The following story was popular when I (Gladding) first entered the counseling profession: A young man took a stroll by a river

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The following story was popular when I (Gladding) first entered the counseling profession: A young man took a stroll by a river. As he was walking, he noticed an old woman flailing her arms in the midst of the river and yelling for assistance. Without hesitation, he jumped into the water, swam out, grabbed her, and pulled her to safety. Just as she was recovering, a boy floated past in dire straits. Again, the young man dove into the water and rescued the boy in the same brave way he had rescued the older woman. To the young man's chagrin and to the amazement of a small crowd that was gathering on the banks of the stream, a third person, a middle-aged executive, came floating by yelling for help. The young man was a hero once more with his rescue of the businessman. Exhausted, the young man then started walking upstream. As he did, a bystander asked him, “Aren't you going to stay to rescue others who may fall in the river and need you?” The young man replied, “No. I'm going farther up the river to find out why these people are falling in." The story illustrates a key component of counseling in general and clinical mental health counseling in particular. Counseling focuses on prevention whenever possible, on altering people's environments to make them hospitable as opposed to hostile, and on providing direct services when needed. On storical Roots of Clinical Mental Health Counseling 4 + - Los Clinical mental health counseling evolved over time from the discipline of counseling. Prior to 2009, clinical mental health counseling was not recognized as a distinct specialty area in the counseling field. Instead, accreditation standards recognized two specialties: community counseling (a minimum of 48-semester-hour degree) and mental health counseling (a minimum of 60- semester-hour degree). Community counseling and its accompanying degree came first, at least conceptually. The term was initially coined by Amos and Williams (1972) and later by Lewis and Lewis (1977) to identify counseling activities that took place outside other established domains, such as educational settings. In 1984, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Committee on Community Counseling described community counseling as a process and orientation that favored using a multifaceted approach that was developmental and educative, that emphasized prevention, that took into account the effects of the community on the client, and that sought to empower clients through advocacy (Hayes, 1984). In 1975, there was a push to establish a division for counselors who worked in community and agency settings. However, a specific division for community counseling was not established. While this activity was occurring, in June 1978, the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), which had been founded in 1977, was accepted as a division of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA, now the American Counseling Association (ACA]; Weikel, 1996). The new division had 12,000 members by the early 1980s and published a journal, The Journal of Mental Health Counseling (originally known as the AMHCA Journal). The first training standards for mental health counselors were prepared by Seiler, Brooks, and Beck (1987), and the 1988 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards recognized mental health counseling as a specialty area. By 1994, CACREP had accredited four mental health counseling programs and 77 community counseling programs (Sweeney, 1995). Through the 1990s, the number of mental health specialty programs grew, as did the number of accredited community counseling programs. Yet mental health counseling had an ACA division, AMHCA, and CACREP standards, while community counseling had neither. In 2009 CACREP discontinued accrediting community counseling as a program since it had no standards, lacked a division, and conceptually in many ways seemed to overlap with mental health counseling. In place of these two specialties one emerged: clinical mental health counseling. To help counselor education programs that had community counseling programs, a period of transition was built into the 2009 standards so institutions of higher education with community counseling programs could make a transition to become clinical mental health programs or finish graduating those in their programs and discontinue. Today, clinical mental health counselors still provide services to a wide spectrum of people in a variety of settings. Across settings, professional clinical mental health counselors emphasize wellness, prevention, personal growth, psychoeducation, treatment, and empowerment. Graduate education and clinical training prepare clinical mental health counselors to provide a full range of services for individuals, couples, families, adolescents, and children. The core areas of mental health education programs approved by CACREP include the following: . • Diagnosis and psychopathology Psychotherapy Psychological testing and assessment • Professional orientation • Research and program evaluation Group counseling • Human growth and development • Counseling theory • Social and cultural foundations • Lifestyle and career development Supervised practicum and internship 2 Sean OCR A Chronological Overview of Professional Counseling The counseling profession and its specialty areas have evolved over the years. Thus, in understanding clinical mental health counseling, it is important to look at it in the context of the development of counseling. Therefore, it is vital to examine the history of counseling in the broadest context possible. Historical events and circumstances that have shaped the counseling profession and consequently the specialty area of clinical mental health counseling are presented here. Understanding the past can lead to a better appreciation of the present and future trends of the profession. One way to chart the evolution of counseling is to trace important events and influences through the decades of the 20th century and into the 21st century. Keep in mind that the development of professional counseling, as well as clinical mental health counseling, was and continues to be a process. Therefore, some names and events will not fit neatly into a rigid chronology. Even so, this overview will provide you with a strong understanding of the historical foundations of professional counseling and which of those directly influenced the foundations of clinical mental health counseling. The Case of Noah Noah has always enjoyed reading about the lives of famous people. He finds it interesting and insightful. Now he has been asked to read about the history of counseling. He wonders if it is worth his time-after all, it is not as if counselors are famous people. Noah has a point. Very few people who have entered the counseling profession are well known. Why then read about how counseling developed? Learning that history will not be as exciting as reading about Abraham Lincoln or Eleanor Roosevelt. Before 1900 Counseling is a relatively new profession (Aubrey, 1977, 1982). It developed in the late 1890s and early 1900s and was interdisciplinary from its inception. Some of the roles carried out by counselors were and are shared by individuals in other helping professions (Herr & Fabian, 1993). Before the 1900s, most counseling was informal, characterized by sharing advice or information. In the United States, counseling developed from a humanitarian concern to improve people's lives in communities adversely affected by the Industrial Revolution of the mid- to late 1800s (Aubrey, 1983). The social welfare reform movement (now known as social justice), the spread of public education, and various changes in population makeup of the time (e.g., the influx of a large number of immigrants) also influenced the growth of the new profession (Aubrey, 1977; Goodyear, 1984). Most of the pioneers in counseling identified themselves as social reformers and educators. They focused on teaching children and young adults about themselves, others, and the world of work. Initially, these helpers were involved primarily in child/adult welfare, educational/vocational guidance, and legal reform. Their work was built on specific information and lessons, such as moral instruction on being good and doing right and developing interpersonal skills (Nugent & Jones, 2009). They saw needs in American society and took steps to fulfill them. These individuals were not called counselors; in fact, “no mention of counseling was made in the professional literature until 1931” (Aubrey, 1983, p. 78). Classroom teachers and agency administrators were the main practitioners. Major Events Prior to 1900 • Counseling informal and characterized by sharing of advice and information • Developed out of the social welfare reform movement • Most early pioneers in counseling were social reformers and educators • Developed out of the social welfare reform movement • Most early pioneers in counseling were social reformers and educators 1900–1909 Counseling began as an infant profession in the early 1900s, when the helping process was largely dominated by Freud's psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism. During this decade, three persons emerged as leaders in counseling's development: Frank Parsons, Jesse B. Davis, and Clifford Beers. Frank Parsons is called the “founder of guidance.” He focused his counseling work on prevention and growth. Parsons has been characterized as a disciplined scholar, a persuasive writer, a tireless activist, and a great intellect (Davis, 1988; Zytowski, 1985). Parsons was a true "Renaissance man” with a colorful life career in multiple disciplines, including that of lawyer, engineer, college professor, social worker, and social activist (Hartung & Blustein, 2002; Pope & Sweinsdottir, 2005). However, he is best known for founding Boston's Vocational Bureau in 1908, which represented a major step in the development of vocational guidance. At the bureau, Parsons worked with young people who were in the process of making career decisions. He theorized that choosing a vocation was a matter of relating three factors: a knowledge of the world of work, a knowledge of self, and the use of true reasoning to match the two. To facilitate this process, Parsons devised a number of procedures to help his clients learn more about themselves and the world of work. His efforts provided the foundation on which modern career counseling is based (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). For Frank Parsons, choosing a vocation was a matter of relating three facts: • A knowledge of the world of work • A knowledge of self • True reasoning to match the two Parsons's book Choosing a Vocation (1909), published a year after his death, was quite influential, especially in Boston. For example, Boston school superintendent Stratton Brooks designated 117 elementary and secondary teachers as vocational counselors (Nugent & Jones, 2009). The "Boston example” soon spread to other major cities as school personnel recognized the need for vocational planning. By 1910, 35 cities had emulated Boston's example (Lee, 1966). Parsons's contributions as a scholar and as an activist had a profound influence on the emerging counseling profession. Jesse B. Davis was the first person to set up a systematized guidance program in the public schools (Aubrey, 1977). As superintendent of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, school system, he suggested that classroom teachers of English composition include lessons in guidance once a week to help prevent problems and build character. Influenced by progressive American educators such as Horace Mann and John Dewey, Davis believed that proper guidance would help cure the ills of American society. What he and other progressive educators advocated was not counseling in the modern sense but a forerunner of counseling: school guidance (a preventive educational means of teaching students how to deal effectively with life events). Davis's focus on prevention continues to be a key component of counseling in the 21st century. A third figure who significantly affected the emerging counseling profession was Clifford Beers. Beers, a former Yale student, was hospitalized for mental illness several times during his lifetime. He found conditions in mental institutions deplorable and exposed them in his book, A Mind That Found Itself (1908), which became a bestseller. Beers used his book to advocate for better mental health facilities and reform in the treatment of mentally ill individuals. His work had an especially powerful influence on the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology, where many of the practitioners referred to their activities as "counseling" (Hansen, Rossberg, & Cramer, 1994). Beers's work was the impetus for the mental health movement in the United States and for advocacy groups that exist today, including the National Mental Health Association and the National Alliance for the Mentally III. Major Events 1900–1909 Frank Darsono dovolonedatheon of career decision making 1910s The contributions of Parsons, Davis, and Beers during the initial decade of the century led to the emergence of several “firsts” during the next decade. The first university-level course in vocational guidance was offered at Harvard University in 1911. The first citywide school guidance program was established in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1912, and in 1913, the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA), the first national professional organization in the counseling field, was founded (Hershenson, Power, & Waldo, 1996). The NVGA was the forerunner of the American Counseling Association (ACA). The NVGA initiated the publication of counseling-related bulletins, magazines, and journals. Its publications evolved over the years, focusing initially on vocational guidance and culminating in the current ACA flagship journal, the Journal of Counseling and Development. NVGA was important because it established an association offering guidance literature and provided an organization for people interested in vocational counseling. Complementing the founding of NVGA was congressional passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. This legislation provided funding for public schools to support vocational education. An interest in testing, especially group testing, emerged during this decade as a result of World War I. To screen its personnel, the U.S. Army commissioned the development of numerous psychological instruments, among them the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests. Several of the army's screening devices were used in civilian populations after the war, and psychometrics (psychological testing) became a popular movement and an early foundation upon which counseling was based Aubrey (1977) observes that because the vocational guidance movement developed without an explicit philosophy, it quickly embraced psychometrics to gain a legitimate foothold in psychology. Reliance on psychometrics had both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, it gave vocational guidance specialists a stronger and more "scientific” identity. On the negative side, it distracted many specialists from examining developments in other behavioral sciences, such as sociology, biology, and anthropology. Major Events of the 1910s • Founding of the National Vocational Guidance Association, the first national professional organization in the counseling field • Establishment of the first university course on guidance at Harvard • Development of the Army Alpha and Army Beta intelligence tests • Increased use of psychometrics in vocational guidance 1920s The 1920s were relatively quiet for the developing counseling profession. This was a period of consolidation. Education courses for counselors almost exclusively emphasized vocational guidance during the 1920s. The dominant influences on the emerging profession were the progressive theories of education and the federal government's use of guidance services with war veterans. A notable event was the certification of counselors in Boston and New York in the mid-1920s. Another turning point was the development of the first standards for the preparation and evaluation of occupational materials (Lee, 1966). Along with these standards came the publication of new psychological instruments, including Edward Strong's Strong Vocational Interest Inventory (SVII) in 1927. The publication of this instrument set the stage for future directions for assessment in counseling (Strong, 1943). A final noteworthy event of the decade was Abraham and Hannah Stone's 1929 establishment of the first marriage and family counseling center in New York City. Other centers developed throughout the nation, marking the onset of marriage and family counseling. Book Content Major Events of the 1920s • Influence of progressive theories of education on counseling 1930S The 1930s were not as quiet as the 1920s, in part because the Great Depression influenced researchers and practitioners to emphasize helping strategies and counseling methods that related to employment. A highlight of the decade was the development of the first theory of counseling, which was formulated by E. G. Williamson and his colleagues (including John Darley and Donald Paterson) at the University of Minnesota. Williamson modified Parsons's theory and used it to work with students and the unemployed. His emphasis on a directive, counselor-centered counseling approach came to be known by several names, including the Minnesota Point of View and trait-factor counseling. Williamson's (1939) pragmatic approach emphasized the counselor's teaching, mentoring, and influencing skills. One premise of Williamson's theory was that persons had traits (e.g., aptitudes, interests, personalities, achievements) that could be integrated in a variety of ways to form factors (i.e., constellations of individual characteristics). Counseling was based on a scientific, problem-solving, empirical method that was individually tailored to each client to help him or her stop nonproductive thinking and become an effective decision maker (Lynch & Maki, 1981). Williamson's influence dominated counseling for the next two decades, and he continued to write about the theory into the 1970s (Williamson & Biggs, 1979). Another major occurrence was the broadening of counseling beyond occupational concerns. The seeds of this development were sown in the 1920s, when Edward Thorndike and other psychologists began to challenge the vocational orientation of the guidance movement (Lee, 1966). The work of John Brewer built upon this change in emphasis. His 1932 book, Education as Guidance, proposed that every teacher be a counselor and that guidance be incorporated into the school curriculum. Brewer believed that all education should focus on preparing students to live outside the school environment. His emphasis helped counselors see vocational decisions as just one part of their responsibilities. Although Brewer's work initially had the most relevance for counselors who worked in schools, it later affected counselors working in communities. During the 1930s, the U.S. government became more involved in counseling. For example, in 1938 Congress passed the George-Dean Act, which created the Vocational Education Division of the U.S. Office of Education and an Occupational Information and Guidance Service (Sweeney, 2001). Furthermore, the government established the U.S. Employment Service, which published the first edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) in 1939. The DOT, which became a major source of career information for vocational counselors, described known occupations in the United States and coded them according to job titles. Major Events of the 1930s • Dominance of E. G. Williamson's counselor-directed theory of counseling in working with the unemployed and college stu...