The Importance of Professional Counseling as a Distinct Field

Introduction: Professional Counseling as a Unique Discipline

Professional counselors play an essential role in helping individuals achieve their full potential. Experts in any one of a number of fields — from education to career to personal growth — today's professional counselors provide services that are distinct from those offered by psychologists and social workers. Making use of the principles of mental health, psychology, and human development, counselors apply cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies that enable their clients to overcome problems and reach their goals (Sheeley, 2002).

Professional counselors differ from other mental health professionals in that they work directly with those needing help by giving advice narrowly tailored to each client's specific needs and problems. Counseling, unlike psychology, is not about uncovering and remedying a profound inner problem that poses a supposedly "global" dilemma for the client. Nor is it specifically concerned with the provision of social services, as in the case of social work. An emphasis on emotional intelligence is perhaps the core value that sets counselors apart from members of allied professions (Martin, Easton, Wilson, Takemoto & Sullivan, 2004).

It is the goal of the professional counselor to truly understand the individual — as an individual — to empathize with her or him, and to use that emotional connection as a tool for discovering the proper and appropriate strategy for improving the situation. Through a deep understanding of the client, the professional counselor comes to know which particular approach will work best, as well as what specific problems are encumbering the individual and keeping her or him from her or his desired, or best, aim.

Too frequently, however, the professional counseling approach is challenged by members of allied professions such as psychology and social work. Psychologists and social workers contend that their strategies alone can be as effective as those of professional counselors. Yet, as their approaches lack the emotional and holistic dimension of professional counseling, they are unable to reach individuals in quite the same way. It is essential, therefore, that professional counseling be defended as a vital and distinct profession — one whose unique gifts must be preserved for the benefit of all.

The Case for Professional Advocacy

Given the potentially adverse effects of a loss of professional independence, it is imperative that professional counselors begin to advocate for themselves and their profession. Such advocacy helps both their clients and themselves by advancing necessary causes and emphasizing the benefits derived from professional counseling. Nonetheless, advocacy can present problems of its own. Many of these problems are intrinsically problems of perception, as it is easy for advocates to appear to be advancing their cause for strictly selfish ends (Myers, Sweeney & White, 2002).

Advocacy can be extremely useful, however, in communicating the message of counseling and helping to further define it as a profession distinct from other mental health disciplines. As pointed out by Cynthia J. Osborn, advocacy can serve as one of the ways of reducing stress in counselors themselves, since through advocacy the unique and beneficial goals of the field are constantly rearticulated and thus kept alive in the minds and day-to-day activities of its practitioners (Osborn, 2004).

The various concentrations within the field of counseling can also benefit from an increased emphasis on professional advocacy. Mental health counselors, for example, can further define the specific scope of their expertise by advocating the special capabilities, training, and goals of their area of specialization. M. Carole Pistole and Amber Roberts note that without further advocacy, many who specialize in this field tend to be pigeonholed merely as professional counselors who happen to focus on mental health — in other words, that this specialization is merely incidental to their work, rather than central to it (Pistole & Roberts, 2002). This kind of advocacy can go hand-in-hand with certifications and other academic qualifications that help to further define the profession (Pistole & Roberts, 2002). Anything that tends to explain the significance and ideals of professional counseling can only assist counselors in doing their jobs better — and anything that helps counselors perform their tasks more effectively will serve the interests of their clients and of society as a whole.

Conclusion: Preserving the Counseling Profession

Professional counseling is at times threatened by the encroachments of allied professions such as psychology and social work. Yet counselors must always keep in mind that theirs is a unique field — one that provides a unique service attending to the needs of clients on an especially personal and emotional level. Using insights drawn from research in mental health, psychology, and human development, professional counselors construct a holistic picture of men, women, and children. They look at these individuals as individuals and understand them within the contexts of their families and communities. They look at their hopes and dreams, assist them in overcoming their problems, and empower them to work toward their goals.

Professional counselors need to become advocates for their profession, both to preserve the good that is in their approach and to better serve those whom they seek to help. Counselors must also ensure that members of their own profession — and the public at large — are fully aware of the aims and ethics of the counseling field. Further, counselors must maintain solidarity. They must reward the efforts of those who have built up, and continue to build, the profession. Individually and in professional groups, professional counselors must take cognizance of what sets them apart from others in related fields, and what makes their approach special, significant, and indispensable. Professional counseling is a field that must be preserved, because it has much to offer individuals and the communities to which we all belong.

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