TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 191 the self and the profession of counseling contributes to a strong counselor professional identity (Brott & Myers, 1999; Gale & Austin, 2003; Sweeney, 2001). CSI supports this premise and states that counselor education students should graduate with pride in the profession of counseling and a strong counselor professional identity as outlined in one of the six key themes from the Counselor Advocacy Leadership Conferences in 1998 (CSI, 1998). This theme stands today as a call to action for CSI members and chapters. This combination purportedly leads to counselors who passionately defend the counseling profession against inaccuracies (Remley & Herlihy, 2014). Purpose of the Research Master’s counselor education students have been the focus of prior studies on counselor professional identity (Coll, Doumas, Trotter, & Freeman, 2013; Gibson et al., 2010; Healey & Hays, 2012; Luke & Goodrich, 2010; Moss, Gibson, & Dollarhide, 2014; Nelson & Jackson, 2003; Prosek & Hurt, 2014). Over half (55%) of 203 master’s-level counseling students found it of considerable importance and 28% found it of great importance to better understand the counseling profession and how to identify as a professional counselor (Busacca & Wester, 2006). Fewer studies have focused on the articulation of professional counselor identity with independently licensed counselors. Rønnestad and Skovholt (2003) found that expressing a strong counselor professional identity required postgraduate counselors to assimilate the personal self and the professional self. Moss and colleagues (2014) stated that client contact was essential to counselor identity development along with an integration of the personal and professional self over the course of a counselor’s career. Mellin and colleagues (2011) found that independently licensed counselors developed a strong counselor professional identity when they aligned with the counseling profession’s unique philosophy and values. Although each of these studies touches on some aspect of counselor professional identity with independently licensed counselors, none of these studies offers a concrete understanding of how independently licensed counselors articulate their professional identity to others. Further, ACA, AASCB, CACREP, CSI, NBCC have taken steps to attempt to secure a strong counselor professional identity. However, there is no understanding as to whether these efforts impact how independently licensed counselors articulate their professional identity with others. Although there is much discussion about clearly establishing a strong counselor professional identity, there is no systematic way for independently licensed counselors to determine if they articulate a counselor professional identity to others and, if not, what adjustments might be made to improve their communications. The purpose of this study was to answer the following research questions: (a) what are the different ways (formulas) independently licensed counselors use to articulate their professional role to others, (b) would we assign more advanced professional identity formulas to independently licensed counselors who have recently graduated, (c) would we assign more advanced professional identity formulas to independently licensed counselors licensed in a specific state or region, and (d) would an independently licensed counselor’s self-ranking as consistently identifying professionally as a counselor to others agree with our classification of that counselor with an advanced counselor professional identity formula? To answer these questions, we surveyed independently licensed counselors from across the United States. Method Participants We defined independently licensed counselors as counselors who have graduated with at least