Clinical Mental Health Counseling Has Research Paper

During this period, there was a rather dramatic paradigm shift from the rather "mechanistic-deterministic" philosophy of psychoanalysis and behaviorism to the "self-deterministism" of the humanistic philosophy that is envisioned in by Carl Rodgers as noted by Aubrey (1983).Rodger's impact on counseling as a profession, pragmatically and philosophically was great. This is because his work is what led to the birth of counseling as a separate professional entity from psychology, guidance as well as psychiatry. Therefore, the philosophical underpinnings of counseling as a profession can be traced and acknowledged on the work of Rodgers. Later on, the need for training professional counselors became important and then in 1958, the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was formed. This act was created in order to prepare thousands of counselors (Aubrey,1983,p.79).later on, various professional accreditation bodies were created for the counseling profession. One such kind is the Council for the Accredition for Counseling and Related Programs (CACREP) which was started in the 80s so as to provide comprehensive training standards for counseling profession. These were the beginning of the development of educational standards, licensing as well as credentialing.

The promotion of wellness, facilitation of prevention, as well as the use of a developmental approach when working with clients are however the creation of the counseling codes of ethics which are clearly articulated to the counselors as a standard part of counseling educational and professional standards, licensing as well as credentialing.

Conclusion

This work clearly indicates that indeed, the history and development of clinical mental health counseling has contributed to the current philosophical foundations of counseling (promoting wellness, facilitating prevention, and using a developmental approach to working with clients) as well as contributing to the development of educational standards, licensing and credentialing, and our role within our communities as claimed by Smith and Robinson (1995).

References

Aubrey, R.F. (1983). The Odyssey of counseling and images of the future. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 62, 78-8

Smith, HB., Robinson, GP (1995).Mental Health Counseling: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Counseling & Development Vol.74 (2) pages 158 -- 162, November-December 1995

Myers, J.E. & Sweeney, T.J. (2001). Specialties in counseling. In D.C. Locke, J.E. Myers, & E.L. Herr (Eds.), the Handbook of Counseling, pp. 43-54. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Palmo, AJ., Weikel, WJ.,Borsos, DP (2006).Foundations of Mental…