Conceptualizing Critical Theory in Counseling Education

Abstract

Counselors-in-training could be well-served by studying cultural, social, and critical theory and philosophy in addition to the core counseling theories. While most of the latter are the applications of the former, engaging with different critical theories would better equip future counselors to conceptualize the many factors affecting a client, make ethical and appropriate decisions in treatment, and enter into ongoing conversations within or about the profession. I will provide examples of how these critical theories are already part of some counseling theories and how knowing the critical theories separately from the counseling ones can broaden counselor understanding and the language they have access to in order to describe problems and processes.