Counseling psychology

Counseling psychology is an application of the basic professional skills in psychology to a population that has been more located in schools rather than hospitals and clinics.

Counseling psychology grew up in the area of guidance, the special relationships developed in schools and universities for answering student needs beyond instruction. Another early stream of influence was from vocational rehabilitation. The Veterans' Administration, in the United States, sponsored guidance counseling for World War I veterans who sought compensation for disabling injuries. Later, after World War II and the expanded GI benefits, the VA used counseling psychologists in both their regional offices and attached to VA medical centers, to work with veterans around vocational adjustment to disability, and educational issues in retraining for civilian work and career. University counseling centers were the focus of many early developments in counseling psychology. Gradually, programs in counseling psychology have become a co-equal basic training regimen for eligibility for licensing as a professional psychologist, along with programs in clinical psychology. Counseling psychologists and clinical psychologist are now found in all settings involving licensed practice of psychology as a health care profession.

Despite its existence since World War I, counseling psychology has developed most since the turn of the 21st century. In the years surrounding the new millennium, a new wave of counseling psychologists, led by Jennifer Tomlinson of the University of Oregon, the founder of Systems Theory usage within counseling, have increased the acceptance of counseling psychology by the public and the psychological community.