With the promulgation of the 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling consensus definition of counseling, there is finally profession‐wide clarity as to what it means to engage in professional counseling. This article describes the development and discusses the implications of the definition: “Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.” This consensus definition has been endorsed by 29 major counseling organizations.

Rehabilitation counseling must embrace an evidence-based practice paradigm to remain a vital and respected member of the future community of professions in rehabilitation and mental health care and to fully discharge its responsibility to assist consumers in accessing effective rehabilitation interventions and exercising truly informed choice. The goals of this article are to (a) discuss the importance of using model-driven and culturally sensitive evidence-based rehabilitation counseling practices to enhance rehabilitation outcomes for people with disabilities, (b) highlight the needs for an integrative conceptual framework of disability that can be used to conduct systematic rehabilitation counseling research and to examine mediators and moderators affecting vocational rehabilitation outcomes, and (c) recommend changes in rehabilitation counseling practice, education, and research.

In order to meet the demands of today's rehabilitation counseling practice environments effectively, rehabilitation counselors must be well prepared in traditional, as well as emerging, knowledge areas. The purpose of this study was to determine the training needs of certified rehabilitation counselors practicing in a variety of settings by identifying knowledge areas perceived by counselors as important for which they also reported limited preparation levels. Results of the analysis revealed 23 knowledge areas in which a critical training need was identified across all settings. Training needs for each of the three primary practice settings (public, proprietary, and nonprofit) are also provided. Implications for practice, preservice preparation, and professional development are discussed.

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Knowledge of the ethical beliefs of rehabilitation counselors and their level of confidence in these beliefs is important to understanding the professional culture of rehabilitation counseling. The purpose of this study was to determine the specific beliefs of a national sample of CRCs about whether particular behaviors are ethical, the degree to which there is a consensus about the ethical nature of these behaviors, and which behaviors involve a high degree of controversy. Results indicated that of the 104 behaviors, 13% (n=14) appear to be clearly identified as ethical, 22% (n-23) clearly unethical, and 16% (n=17) as controversial. In addition, the level of confidence of rehabilitation counselors demonstrated in their judgments and difficult judgment items also is discussed along with the participants' ratings of the effectiveness of various resources regarding ethics.