The history of the counseling profession is filled with stories of the people and events that helped shape it and make it what it is today. The field has been influenced by multiple historical events, societal needs, and social contexts. The counseling profession continues to evolve through unique approaches and philosophies from the counseling field and from contributions of the American Counseling Association (ACA), American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC).

For this Assignment, you will examine historical contributions to the identity of the mental health counseling profession, you will discuss how this field differs from other helping fields, and you will analyze a future direction in the field and how it might affect you in your professional role.

To Prepare:

• Review Chapter 1 of the Erford course text in this week’s Learning Resources, and select one historical figure (a person) to discuss in your paper.
• From Chapter 1, select one future direction (from the section “Where We Are Going,” beginning on p. 22) to discuss.
• Review the webpage “Keyword Searching: Finding Articles on Your Topic: Searching Basics,” located in this week’s Learning Resources related to how to search the Walden Library databases.
• Search the Walden databases for at least one scholarly article pertaining to the historical figure and/or to the future direction you chose.
• Use the Research Paper Template in this week’s Learning Resources to complete this Assignment. Refer to your American Psychological Association (APA) manual to assist you in the proper use of APA throughout your paper.

Assignment: (2 pages, excluding Title Page and Reference Page)

Include the following sections:

• Part 1 – Present
  • What is counseling?
  • How does it differ from other helping professions?
  • Summarize the philosophical underpinnings of the counseling profession.
• Part 2 – Past
  • Looking historically, if you showed Part I of your paper to the historical figure you chose, how would this figure handle it? Would the figure be shocked, mildly surprised, or in complete agreement? How would the figure respond?
• Part 3 – Future
  • Discuss the future direction you selected that most excites you, and explain how it will enhance your professional professional practice as a counselor.

References:

Erford, B. T. (Ed.). (2018). Orientation to the counseling profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

• Chapter 1, “Becoming a Professional Counselor: Philosophical, Historical, and Future Directions” (pp. 1–34)
• Chapter 2, “Professional Counseling Organizations, Licensure, Certification, and Accreditation” (pp. 35–69)