An Emancipatory Communitarian Approach to Vocational Development Theory, Research, and Practice

Building on recent calls for a more explicit and intentional endorsement of social justice goals within counseling psychology and vocational psychology, this article proposes Prilleltensky’s (1997) emancipatory communitarian approach to psychological practice as a useful framework for vocational theory, practice, and research. Such a framework emphasizes the distinction between the concepts of work and career and illuminates the extent to which traditional vocational psychology has attended to the needs of the people who experience little, if any, volition in their choices of career or line of work. We present a rationale for integrating an emancipatory communitarian approach into vocational psychology theory and the implications of this approach for future research and practice.

Houston, 2001

This article presents an overview of the Houston 2001 National Counseling Psychology Conference. The authors discuss the context for the 4th National Counseling Psychology Conference, documentthe process of decision makingaboutthe conference, andexamine the content of the conference. The authors also examine a unique feature of the conference, the social action groups, discussing their philosophical underpinnings as well as how they were organized, what took place, and recommendations drawn from the groups. The authors evaluatethe outcomes of the Houston Conference andalso assess the conference within the context of the legacy of the three other counseling psychology conferences held at Northwestern University in 1951, in the Greyston Conference Center at Teachers College in 1964, and in Atlanta in 1987. Finally, the authors make recommendations for the field to move the conference’s initiatives forward and plan for future conferences.

Warts and All

In their comments regarding Goodman, Liang, Helms, Latta, Sparks, and Weintraub’s article “Training Counseling Psychologists as Social Justice Agents: Feminist and Multicultural Principles in Action,” Kiselica, Palmer, Thompson and Shermis, and Watts offered a number of useful suggestions for elaborating on social justice theory, practice, and training. Their reactions and feedback challenged Goodmanet al. to revisit and clarify their thinking about several related issues, including(a)the importance of student and faculty self-examination,(b)the need to ground our social justice theories and practice in organizing philosophies, (c) the difficulties of educating students about social justice work, and (e) the imperative to collaborate across professions. In this reply, the authors discuss each of these issues in turn, noting points of agreement and disagreement with their colleagues.

A Pragmatic View of Social Justice

Vera and Speight's (2003 [this issue]) use of the current Multicultural Competencies (Sue et al., 1998) to criticize all multicultural cultural social justice interventions may be unfair. The author offers some perspectives on shifting the focus of counseling psychology to marginalized groups but advises that minority status and economic realities may impede the shift.

Resolving the Paradoxes of and Barriers to Patient-Centered Culturally Sensitive Health Care

The three reviews of the Major Contribution in this issue of The Counseling Psychologist provide thought-provoking critiques of counseling psychology's role in patient-centered culturally sensitive health care. In this rejoinder, the authors situate these critiques within the historical context of enduring paradoxes and barriers confronting counseling psychologists' entry into health care settings. The primary themes of this discussion focus on the imprecision of health care terms, the paradox of empowerment, and the challenges of overcoming the status quo.

Counseling Psychology and School Counseling

Counseling psychology and school counseling have become quite removed from each other despite sharing a common history, having similar values, and the fact that many training programs for the two disciplines coexist in the same university department or college. This article argues for a stronger integration of the two specialties to advance their contributions to pre–K-12 education and the nation’s youth. Counseling psychology, with its strong commitment to career psychology, counselor training and supervision, multiculturalism, prevention, and scientific inquiry, is well positioned among psychological specialties to exert major influence in the educational enterprise. Models of school counselor training and service delivery have been recently developed and offer numerous opportunities for collaboration between counseling psychologists and school counselors. A collaborative model that encompasses training curricula, research, service, and professional organization dimensions of the specialties is presented. Challenges that may impede a stronger partnership between counseling psychology and school counseling, as well as suggestions for addressing them, are also discussed.

Prevention and Counseling Psychology

This article advocates the need for a much stronger emphasis on and commitment to the science and practice of prevention in counseling psychology. Historical and recent developments in the profession are highlighted, as are the changing U.S. demographics and societal needs that mandate an enhanced prevention focus for the field. A prevention-based agenda of four fundamental goals for counseling psychology is articulated. The goals include eight training domains and objectives as well as skills needed to support a prevention agenda for counseling psychology. Barriers and adjustments needed to give renewed vitality toward prevention are discussed. Prevention resources and funding opportunities are presented.

Counseling Psychology and Welfare Reform

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRA) of 1996 marked the beginning of reforms in the welfare system that promise to affect more than 20 million people in the next 5 years. Although many agree that reform was needed, efforts may be based on misconceptions about welfare recipients. The transition from welfare to work may be problematic for many, as they face individual factors (e.g., psychological disorders) and contextual variables (e.g., lack of well-paying jobs). Counseling psychology traditionally has rested on the foundations of the vocational guidance, psychological testing, psychotherapy, and mental hygiene movements. The context of welfare reform offers unique opportunities and obvious responsibilities for the profession. This article discusses the philosophies and values of counseling psychology in the context of realities and misconceptions of the past welfare system and implications of the PRA. Recommendations for points of entry for counseling psychologists are made.

A Conceptual Framework for Counseling Psychologists in Schools

This article explores how contemporary developmental psychology, specifically developmental-contextualism, provides a conceptual framework for practice and research by counseling psychologists who work with schools. Developmental-contextualism articulates how human development (a) is affected by context, (b) involves bio-psycho-social levels, (c) occurs during the life span, and (d) includes strengths and deficits. The authors delineate how these four developmental principles, in conjunction with the traditional strengths of counseling psychology, can guide the application of effective interventions with school-aged children and their families.

The Shifting Sands of Counseling Psychology Programs’ Institutional Contexts

Despite strong indicators of the robustness of counseling psychology, the specialty seems somewhat vulnerable, as evidenced by the fact that several solid programs have been forced to phase out or to convert to combined-integrated programs. In fact, analyzing the trends among counseling psychology programs reveals that 30% of programs that have been accredited have been phased out. This article provides a context for understanding the accreditation history of counseling psychology programs. We then offer solutions and strategies to reduce this particular vulnerability. The proximal and distal solutions that are presented may help ensure the continued flourishing of counseling psychology across institutional, programmatic, and national levels.

School-Linked Prevention

Principles drawn from contemporary developmental-contextualism are presented as a framework for guiding the design, implementation, and evaluation of school-linked prevention programs that are consistent with an emerging body of research specifying best practices in prevention. Two school-linked preventive interventions, the Gardner Extended Services School (GESS) and Supporting Teachers Supporting Students, are described and discussed according to developmental principles. Roles of counseling psychologists in each intervention are also discussed. Implications of the theory and science of school-linked prevention and the two program examples for training of counseling psychologists are described.

Reaffirming the Unique Identity of Counseling Psychology:

Chwalisz's (2003 [this issue])call to adopt the evidence-based practice model provides an opportunity for counseling psychologists to reexamine both their commitment to the scientist-practitioner model and their unique professional identity. In this reaction, the author offers her critique of several assumptions underlying the evidence-based approach and presents her position that a shift to the evidence-based worldview would move the field further away from its roots as a specialty, including its particular commitment to prevention, multiculturalism, and social justice. A set of standards or competencies to advance counseling psychologists' commitments to a prevention-oriented, social justice approach is needed to guide counseling training, practice, and research. In addition, significant barriers to the implementation of a prevention-oriented agenda in counseling psychology will need to be overcome.

Promoting Emotional Intelligence and Career Decision Making Among Italian High School Students

This article evaluates the efficacy of a training program focused on increasing emotional intelligence (EI), which was developed for Italian high school students. The training was constructed using an ability-based model of EI. It was hypothesized that specific training would increase both ability and self-reported EI and reduce levels of indecisiveness and career decision difficulties. This article outlines relevant literature and provides a description of the intervention, an evaluation of its efficacy, and a presentation of the results with regard to decisional problems.

A Qualitative Investigation of Averted School Shooting Rampages

The recent rash of school violence has again brought to the fore a need to investigate ways to enhance the safety of America’s children. With its emphases on prevention and collaboration with schools, a counseling psychology perspective can add much to the growing body of research on lethal school violence. This article aims to understand school violence prevention from the perspectives of school personnel who intervened to avert deadly shootings. As such, this study used consensual qualitative research methodology. Six primary domains emerged from the data, including school conditions, intervention, crisis planning, relationship, prevention efforts, and problematic issues. A seventh other domain captured important data that did not fit with the aforementioned six domains. From all domains, data were collapsed into 42 core ideas.

Interprofessional collaboration: Implications for Combined-Integrated doctoral training in professional psychology

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is becoming "best practice" in the field of professional psychology and other health care professions. It was named as a core competency at Competencies 2002 and the Consensus Conference and has been endorsed by the American Psychological Association on several occasions. The authors provide a definition of IPC, present conceptual, scholarly, and pragmatic support for IPC, and offer guidance on how Combined-Integrated (C-I) doctoral programs in professional psychology can include IPC to ensure students are well equipped to respond to a client's complex needs. Furthermore, although C-I programs might be particularly well prepared to incorporate IPC into their training, it is argued that programs in the single practice areas of clinical, counseling, and school psychology also may benefit from the inclusion of IPC.