Counseling Psychology: 2001

Behold our creationp What counseling psychology has become and might yet become.

“…It shows how a dream, namely, the scientific study of free will, comes about and how that fiction serves as the springboard that created the next phase of my research career. This teleography (“I Remember Vince”) is like the futuristic writings of Fretz (1980), Ivey (1980), and Thoresen (1980), with the exception that their writing was in standard academic prose: the dispassionate, third person account so prized by the Enlightenment tradition for its supposed lack of subjectivity. The “scholarly” was thought to offer a perfectly impersonal view from nowhere, wherein the subjectivity of an author dissipates to create the perfect objectivity of the text (or so the ideology hopes).…”

“…I note these tales of the future by Fretz (1980), Ivey (1980), and Thoresen (1980) to highlight my belief that by dreaming possible futures for counseling psychology in the 1970s, they were actually sowing the seeds that matured in the 1980s into today’s realities. That is, one can imaginatively construct a fantasy of the future that is formed by one’s personal and/or professional value commitments.…”

“…I can think of no specialty that has worked harder and more effectively than counseling psychology to promote diversity within APA. In fact, imagining the future of counseling psychology, Fretz (1980) produced a “wish list” that he felt would embody the divison’s ideals and values. In Wish 7, Fretz fantasized that Division 17 received letters of thanks and appreciation from the APA Board of Minority Affairs, the Ad Hoc Committee on Women, and the Task Force for Gay Male and Lesbian Psychologists indicating that, due in large part to the creative and zestful leadership of Division 17 members, the special needs that led to the creation of these groups have been well responded to on a continuing basis and that the board, committee, and the task force are ceasing their operation.…”

“…Whiteley and Fretz (1980) asked 17 counseling psychologists to imagine counseling psychology in the year 2000. Although all of these projections of our future are informative, three chapters struck me as particularly interesting: In imagining the future of the discipline in the year 2000, Fretz (1980), Ivey (1980), and Thoresen (1980) were prophetic insofar as what they prophesized actually became the next decade or so of their own professional careers. In fact, their projections for counseling psychology became true, in part, because of their good efforts in bringing about the futures that they imagined.…”

“…In fact, their projections for counseling psychology became true, in part, because of their good efforts in bringing about the futures that they imagined. For example, Fretz’s (1980) fifth prediction was the following: The latest American Psychologist announced the approval of the 50th counseling psychology training program and the 100th counseling center internship, noting that the number of such programs had more than doubled in the past 20 years. (p. 105)…”