History and Trends of Counseling - Research Paper Example

? History and trends of counseling Counseling is a life-long process, which gives help to an individual in finding his way. This paper examines the history of counseling in more detail along with its religious aspects as given in the Holy Bible. This paper will give a discussion of commitment to provide Biblically grounded, ethical, and empirically based on the counseling services, specifically on the Career Counseling topic. Counseling’s focus on development, prevention, wellness, and treatment makes it attractive to those seeking healthy life-stage transitions and productive lives. This paper will show more aspects related to the topic of career counseling and have a personal reflection which is purely based upon the personal experience about the topic. Introduction Counseling is a wide-ranging profession which deals with many of its types. Counseling meets all the standards for a profession and has done so for a significant period of time. The profession of counseling is an only profession of its kind which is well connected with the thoughts of a person and other mental health disciplines. A counselor deals with one’s mental condition by analyzing its stress level and at times its history. The profession of counseling has made a lot of growth in many of its branches and it helps in providing the remediation over the course of a life span. A counselor can work in various areas of life of his counselee, such as it can be done in the childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood. A counselor is a person specialized in his work and works within the rules of counseling profession. Counseling profession is specially designed on purpose of helping individuals, couples after their marriage, groups as in group counseling, families, and social systems (such as career counseling, addiction counseling, etc) just to sort out the problems associated with general people. These problems may be situational, developmental, and long-term or short-term problems, and counselor’s aim is to help people in getting rid of their problems although it takes some time and demands patience as counseling itself is a long-life procedure to go. The hub of this profession is to focus on the development of one’s personality by preventing him from wellness and giving reliable treatment which makes it attractive to those seeking healthy life-stage transitions and productive lives. Therefore, it is a good deal to know about the history of counseling field. Definition of Counseling Counseling is an accepted profession in which a specialized person listened to others problems and stories with keen interest and helps them in solving that problem and overcoming that situation after understanding their mental thoughts. Counselor, within the rules of counseling profession, is liable to provide a sense of decision-making to his client (McLeod, 2009). History of Counseling The history of counseling profession is not that old and it is a new profession (Aubrey, 1977, 1982). The main development in this field was started in 1890s and 1900s. “Some of the functions of counselors were and are shared by persons in other professions” (Herr & Fabian, 1993, p. 3). From 1900 to 1909, the basic development in counseling occurs when three persons worked for its development and they are still known as the “leaders in counseling’s development”. These are: Frank Parsons, Jesse B. Davis, and Clifford Beers. Each of them has given a great contribution to this field as Frank’s book “Choosing a Vocation (1909)” did. In that era, Jesse B. Davis was the first person who introduced a guideline program in the general public and in schools (Aubrey, 1977; Brewer, 1942). Like other two, Clifford Beers also wrote a great book which was the best seller in 1910s; the book was published in 1908 with a title “A Mind that found itself.” Clifford Beers was a well known student of Yale University and he was hospitalized many times for being depressed and taking much stress. In 1913, an association started its work for counseling with a name, National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) which properly started its work in 1921 by offering its publications to general public such as, the National Vocational Guidance Magazine (1924–1933), Occupations: The Vocational Guidance Magazine (1933–1944), Occupations: The Vocational Guidance Journal (1944–1952), Personnel and Guidance Journal (1952–1984), and the Journal of Counseling and Development (1984 to the present). In 1911, a proper education and training was started for the counselors by the Harvard University. Many new standards were founded in the mid of 1920, and a great addition to these instruments and materials was made by Edward Strong when he published Strong Vocational Interest Inventory (SVII) in 1927.this publication helped counselors a lot in understanding their work. And after this 1930 was not as good as 1920 was. 1950 came with many establishments of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA), such as American School Counselor Association (ASCA); American Psychological Association (APA); National Defense Education Act (NDEA); and along with these establishments, many new theories were established in 1950. With the start of 1960, researchers decided to focus on the development of this newly known profession, counseling and at that time, Gilbert Wrenn published a book in 1962, “The counselor in the changing world”. The development of counseling remained continue till 1990 and many symbolical and structural changes happen in the field of counseling. Current Trends in the Twenty-First Century In 2002, counseling has officially celebrated its 50th anniversary as a profession under the Umbrella of the ACA. Among the most pressing topics were dealing with violence, trauma, and crises; managed care; wellness in working; social justice; innovated technology; qualified leadership; and identity. Career counseling It is a long life procedure in which one or more counselors and one or more counselees are in a relationship for a purpose, and they together analyze the problem of counselee and focus on identifying and acting on the counselee’s goals. During this process, the counselor provide work for a catalog to counselee with a use of different techniques, where both people have the same aim, to help counselee in his problem. They both work with mutual understanding, understanding of behavioral options available, and make a worthwhile decision at the end (Herr & Cramer, 1996). History of the field of career counseling The history of this type of counseling tells us that it was present in the begging era of Greek and Roman. But the main roots of the career counseling, which we are applying now days in our life, were founded in the mid of 1800s and in the starting times of 1900s widely in the United States and spread in the entire world. It basically was the time when researchers and scientist were trying to explore new branches of human science specifically in the area of Mental Psychology when “Wilhelm Wundi” widely worked on this topic. A lot of researches have been made under the head of Career Counseling within the subject of Counseling Psychology. This is a wide area of study which explores a great number of information and helps in developing one’s career. A recent study on the career counseling topic has revealed many aspects of this topic. It includes some of written tests, personal interpretation about the information to check the mental ability of an individual, the real provision of information on the practical work; it also includes giving the opportunities for modeling and the building of career choice in individual’s professional and social network (Spielberger, p. 303-305). In the old ages, it was assumed that the “Happy worker is the productive worker”. The history of career counseling is divided in six stages: Stage 1: This is said to be from 1890-1919. It was started with the growth of migration in the urban areas; it was the time of industrial development. Stage 2: It was started in 1920 and remained till 1939. In this stage, the education of high schools and colleges come into existence. Stage 3: From 1940-1959. This was the time when counseling was in demand for the growth of schools, colleges and universities. Stage 4: From 1960-1979. In this era, many organizations were found to provide the facilities of counseling and many people accepted this profession and started believing counselors. Stage 5: From1980-1989. After industrial development, technological development came and it was the actual start of the profession of career counseling with private practice. Stage 6: From 1900-present. Time is changed now and counseling is now appreciated as a respectable profession (Zunker). Importance of the Filed, Career Counseling Choosing a reliable career is always a big decision of every one’s life and career development has a rich tradition of theory and research in it to indicate about one’s personality and it also enlighten all those traits and factors of one’s personality which helps him in his developmental stages, attitudes, and emotions influence career choice and development (Freeman, 1990; Patterson, 1964).  Oliver & Spokane (1988) said that career counseling is a short-term interference which is very important in one’s life helping him in choosing the best career. Many institutions offer services that include, at the most, three to four sessions (Goodyear & Healy, 1988) and career counseling as practiced in schools may, given the ratio of students to counselors, consist of only one session (Carnegie Council Report, 1989).  Developmental Stages and Theories Many development theories are available today on the topic of career counseling which includes: Developmental theory of Super (1957), Erikson's theory of Psychosocial Development (1963, 1968), Loevinger's (1976) and Vaillant's (1977) theories of Ego Development, and Gould's (1978) and Levinson's (1978) work on Adult Development.  Understanding and applying all of these theories can bring a great contribution to the counselor's ability. It will help him in becoming a good counselor who can easily understand the problems of his client and to structure appropriate, realistic counseling interventions that match the client's developmental levels, strengths, and weaknesses. Identity Formation by Counselor Identify formation is the creation of an integrated sense of self and it is part of a long developmental process. Problems in identity formation may be suspected when clients experience a great deal of ambivalence about their choices. Clients who have problems with identity formation may be in one of the following of Marcia's (1966) four identity status categories: Progressive Identity Formation: Identity Foreclosure: In this state, a person sets some sets of identifications in his early life and remains that way then after (Hauser, 1971). Psychosocial Moratorium: Identity Diffusion: This status is the most difficult one for the career counselor because it represents the least healthy psychological functioning (Josselson, 1987). Aspects of Career Counseling Personal and Professional Aspects:  Career decision making is more difficult for clients who have an obsessive-compulsive style. Their intellectual rigidity and detached way of dealing with feelings interfere with decision making because they deliberate a great deal, focus on small details, and overly intellectualize the process (Shapiro, 1965). They tend to avoid attempting tasks whose outcomes are unpredictable (Merges, 1982).  Social or economical Aspects: Career counseling helps in increasing both of these values which is equally beneficial for the economy, and individual. Career counseling should begin at the level of education so that the students should study the relevant subjects to their desired career and choose that career which can best fit to fulfill the requirements of their family and also fulfills their financial needs. Ethical and Legal Aspects: It is the duty of counselor to follow up the rules and regulation, as said, “Counselors have an ethical and moral mandate to work toward social justice” (Bryan, 2009, p. 510). Pollock has described the ethical and legal risks of counselor and said, a counselor “would be wise to educate themselves on the ethical and technical issues emerging in this new arena” (Pollock, 2006, p. 69). What is said by Bible? ... For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. From the above, you can be assured of the following: Tell yourself that God is at work. God is at work in the middle of your circumstances to solve your problems and to give you best ways to go. God has a specific plan and purpose that will be accomplished as a result of your job loss if you submit to that plan and purpose. God's plan and purpose are the ultimate good for you. If you allow God to work in your life, you will be better off because you lost your job than if you had not. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Looking for a job can be a humbling experience. God can give the best guidance and help in this matter, as narrated in Bible: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” “Trust in the Lord always and lean not on your own understanding”... Proverb Personal reflection Of course all the counselors do not achieve their goal in bringing peace to their client’s life as many of them make mistakes because of having less knowing about this vast and wide ranging profession of counseling. But mistakes never associated to counselor’s end each time, sometimes clients are more in anxiety and behave uncooperatively, sometimes circumstances sabotage our plans and procedures and sometimes the influence of others is too great and so on. Thus, the profession of counseling is so much challenging and challenges of modern working are considerable for most of the people in the labor market or seeking to enter it. We believe on Chaos theory, which tells us that the future is always unpredictable and it is not possible to know today what will be happening tomorrow and it seems even more so today than ever before. On the other hand, the career counseling profession was supposed to be about predicting people’s working futures, to release their financial pressures and maintaining their relationship, bring peace to them in the condition of relentlessness. Consequently I want others, on the one hand, to be able to avoid becoming locked into jobs that they find inappropriate or stultifying. This must occur in the context of a muddled world with all its uncertainties both positive in terms of opportunities and negative in terms of misfortunes (Pryor, 2008, p. 1-11). Conclusion Some of the central psychological issues that need to be addressed within the context of career counseling have been reviewed. The emphasis should be on the specific issues and counselee should know when he most needs the counselor? Either he should take it before starting a job, or after to bring development in it, or instead he should use a personal counseling service (Brown, 1985). As Niles and Pate (1989) noted, “it is still perplexing that career and personal counseling are referred to as if they were completely separate entities.” Counselors should come up with new and innovate ideas to explore more about the personality of his client as it will help him in solving his client’s problem in more effective way and it should be based upon the principles and rules. Counseling is an easy way for the persons to overcome their stress and depression. References Brown, D. (1985). Career counseling: Before, after, or instead of personal counseling? Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 33, 197-201. Carnegie Council Report. (1989). Turning points: Preparing American youth for the 21st century. New York: The Carnegie Foundation. Erikson, E. (1963). Childhood and society. New York: Norton. Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York: Norton. Freeman, S. C. (1990). C. H. Patterson on client-centered career counseling: An interview. The Career Development Quarterly, 38, 291-301. Gould, R. (1978). Transformations. New York: Simon & Schuster. Goodyear, R., & Healy, C. (1988). UCLA's career counseling center: A dialogue about a unique service. Journal of Counseling & Development, 67, 49-53. Hauser, S. L. (1971). Black and White identity formation. New York: Wiley. Josselson, R. (1987). Finding herself. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Levinson, D. (1978). The seasons of a man's life. New York: Ballantine. Loevinger, J. (1976). Ego development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Manuele, C. (1984). Modifying vocational maturity in adults with delayed career development: A life skills approach. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 33, 101-1-12. McLeod, J. (2009). An introduction to Counseling (4th ed.). Glasgow, U.K.: Bell and Bain Ltd. Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and construct validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558. Newman,J., Fuqua, D., & Seaworth, T. (1989). The role of anxiety in career indecision: Implications for diagnosis and treatment. Career Development Quarterly, 37, 221-230. Niles, S., & Pate, R. (1989). Competency and training issues related to the integration of career counseling and mental health counseling. Journal of Career Development, 16, 63-70. Oliver, L., & Spokane, A. (1988). Career interventions' outcomes: What contributes to client gain? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 3, 447-462. Pryor, R. (2008). Careers Forum. Does Career Counseling Matter? A Personal Reflection, 1-11. Shapiro, D. (1965). Neurotic styles. New York: Basic Books. Super, D.E. (1957). The psychology of careers. New York: Harper & Bros. Spielberger, C. D. (Ed.). (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology (Vol. 1). Vaillant, G. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston: Little, Brown. Zunker, V. G. (n.d.). Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach (8 ed.). USA. Read More