Professional Behaviors and Dispositions: Counseling Competencies and Lifelong Growth - Paperback

by Candace M. McLain (Author), Joelle P. Lewis (Author)

Professional Behaviors and Dispositions teaches counselors in training (CITs) how to cultivate counselor competencies and critical thinking skills in support of lifelong professional development. CITs will first gain a detailed understanding of the professional behaviors and dispositions expected of all counselors. They will then learn how to evaluate themselves for these factors using a universal growth model that promotes holistic, ongoing assessment of oneself and one's relationships. Next, CITs will be presented with concrete tools and activities that they can use to cultivate and retain counselor competencies. Finally, CITs are given a step-by-step guide for creating a professional growth plan they can use throughout their program and their clinical practice. Accompanying this text is a helpful online faculty guide for supervisors to use while working with CITs. Aligned with CACREP, ACA, and ACES standards, this textbook will be useful for all graduate students training to become counselors.

Author Biography

Candace M. McLain, EdD, LPC, ACS, is a core faculty member at Walden University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program and has worked as a clinician, faculty and administrator in higher education for over ten years. She is a licensed professional counselor in both Michigan and Colorado as well as an approved clinical supervisor. Dr. McLain served previously as a clinical coordinator, coordinator of assessment and remediation and has served on the ACES Guidelines for Online Learning.

Joelle P. Lewis, EdD, LCSW (CO) is a core faculty member at Walden University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program and has taught in higher education since 2000. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Colorado. Dr. Lewis had a private practice for ten years, specializing in adult survivors of childhood trauma, and was the executive director for a domestic violence treatment program. She also served as the director of a residential treatment center for at-risk adolescents and as a mental health therapist for residential treatment for the chronically mentally ill.