Talk:Counseling

Definitions

I know this is not a dictionary, but "counseling" (at least in US parlance) could easily refer to a school guidance counselor, or lawyer and is not really synonymous w/ psychotherapy. moreover, "consultant" is so the wrong disambig word these other uses. there should be a counselor disambig I think. WalkUnseen 15:56, 24 May 2006 (UTC)counselor also means a doctor or psychologhy to help the patient through the problem.

some of these concerns now addressed at Counselor. I think the contents of that page could be merged with this one. Any comments?--Ziji 00:51, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Counsellor is different from counselling psychologist too. As in some countries, counsellor can be anyone who has some kind of training in counselling. But for counselling psychologist, he or she is a real psychologist with training in psychology, with particular taining in counselling. (STL) 22:06, 21 March, 2007.

Many Counsellors are highly trained and professional to a degree that surpases the basic psychology fundamentals of the average psychologist. In the United Kingdom counsellors need to achieve a very high standart of theoretical, experiential and practical knowledge to achieve recognition as a registered/qualified counsellor. Average training takes 4 years. Psychotherapist 5 - 7 years.

Note: Sidewalk counseling has nothing to do with counseling in the general sense in which the word is used. There are probably other anomalies within wikipedia that I have yet to discover.--Ziji (talk email) 23:28, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Question

I have added a section on how to find a counsellor, as I believe this would be valuable for people who are seeking counselling. I was considering creating a worked example, but I fear that if I added a real link to a counsellors website (ie www.guildfordcounseling.org ) I would be breaking a Wikipedia rule. I believe it would help people who are in pain to understand the whole process. Any advice? Adrius42 13:50, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Adrius, I really liked what you did and have added a bit to your list. Given the untold number of specific counselors and counseling organizations it would be impractical to list all and to list only a few would break some rule or other. BUT here's away one article has done it Co-counselling#Other_co-counselling_initiatives. I think it far better to give the seeker a link to neutral articles about how to find a counselor and to what counseling is. What do you think?--Ziji (talk email) 09:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism

Having restarted this page some months ago after it was earlier and wrongly made to redirect to psychotherapy, I find the renaming of this one to Act Professional Counseling completely bewildering and possibly vandalism as a similar named page is in the commercial field at [1]. Of equal concern is the dissapearance of the Counselling article, which provided a signficant disambiguation reference for readers looking to understand a complex field and many uses of the word counselor and counsellor - where has that gone and who moved it and who renamed this page. The User:Orana was listed in the history (03:52, 20 May 2007 Orana (Talk | contribs) m (moved Counseling to Act Professional Counseling: Interenational Phone counseling for North America and the UK. We deal with tauma,marriage and relationships,depression. 866.877.9770, 604.272.5211, orana1@shaw.ca)) as responsible for renaming this page but I cannot find who re-directed the (double LL) counselling page to here and wiping its contents in the process. Don't know how to revert to the original (double LL) counselling article I have emailed the owner of the Act Professional Counselling service advising him (Robert) of damage done in his name, at the email address cited --Ziji (talk email) 22:09, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Whilst researching the comment below I found the missing double ll counselling page that acted as a disambiguation page. It had been unilaterally renamed Counselor--Ziji (talk email) 09:16, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Merge with counseling psychology?

I think that Counseling Psychology and this article should be merged. It seems to be a POV fork, ie. the "Counseling" link from the Psychology templates link to "Counseling psychology" rather than a general article on the topic. This article should cover the various forms of counseling including counseling psychology. It should probably also cover the difference between counseling and psychotherapy and link to the main sub article. ----Action potential ^{t c} 05:43, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Counselling is the parent article of most of those listed below. Psychology is the parent article of Counseling psychology. So don't merge the latter into Counseling. However, there are the numerous counseling topics, some overlapping some duplicating sub-topics - any or all of which could be merged into the parent article Counseling, except where a more appropriate parent already exists. At the very least each of the following could be refered to as main articles from related sub-headings of the final merged Counseling article.

Counselor Vocational counselling Career counseling Co-counselling Re-evaluation counseling Counseling psychology Relationship counseling Credit counseling Genetic counseling Pre-conception counseling Pregnancy options counseling School counselor Online counseling E-mail counseling

Lay community counsellor Exit counseling Telephone counseling Nouthetic Counseling Christian counseling Pastoral counseling Grief counseling Intervention (counseling) Rehabilitation counseling Ecological counseling Philosophical counseling Solution-focused counseling Multicultural counseling Navy Counselor Mental Health Counselor

And that doesn't include the coaching mentoring and related topics, which are abutting this one. This area is in need of attention. A simple merge of two of them will leave this ever expanding sub topic area untouched. For a start I have begun the List of counseling topics page, where these and other topics can go. It requires organizing so please help out--Ziji (talk email) 09:14, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Just to be clear: don't merge as the parent of Counseling psychology is Psychology not Counseling.--Ziji (talk email) 23:01, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I would strongly oppose such a merge. Counseling psychology is a vast area and deserves its own article. Some of the areas listed above would not fall under counseling psychology; it has its own distinct identity. And of course Psychology pages and templates should link to Counseling psychology (where there can be a link to the broader topic Counseling). -DoctorW 03:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It might not be necessary to merge them. From the view of a psychologist, it would make sense to link to counseling psychology rather than a general counseling article. But not all mental health counselors are psychologists and I still think it might be a POV fork. For example, some are social workers, mental health nurses, or registered with counseling bodies outside of APA (or equivalent). In some countries (like Australia) counseling is self-regulated. There are other differences depending on the country or state. ----Action potential ^{t c} 04:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I can't see how it can be called a POV fork by any stretch of the imagination. Of course not all mental health counselors are psychologists! And that shows that counseling psychology is a more narrow area than counseling (and conceptually distinct from this even broader topic). The phrase "counseling psychology" doesn't indicate that psychology "owns" counseling. What are you trying to say? Perhaps you misunderstand what "counseling psychology" means. -DoctorW 05:26, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

My point is that there is a lot of overlap historically, theoretically and in practice between the different forms of counseling that is currently not reflected in the psychology article or the counseling related articles. As I understand it, a counseling psychologist is a registered psychologist who engages in the practice of counseling individuals, couples and groups. counseling psychologists have much in common with clinical psychology and with other forms of counseling. Perhaps the best way forward would be to improve both articles. Its probably important to contrast counseling psychology and clinical psychology too -- counseling psychology focuses more on counseling and therapy. But the boundaries are not always clear and there are differences between countries. ----Action potential ^{t c} 06:28, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

So let's fix it. Have you the time Action and DoctorW for such a task? I've spent the best part of 5 hours getting that list working, putting the counseling category on every articel listed there that exists and starting the article on disciplinary counseling. I'm enjoying it because it is such an under developed area in contrast to Psychology. Counseling psychology is thankfully a narrow area in comparison to the breadth and depth of counseling..--Ziji (talk email) 07:09, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've started, I've been working on the psychologist article. ----Action potential ^{t c} 07:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

• Counseling and Counseling Psychology should not be merged as they are distinct fields with professionals with distinct training and licenses. Kukini ^{hablame aqui} 20:33, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Counseling categories

There are two categories with both spellings - counselling and counseling. From my extensive reading of the related topics on wikipedia, the most common spelling is the single l. How about deleting the other category?--Ziji (talk email) 11:02, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I've put a notice on the categories to let everyone know. If this is ok we can proceed with a category merge. The actual merge will be scripted. ----Action potential ^{t c} 03:30, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you.--Ziji (talk email) 04:17, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

References on finding a counselor

1. I am shocked that the talk page is longer than the article. 2. The psychotherapy article may be useful to Ph.D.'s, but it is useless to the consumer who is trying to find a counselor. 3. I regret that the section on how to find a counselor (suggested above) seems to have been deleted. I ask that it be reinstated and that this list of references on finding a counselor be attached. I compiled this bibliography and keep it handy because so many want guidance to find help. I hope that this list of references will be added to the main article and thence expanded. Thanks.

"A Guide to Psychotherapy" by Gerald Amada (Ballantine 1995).

"Coping with Choosing a Therapist: a Young Person's Guide to Counseling and Psychotherapy" by Margaret E. Backman (NY: Rosen, 1994).

The Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy" by Jack Engler and David Goleman (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1992).

"Rating Your Psychotherapist" by Robert Langs (NY: H. Holt, 1989).

"How to choose and use the right therapist for you" by Jean and Jim Erwin (Kansas City : Sheed Andrews and McMeel, c1978).

"Reach for joy : how to find the right therapist and therapy for you" by Lynne D. Finney (Freedom, CA : Crossing Press, c1995).

"Finding the right counselor for you" by Edward J. Rydman (Dallas: Taylor Pub. Co., 1989).

A guide to psychotherapy by Saul I. Harrison and Donald J. Carek. (Boston, Little, Brown 1966).

HELP : a guide to counseling and therapy without a hassle / Jane Marks. (New York : Messner, 1976).

The Gift of Therapy: An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients by Irvin Yalom. 288 pages. rumjal 05:51, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Counseling in India under mithra

Mithra is a charitable trust for counseling . They mainly looking for to develop mental strength of the people who where mentally upset or stay away from the community. They studies about the behavior of the persons and counseling them and make them to come forward in the community. There are no any other firms in India especially in Kerala doing this kind of charity. For more information they have a web site also www.mithraonline.com. You can download the membership form and join as a member also. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smartsangeeth (talk • contribs) 02:18, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Page material removed to redirect

I can see why this was done, but now there is no overview article. This doesn't necessarly have to be a full article - it could be more of a set index article and list of counselling merged into here? LeeVJ (talk) 21:13, 14 October 2008 (UTC)