Best Practices: A Critical Yet Inclusive Vision for the Counseling Profession

✍ Scribed by Andre Marquis; Kathryn Z. Douthit; Ari J. Elliot

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 107 KB
• Volume: 89
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1556-6678
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2011.tb02836.x

✦ Synopsis

Substantial controversy has surrounded the concept of best practices (BPs) in counseling; in particular, the consequences of deriving practice guidelines from empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Criticisms of EST methodology, assumptions, and findings are summarized, and implications for core counseling values, including multiculturalism, are discussed. The authors further elaborate an inclusive view of BP that can facilitate the use of research to inform and enhance counseling services while rectifying problems associated with methodological and theoretical bias.