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Article
United We Stand: Lessons Learned from Other Professions
The Qualitative Report (2018)
  • SunHee Eissenstat, Rutgers University - Scotch Plains
  • Lynn Bohecker, Liberty University
Abstract
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.
Keywords
  • Professional Identity,
  • Licensure Portability,
  • Accreditation,
  • Narrative Inquiry
Publication Date
2018
Citation Information
Eissenstat, S. J., & Bohecker, L. (2018). United we stand: Narrative study to aid the counseling profession in developing a coherent identity. The Qualitative Report, 23(6), 1314-1333. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss6/4