Presents document by Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development outlining the need and rationale for multicultural perspective in counseling. Includes proposal of 31 multicultural counseling competencies that resulted from work by the Professional Standards committee. Notes that committee strongly encouraged American Association for…

Discusses complex and ambiguous process of counseling and range of skills needed by counselors. Notes that the training of counselors is also a complex task and describes the work of Viviane Robinson and Jan Halliday, who are examining counselor training from an information-processing perspective. (NB)

Asserts that, since most states now have counselor licensure, the National Board for Certified Counselors and the National certification process itself may be obsolete. Authors question whether the National Counselor Exam differentiates between effective and ineffective counselors and question why only 8% of American Counseling Association members…

Highlights major changes in school and rehabilitation counselor preparation over past decade following Howie's 1979 counselor preparation recommendations. Suggests specific counselor competencies needed to provide comprehensive services. Describes how to integrate competencies within applicable accreditation guidelines. (Authors/CM)

Discusses diagnosis, addressing need for and usefulness of diagnosis by clinicians in general, with emphasis on related ethical concerns and clinicians' competence in diagnosis specifically. Concludes that graduate programs involved in training clinical professionals need to teach diagnosis more aggressively. (Author/NB)

Research indicates that neither theoretical orientation nor training is predictive of therapy outcome; factors as nonspecific as therapist personal characteristics may be the primary determinants. The therapeutic bond has been isolated as an important influence. The author then questions the importance of research utilization in determining…