Graduate Training and Professional Identity

Current issues in counseling psychology: Entitlement, education, and identity confusion.

“…Another way of examining the question about whether counseling psychologists differ from their clinical counterparts can be produced by examining their education and training. In a recent survey of program directors in APA-accredited and provisional clinical and counseling psychology programs, Hamilton (1977) analyzed responses regarding course work in six main content areas. She found that counseling,program directors valued "program process" (skills in taking personal and conceptual leadership in a task or project situation), "training" (including, working with both paraprofessionals and graduate students or professionals), and "vocational" content areas more than did clinical directors.…”

“…In also discussing how this would be related to doctoral training, he suggests that doctoral students would need to be trained in supervisory skills. As counseling psychology more often includes course work in supervision/training as part of doctoral training (Hamilton, 1977), it may be even more well prepared than clinical psychology to train master's-level practitioners. The recent document produced by APA in regard to the use of psychological assistants by GHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services) is also relevant to the discussion of master's-level practitioners (APA, Note 5).…”

Mediated services: Making the whole more than the sum of its parts

“…The gradual change from seeing ourselves as primarily vocational/educational counselors toward a primary identification as personal counselors and, recently, as outreach experts and environmental consultants has been documented elsewhere (Wrenn, 1977;Huebner, 1977). This broadening of our professional role has been reflected in the values of those directing graduate programs (Hamilton, 1977). Clearly, these role changes interact with the evolution in counseling center role and functioning.…”

Needed: Competent, Confident, and Committed Career Counselors

“…Some view it as less than sufficient for defining the profession (Goldschmitt, Tipton, & Wiggins, 1981), and others perceive it "as a stepchild to personal and social counseling" (Burck, 1975, p. 5). This attitude has been supported by the finding that many counselor training programs accord much less emphasis to career counseling than to personal counseling (Hamilton, 1977;Schneider & Gelso, 1972).…”