The barriers to an expanded prevention focus in counseling psychology

What are the barriers to an expanded prevention focus in counseling psychology? Many of us who choose to be counseling psychologists are most interested in understanding the individual and find that activity particularly rewarding as we establish an ongoing therapeutic relationship where we can see change occurring over time (Albee, 2000; Davidson et al., 2006). Those of us who would seek to increase the emphasis on prevention within counseling psychology need to keep this in mind, no matter how convinced we are that preventive interventions may be more effective in reducing social injustice.

Other barriers mentioned in the literature include the following:

• Culturally responsive preventive interventions can be very emotionally draining on the providers when they are confronted with the myriad of problems in a given community (Goodman et al., 2004; Moeschberger et al., 2006).
• Preventive interventions are generally not reimbursable by insurance providers (Helms, 2003).
• Research funds may not be available for much prevention research (Helms, 2003).
• Prevention research is time intensive and may be viewed as little more than community service for tenure and promotion (Goodman et al., 2004).
• Training programs emphasize training on individual remedial counseling (Romano & Hage, 2000).
• As all the projects in this issue demonstrate, it is absolutely essential to consider what location might be most culturally relevant for the participants of the intervention (Vera & Speight, 2003). How much does our level of comfort drop when we are no longer on our turf, and therefore, are we less willing to expand our territory?
• Counseling psychology programs are already overflowing with required coursework, so there is some resistance to finding space for a consultation and/or prevention course. Given the overlapping and complementary nature of prevention, multiculturalism, and social justice, it may be best not to have a separate course for each (Davidson et al., 2006).

What are counseling psychology’s strengths regarding prevention efforts?

• We are well trained to understand human behavior and behavior change from a person–environment perspective (Goodman et al., 2004).
• Counseling psychology has a relatively consistent history of being involved in the reduction of educational disparities and in the design and study of career development and academic achievement interventions, and university counseling centers often include many outreach and prevention activities (Romano & Hage, 2000).
• The recently developed Division 17 Social Justice Award is an excellent way to identify and reward our prevention role models. Funded by the royalties from the editors of the Handbook for Social Justice in Counseling Psychology (Toporek et al., 2006b), it seeks to recognize individuals who have been extensively involved in community organizational change toward the goal of creating a more just society.
• All of the projects in this issue suggest that ideally the prevention coordinator be an insider to the community being served because such persons have already achieved a certain amount of cultural capital in the community. They are perceived as invested and as part of the group, and consequently, such status increases the likelihood that the content will be culturally relevant to the participants, particularly when delivered by similar staff. Counseling psychology has one of the higher rates of diverse students in doctoral psychology training programs and as such is in a prime position to facilitate more culturally relevant preventive interventions—if we engage our students sufficiently in the design and implementation processes.

What are the benefits to an expanded prevention focus in counseling psychology?

• Many of our students are interested in social justice and multiculturalism; if prevention work is contextualized in the frameworks of multiculturalism and social justice, students may be more interested in acquiring prevention experience, particularly if they are taught how to apply psychological theory to these interventions.
• Prevention work provides rewarding feelings from establishing a collaborative relationship within some community or group that has often been underserved (Goodman et al., 2004).
• Prevention activities in various settings with multidisciplinary teams will ultimately increase the demand for counseling psychologists (Boggs & Douce, 2000).
• Prevention activities add some variety to the practice of individual counseling. There are grant monies to address social justice issues using preventive interventions, particularly when provided by multidisciplinary teams (Davidson et al., 2006).
• Prevention efforts enhance skills in consultation and social advocacy. Because consultation and public policy and advocacy are two of the core competencies of a psychologist (Competencies Conference, 2002), prevention skills should be a necessary element of any doctoral curriculum.