Counseling Psychology in Israel: A Virtual Specialty in Transition

Abstract

Le domaine de la psychologie du counseling ne s'est pas encore imposé en Israël comme une spécialité officiellement reconnue. Comme dans bien d'autres pays, la psychologie clinique représente le substrat des services de counseling, pour ce qui est du prestige et du nombre de praticiens. Cependant, les psychologues du counseling ont joué un rôle important pendant des années en faisant la preuve de leurs compétences aussi bien dans le monde universitaire que dans la vie pratique. L'une des retombées positives en est la promotion de la psychologie du travail où nombre de psychologues du counseling ont trouvé un refuge pendant des années, secteur qu'ils ont enrichi aussi bien théoriquement que pratiquement. La psychologie du counseling est en Israël appréhendée avec le souci de fournir une réponse à la demande particulière de counseling de la population locale et dans le cadre de l'évolution de l'ensemble de la profession de psychologue.The field of counseling psychology has yet to take hold in Israel as an officially sanctioned specialty. As in many countries, clinical psychology constitutes the primary deliverer of psychological counseling services, both in number and in status. Nonetheless, counseling psychologists have been prominent over the years in applying their professional skills, both in academia and in applied areas. One local benefit is the boost granted to the vocational psychology field where many counseling psychologists have found a haven over the years and have enriched it, both academically and in practice. Counseling psychology in Israel is discussed in the context of providing a response to the unique counseling needs of the local population and within the structural transition of the psychological profession as a whole.

The Contribution of the Counselor–Client Working Alliance to Career Exploration

“…In Israel, vocational psychology is a fully recognized specialty regulated by a committee in the Ministry of Health. Nevertheless, it is still considered a relatively small specialty which is an amalgam of several subspecialties, including career counseling and assessment, selection and assessment, and organizational psychology (Benjamin, 2007).…”

Formal and Applied Counseling in Israel

“…Previous discussions about counseling in Israel have described related issues, such as its role within the school context (Karayanni, 1996), occupational guidance (Benjamin, 2007), specific ethnic groups (Shechtman, 2003), times of intensive community danger (Israelashvili, 2005), and implications of multiculturalism (Israelashvili & Benjamin, 2009). In this article, we focus on the description and analysis of the existing gap between the formal and the applied (i.e., practical) statuses of counseling in Israel.…”