The Profession Of Counseling In The 19th Century

The profession of counseling as a form of treatment focusing on emotional problems was practiced in a sort of informal way by advice and sharing information in the 19th century. Early counseling professionals called themselves teachers and social advocate (Gladding & Newsome, 2017). Their area of focus involved child welfare, education, employment guidance, and legal reform.

In the early 1900s, three pioneers lead the way to the progress of counseling as a profession. Frank parson, regarded as the father of the vocational guidance movement (Field, 2017), founded Boston’s Vocational Bureau in 1908. Jesse B. Davis created the first systematized guidance programs in public schools and paved the way for school guidance counseling (Gladding & Newsome, 2017). Clifford beer’s battle with mental illness and depression exposed the poor condition of mental institutions in his book A Mind That Found Itself in 1908.

As the development of vocational guidance began to take root in the early 1900s, two significant benchmarks helped spread its practice and legitimacy. First, in 1913, the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA), the forerunner of today’s American Counseling Association, was founded. Second, in 1917, the Smith-Hughes Act was passed to provide public school funding for vocational education

The 1950s recognized the establishment of American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA), the charting of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the establishment of Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) within the American Psychological Association (APA), the passage of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA); and the introduction of new guidance and counseling theories such as systematic desensitization, rational-emotive therapy, etc.(Gladding & Newsome,