Counseling

Counseling can be defined as a human service that enhances personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span and addresses emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. The focus is typically on healthy aspects of the client, personal and environmental characteristics (including culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and physical ability), and the role of career on individual development and functioning. A brief description of the historical foundations of the counseling profession follows.

The industrial revolution (early 1900s) created a large number of jobs, and it became clear that young people had more career choices than their predecessors. Frank Parsons was a social reformer who identified the need to help people learn how to make these new career choices. He opened a career ...