TPC-Journal-V1-Issue3

191 The Professional Counselor Volume 1, Issue 3 | Pages 191–200 © 2011 NBCC, Inc. & Affiliates www.nbcc.org http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/shh.1.3.191 Through a Glass Darkly – Envisioning the Future of the Counseling Profession: A Commentary Shannon Hodges The counseling profession has experienced significant growth and diversification to become a viable member of the global mental health profession. Originally founded in the U.S. as the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA), the profession has expanded to the flagship American Counseling Association, 19 divisional affiliates, and licensure in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, the National Board for Certified Counselors, the International Association of Counselling (IAC) and numerous other global professional organizations. This manuscript will outline the counseling profession’s genesis, growth, enumerate current challenges, speculate on the profession’s future and offer concrete suggestions to ensure the profession’s continued viability in a rapidly evolving global age. Keywords: counseling profession, professional organizations, global age, professional identity, future development During its nearly six decades, the counseling profession has experienced significant growth, struggle, and division to emerge as a viable mental health profession. The world’s largest counseling organization, the American Counseling Association (ACA), began as the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA). Conceived in 1952 by a loose confederation of organizations, APGA was primarily “concerned with vocational guidance and other personnel activities” (Harold, 1985, p. 4). ACA has evolved from its “guidance” infancy into a multifaceted profession of over 45,000 members (D. Kaplan, personal communication, April 8, 2011) and 19 divisional affiliates (American Counseling Association, [ACA] 2010). In 1976 the State of Virginia passed the first counselor licensure law and 49 other states, the District of Columbia and the territory of Puerto Rico have since followed, making the counseling profession credentialed in all states and major territories. Most states have passed legislation establishing a counselor’s right to bill private health insurance (Remley & Herlihy, 2007) and recently the Veteran’s Administration has approved licensed counselors to work in VA hospitals. Currently, some 635,000 counselors work in schools, addictions, corrections, and public and private agency settings (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010–2011). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010) projects “employment for counselors is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2016” (p. 209). Relative to its mental health colleagues, the counseling profession has achieved a stakeholder position in a shorter timeframe than the psychology and social work professions (Remley & Herlihy, 2007). The counseling profession also has expanded to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America. Achievements notwithstanding, the global counseling profession faces numerous pressing challenges. This manuscript will address key issues confronting the counseling profession and offer concrete suggestions to twenty-first century realities. Since the past, present, and future are interconnected, speculation on the counseling profession’s future requires a brief review of its past. The Past: From Genesis to the Present Frank Parsons created the guidance movement by opening an office for vocational counseling in 1909. By creating an approach where the counselor actively attended to what adolescents said about themselves, he countered the prevailing distant, Freudian orthodoxy. Parson’s approach was soon adopted by schools in 35 U.S. cities and collegiate training in counseling began at Harvard University in 1911. University counseling emerged as a specialty in the 1930s when E.G. Williamson published How to Counsel Students: A Manual of Techniques for Clinical Counselors (1939). Williamson’s method was diagnostic in orientation and soon became the prevailing approach in colleges, schools and agencies (Nugent & Jones, 2009). Carl Rogers (1942) moved the mental health field in a radically different direction with the publication of Counseling and Psychotherapy . Rogers advocated a more process oriented nondirective approach referred to as client-centered therapy (Rogers, 1951). Though schooled in Freudian analysis, Rogers developed an approach focused on a present, Shannon Hodges, NCC, is an Associate Professor of Counseling in the College of Education at Niagara University. Correspondence concerning this article can be addressed to Shannon Hodges, Niagara University, College of Education, Niagara University, NY, 14109, shodges@niagara.edu .