ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some of the principles of career counseling, beginning with the history of career counseling, followed by where one might find counselors who work with career issues, and some future predictions about the field. It addresses a variety of special topics impacting the provision of career counseling. From grade school to retirement, professional counselors address work-related issues as a part of treating the "whole person". Counselors may be contracted to work on career issues as a part of overall mental health skill building for their in-home clients, or they may be assigned to school settings where they work one-on-one with students to help them learn appropriate social skills that will later translate into employability skills. In the late 1970s, the economy declined, then rebounded in the 1980s, with a significant focus on technical skills, the establishment of career counseling competencies, and true growth in the area of private practice-based counseling.
