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From
Your President
Steve K.
D. Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP
January,
2007
As I thought about what to
write for this column, I again found myself
wondering how many Board-certified counseling
psychologists feel the way I do, that the
Counseling Board and the Counseling Academy is
home. As I wrote in the Winter 2005 issue of The
Specialist, the fact is that the Counseling
specialty is evolving. Freestanding,
practice-oriented (PsyD) programs in Counseling
Psychology may be somewhat on the rise, but
programs housed in traditional universities appear
to be declining. My own program faded out of
existence about 10 years ago, and I felt like a
displaced person for years. The American Academy of
Counseling Psychology has since become my
professional "home," and to borrow Dorothy Gale's
famous adage, "there's no place like home." I feel
incredibly fortunate to be part of the Academy, and
to count so many superb counseling psychologists as
friends and colleagues.
Before writing about
anything else, I want to briefly acknowledge our
recent awardees. At our annual meeting during the
2006 APA convention, I was personally thrilled to
present our National Leadership Award to Dr.
William Parham. Dr. Parham is a Fellow of Division
17 and currently serves as the division's
President. He has been instrumental in ABPP's
ongoing efforts to increase ethnic and cultural
diversity and awareness within all the specialties.
Dr. Parham was recently appointed Dean of John F.
Kennedy University's Graduate School of
Professional Psychology, and we wish him all
success in this newest endeavor.
I was also gratified to
present the 2006 James Cossé Memorial Award
to Dr. Patrick Munley. Dr. Munley is a Fellow of
both Division 17 and 18 (Public Service); he has
served on APA journal editorial boards and has
published on topics as diverse as multiculturalism
and the statistical properties of the MMPI and
MCMI. Dr. Munley is Past President of AACoP and
serves as Professor and Interim Chair of the
Department of Counselor Education and Counseling
Psychology at Western Michigan
University.
The AACoP is one of ABPP's
smallest academies, and yet like David in the
Bible, we continue to wield quite a punch. We have
generated several BOT Presidents, and I was proud
to become President-Elect of the Council of
Presidents of Psychology Specialty Academies at the
2006 APA meeting. Over the past few years, we have
become an APA-approved CE provider, which has
enabled us to provide CE credits for completing the
Board's oral examination and for completing a
home-study ethics course. We will soon be providing
another home-study course, on supervision. As
President of AACoP, one of my pet projects is to
get AACoP to sponsor or cosponsor other
professional workshops and continuing education
activities. The more exposure the better,
especially among our established constituencies,
such as multicultural specialists and
clinical-counseling educators, trainers and
supervisors.
The Academy continues to
actively mentor candidates for Board certification.
Our relationship with the Counseling Board is
active and excellent. In December 2006, I attended
the winter meeting of our Board. This meeting was
noteworthy for several reasons, including the
welcome decision to expand our examination areas to
include Career/Vocational,
Administration/Management/Organizational
Consultation and Teaching/Mentoring (in addition to
our two "traditional" areas of
Psychotherapy/Counseling and Clinical
Supervision/Consultation). Recognizing that
clinical supervision and training have
traditionally been one of our specialty's greatest
strengths, the Academy will also be assisting the
Board in actively seeking new certification
candidates from associations involved in training
new psychologists, such as the Association
University & College Counseling Center
Directors, the Association of Counseling Center
Training Agencies and the Council of Counseling
Psychology Training Programs. It is my belief that
counseling psychologists often find themselves in
two professional worlds, as psychologists and
counselors. Many counseling psychologists are
employed as counselor educators and supervisors and
I hope to reach out to these colleagues to
encourage them to become Board
certified.
As part of this effort, in
March 2007 I will be representing our specialty
academy at the 2007 annual meeting of the American
Counseling Association. I will serve as a panel
member and chair of a presentation entitled "To Be
or Not To Be: Counselors, Counselor Educators,
Counseling Psychologists and Counselor Identity."
We will explore the similarities, differences and
tensions, between these two professions. My
intention is to point out how counseling
psychologists are vital to the growing field of
mental health counseling.
Another goal will be to
strengthen our relationship within APA's Division
17, the Society of Counseling Psychology. We are
fortunate in this regard in having William Parham,
an AACoP Fellow, as President of Division
17.
With work and a little
luck, I hope to see a significant increase in the
number of Board certified counseling psychologists
(and therefore the number of AACoP Fellows) in the
next few years.
Counseling
Psychology is Dead.
Long Live Counseling Psychology*
Steve K. D.
Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP
March 2005
Of the 227 APA-accredited
clinical psychology programs listed in the December
2004 issue of American Psychologist, 2 are no
longer admitting students. APA lists 56 accredited
programs in school psychology, with 1 withdrawing
from accreditation and 1 no longer admitting
students. In counseling psychology, however, the
APA lists 74 accredited programs, of which 1 is
withdrawing and 5 are no longer admitting students
(APA, 2004). Chi-square analysis (df=2, X2=9.96,
p<.01) suggests counseling psychology is losing
programs at a rate significantly greater than
clinical or school.
Temple University, which
many considered Philadelphia's premier counseling
psychology program, is one of the five that has no
plans to admit new students. My own counseling
psychology program at the University of
Pennsylvania went through the same process and
ultimately closed its doors years ago. One reason I
pursued Board certification in counseling
psychology and became active in the American
Academy of Counseling Psychology (AACoP) was to
regain some sense of a "home" since my graduate
school would no longer serve this
function.
The demise of APA-approved
counseling psychology programs will probably feed
the rumors that counseling psychology as a
specialty is slowly but surely dying. This
pessimism may have contributed to the decisions of
a few of my Penn contemporaries to pursue Board
certification in other specialties, and over the
past few years I've even heard a few Counseling
specialists quietly speculate about the possibility
of folding the Counseling Board into one of the
other, presumably more robust Boards (e.g.,
Clinical).
Our own success may be
partly to blame for the current state of affairs.
Prior to the 1960s, counseling psychology was
safely ensconced in education, guidance and
vocational departments and agencies. Then along
came deinstitutionalization, the war in Vietnam,
and the rise of V.A. and community mental health
centers. (Whiteley, 1984; Watkins, Schneider, Cox
& Reinberg, 1987). Professional psychologists
were in great demand and there were not enough
clinical psychologists to meet this growing need.
Counseling psychology expanded its professional
repertoire, training and purview in part as a
response to this need. Meanwhile, to ensure the
proper training of this second generation of
counseling psychologists and meet consumer needs,
graduate students began to demand and receive
traditionally "clinical" coursework and experience
(Alcorn & Nicholas, 1983). My own doctoral
training, for example, included full semester
courses in both intelligence and projective
testing, and classes in adult and child
psychopathology. While still taking classes, I
completed a "traditional" half-time counseling
psychology practicum in a college counseling
center, but following the completion of my
coursework I was accepted to an APA-approved
internship in clinical psychology.
Over the years I have
found that my experience is far from unique. Many
counseling psychologists work in traditional
"clinical" and even medical settings. A good friend
of mine, also a graduate of Penn's counseling
psychology, was recently awarded the ABPP in
clinical psychology and is now the Director of an
APA-approved clinical program. With the boundaries
between clinical and counseling so easily blurred,
is it any wonder that some of our colleagues
continue to predict the death of counseling
psychology?
I am often asked about the
difference between counseling and clinical
psychology, and the answer that usually works best
for me is that, although we share a common base of
knowledge and often share a common base of
appraisal and treatment methods, as a counseling
psychologist I tend to see problems (including some
"severe mental disorders") as developmental issues,
or as life issues around which the Self becomes
organized. I also tend to look at individuals as a
kind of nexus, not only between past and present,
but between individual, family and society as well.
My view appears to be a common and even traditional
one (Watkins, Schneider, Cox & Reinberg, 1987).
I like to think of my approach as pluralistic and
organismic/holistic, not in the loosey-goosey New
Age kind of way, but rather in the best scientific
tradition that acknowledges and deeply respects the
interplay of the many forces that combine to make
our lives so dazzlingly complex. Of course, there
are plenty of clinical psychologists that do the
same just as there are counseling psychologists who
subscribe primarily to the medical model. But I
believe counseling psychology as a specialization
places a stronger, perhaps even a central emphasis
on this viewpoint. In the best programs, pluralism,
multiculturalism, holism and a developmental frame
permeate every course and training we undertake.
Counseling psychologists at our best think and work
from this organismic framework; I believe this may
be especially true of ABPP-certified counseling
psychologists.
So where does this leave
counseling psychology? In some ways, our portentous
"demise" as a specialty may be due to the
acceptance of our core values and skills by other
psychological specialties. As we lifted ourselves
out of our vocational guidance-limited box and
entered the broader "medical/clinical" realm, we
greatly contributed to the humanization of all
professional psychology, including clinical
psychology. It may be that students who years ago
would have eschewed clinical psychology programs in
favor of counseling psychology programs no longer
see the former as rigidly behaviorist, biological
and/or psychodynamic, but rather (like counseling
psychology) more organismic and respectful of
pluralism. In my opinion, the intermingling of
clinical and counseling psychology has been a
collaboration that has benefited both fields.
It is unclear whether
counseling psychology programs are undergoing an
evolutionary and necessary "thinning of the herd,"
or if in fact APA-approved doctoral-level
preparation in the counseling specialty is
gradually headed toward extinction. Perhaps the
challenge for the American Board of Counseling
Psychology and its related Academy is to work
harder toward providing a destination and a home
for any and all psychologists, whatever their
predoctoral training, who proudly identify
themselves--and can objectively prove their
mettle--as counseling psychologists.
References
Alcorn, J. D., &
Nicholas, D. (1983). Training in counseling
psychology: Data and trends. The Counseling
Psychologist, 11, 93- 94.
American Psychological
Association. (2204) Accredited doctoral programs in
professional psychology: 2004. American
Psychologist, 59, 930-944
Watkins, C. E., Schneider,
L. J., Cox, J. H., & Reinberg, J. A. (1987).
Clinical psychology and counseling psychology: On
similarities and differences revisited.
Professional Psychology: Research &
Practice, 18, 530-535.
Whiteley, J. M. (1984).
Counseling psychology: A historical perspective.
The Counseling Psychologist, 12,
2-109.
Zook, A. & Walton, J.
M. (1989). Theoretical orientations and work
settings of clinical and counseling psychologists:
A current perspective. Professional Psychology:
Research & Practice. 20, 23-31.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
*This
article was originally published in the Winter 2005
issue of The (ABPP) Specialist, 24(1), 9,
22.
From
Your President
Steve K. D.
Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP
January, 2006
Dear AACoP
Fellows:
I'm delighted
to write my first address to the membership of the
American Academy of Counseling Psychology as your
new President.
First, I wish
to thank Pat Munley for all his work in his tenure
as immediate Past-President. Most of you have
little or no idea how much time and work Pat has
put into this academy. Pat is a humble, "behind the
scenes" kind of guy, and a perfectionist; he does
not brag or crow, he just soldiers on with the good
of the Academy and its membership the only agenda
on his mind. His contributions to both the Academy
and the Board have benefited counseling psychology
in ways that are almost innumerable. Pat is a very
hard act to follow. Under his leadership, the
Academy has become very active and has undertaken,
and succeeded in, a number of important tasks. I
have asked Pat to be as available as possible for
guidance and help in my first year as President,
and he has characteristically offered to do
whatever he can. I would be significantly more
anxious about my position, and the Academy as a
whole, if he did not make himself so
available.
Although we
are one of the smallest Academies, our influence
and contribution to the ABPP and its constituent
Academies far exceeds our size. (In this way, we
are a reflection of Division 17 and the entire
counseling psychology community, which has and
continues to have an impact on professional and
scientific psychology that is far greater than is
generally acknowledged.) We have provided ABPP with
such important and luminary leaders as Bill Parham,
Joe Talley, Ted Packard, Norma Simon and the
greatly missed Jim Cosse. In obtaining APA approval
as a CE provider, and then offering and providing
CEs for candidates engaged in the board
certification process, we have been an example of
creative thinking to our sisters and brothers in
the other academies and boards. In the next two
years, I hope to maintain AACoP's creative
leadership role within the broader ABPP
community.
In spite of
our successes, we face major challenges. It is
traditional for a new President to spell out an
agenda for her or his term, and therefore I want to
address my two major concerns: (1) The future of
board certification in psychology in general and
(2) the future of board certification in counseling
psychology in particular.
I will limit
my comments here to my second concern.
While there
is ample evidence of the vitality of counseling
psychology (Division 17 has been and remains one of
APA's largest and most productive divisions), there
is also no question that counseling psychology as a
specialty is in danger. Counseling psychology
programs are closing. Of the 228 APA-accredited
clinical psychology programs listed in the December
2005 issue of American Psychologist, 2 are no
longer admitting students. APA lists 56 accredited
programs in school psychology, with 2 withdrawing
from accreditation or no longer admitting students.
In counseling psychology, however, the APA lists 73
accredited programs, with 5 either withdrawing or
no longer admitting students (APA, 2005).
Chi-square analysis (df=2, X2=7.74, p<.03)
suggests counseling psychology is losing programs
at a rate significantly greater than clinical or
school.
There are
several reasons for this decline, and I believe APA
may be in serious remiss for not placing the
support of counseling psychology programs higher on
their agenda. Counseling psychology has long been
regarded as being in the vanguard of welcoming and
respecting ethnic, cultural, gender and sexual
pluralism, and I suspect that over the years
enrollment in counseling psychology programs has
reflected this diversity. (An objective study of
diversity in the specialties would be quite
interesting and, if the data bear out my hunch,
very important.) If indeed our specialty has been
significantly more welcoming of women and ethnic,
racial and sexual minorities than other
specialties, then failure to support counseling
psychology may be a blatant contradiction of APA's
stated position to encourage and support pluralism
and diversity within psychology. Division 17 and
the Academy would be obligated to hold APA
accountible if this is true. I intend to address
this issue in greater detail in a separate
article.
AACoP's
ability to affect the overall direction of
professional psychology is intrinsically connected
to our perceived influence, which in turn is
closely tied to our size and vitality. Therefore,
my agenda is simple to declare but difficult to
accomplish. I want to get AACoP on the map. I
believe more visibility for our Academy will
translate into more members and, most importantly,
more applications for Board Certification. I
believe increased numbers of certified specialists
will have a direct impact on the entire field of
counseling psychology.
We might
accomplish this goal using several routes. I would
like to see our CE activities expand significantly.
We can accomplish this by cosponsoring CE
activities. CE sponsorship is a possible source of
revenue, and it may help get the word out about the
Academy, thereby promoting Board Certification in
counseling psychology.
I'm not sure
how to accomplish this, but we also need more
visibility within Division 17. We have not been
very successful at encouraging division leadership
to become board certified, which would probably be
the single best mechanism for improving our
presence in the field. I know how much this was on
Pat Munley's mind. I'm very open to your
suggestions.
Finally,
there may be other licensed psychologists who,
while perhaps not having graduated from
APA-accredited counseling programs, may in fact be
practicing as counseling psychologists. How can we
reach these people? How can we help them identify
(or re-identify) with what may be their "natural"
home: the specialty of counseling psychology as
evidenced by ABCoP certification. I would also like
to open a discussion with our Board and perhaps the
ABPP in general about the possibility of reaching
out to counseling psychologists who may not be
aware they are in fact counseling psychologists!
Over the years, I have encountered many graduates
of counseling psychology programs who, for a
variety of reasons, have come to believe they are
clinical psychologists, while others have come to
identify themselves as counselor educators and/or
supervisors. We may find some potential diplomates
in the American Counseling Association rather than
APA, for example.
These are
difficult problems to resolve, but we are a
creative specialty and I believe the solutions lie
within us. Over the next two years, I intend to
actively seek your advice and counsel. I hope you
will share your ideas with me.
With best
wishes,
Steve K. D.
Eichel, Ph.D.
President, AACoP
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