Gatekeeping: A Counselor Educator’s Responsibility to the Counseling Profession and Community

Counseling is one of the few professions practiced in private with vulnerable individuals. Because of this, counselors must be held to high training standards and be deemed competent prior to being allowed to practice independently. The responsibility for ensuring future counselors’ competence rests with counselor educators and clinical supervisors via a process known as gatekeeping. This paper highlights the importance of gatekeeping in the counseling profession and describes models of remediation for supervisors and educators navigating this complex process. Utilizing a case study, the authors demonstrate the protective function gatekeeping serves society by applying a gatekeeping decision-making model. Finally, recommendations are provided to increase adherence to and facilitate implementation of gatekeeping responsibilities by counselor educators and supervisors

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Challenges Faced by Counselors in Places Where Professional Counseling is Nascent

The counseling profession may be considered well established in some parts of the world; however, in most countries it remains non-existent or a nascent profession. For the internationalization of counseling to take place, leading to establishment and advancement, the counseling profession needs to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration. Such a process enables a meaningful inclusion of counselors in professional spaces to allow them to meet the socio-emotional needs of clients and communities. In this article, the authors examine the challenges and barriers counselors experience when participating in interdisciplinary professional environments, specifically in places where the counseling profession is a nascent field. We also recommend strategies for counselor educators, supervisors, trainees, practitioners, and professional organization leaders to employ in efforts to address and overcome some of the challenges and barriers and advocate for the inclusion of counselors as valued members in interdisciplinary settings

From Students to Educators: Doctoral Interns’ Transition Experiences to Counselor Educators

It is likely that a counselor education and supervision (CES) student will spend the majority of her or his professional career in a classroom setting. Be it residential, intensive formats, and/or on-line, CES doctoral students must be skilled at teaching students effectively (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2014)