Open AccessUnited We Stand: Narrative Study to Aid the Counseling Profession in Developing a Coherent Identity
Author(s) -
SunHee J. Eissenstat,
Lynn Bohecker
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.335
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3258
Subject(s) - accreditation , narrative , identity (music) , licensure , certification , medical education , narrative inquiry , pedagogy , psychology , public relations , political science , medicine , philosophy , linguistics , physics , acoustics , law
The purpose of the study was to learn how non-counseling-related professions have navigated the developmental issues the counseling profession has been facing such as (1) strengthening identity, (2) presenting as one profession, (3) improving public perception and advocacy, and (4) creating licensure portability. The researchers provide the narratives of six people from three non-counseling-related professions who have been instrumental in the development of their respective professions. The overarching open-ended research question posed was, “What is the narrative history of your profession?” Follow-up questions were used to explore specific challenges within their respective professions that may have been similar to the developmental issues within the counseling profession. The narrative inquiry study results provided four emergent themes of how the participants navigated their developmental issues: Quality Accredited Education; Professional Identity; A Link between Accreditation, National Certification, a State License; and United Advocacy.