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The professional identity of school counselors has evolved over time. This article traces the historical context driving this evolution, and suggests it is time for the profession to conjoin the roles of educational leader and mental health professional. This proposal is prompted by heightened awareness of unmet student mental health needs, referrals that go unmet, school counselors displaced by other mental health providers in schools, the potential loss of the unique school counselor role, and the natural link between the mental health professional role and the array of personal-social factors that impact student achievement. A conjoint professional school counselor identity that includes the roles of both educational leader and mental health professional positions school counselors to better respond to all students, including those with mental health needs. This article discusses potential roadblocks and offers suggestions for action.

Minority female counselor educators are faced with numerous challenges. This qualitative study revealed that for female minority counselor educators, these challenges continue to negatively affect their professional and personal experiences. It is through operational wellness practices and optimal balance and functioning that minority female counselor educators have often prevailed. Implications for minority female counselor educators, university administrators, and counselor educators from the majority population are provided.

Children exposed to the trauma of domestic violence tend to experience difficulties with internalized and externalized behavior problems, social skills deficits, and academic functioning. Mental health practitioners in the school setting, including school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers, can address developmental concerns that impede development through group counseling interventions that include both structured activities and play therapy. The school environment offers an ideal setting in which to work with child survivors of trauma, as all students have accessibility to school mental health resources. This article outlines the primary objectives and corresponding procedures for a developmentally-appropriate group interventions for elementary-aged children who have been exposed to the trauma of domestic violence.

Counselors-in-training face the challenges of balancing academic, professional, and personal obligations. Many counselors-in-training, however, report a lack of instruction regarding personal wellness and prevention of personal counselor burnout. The present study used CQR methodology with 14 counseling graduate students to investigate counselor-in-training perceptions of self-care, burnout, and supervision practices related to promoting counselor resilience. The majority of participants in this study perceived that they experienced some degree of burnout in their experiences as counselors-in-training. Findings from this study highlight the importance of the role of supervision in promoting resilience as a protective factor against burnout among counselors-in-training and provide information for counselor supervisors about wellness and burnout prevention within supervision practice

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For women, the transition to motherhood is often a time period filled with excitement, changes, and challenges. Mothers often face changes in their own sexuality in their adjustment to motherhood. The majority of research on the sexual changes during motherhood has focused on the first-year postpartum of mothers and has emphasized biological, hormonal changes. Limited research is available regarding the sexuality of mothers with preschool age children. The findings from this qualitative study provide information about mothers’ perceptions of their sexuality as they adjust to the role of motherhood. These findings can provide awareness and knowledge to counselors in working with women during this unique time period.

Although postpartum recovery and women's sexual behavior have received significant attention, little is known about the experiences of mothers with young children. Socially constructed images of mothers often depict them both as rebounding with sexual enthusiasm and sensuality and as devoted primary caregivers, while also holding a job. This fantasy breadwinner/homemaker model denies the challenges many mothers of young children face in struggling to reclaim their sexual selves. Such constructions are incongruent with the realities of motherhood and the psychological challenges women face to reassemble sexual identity, self-image, and sexual scripts. This article presents a feminist model of mental health counseling that offers women affirmation, encouragement, and support as they explore their identities as sexual women and as mothers.