International Developments, Counseling Psychology

In the United States

The U.S. counseling profession has a long and distinguished history, evolving from the vocational guidance movement in the late 19th century to a strong counseling psychology specialty within the discipline of psychology in the 21st century. The specialty educates individuals through accredited training programs, generates knowledge from research, credentials members to function as professionals, and is regulated through organizations established for more than 50 years.

The profession made several early attempts to become internationalized. For example, after World War II, U.S. counseling psychologists consulted with Japanese education faculty about establishing counseling services. More systematic efforts to increase cross-cultural communication within the profession began in the mid-1960s with the creation of the International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling. In the 1980s, a few counseling psychologists were granted Fulbright professorships. In 1988, Bruce Fretz, then the incoming editor of The Counseling Psychologist (TCP), began a new section within this journal called The International Forum, publishing articles primarily by U.S. scholars about their experiences working abroad. In 1989, the Minnesota International Counseling Institute (MICI) was created by counseling psychology faculty at the University of Minnesota, namely Thomas Skovholt, Sunny Hansen, John Romano, and Kay Thomas. The MICI is a biennial gathering of international practitioners and scholars to advance the science and practice of cross-cultural counseling. In 1991, Paul Pedersen published a landmark article proposing that culture, defined broadly, is generic to all counseling. In essence, Pedersen broadened the conceptualization of culture to expand the growing multicultural movement to include cross-cultural counseling. For the next 15 years, Pedersen provided leadership in promoting the internationalization of the profession. However, by the mid-1990s, the internationalization of the profession was not widely accepted or even well understood.

In 1997, the incoming editor of TCP, P. Paul Heppner, renewed the focus on international issues by (a) assigning scholars who were leaders in the international movement in counseling psychology as series coeditors (Frederick Leong and Paul Pedersen, and later Joe Ponterotto and Dave Blustein) of the [Page 264]International Forum, (b) changing the review process to be more culturally sensitive for international authors submitting manuscripts, and (c) appointing the first scholar from outside the United States (S. A. Leung from Hong Kong) to serve as associate editor. Because of the work of the series coeditors, more international colleagues were encouraged to submit manuscripts, the review process was more effective, and more international scholars began to publish in TCP and in other counseling journals, resulting in a slow increase in communication around an international perspective in counseling psychology.

More important, between 1997 and 2003, a number of articles and books appeared by Pedersen, Leong, and other colleagues more fully articulating a strong rationale for internationalizing counseling psychology in the United States and emphasizing the pervasive role of culture in all dimensions of counseling. These publications increased awareness that culture affects behavior and thus is a very important context in which to understand the counseling process. In 2003, Louise Douce, as president of the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Division 17 (Counseling Psychology), created a forum at the annual APA convention for counseling scholars interested in international issues to discuss common goals. Two years later, Heppner, as then president of Division 17, expanded the international scholar's breakfast and reception at the APA convention to welcome international guests, promote collaborative relationships across different countries, and give scholars an opportunity to learn from each other. He also initiated, in conjunction with Lawrence H. Gerstein, an international section within Division 17.

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