The State of Community Counseling: A Survey of Directors of CACREP‐Accredited Programs

Abstract

Directors of CACREP-accredited community counseling programs were surveyed on plans for their programs, needed curricular changes, professional organization and publications desired, and what makes community counseling distinct as a counseling specialization. Respondents were evenly divided between those who seem to see community counseling as generic counselor preparation for nonschool settings and those who seem to see it as a community-oriented specialization in its own right. This division of opinion suggests a need to resolve this issue.Electronic Journal: To print this article select pages 60-65. TOC

The Evolution of Specialties in the CACREP Standards: CACREP's Role in Unifying the Profession

“…The split between Community Counseling and Mental Health Counseling standards affected the counseling profession's ability to view itself as one discipline. It sparked a decade of debates nationwide regarding what differentiated community counseling from mental health counseling (Cowger, Hinkle, DeRidder, & Erk, 1991; Hershenson & Berger, 2001; Wilcoxon, 1990) and further complicated the profession's ability to define a single identity for its members. Furthermore, it created a two‐tiered system of educational training standards, because graduation from an accredited mental health counseling program required more hours of education and 300 additional hours of clinical internship than did programs preparing graduates to work at schools, colleges, or other community‐based settings.…”

Curriculum Standards for the Education of Professional Substance Abuse Counselors

“…Questions were constructed from a review of related literature (Hershenson & Berger, 2001;Vacc, 1985;Zimpfer, Cox, West, Bubenzer, & Brooks, 1997) and refined following review and subsequent feedback from four counselor educators with substance abuse counseling and CACREP expertise. Areas of inquiry included: (a) type of accredited programs of study offered, (b) number and type of substance abuse counseling course(s) offered, (c) whether a substance abuse emphasis within community counseling program was offered, (d) percentage of substance abuse counseling field placements, and (e) importance of establishing CACREP preparation standards for substance abuse counseling.…”

Therapeutic Implications of Pharmacotherapy: Current Trends and Ethical Issues

“…Although Buelow, Hebert, and Buelow (2000) declared "Knowledge of the use of psychiatric medications is clearly becoming a necessary step in the development of the science and art of psychotherapy" (p. 2), many counselors are not receiving adequate master's-level training in psychopharmacology. Hershenson and Berger (2001) surveyed directors of Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)-accredited community counseling programs on their plans for changes in curricula. Although 20% of respondents planned to add one or two courses to their curricula during the next 5 years, less than 6% of respondents recommended course work in psychopharmacology.…”