The Need for a Counseling Psychology Model Training Values Statement Addressing Diversity

Abstract

The authors articulate the need for a Counseling Psychology Model Training Values Statement Addressing Diversity (henceforth “Values Statement”). They discuss the historic unwillingness of the field to address values in a sophisticated or complex way and highlight the increasingly common training scenario in which trainees state that certain professional requirements are in conflict with their personal values. The authors explain that the Values Statement grew out of trainers' expressed need for guidance in dealing with these complex and often emotionally charged value clashes in training. They explain how the Values Statement can assist training programs to (a) clearly articulate the profession's diversity-related values, (b) connect individual and professional values to societal value structures that either reinforce or challenge systems of oppression, and (c) help students to develop the philosophical sophistication to reconcile their personal values and the profession's values. Overall, the authors explicate that the Values Statement is needed to assists trainees to comprehend and perform required diversity-related professional behaviors.

Student beliefs, multiculturalism, and client welfare.

“…If someone feels so morally violated by the terms of their job, they should probably find a different line of work" (p. 651). Mintz et al (2009) observed, ". .…”

Guidelines for clinical supervision in health service psychology.

“…Supervisors strive to b e fa m ilia r w ith p ro m is in g practices fo r n a v ig a tin g conflicts a m o n g p e rs o n a l a n d p ro fe s s io n a l valu es in the in tere s t o f p ro te c tin g the public Considerable scholarship has been published on supervi sion and diversity (e.g., Bernard & Goodyear, 2014;Fal ender et al, 2013;Miville et al, 2009). Resources include competency-based training models for integrating diversity dispositions of supervisors and supervisees (Miville et al, 2009), and the duty of supervisors to assist supervisees in navigating inevitable tensions between personal and pro fessional values in providing competent client/patient care (e.g., Behnke, 2012;Bienschke & Mintz, 2012;Forrest, 2012;Mintz et al, 2009;Winterowd, Adams, Miville, & Mintz, 2009). …”

Teaching Ethical Decision Making: Helping Students Reconcile Personal and Professional Values

“…Becoming an ethical professional has been described as a developmental process (Neukrug, Lovell, & Parker, ) that involves movement from memorizing standards toward learning to integrate professional ethics with personal values (Handelsman, Gottlieb, & Knapp, ). To facilitate this movement, training programs need to help students develop the “philosophical sophistication” to reconcile personal and professional values (Mintz et al, , p. 644). Similarly, Basche, Anderson, Handelsman, and Klevansky () noted that students enter graduate programs with preexisting ideas of right and wrong professional behavior, based in large part on their own backgrounds.…”