May 2, 2025 | Volume 15 - Issue 2
Wendi L. Ferrell, Joshua D. Smith, Neal D. Gray
Each year TPC presents an interview with an influential veteran in counseling as part of its Lifetime Achievement in Counseling series. This year, Dr. Barbara Herlihy shared insights from her decades-long commitment to the professionalization of counseling and the evolution of the profession’s ethical standards. Dr. Herlihy’s scholarship and service have had a profound effect on how counseling ethics are taught, applied, and revised to remain relevant in an ever-evolving world. In this interview, she connects counselors’ professional ethical obligations to the advancement of social justice and the internationalization of the profession. We are grateful for Dr. Herlihy’s contributions to our profession and for the wisdom that she shared in this interview.
—J. Richelle Joe, Editor
Barbara Herlihy, PhD, NCC, is Professor Emerita in the counselor education program in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of New Orleans. She is a Fellow of the American Counseling Association and is a recipient of the Chi Sigma Iota Thomas J. Sweeney Professional Leadership Award, the SACES Courtland Lee Social Justice Award, and the ACES Distinguished Mentor Award.
A prolific writer, she is co-author (with Dr. Gerald Corey) of the ACA Ethical Standards Casebook and (with Dr. Theodore Remley) of Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Counseling, and co-editor (with Dr. Cassie Storlie) of Counseling Leaders & Advocates. She has authored or co-authored over 100 journal articles and book chapters, primarily on ethics, social justice, and feminist therapy. She serves as Associate Editor for Ethics for Counseling and Values. She has served twice as Chair of the ACA Ethics Committee, and she currently serves as Chair of the ACA Ethics Appeals Committee. In recent years, she has become passionate about furthering the globalization of the counseling profession and has presented seminars and workshops across the United States and in other countries. She currently serves as Co-Director of Global Issues for the International Institute for the Advancement of Counseling Theory.
1. Can you provide more details about your experience as Chair of the ACA Ethics Appeal Committee? What were your key responsibilities, and how did the committee operate in addressing ethical issues in the counseling profession? What drew you to the field of counseling ethics, and what makes this area so meaningful to you, both personally and professionally?
Looking back, I realize I’ve been engaged consistently with the ACA Code of Ethics in some way for several decades now. I’ve served on the ACA Ethics Committee, the ACA Ethics Appeal Committee, and on Ethics Code Revision task forces; co-authored (first with Larry Golden and then with Gerald Corey) the most recent four editions of the ACA Ethical Standards Casebook; and presented on various ethical issues at numerous professional conferences. With this constant engagement, one might think that I can recite the Code of Ethics from memory. No, not even close! However, I do have a feel for how the Code has evolved over the decades to continue to meet the needs of counselors in a constantly changing and increasingly complex world of practice.
That constant evolution is a major reason why ethics has remained interesting and meaningful to me over the years. Opportunities are constantly being created to ponder new and intriguing ethical dilemmas. I’m routinely challenged to refine how I teach ethics to help students develop finely honed ethical reasoning skills, to research and write about ethical issues as they emerge, and to serve the counseling profession through membership on committees and task forces.
Of all the committees on which I have served, I would say that the ACA Ethics Committee and the Ethics Appeal Committee are the most challenging. Ethics and Ethics Appeals Committee members are charged with reviewing all the evidence provided in a complaint or an appeal and then rendering a judgment. If a counselor is found to be in violation of one or more ethical standards, then the appropriate consequence (which can be anything from a recommendation to change a particular practice to permanent expulsion from ACA) must be chosen and applied. Because counselors are trained to be nonjudgmental and because we gravitate toward forgiveness and compassion rather than imposing punishments, the entire process can be very uncomfortable. In my experience, the ACA members who take on these committee assignments take them very seriously and are keenly aware that their decisions can be consequential. Thankfully, these committees typically have only a very small number of complaints to adjudicate over the course of a year. Formal complaints of ethical violations against counselors are rare, considering the thousands of ACA members who are in practice at any given time, and appeals are even more uncommon. This speaks to the integrity of the practitioners of our profession!
2. Given the current climate, ethical concerns are becoming even more pressing. What are your thoughts on the tension between personal and professional values, and how counselors can uphold ethical standards while respecting cultural diversity and individual client autonomy?
Conflicts between personal and professional values is an issue that jumped into bold relief about 15 years ago as a result of two court cases, Ward v. Wilbanks (2010, 2012) and Keeton v. Augusta State University (2011), in which students were dismissed from their master’s programs in counseling after they refused to counsel clients regarding the clients’ same-sex affectional relationships. The students argued that these relationships were not acceptable according to their religious beliefs. These cases spawned considerable discussion about values conflicts in counseling. Counselor educators grappled with how to best teach students to set aside, or “bracket,” their personal values when entering a counseling session. A body of professional literature developed around managing conflicts between personal and professional values and around the ethical decision-making process when values conflicts exist.
The difficulties associated with counseling clients whose values differ from those of the counselor re-emerged during the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, a time when it seemed that most Americans had such strong political feelings that they found it difficult if not impossible to really hear each other’s viewpoints. Again, counselors struggled when clients expressed views with which the counselors strongly disagreed. Although the specific values-laden issues were different from those that emerged around the students who were dismissed from their training programs, counselors sometimes struggled to set aside their personal values so they could be fully present for their clients. To me, it seems inevitable that in our diverse culture, these issues will continue to emerge. Our work as counselors will be challenged by values conflicts, and I believe we will need to remain vigilant to our own experiences, and work to identify both our explicit and implicit biases so that we can continue to honor and respect our clients without judging their personal value systems. We are a richly diverse society, and as I’ve been saying for many years, multicultural competence and ethical practice go hand in hand—neither one can exist without the other.
3. Given your extensive knowledge and experience in counseling, how do you maintain your motivation and enthusiasm for your work, especially during difficult periods? What aspects of counseling resonate most with you, and are there any particular initiatives or methods that you’re currently excited about?
I have been blessed with the incredibly good fortune of working in what is, for me, the perfect profession. Knowing that as a counselor I may have touched some lives in meaningful ways, and that as a counselor educator I’ve had the privilege of mentoring young professionals who went on to make significant contributions, has been more than enough to maintain my motivation and enthusiasm. Seeking out my own counselor whenever I hit a rough spot on my own personal journey has also sustained me.
Ethics, multicultural competence, social justice, and feminist therapy have been consistent themes throughout my work. At this point in my journey, I am also passionate about the internationalization of counseling. I hope to help find ways to extend helping and healing, whether or not the process is formally called “counseling,” to serve marginalized communities across the globe. I’m also intrigued by the broad spectrum of counseling theory, and how we can connect it more directly to effective practice, particularly with culturally diverse client populations in the United States and internationally.
4. Would you take a moment and share your thoughts on the internationalization of counseling—specifically, how counseling practices are expanding across borders and adapting to different cultural contexts? What are the challenges and benefits of these cross-cultural exchanges, and how does the profession develop effective practice across diverse populations?
One of the exciting projects in which I am currently involved is a “world mapping” initiative, sponsored by the International Institute for the Advancement of Counseling Theory and spearheaded by Dr. Ed Neukrug of Old Dominion University. Along with Dr. Courtland C. Lee, I co-chair the Global Subgroup that is engaged in the mapping project. This year we are exploring South America; our incredible graduate assistant, Kacey Bunting, is presently conducting interviews with leaders who engage in and teach counseling/helping/healing in South American countries. (We refer broadly to “counseling/helping/healing” as many countries don’t have formal counseling professions.) As we analyze Kacey’s interviews, we hope to learn about approaches that are unique to these countries and the extent to which and how Euro-American theories and practices are being adapted. We’re eager to see what we can learn about mental health and the helping process in other countries. Of course, many challenges exist, including language barriers and lack of contact information that would enable us to identify and connect with key people. However, the anticipated benefits far outweigh the challenges. In addition to helping counselors and counseling students improve their “global citizenship,” an attribute that Dr. Lee has emphasized in his writings, this project should provide us with a wealth of information that can be used to improve our counseling practices here in the United States, particularly with culturally diverse clients.
5. How have you seen the counseling profession evolve over the years? What changes, either positive or negative, have you observed?
Over my several decades as a counselor and counselor educator, I have witnessed incredible changes in our profession. I think these changes are reflected in the ways that the ACA Code of Ethics has evolved since it was first published in 1961. The original contained no section on technology, of course, but it also made no mention of diversity or multicultural competence. Early versions made what seem now to be rather simplistic statements like “dual relationships should be avoided.” Over the years, the code has been revised periodically to reflect a constantly changing and increasingly complex world of practice.
Overall, I think the most significant change in a positive direction has been the increased professionalization of counseling. Hard-won battles have resulted in the achievement of counselor licensure in all 50 states, the establishment of training standards, and the inclusion of counselors in diverse work settings like the military, inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities, and business and industry.
6. Looking ahead, what do you envision for the future of counseling, and what do you see as potential challenges or boundaries that might delay progress or limit growth in the profession? How do your relationships with counseling associations and organizations influence or shape the evolution of your practice, and do you see any potential challenges or support coming from these affiliations?
The counseling profession in the United States is, inevitably, a microcosm of our society. I am concerned that relationships among our professional associations seem to be divisive in some ways, and that right now our profession does not seem to speak with one voice to our public. My hope is that we will be able to focus on our common purpose and use our united voice to help ensure that social justice issues have a prominent position in our politics, our lives, and our work. Professional associations such as ACA and NBCC have been instrumental in my own professional development, and they continue to be a source of support. I am honored to have had opportunities to give back, in small measure, what I have received, through service to professional associations. If I may end with a word to early-career counselors and counselor educators—those service opportunities exist for you, as well. I hope you will get involved!
This concludes the 10th interview for the annual Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series. TPC is grateful to Wendi L. Ferrell, Joshua D. Smith, and Neal D. Gray for providing this interview. Wendi L. Ferrell is a graduate candidate at the University of Mount Olive. Joshua D. Smith, PhD, NCC, LCMHC, is an assistant professor at the University of Mount Olive. Neal D. Gray, PhD, LCMHC-S, is a professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Correspondence can be emailed to Joshua Smith at jsmith@umo.edu.
Feb 7, 2022 | Volume 12 - Issue 1
Joshua D. Smith, Neal D. Gray
Each year TPC presents an interview with a seminal figure in counseling as part of its Lifetime Achievement in Counseling series. This year I am honored to introduce Dr. Mariaimeé Gonzalez. She is a professor of counselor education, the chair of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Antioch University Seattle, and a transformational leader and advocate. Collectivism grounds and infuses her work and her practice of mentorship as community building and a key strategy for increasing diversity in the counseling profession. I am grateful to Dr. Joshua Smith and Dr. Neal Gray for bringing the contributions and vision of Dr. Gonzalez to TPC readers. —Amie A. Manis, Editor
Mariaimeé “Maria” Gonzalez (she/her/ella), PhD, LPC, was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the United States. She earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and moved to Seattle, Washington, in 2014 to become a faculty member at Antioch University Seattle (AUS), located on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People, past and present. Dr. Gonzalez is the chair of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Program and is the co-founder of the Antioch University Latinx Mental Health & Social Justice Institute, which brings together community-engaged research, service, training, and community partnerships to promote the mental health and well-being of Latinx/e people. She truly enjoys teaching in the master’s and doctoral programs at AUS and is passionate about her work with other accomplices in liberation. She is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Missouri and an approved supervisor in the state of Washington. Dr. Gonzalez currently serves as the president of the American Counseling Association (ACA) of Washington (2020–22), chair of ACA’s International Committee (2022), president elect-elect for the Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (WACES), and ACA parliamentarian for 2021–22. She served as coeditor of Experiential Activities for Teaching Social Justice and Advocacy Competence in Counseling and is a board member for the WACES Journal of Technology in Counselor Education and Supervision. Her research passions are global mental health, clinical supervision, Latinx/e human rights, counselor and counselor educator professional identity development, correctional counseling, liberation psychology, social justice and advocacy counseling, and anti–human trafficking advocacy. She has been involved with global mental health and advocacy for about 15 years and served as a United Nations delegate to advocate for global mental health, especially during the COVID pandemic. Dr. Gonzalez has spent over 20 years working through the paradigm of mental liberation, which includes global community and mentorship. She is currently a WACES mentor and enjoys spending time with her loved ones and community.
In this interview, Dr. Gonzalez discusses her work as a mentor, barriers facing the Latinx/e community, and advice for future counseling professionals.
- You have recently been recognized for your work in mentorship. What is the role of a successful mentor in counselor education?
The role of mentorship in counselor education is essential for creating community and supporting the future generation of mental health professionals. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) mentions mentorship in the standard section 6.B.3.i, “the role of mentoring in counselor education.” Based on its importance, I believe mentorship should be promoted more often in the counseling profession and in programs.
A successful mentor in counselor education is someone who can provide a deeper perspective to a mentee on how to navigate counselor education and counseling environments through a lens of liberation. Mentorship can be conceptualized as a form of community building that allows for the mentor and mentee to learn from one another. The mentor can be a steward of the profession and provide support for the mentee to move forward with their professional and personal goals, values, and community building.
Research suggests that women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) folx are more likely than other groups to share that mentoring was an important component of their career. It is important that counseling professionals build their village of trusted colleagues to accompany them on their journey and foster the path of liberation as a counselor and/or counselor educator. Mentors can be part of this village and provide an environment that is supportive of mentees’ growth as individuals and as members of the counseling profession. By learning from one another, we can continue to be bound in our liberation and help the counseling profession evolve toward reducing oppression, creating space for all our gifts and stories, and lifting each other up.
- What are the benefits and challenges associated with mentorship that you have experienced? How did you navigate these challenges?
The primary benefit I have experienced with mentorship is community. As someone who leans into community for strength and support, I find mentorship to be an expansion of this concept. It can be healing to have someone there to listen to or consult with us about a variety of professional issues. I have noticed over the years more students and new professionals intentionally looking for mentors because they want someone with whom they can discuss professional goals and someone who will provide a brave place for conversations about how to navigate cultural spaces and tap into their own cultural capital. More BIPOC folx and women seek out mentors to help them learn how to fully utilize their own cultural knowledge, values, and gifts in the counseling profession. Another benefit of mentorship is being present for one’s story. As a mentor, it is an honor to walk beside someone on their journey. I feel I learn so much from my mentees and get excited about ways we can continue to encourage this profession to evolve and create community for future professionals.
Mentorship, like any relationship, takes time and nurturing. I have found that it is helpful to discuss with your mentee their goals, personal expectations of the relationship, personal learning styles, cultural values, time commitment, and their support system/village. At times, mentees have had a need for personal support that was more suited for their counselor or therapist. Understanding the boundaries of the role of the mentor–mentee relationship is part of understanding our roles and being ethical professionals.
- What do you consider to be your major contribution to the development of the counseling profession and why?
My voice is part of the collective consciousness of my loved ones and my community, including my ancestors. I think we all have power in our voices, and we each bring a unique perspective to this profession. My journey through mental health counseling, social justice, and higher education took roots early in my personal life as I overcame a series of challenging life events. Transitioning from Puerto Rico to the United States as a young child, overcoming poverty, and enduring the tragic loss of a loved one were mile markers along the path that has led me toward a career focused on social justice, mental health counseling, and counselor education. From my humble origins to chairing a clinical mental health counseling program at AUS, my professional and personal journey has prepared me to be deeply engaged in a profession that has provided purpose and an opportunity to create change in my world. As a lifelong social justice advocate, I have been passionate to live a life rooted in liberation and have used different paths to implement this. Over my career, I have had the honor to teach thousands of counselors-in-training and counselor educators-in-training, work with clients from all walks of life, publish research to foster social justice and advocacy, supervise and mentor, and be involved with leadership on many levels.
In my current state and national leadership roles, I work to promote a community in which we all strive to honor one another while creating a collective bond. Within this bond, we meet at the center of compassion while implementing our individual and communal gifts, strengths, commonalities, and differences. With this collective unity, we discover what connects us as professionals so we can expand our existing journeys, thus impacting how we interact with our counseling profession. The counseling profession reflects who we are and vice versa. This includes our voices, our stories, and our truths; therefore, if we evolve, we can continue to grow as a counseling profession. I have the honor to be the co-founder and co-director of a Latinx social justice mental health institute, ACA of Washington board chair, ACA parliamentarian 2021–22, president-elect-elect of WACES, chair of a counseling program, and chair of ACA’s International Committee 2021–22. In all these roles, the goal has been to create a community in which we can provide support, resources, and opportunity for voices to be heard and for change to occur. I believe my main contributions are part of a larger story, much greater than myself. This includes honoring those who have paved the way for me and many others to be part of this profession, and as a way to keep their legacy alive, I work to co-create communities rooted in social justice within our profession and in supporting the next generation of counselors as they focus on helping the professional landscape evolve to a place of more liberated thought.
- As the co-founder and director of the Latinx Mental Health & Social Justice Institute, what current barriers do you see this population facing and what does advocacy look like in your current role?
More than 19% of the U.S. population self-identify as Hispanic or Latine/x, making people of Latin origin the nation’s largest racial/ethnic minority (Lopez et al, 2021). Approximately 1 in 10 Latine/x individuals with a mental health issue uses mental health services from a general health care provider. Current barriers impacting the Latine/x population with regard to mental health are lack of accessible health services, lack of Spanish-speaking professionals, lack of culturally responsive treatment that aligns with Latine/x values, stigma in the community around mental health, and the need for better health care policies for all Latine/x individuals, including those who are undocumented (American Psychiatric Association & Lisotto, 2017). To tackle these barriers, we need to address systemic inequities on the macro, meso, and micro levels.
Currently, my advocacy is focused on growing our Latinx Mental Health & Social Justice Institute at AUS (https://latinxinstitute.antioch.edu). The Institute provides leadership for community-engaged research and service through capacity building and authentic partnerships with community stakeholders to promote impactful improvements in the health and well-being of Latine/x communities regionally, nationally, and internationally. We hope to help address barriers by creating a community of Latine/x professionals who will be accomplices in our liberation, working together to dismantle the oppressive systems that have impacted our communities, create opportunities for change rooted in liberation, and use our cultural stories, strengths, and values to guide our practices. We offer a master’s-level certificate in Latinx mental health and social justice, workshops to learn culturally responsive practices, partnerships with different nonprofit organizations, continuing education opportunities, an annual symposium during Hispanic Heritage Month, counseling services at our university’s clinic, community building, research, mentorship, training, global engagement, and cultural justice and advocacy. All efforts and roles I participate in are based on principles of social justice, human rights, and inclusion respective to intersections of one’s cultural Latinx narrative.
- What three challenges to the counseling profession as it exists today concern you most?
In the last 20 years, the average college tuition has increased by 30%. With the rising costs of higher education, more students are taking out student loans, and this debt is a burden that weighs more heavily on today’s college graduates than any generation that came before them. Due to the financial barriers, this impacts the demographic landscape of who enters the profession, quality of life, job satisfaction, and other factors. As a profession, we need to continue working on advancing and ensuring that licensed professional counselors can have seamless portability of their licenses when moving to other states, practicing across state lines, and engaging in telecounseling. This issue was illuminated during the COVID pandemic. We need to also work toward eliminating barriers that build a wall between our profession and the needs of our communities. Specifically, we need to work on decolonizing our profession. This includes recognizing that for many BIPOC individuals, the trauma from colonization and oppression impacts the mental health of individuals, families, and communities and the process of freeing ourselves from mental and systemic oppression. And last, we need to ensure adequate and equitable reimbursement for professional counselors in all settings. This means that all professional counselors need to be included as providers under all public and private insurance plans, especially Medicare.
- What needs to change in the counseling profession for these concerns to be successfully resolved?
We need to find a way to provide financial options for students pursing degrees in counseling and counselor education. This means intentionally creating a diverse pipeline of counselors and counselor educators through offering more scholarships, setting up state funding programs for counseling programs—more grants and university initiatives—and offering more easily accessible public service student loan forgiveness. In addition to eliminating financial barriers, we need to engage in practices to decolonize our profession. This includes decolonizing counseling theories, clinical practices, training programs, policies, research practices, leadership models, financial structures, and other systemic factors that create oppressive barriers. By dismantling systems of oppression, we can move toward a place of mental liberation and support liberatory practices in collaboration with the clients and communities in which we live and serve. When I think of liberation, I lean into the words of activist, Indigenous Australian (or Murri) artist, and academic, Lilla Watson, which she presented in a speech to the UN and attributed to her work with an Aboriginal Rights group in Queensland: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together” (1985). As a profession, let’s continue to work toward a place in which we are bound in our liberation, freeing ourselves from oppression, and continue to heal collectively.
For the opportunity to heal, accessibility and inclusion are important for our profession to create community and connections. Currently, ACA has a strategic plan to address the challenges of licensure portability. They are working on a Counseling Compact, which “is an interstate compact, or a contract among states, allowing professional counselors licensed and residing in a compact member state to practice in other compact member states without a need for multiple licenses” (National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2022). The Counseling Compact is to help counselors have easier access to practice across state lines, which includes telehealth options, which will also allow clients more access to a diverse range of professional mental health counselors.
ACA and NBCC have been working for years on lobbying efforts to pass legislation that would allow for licensed professional mental health counselors to be reimbursed by Medicare. ACA’s and NBCC’s Government Affairs teams are working hard to get this legislation passed, but we should also get involved. We urge counselors to contact their state senators and ask for their support on this initiative. Medicare is the nation’s largest health insurance program. Opening its access to licensed professional counselors would increase access to services for BIPOC folx, people of lower socioeconomic status, and the older population. Medicare covers more than 43 million people age 65 or older and more than 10 million Americans with disabilities. Many of these folx are in communities with limited access to mental health services and/or the services lack diversity in professionals. As professional counselors in and around these communities, we should strive to create and then join the solution to accessible health care.
- If you were advising current counseling leaders, what advice would you give them about moving the counseling profession forward?
Listen. I would advise leaders to listen to the members and stakeholders. There are many ways in which we can work toward evolving our profession, but we need to listen to one another in order to do this together. I would encourage current leaders to support and mentor leaders from communities that have been silenced or not invited to the table. As leaders, we need to think of the next generation and be thoughtful about supporting all communities, especially BIPOC leaders. As BIPOC leaders, we have many gifts to offer and need to bring our villages with us. As stated earlier, we are all bound together in liberation, so let’s collectively lead into a more inclusive future of our profession.
This concludes the seventh interview for the annual Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series. TPC is grateful to Joshua D. Smith, PhD, NCC, LCMHC, and Neal D. Gray, PhD, LCMHC-S, for providing this interview. Joshua D. Smith is an assistant professor at the University of Mount Olive. Neal D. Gray is a professor and Chair of the School of Counseling and Human Services at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Correspondence can be emailed to Joshua Smith at jsmith@umo.edu.
References
American Psychiatric Association, & Lisotto, M. (2017). Mental health disparities: Hispanics and Latinos. Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Cultural-Competency/Mental-Health-Disparities/Mental-Health-Facts-for-Hispanic-Latino.pdf
Lopez, M. H., Krogstad, J. M., & Passel , J. S. (2021, September 23). Who is Hispanic? Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/23/who-is-hispanic
National Center for Interstate Compacts. (2022, January 30). Counseling compact. https://counselingcompact.org
Watson, L. (1985, July 15–26). The World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace 1985. United Nations.
