Unit 1: Counselling in Canada: History and Trends Flashcards
1
Q
Definition of Counselling
-(background)
A
- there have always been “counsellors” -people who listen to others and help them resolve difficulties but the word counsellor has been misused over the years by connecting it with descriptive adjectives to promote products.
- counselling as a profession grew out of the guidance movement, in opposition to traditional psychotherapy
- today professional counselling focuses on growth and wellness as well as the remediation of mental disorders.
2
Q
Guidance
- definition
- guidance vs counselling
A
- Guidance: the process of helping people make importance choices that affect their lives
- one distinction between guidance and counselling is that guidance focuses on helping individuals choose what they value most, whereas counselling focuses on helping them make changes
- much of the early work in guidance occurred in schools and career centres where an adult would help a student make decisions
- > that relationship was between unequals and was beneficial in helping the less experienced person find direction in life
- similarly children have long received “guidance” from parents, teachers and coaches, in the process they have gained an understanding of themselves and their world
- > yet such guidance is only one part of the overall service provided by professional counselling
3
Q
Psychotherapy
- history
- modern times
- counselling vs psychotherapy
A
- traditionally psychotherapy (therapy) focused on serious problems associated with intrapsychic, internal and personal issues and conflicts, it dealt with the “recovery of adequacy”
- > emphasized the past more than the present, insight more than change, detachment of the therapist and therapist’s role as an expert; also involved a long-term relationship that focused on reconstructive change and was viewed as being provided more through inpatient settings
- modern times the distinction between psychotherapy and counselling has blurred, professions often determine whether client’s receive counselling or psychotherapy
- > the similarities in counselling and psychotherapy processes often overlap (see and draw out fig 1.2 in textbook, pg 7)
4
Q
Counselling
–Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association definition
A
- CCPA definition: defines counselling as “ the skill and principled use of relationship to facilitate self-knowledge, emotional acceptance and growth and the optimal development of personal resources”
- counselling is intended to help people live more successful and satisfying lives
- the presenting issues often centres on: development issues, overcoming specific problems, coping better with a crisis situation, improving relationships with other or overcoming feelings associated with inner conflicts
5
Q
Counselling Psychology
-Canadian Psychological Association
A
- Broad practice and research focus
- Promoting wellness
- Collaborative research and practice
- Prevention
- Overlap with other specialities
- Advocacy
- Multicultural approach
- Adherence to core values
these definitions contain a number a implicit and explicit points that are important for counsellors as well as consumers to realize
- counselling deals with wellness, personal growth, career and pathological concerns
- counselling is conducted with persons who are considered to be functioning well and those who are having more serious problems
- counselling is theory based
- counselling is a process that may be developmental or intervening
- counselling psychologists are also trained extensively in the psychology field and consequently are more likely to administer and interpret psychological tests
- counselling psychology and social work are closely related fields (social work has always promoted human rights and social justice, often from an advocacy perspective, this has become a more recent development in the field of counselling psychology)
6
Q
Social Work
-definition Canadian association of Social Workers
A
Social work is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their own resources and those of the community to
resolve problems. Social work is concerned with individual and personal problems but also with broader social issues such as poverty, unemployment and domestic violence.
Human rights and social justice are the philosophical underpinnings of social work practice. The uniqueness of social work practice is in the blend of particular values, knowledge and skills, including the use of relationship as the basis of all interventions and respect for the client’s choice and involvement.
In a socio-political-economic context which increasingly generates insecurity and social tensions, social workers play an important and essential role.
7
Q
History of counselling
-before 1900
A
- prior to the 1900s, most counselling was in the form of advice or information
- In united stated counselling developed out of the humanitarian concern to improve the lives of those adversely affected by the Industrial Revolution also soical welfare movement (social justice), spread of public eduction and changes in population also influenced growth of profession
- Moral Therapy Movement of France migrated to Canada around 1850 that promoted a humane approach as the best way to treat psychological problems.
- “no mention of counselling was made in the professional literature until 1931”
- most of the pioneers in counselling identified themselves as teachers and social reformers or advocates
- > helpers involved primarily in child welfare, education/vocational guidance and legal reform.
- > their work built on specific information and lessons as well as concentrated effort to deal with intro and interpersonal relations
8
Q
History of counselling
-1900 to 1909
A
- two movements were underway in USA and found way into Canada: mental health movement and the vocational guidance movement
- vocational guidance emerging as an important field for dealing with problems resulting from the Industrial Revolution
- humane mental health treatment was rising in popularity
- two Americans emerged as leaders in counselling history during this period: Frank Parsons and Clifford Beers
9
Q
Frank Parsons
A
- founder of guidance
- focused his work on growth and prevention
- colourful life career in multiple disciplines (eg engineer, social worker, lawyer, teacher, social reformer)
- characterized as broad scholar, persuasive writer, tireless activist and a great intellect
- best known for founding Boston’s Vocational Bureau in 1908 a major step in the institutionalization of vocational guidance
- he “envisioned a practice of vocational guidance based on rationality, reason with service, concern for others, cooperation and social justice among its core values”
- he theorized that choosing a vocation was a matter of relating three factors: a knowledge of work, a knowledge of self and a matching of the two through “true reasoning”
10
Q
Clifford Beer
A
- hospitalized for mental illness several times during his life for depression
- he found conditions in the mental institutions deplorable and exposed them in his book “A Mind That Found Itself” (1908)
- used book as platform to advocate for better mental health facilities and reform in the treatment of people with mental illness
- powerful influence on fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology
- > many people in these fields referred to what they were doing as counselling
- Beer’s work was impetus for the mental health movement in the USA and Canada
11
Q
Clarence Hincks
A
Canadian physician who had himself mental health problems
-founded the Canadian National committee for MEntal hygiene in 1918 (today called the Canadian Mental Helath Assoication
12
Q
History of counselling
-1910s to 1940s
(very long and detailed get someone to cue)
A
- USA, Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 provided funding for public schools to support vocational education
- > this had positive effect of growth of the counselling profession in Canada
- WWI “counselling became more widely recognized as the military began to employ testing and placement practices for great numbers of military personnel”
- because the vocational guidance movement developed without an explicit philosophy, it quickly embraced psychometrics to gain a legitimate foundation in psychology (positive and negative side to this)
- 1920s saw vocational guidance begin in Canadian junior and senior high schools, also in 1920s (USA) also saw the development of the first standards for the preparation and evaluation of occupational materials and new psychological instruments (eg SVII 1927, set stage for future directions for assessment in counselling)
- 1930s, great depression influenced researchers and practitioners, especially in university and vocational settings to emphasize helping strategies and counselling methods that related to employment
- > development of first theory of counselling by E.G. Williamson
- by late 1930s WWII had created a role for counsellors and psychologists in Canada, largely in the area of test construction for selecting and classifying military in Canada
- > in 1938 conference in Ottawa to look at how psychology could make a contribution to the impending war
- > April 1939 another meeting occurred in Toronto with E.A Bott, George Humphrey and Roy Liddy, meeting the beginning of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), meeting was major event in history of psychology in Canada
- > three psychologists decided to publish newsletter known as the bulletin of the CP in Oct 2940; after few years transformed into Canadian Journal of Psychology
- 1920s Edward Thorndike began to challenged the vocational orientation of the guidance movement, work of John Brewer complete this change in emphasis: proposed that every teacher be a counsellor and that guidance be incorporated into the school curriculum as a subject
- 1940s Canadian vocational guidance counsellors began to replace teachers in the areas of testing and counselling,
- provincial guidance associations also began to form in the middle of this decade
- post-secondary counselling also emerged soon after WWII
- counselling psychotherapy Carl Rogers rose to prominence in 1942 with the publication of his book Counselling and Psychotherapy which challenged the counsellor-centred approach of Williamson as well as major tenets of Freudian psychoanalysis, Rogers revolution had a major impact of counselling and psychology
13
Q
E.G. Williamson
A
- development of first theory of counselling by E.G. Williamson in 1930s
- modified Parson’s theory and used it to work with students and the unemployed
- emphasis was on a direct, counsellor-centred approach (point of view and trait-factor counselling)
- emphasized counsellor’s teaching, mentoring and influencing skills
- one premise of Williamson’s theory was that individuals had traits that could be integrated in a variety of ways to form factors
- counselling was based on a scientific, problem-solving, empirical method that was individually tailored to teach client to help him or her stop nonproductive thinking/behaviour and become an effective decision maker
- Williamson thought the task of the counsellor was to ascertain a deficiency in the client then to prescribe a procedure to rectify the problem,
14
Q
Carl Rogers
A
- counselling psychotherapy Carl Rogers rose to prominence in 1942 with the publication of his book Counselling and Psychotherapy which challenged the counsellor-centred approach of Williamson as well as major tenets of Freudian psychoanalysis
- emphasized the importance of the client, espousing a non-directive approach to counselling
- advocated giving clients responsibility for their own growth
- role of professional helper as being non judgemental and accepting thus the helper served as a mirror, reflecting the verbal and emotional manifestations of the client
- with Rogers new emphasis on the importance of the relationship in counselling, research, refinement of counselling technique, selection and training of future counsellors and the goals and objectives of counselling
- guidance suddenly disappeared as a major consideration in the bulk of literature and was replace by a decade or more of concentration on counselling
- Rogers revolution had a major impact of counselling and psychology
15
Q
History of counselling
-1950s to 1980s
(very long and detailed; get someone to cue, or use this as notes to create shorter summary)
A
- before 1950s four main theories influenced the work of counselling: psychoanalysis and insight theory (eg Freud); trait-factor or directive theories (eg E.G. Williamson); humanistic and client-centred theories (eg Carl Rogers) and behavioural theories (eg. Skinner)
- 1950s and 1960s Canadian schools saw vocational guidance work decrease and personal counselling increase, boards hiring full-time school counsellors
- as 1950s progressed, new theories emerged: Applied behavioural theories (Joesph Wolpe’s systematic desensitization), cognitive theories (Albert Ellis rational-emotive therapy, eric berne’s transactional analysis, Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy), learning theory, self-concept theory, career development (Donal Super), and development psychology.
- powerful influences in the 1960s: humanistic counselling theories of Dugald Arbuckle, Abraham Maslow and sidney Jourard; behavioural counselling grew importance (John Krumboltz, learning promoted as the root of change)
- > 1966 ERIC Clearinghouse on Counselling and Peronnel Services (CAPS) (example of the impact of the government on counselling)
- > 1965 creation of the Canadian Guidance Counsellors Association, Dr Myrne Nevison
- 1970s rapid growth of counselling outside educational institutions: Mental health centres and community agencies began to employ counsellors; US federal legislation that opened up human service activities more to females and minorities
- > Canada’s focus moved to a preventative developmental approach (most canadian counsellors continued providing educational and vocational counselling)
- > also development of helping skill programs that concentrated on relationship and communication skills; taught both professionals and non-professionals (emphasis humanistic and eclectic; this trend was a new version of Brewer’s concept of education as guidance)
- > 1973 the Association of Counsellor Educators and Supervisors outlined the standards for a master’s degree in counselling and in 1977 guidelines for doctoral preparation in the discipline
- 1980s, standardized training and certification of counsellors, recognized counselling as a distinct profession, increased the diversification of counsellor specialties and emphasized human growth and development
- > US National Board for Certified Cousnellors formed in 1982, standardized test: human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, helping relationships, groups, lifestyle and career development, appraisal, research and evaluation and professional orientation.
- > Counselling became a distinct profession in this decade
- > 1987 professional standards conference define further the uniqueness of counselling psychology and counselling in general
- > counsellors more diversified: still in schools but also mental health and community/agency counsellors
- > first counselling section of the CPA formed in 1986; and in 1989 CPA established accreditation criteria for doctoral programs; created the disclpline called counselling psychology (counselling psychology housed within education faculties throughout canada and not within psychology department reflecting its unique canadian history)
- > counselling’s emphasis on human growth and development grew during 1980s as well, formation of Association for Adult Aging and Development, Erik Erikson, increased attention to gender issues and sexual preference (carol Gilligans feminist theory into counselling arena), renewed emphasis on models of moral development (Lawerence Kohlberg’s theory, found that moral development was closely related to both cognitive ability and empathy)
- > the challenges of working with difference ethnic and cultural groups received more discussion, Association for Multicultural Counselling and Development
