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An Introduction to the Field of Counseling Psychology: Integrating Science, Practice, and Social Justice

Counseling psychology is a values-driven discipline that integrates science, clinical practice, and social justice to promote mental health and well-being across diverse identities and life contexts. This talk provides an overview of the field of counseling psychology, including its historical roots within psychology more broadly. The history of psychology reflects both significant advances, such as increased access to mental health care, and significant harms, including the pathologization and marginalization of minoritized communities. Counseling psychology emerged, in part, as a response to these tensions, emphasizing strengths, development, prevention, and the importance of sociocultural context.
The presentation will outline key distinctions and areas of overlap between counseling and clinical psychology, typical training pathways at the master’s and doctoral levels, licensure and accreditation considerations, and common career trajectories. The final portion of the talk will highlight counseling psychology in action through my own research focused on thriving and the promotion of health and well-being among trans and nonbinary people. My work centers resilience, community connection, and structural factors that shape mental health for trans and nonbinary communities, illustrating how counseling psychology can move beyond deficit-based models toward approaches that support flourishing across identities.

Location:	Steitz 102
Contact:	Professor Hilary Miller-goldwater hilary.miller-goldwater@lawrence.edu
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