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This paper provides an explanation and an interpretation of the definition of counselling psychology that is endorsed by the New Zealand Psychologists Board. The individual meanings of seven components of the definition are discussed, and these are: ecology, development, phenomenology, empowerment and enhancement, assessments, interventions, and prevention. It is contended that the seven components are logically related and contribute to a consistent and coherent definition for the discipline of counselling psychology. It is also suggested that the values that the definition acknowledges are relevant for many other human service practitioners.
Keywords: counselling psychology, ecology, phenomenology, empowerment and enhancement
Counselling psychology is officially defined in New Zealand in the following terms:
"Counselling Psychologist" - Counselling Psychologists apply psychological knowledge and theory derived from research to the area of client empowerment and enhancement, to assist children, young persons, adults and their families with personal, social, educational, and vocational functioning by using psychological assessments and interventions, and preventative approaches that acknowledge ecological, developmental and phenomenological dimensions. (New Zealand Psychologists Board, 2013)
This definition is essentially the same as the definition of the discipline that was originally written for the Institute of Counselling Psychology (Cooper, Frewin, Gardiner, O'Connell, & Stanley, 2002); and it is identical to the definition that was subsequently put out for consultation (Stanley, Gibson, & Manthei, 2005), and that was ultimately contained in the application that was submitted to the New Zealand Psychologists Board for a vocational scope of practice for counselling psychology (Stanley, 2005). On the website of the Psychologists Board there are also definitions for clinical psychology and for educational psychology, and probably in the future there will be definitions for other psychological specialties. Each of the existing definitions has a common structure and common components. All three specialties "apply psychological knowledge and theory derived from research", "to assist children, young persons, adults and their families", through assessment and interventions. The definition for counselling psychology is different from the other two definitions in its explicit acknowledgement of phenomenology, its emphasis on empowerment and enhancement, its reference to a breadth of typical functioning (and specifically, vocational concerns), and in the recognition that problems of living can and should be prevented. The definition is also special because of what it does not contain. For...