Discuss the future direction you selected that most excites you, and explain how it will enhance your professional practice as a counselor.

Past, Present, and Future of Counseling.

This paper needs to be written in APA 7. 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)

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.

Refer to your American Psychological Association (APA) manual to assist you in the proper use of APA throughout your paper.

Assignment:

(2–4 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 practice as a counselor.

Be sure to use proper APA format and citations. These details are demonstrated in the template provided for this Assignment.

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