Internationalising counseling psychology in the United States: A SWOT analysis

Consistent with the framework recommended for this special issue, the current article provides a SWOT analysis of the field of counseling psychology within the United States. Beginning with a brief overview of the history of the field, the current analysis moves on to contextualise the recent attempts to internationalise counseling psychology in the United States within the multiculturalism movement. The early advocacy of multiculturalism undertaken by the Division of Counseling Psychology within the American Psychological Association is certainly one of its strengths. The movement to add international multiculturalism to domestic multiculturalism appears to be a natural transition for the field and provides a new set of opportunities. Other opportunities for the field include our recent attention to social justice as another core area of inquiry and intervention. Yet, the field of counseling psychology continues to experience threats as it relates to our "step-child" status vis-a-vis clinical psychology. At the same time, it was noted that part of the weakness of our field has been our failure to capitalise on some of our areas of emphasis such as rehabilitation, prevention, and positive psychology. More recent concerns have centered around organisational decline with the closure of a significant number of the leading counseling psychology training programs in the country. The meaning of these closures continues to be debated.