Philosophical Foundations
Philosophical Foundations of Counseling
There are several key philosophical ideals and historical events that have informed the foundations of counseling. Erford (2014) discusses various perspectives that comprise the philosophical foundations of mental health counseling. These perspectives include wellness, developmental, empowerment. These perspectives came about due to the shift from an agricultural to an industrial based economy (Erford, 2014). The wellness perspective evolved into a counseling approach that assists clients with their physical, mental, and social state of a person being. The development perspective includes a counselor understanding that a client have normal, abnormal or transitory responses to events and change (Erford, …show more content…
Furthermore, the counseling profession continues to develop and adjust to a changing society. These historical events continue to shape current trends and professional issues in clinical mental health counseling. Multiculturalism and diversity continue to impact counselor education, training, theories and interventions (Erford, 2014). Technology and evidence-based practices and outcomes are current trends impacting the knowledge counselors have access to; and both have a direct impact on the client. The challenges and dialogue surrounding managed care impacts services administered and provided. Recent historical events have also impacted counselor-in-training and professional aspects of the profession. Gatekeeping is essential in order to protect the public from counselors-in-training that are not a good fit for the profession while mentoring and leadership training is able to nurture those students who enter and can benefit from these types of experiences. Finally, the current trends and issues include advocacy for and on the behalf of counselors and clients; and continued effort is needed so that a basic level of cohesiveness does not splinter the various counseling specializations (Erford,
There are several key philosophical ideals and historical events that have informed the foundations of counseling. Erford (2014) discusses various perspectives that comprise the philosophical foundations of mental health counseling. These perspectives include wellness, developmental, empowerment. These perspectives came about due to the shift from an agricultural to an industrial based economy (Erford, 2014). The wellness perspective evolved into a counseling approach that assists clients with their physical, mental, and social state of a person being. The development perspective includes a counselor understanding that a client have normal, abnormal or transitory responses to events and change (Erford, …show more content…
Furthermore, the counseling profession continues to develop and adjust to a changing society. These historical events continue to shape current trends and professional issues in clinical mental health counseling. Multiculturalism and diversity continue to impact counselor education, training, theories and interventions (Erford, 2014). Technology and evidence-based practices and outcomes are current trends impacting the knowledge counselors have access to; and both have a direct impact on the client. The challenges and dialogue surrounding managed care impacts services administered and provided. Recent historical events have also impacted counselor-in-training and professional aspects of the profession. Gatekeeping is essential in order to protect the public from counselors-in-training that are not a good fit for the profession while mentoring and leadership training is able to nurture those students who enter and can benefit from these types of experiences. Finally, the current trends and issues include advocacy for and on the behalf of counselors and clients; and continued effort is needed so that a basic level of cohesiveness does not splinter the various counseling specializations (Erford,