the current issues faced by those in the counseling field. Counselor educators will benefit from having a clearer picture of how our research literature and professional standards correspond and contrast to inform and guide our practices. As the respective flagship journal and primary accrediting standards of the counseling field, the JCD and the CACREP standards are predominant guiding resources that reflect, communicate, and shape the values, interests, and work of counselor educators. As JCD is the journal for ACA, and as the National Counselor Examination is based on CACREP requirements, an obvious extension to include these entities occurs as well. These entities also influence each other. JCD and CACREP can be seen as leaders of an input loop in the counseling profession. JCD , as the flagship journal for the American Counseling Association (ACA), shapes counselors’, stakeholders’ and counselor educators’ views of the counseling field. Continuing the loop, every seven years CACREP engages in a review of its standards for counseling programs. This review includes invitations for input from all counselors and stakeholders (Bobby & Kandor, 1995). As the revised standards are enacted in CACREP and CACREP-modeled programs, the standards influence the education and licensing of counselors, which then influences the work, research, writing, and submissions to JCD from the counseling field over time; JCD article topics, content, and methodology loop again to inform counseling practitioners, students, and educators. The Professional Counselor Volume 1, Issue 1 | Pages 82–91 © 2011 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates www.nbcc.org http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/jfd.1.1.82 Joel F. Diambra, NCC, Melinda M. Gibbons, NCC, Jeff L. Cochran, NCC, and Shawn Spurgeon, ACS, teach Counselor Education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Whitney L. Jarnagin, NCC, teaches at Walters State Community College. Porche’ Wynn is a counselor education doctoral candidate at the University of Tennessee. Correspondence can be addressed to Joel F. Diambra, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 449 Claxton Complex, 1122 Volunteer Blvd. Knoxville, TN, 37996-3452, jdiambra@utk.edu .