Root Metaphors and Parables: A Comment on Van Hesteren and lvey

Abstract

This article, which comments on Van Hesteren and Ivey's (1990) article in volume 68 of this journal, asserts that counseling's identity as a profession is rooted in educational‐developmental‐preventive activities derived from distinctive worldviews shared with psychology and other disciplines. A parable for students is offered to illustrate worldview manifestations and their relevance for professional identity.

Professionalism's Challenges to Professional Counselors' Collective Identity

“…The discussions of counseling's identity in the 1990s echoed these sentiments. Steenbarger (1991) contended, "Counseling's identity is inextricably bound with those preventive and developmental activities issuing from organismic (growth-oriented, holistic) and contextualist (person/environment-sensitive) perspectives" (p. 380). Hanna and Bemak (1997) identified the educational component, an emphasis on human development and on multiculturalism, as differentiating counseling from other helping professions.…”

Copying and Coping Conceptualizations of Language: Counseling and the Ethic of Appreciation for Human Differences

“…Over the past several decades, theorists have debated about a central identity that would unify the diverse members of the counseling profession (Hanna and Bemak 1997;Heck 1990;Ivey and Van Hesteren 1990;Kelly 1996;McAuliffe and Eriksen 1999;Robinson 1990;Seiler and Messina 1979;Steenbarger 1990Steenbarger , 1991Van Hesteren and Ivey 1990;Weikel and Palmo 1989). Although various identity proposals have been offered, a broad consensus has not emerged that endorses a particular identity (Gale and Austin 2003).…”

Ethics and Relationship: From Risk Management to Relational Engagement

“…The roots of the counseling profession extend back to educational and vocational service and sprouted from society's needs for both personal meaning and social order (Ponton & Duba, ). The counseling profession grew in scope and practice over the last several decades, and its identity can be described as “inextricably bound with those preventative and developmental activities issuing from oganismic (growth‐oriented, holistic) and contextualistic (person/environment sensitive) perspectives” (Steenbarger, , p. 380).…”