Professional Counseling

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how professional counselors play an essential role in helping individuals achieve their full potential. Experts in any one of a number of fields from education to career to personal growth, today's professional counselors provide services that are distinct from those offered by psychologists and social workers. This paper looks at how, by making use of the principals of mental health, psychology, and human development, counselors apply strategies of cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies that enable their clients to overcome their problems and reach their goals. The paper also contends that professional counselors differ from other mental health professionals in that they work directly with those needing help by giving advice that is narrowly tailored to their specific needs and problems.

From the Paper:

"Given the potentially adverse effects of a loss of professional independence, it is imperative that professional counselors begin to advocate for themselves and their profession. Such advocacy helps both their clients and themselves by advancing necessary causes and emphasizing the benefits derived from professional counseling. Nonetheless, advocacy can present problems of its own. Many of these problems are intrinsically problems of perception, as it easy for advocates to appear to be advancing their cause for strictly selfish ends. (Myers, Sweeney & White, 2002) Advocacy can be extremely useful; however, in getting out the message of counseling and helping to further define it as a profession distinct from other mental health disciplines. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Awe, T., Portman, A., & Garrett, M. T. (2005). Beloved Women: Nurturing the Sacred Fire of Leadership from an American Indian Perspective. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83(3), 284+.
• Benshoff, J. M., & Spruill, D. A. (2002). Sabbaticals for Counselor Educators: Purposes, Benefits, and Outcomes. Counselor Education and Supervision, 42(2), 131+.
• Hill, A. L. (2004). Ethical Analysis in Counseling: A Case for Narrative Ethics, Moral Visions, and Virtue Ethics. Counseling and Values, 48(2), 131+.
• Hill, N. R. (2003). Promoting and Celebrating Multicultural Competence in Counselor Trainees. Counselor Education and Supervision, 43(1), 39+.
• Magnuson, S., Wilcoxon, S. A., & Norem, K. (2003). Career Paths of Professional Leaders in Counseling: Plans, Opportunities, and Happenstance. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 42(1), 42+.

More papers on Professional Counseling:

• Term Paper # 108159 : "Professional Counseling"
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• Comparison Essay # 37029 : "Ethics Codes, Membership, and Function of Three Professional Counseling Organizations."

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