218 The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 2 marginalized communities (Coffino et al., 2019). As such, counselors and other helping professionals can collaborate on ways to increase accessibility to mental health services for underserved groups with increased risk of eating or body image concerns (e.g., LGBTQ+; Nagata et al., 2020). Regardless of the settings within which CITs will work, students can benefit from developing teamwork, leadership, and advocacy skills, as well as a systemic conceptualization of client care (Ng et al., 2023). Ultimately, counselor educators can encourage the exploration of shared goals across helping professions and the utilization of counseling values and training to enhance interdisciplinary work for diverse clients and communities recovering from EDs (Klein & Beeson, 2022; Labarta et al., 2023; Ng et al., 2023). Implications for Counselor Educators The 3 Cs for ED Education and Training pose several implications for counselor educators and counseling programs. Although intended for ED treatment, this framework captures essential competencies across counseling specialties, such as counselor self-awareness, cultural and diversity issues, and interdisciplinary practice (CACREP, 2023). As such, integrating these foci into the counseling curriculum can help reinforce competencies regardless of the settings within which students will work. Counselor educators teaching about EDs should also consider ways to incorporate other ED counseling competencies, such as relevant ethical issues, assessment and screening, and evidence-based treatments into coursework (Williams & Haverkamp, 2010). These topics can be integrated into the 3 Cs for ED Education and Training in several ways. For instance, ethical issues and scenarios, such as determining when a client may need a higher level of care, can be presented to students as a standard component of collaborating with interdisciplinary professionals. Counselor educators can also review common ED assessments and encourage students to critically evaluate gaps in the diagnostic process that impact underrepresented populations (e.g., men with EDs), capturing contextual and sociocultural factors and enhancing culturally responsive care (see Appendix B for more examples.) We also recognize the potential challenges of implementing the 3 Cs of ED Education and Training, as a stand-alone, special topics course on EDs may not be possible for all counseling programs. However, counselor educators can adapt and incorporate the suggested activities in Appendix A into various CACREP core courses to enhance ED education across the curriculum. CE programs can also utilize their Chi Sigma Iota chapters to host events on EDs, such as an interdisciplinary panel discussion followed by a group discussion on professional counseling identity and advocacy (Labarta et al., 2023). Opening these events to the local community could encourage continuing education, collaboration, and advocacy. Directions for Future Research Given that the 3 Cs of ED Education and Training is a conceptual framework, there are several directions for future research. Counselor educators and researchers may consider developing a stand-alone course to test the effects of this framework on CITs’ competence in treating EDs. To our knowledge, limited ED competency measures exist, especially for counselors. As such, researchers could explore developing an instrument that measures ED competency areas that include the 3 Cs of ED Education and Training. Such a tool would be helpful for research, clinical, and teaching purposes. An ED competency tool may also enhance CITs’ and counselors’ deliberate practice efforts, promoting quality care for clients across ED treatment settings. Additionally, one theoretical framework educators can modify to help enhance trainees’ clinical competencies in treating EDs is Irvine and colleagues’ (2021) Deliberate Practice Coaching Framework (DPCF), given its structured guidance for skill refinement through individualized coaching and feedback. The development and future testing of an adapted DPCF for EDs may further enhance reflexive and deliberate practice efforts for CITs and counselors working with this population.
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