The accreditation standards outlined in the article are used by the International Association of Counseling Services as the basis for the formal accreditation of college and university counseling programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. They reflect the program elements and practice standards that are deemed essential in a counseling center that provides high‐quality services to students.
The stages of adult development set forth by Gail Sheehy are used as a model for analyzing the careers of counseling psychologists. This article traces the careers of counseling center personnel from graduate school days to the period Sheehy refers to as resignation or renewal and points toward several conclusions: (a) The counseling center career ladder is short, forcing many psychologists in their early thirties into other job avenues; (b) the flexibility provided by counseling center positions is a two-edged sword, producing disadvantages in later career stages; (c) reward systems should be developed to keep competent therapists in the counseling center; (d) administrative training should be provided during graduate school for future counseling psychologists; and (e) renewal alternatives need to be developed for burned-out counselors and counseling center directors in the mid-life transition.Growth and change in adulthood can be conceived as occurring in predictable stages (Erikson, 1963;Levinson, 1974). These stages evolve as a function of an intrapersonal life structure (ideal self-concept/life style) adapting itself to a given environment (Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, & McKee, 1976;Neugarten, 1976). The occupational setting is just such an environment. Given information about the environmental press of a certain occupational setting and given knowledge of the background and types of personalities entering that setting, it is possible to make some fairly specific predictions as to the stages or, as Gail Sheehy (1976) calls them, "passages," that will occur in that career and the options open to the individual in the midst of these passages. This article examines the counseling psychologist who chooses the college counseling center as the first rung on his or her career ladder, projects their careers over several years, and attempts to outline, within the context of an adult development model, the ups and downs and twists and turns of those careers.In preparing this study, the authors have relied upon several sources of information, including data from counseling psychologists' manpower reports (Giddan, Price, & Healy, 1976; Krauskopf, Thoreson, & McAleer, 1973;Nugent & Pareis, 1968; Simono, Note 1) and have studied the output from the annual Counseling Center Data Bank surveys (Magoon, Note 2). We have also introspected our own careers and plumbed our memories for images and details of the hours spent in intrastaff tete a tetes (sometimes called "bitch sessions") at the various counseling centers that have employed us over the years. 1 We will use the headings chosen by Sheehy to delineate the various stages of adult development.
This study reports the results of a survey of 74 college counseling center directors. Survey questions sought information as to the composition of counseling center staffs with regard to doctoral-level counseling psychologists, their reasons for choosing and abandoning counseling center careers, and their alternative career choices. Results suggest that counseling centers are generally staffed by younger counseling psychologists who were attracted to such positions by the opportunity to counsel, the flexibility of activities afforded, and the chance to stay in an academic setting. More money, greater opportunity for advancement, and more desirable job activities are major reasons for leaving counseling center work. Full-time academic positions, for those at large centers, and private practice, for those at small centers, predominate as alternatives chosen.Seventy percent of counseling psychologists list a university setting as their main job location (Krauskopf, Thoreson, & McAleer, 1973). A large percentage of those individuals are employed either full time or on a joint appointment basis in a college counseling center. Choosing a counseling center as the setting in which one will pursue career aspirations has numerous ramifications, including presenting the counseling psychologist with a unique set of career advantages and disadvantages and a series of choice points with their concomitant lists of viable alternatives.Wachowiak, Bauer, and Simono (1979), using data available at the time, analyzed the career patterns of counseling center psychologists. The present study sought answers to some of the questions generated by their analysis. What attracts an individual to counseling center work? What are the ages of counseling center psychologists? What motivates them to leave? Where do they go? Do centers tend to have administrative positions other than director? Do they have renewal experiences for senior staff members? How long do directors plan to stay in their positions? What do they plan to do subsequently? To address the above questions, a survey was conducted of counseling center directors. Method SUBJECTSThe survey respondents were directors of college counseling centers. One hundred thirty-four questionnaires were sent to those who attended the 1977 meeting of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors. Seventy-four (56%) usable questionnaires were returned and employed in data analysis. INSTRUMENTThe questionnaire (a copy is available on request) was designed to obtain information
Here is her notebook, neatly kept Hand-written entries, all correct, Doctors dates are duly noted, Specimens, tests: results are quoted-Interspersed with presentations, Lecture notes, speaking engagements, Then checks for lumps in groin and breast, Medication and surgery next, Pulses taken, medicine changed, Lymphoma diagnosis named, Now crystal words, distilled in pain, Pure verse flowed on, and death became-Part of life, as she was dying, "Growth 'till death!" (No time for crying.) Norma S. Gilbert Counseling and Mental Health University of the District of Columbia'Things Just Are, They Just Are Kurpius, D. Consultation theory and process: An integrated model.Principles concerning the counseling-therapy of women. Counseling Psychologist, 1978, 7, 74-76.
Forty-one undergraduate males were administered the standard Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) (Form T-399) just prior to entering a seminary sponsored by a major Protestant denomination. Earlier research had reported that the choice of a religious occupation was associated with feminine interest patterns and with personality characteristics as revealed by psychological measures. Results of the present study did not support previous findings. Although seminarians who scored high on the MF scale of the MMPI were similar to subjects in previous studies, those scoring low on the MF scale had measured interests different from those commonly attributed to this population. Implications for further research were made.
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