Abstract
Strategies for integrating positive psychology theory and practice into the existing counseling psychology training program model within the framework of the Counseling Psychology Core are proposed. The three main clusters (i.e., Foundational, Functional, Organizational) and subcategories of the Counseling Psychology Core Competencies provide the framework for integrating positive psychology approaches into doctoral education. Integrating positive psychology and counseling psychology increases counseling psychologists’ familiarity with positive psychology treatment approaches, and maximizes counseling psychologists’ ability to promote empirically based positive psychology interventions designed to assist individuals, communities, and organizations in achieving positive life outcomes.
The philosophical orientation of the counseling psychology profession focuses on facilitating personal adjustment and interpersonal functioning across the developmental life span (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015; Gelso & Fretz, 2001). The connections between counseling psychology and positive psychology are evident in common central values that focus on strengths and optimal human functioning (Gelso, Williams, & Fretz, 2014; Walsh, 2003). In reviewing APA-accredited counseling psychology program websites, we found that training programs were most often described with a focus on multiculturalism, diversity, and strengths. Consistent with Lopez et al.’s (2006) findings, we found that many counseling psychologists were actively engaged in research that reflected a positive psychology focus. Based on our review, however, fewer programs specifically mentioned having a positive psychology, positive development, and positive growth orientation or offered a specific course in positive psychology as part of the training curriculum or as an elective. A comprehensive survey indicated that counseling psychologists endorsed the use of positive psychology across their work roles (i.e., research, assessment, counseling, teaching); however, many were unfamiliar with the majority of the 44 positive psychology constructs and theories addressed in the survey (Magyar-Moe, 2012; Magyar-Moe, Owens, & Scheel, 2015). To this end, Magyar-Moe (2012) differentiated between “a philosophical strength-based stance” and “application of empirically-based positive psychological approaches to treatment” (p. 8). Our goal is to suggest potential ways in which positive psychology might be infused into existing counseling psychology training to support content knowledge of strength-based approaches. Although the suggestions offered are not exhaustive, they are intended to stimulate thinking about possible avenues for weaving positive psychology content into counseling psychology pedagogy. By connecting positive psychology with the Counseling Psychology Training Model via Counseling Psychology Competencies (CoPSY), trainees’ knowledge base will extend beyond a philosophical strength-based position to familiarity of empirically based treatment approaches used in assisting clients toward optimal human functioning.
The CoPSY endorsed by the Society of Counseling Psychology (Covey et al., 2013) are organized into three main clusters, each with multiple subcategories:
Foundational (Professional Identity, Relationships, Individual and Cultural Diversity, Professional Values and Attitudes, Reflective Practice/Self-Assessment/Self-Care, Scientific Knowledge and Methods, Ethical and Legal Standards and Policy),
Functional (Advocacy, Intervention, Supervision, Assessment, Research/Evaluation, Teaching), and
Organizational (Interdisciplinary Systems, Consultation, Management/Administration).
These competencies are in alignment with the Model Training Program in Counseling Psychology, originally developed in 1998 by the Joint Writing Committee of the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs and the Society of Counseling Psychology, and later revised by the second Joint Writing Committee in 2005 (Epperson, Fouad, Stoltenberg, & Murdock, 2005; Murdock, Alcorn, Heesacker, & Stoltenberg, 1998). This model outlines a counseling psychology doctoral curriculum that includes coursework in (a) General Psychology Core (Biological Bases of Behavior, Cognitive/Affective Bases of Behavior, Social Bases of Behavior, Lifespan Development, Individual Differences, History and Systems of Psychology, Research Methods and Design, Data Analytic Techniques, and Psychometrics) and (b) Professional Core in Counseling Psychology (Professional Issues in Counseling Psychology, Theories and Techniques of Counseling Psychology, Legal and Ethical Issues, Individual and Cultural Diversity, Career Development and Counseling, Consultation, Program Evaluation, Practicum and Internship Training, Supervision and Training, and Psychological Assessment, Diagnosis, and Appraisal).
Integrating positive constructs and processes into existing counseling psychology doctoral education better facilitates the development of core training competencies and prepares students with 21st-century skills to assist individuals, communities, and societies in achieving positive life outcomes. Therefore, to maximize counseling psychology students’ ability to promote clients’ use of strengths in boosting clients’ well-being and life satisfaction, we propose strategies for infusing positive psychology theory and practice into the existing counseling psychology training program model within the framework of the Counseling Psychology Core Competencies. Such integration provides students with knowledge of positive psychology theories and constructs to inform their work, serves to provide a more balanced approach to counseling training and practice, and enhances the treatment of pathology with the addition of techniques focused on self-actualization, wellness, and strengths.
We first address the specific core competency cluster (i.e., Foundational, Functional, Organizational; Covey et al., 2013), and then outline the subcategories of each cluster, suggesting ways in which positive psychology might be integrated into counseling psychology doctoral education. Within each subcategory, we identify Counseling Psychology Model Training Program (Epperson et al., 2005; Murdock et al., 1998) coursework most relevant for integrating positive psychology constructs and approaches. Examples of how positive psychology applications can be infused into the existing counseling psychology coursework are provided. Figures 1 to 3 show the subcategories of each core competency cluster and the selected coursework that can be informed by positive psychology constructs and applications.
Foundational Core Competency Cluster, subcategories, and most relevant coursework for integrating positive psychology constructs and research findings.
Functional Core Competency Cluster, subcategories, and most relevant coursework for integrating positive psychology constructs and research findings.
Organizational Core Competency Cluster, subcategories, and most relevant coursework for integrating positive psychology constructs and research findings.
Foundational Core Competencies
Foundational Core Competencies include seven essential components or subcategories discussed in the sections that follow. Examples of potential applications of positive psychology into coursework within each subcategory most relevant for the development of the Foundational Core Competencies are suggested (see Figure 1).
Professional Identity
The Foundational Core Competency of Professional Identity serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student “demonstrates understanding of self as a counseling psychologist; considers contextual and cultural influences in practice, science, teaching, supervision and other roles; [and] is committed to holistic strength-based development through preventive, vocational, and social justice approaches” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 1). Counseling psychology’s unifying themes have always been primarily focused around human strengths (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). This strength focus is what has set counseling psychology apart as a discipline that does not merely seek to diagnose and remedy psychopathology, but rather aims to identify and leverage positive aspects of the human experience to overcome challenges that arise. As such, counseling psychology students’ professional identity has been built on this foundation of strength-based practice, including promoting prevention and wellness in the community, workplace, and family (Gelso & Fretz, 2001; Gelso et al., 2014).
Despite this long-standing commitment to human strengths, the bulk of the profession’s research and practice has failed to deliver a true focus on the healthy self or interventions that promote the positive (Gelso & Fassinger, 1992). A content analysis of more than 1,000 randomly selected articles published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP), The Counseling Psychologist (TCP), the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA), and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development (JMCD) uncovered that just 29% focus on the positive (Lopez et al., 2006). As such, it seems that counseling psychology’s discourse has been in conflict with its practice. Kaczmarek (2006) raised the question of whether the profession has effectively operationalized what it means to focus on individual strengths within a logical model. Furthermore, Kaczmarek questioned whether counseling psychology students can effectively articulate how their work with clients is different because of counseling psychology’s strength-based philosophy.
Linley (2006) proposed that a deeper understanding of strength-based psychology is critical for effective practice, and suggested that a solution may be found in a more deliberate collaboration between counseling psychology and positive psychology. Seligman (1999) launched the positive psychology movement primarily to turn the field of psychology’s emphasis from a preoccupation with psychopathology to a focus on what is good about people. For counseling psychology to reaffirm its dedication to human strengths, it must first effectively train its students in strength-based research, assessment, and intervention.
It is critical to teach counseling psychology students how to utilize an operationalized, strength-based counseling model within the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ professional identity development. Counseling psychologists using a strength-based model might seek to identify a client’s cognitive, affective, physical, and cultural strengths, as well as how and with whom the client builds effective relationships, how the client interacts with the surrounding environment, how and when the client has adapted successfully to change, and what overall resources the client can utilize as tools (Smith, 2006). The application of positive psychology within courses on career development and counseling, and theories and techniques of counseling psychology, fosters the professional identity development of counseling psychologists.
Career development and counseling coursework
Positive psychology has great potential in its application within career development and counseling coursework. Vocational psychology has long pursued goals harmonious with positive psychology’s endeavor to optimize human potential and well-being (Eggerth, 2008). Jacobsen (2010) observed that there are several positive psychological concepts that can be effectively utilized within career counseling, including expressing and amplifying strengths, cultivating positive emotions, breaking free from the hedonic treadmill, engaging in gratitude and savoring, and finding and sustaining flow. Research has shown that people prefer jobs that are congruent with their signature strengths, and use of signature strengths is correlated with job satisfaction and meaning at work (Littman-Ovadia & Steger, 2010; Park & Peterson, 2007; see Dik et al., 2015, for an overview of purpose and meaning in career development applications).
Burwell and Chen (2006) have suggested applying a solution-focused model to career counseling in which emphasis is placed on client resources and strengths, rather than on limitations and deficiencies. In solution-focused career counseling, counselors assist their clients in considering exceptions to dysfunctional or unsuccessful career behavior, past career successes, and a career future when the problem no longer exists. This focus on strengths differs from the deficit-based perspective that is prevalent in many career counseling contexts.
Theories and techniques of counseling psychology coursework
Coursework covering the theories and techniques of counseling psychology can also be infused with positive psychology to address counseling psychologists’ professional identity development. Theories and techniques of counseling psychology courses address therapeutic approaches for working with individuals, groups, and families (Epperson et al., 2005). Smith (2006) devised a comprehensive, strength-based counseling model that counseling psychology students can be trained to utilize with clients. The 10-stage model draws from several perspectives, including solution-focused therapy, prevention, and positive psychology, and offers an extensive theoretical framework, guidelines for applying the model to work with groups, case study application, and implications for research and training. An alternate model, Strength-Centered Therapy, developed by Wong (2006), is based on the positive psychology of character strengths and virtues. The model includes four phases (explicitizing, envisioning, empowering, and evolving) and provides theoretical assumptions and case studies that inform counseling psychology student training. For work with families, Conoley and Conoley (2008) developed the Positive Family Therapy model, which works within a social constructivist perspective to help clients envision new possibilities for using their strengths (see also Conoley, Plumb, Hawley, Spaventa-Vancil, & Hernández, 2015, in this issue, for an updated review of the model).
The aforementioned models embody counseling psychology’s professional identity competency by focusing on strength-based development through prevention, cultural, and social justice lenses. Magyar-Moe, Owens, and Conoley (2015) cover in greater detail these and additional approaches for working with individuals, groups, and families.
Relationships
The Foundational Core Competency of Relationships serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student “relates effectively and meaningfully with individuals, groups, and/or communities” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 3). The therapeutic relationship is the core component of multiple counseling psychology courses, including Introduction to Counseling, Theories of Counseling, Family Psychology, Group Counseling, and Multicultural Counseling. One of the most crucial aspects of the therapeutic relationship is the counseling psychologist’s ability to effectively convey empathy for the client’s experience. The traditional definition of empathy, as described by Rogers (1957), is the ability to understand and enter into another’s feelings, emotions, and experiences, often focusing on a client’s pain, fear, or anger. Typically, when empathy is taught to counseling psychologists in training, the focus of empathic responses centers on negative feelings and experiences (Magyar-Moe, 2011). For example, students might be instructed that an appropriate empathic response to a client who states, “I was laid off from my job yesterday. I can’t believe the company would treat me like this after all the additional projects I took on and hours I put in. I’m never going to find a new job in this economy,” would be, “It sounds like you’re feeling betrayed and unfairly treated by your company. It must be very frustrating and stressful to face this layoff after dedicating yourself so passionately to your job.” A response such as this can indeed serve to help a client feel understood and validated, but rather than engendering optimism for the future, it may instead perpetuate a client’s feeling of hopelessness. We suggest infusing positive psychology into theories and techniques coursework to advance counseling psychologists’ relationship development with clients, colleagues, supervisors, and professionals from other disciplines.
Theories and techniques of counseling psychology coursework
Positive psychology offers a more solution-oriented, supplemental approach to traditional empathy with the teaching of positive empathy (Conoley, 2012). Training counseling psychology students to use positive empathy will assist them in elevating clients’ levels of hope and motivation, promote positive self-perception, and is likely to strengthen the therapeutic alliance (Magyar-Moe, 2011). Magyar-Moe, Owens, and Conoley (2015) provide more details on the use of positive empathy with clients.
Individual and Cultural Diversity
The Foundational Core Competency of Individual and Cultural Diversity serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses the “awareness, sensitivity and skills in working professionally with diverse individuals, groups and communities who represent various cultural and personal background and characteristics defined broadly and consistent with APA policy and the Counseling Psychology Model Training Diversity Statement” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 5). Psychology students are generally readily educated about the negative experiences associated with cultural diversity, including racism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, and religious oppression, but too often receive less instruction on the positive aspects of culture (Magyar-Moe, 2011). Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of awareness, sensitivity, and skills to work with individual and cultural diversity follow.
Individual and cultural diversity coursework
Positive psychology can be integrated into individual and cultural diversity coursework by instructing students on the role that cultural values, beliefs, and practices play in optimal human functioning and how overcoming racism, prejudice, or oppression can promote the development of adaptive assets for people of color (Constantine & Sue, 2006). There are five key values discussed readily in the research literature that contribute to the health and well-being of diverse populations, including collectivism; racial and ethnic pride; spirituality and religion; interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit; and family and community. Facilitating counseling psychology students’ exploration of their own as well as their clients’ values related to optimal human functioning may aid them in validating their clients’ experiences and issues in a more culturally sensitive manner.
Counseling psychology students can also be instructed in the utilization of the ADDRESSING framework, which delineates 10 key aspects of cultural identity (Hays, 2008). Pedrotti (2011) suggested presenting the ADDRESSING model to students, and subsequently asking them to complete the Cultural Strengths Exercise, selecting three facets with which they strongly identify, contemplating the strengths they have derived from these particular cultural facets, and discussing these with their classmates. Owens, Magyar-Moe, and Lopez (2015) provide more extensive details on the ADDRESSING framework in this Special Issue.
Pedrotti (2011) further noted the importance of presenting research on strength-based topics conducted with diverse cultures. Students can utilize this research not only to learn about the strengths of various cultural groups, but can also go a step further in trying cultivate a strength they admire from another cultural group within their own lives. This experience might assist students in being able to understand that all cultural groups have strengths and can contribute to a discussion of “the good life.”
Professional Values and Attitudes
The Foundational Core Competency of Professional Values and Attitudes serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses the “behavior and comportment that reflect the values and attitudes of counseling psychology” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 7). The nature of behavior conceptualized from a strength perspective affects personal and professional values and attitudes by adding balance to a view of human functioning. Positive psychology explores the relationship between virtue and authentic happiness and the way in which life is perceived, approached, and what works (Martin, 2007). Developing personal and professional values and attitudes within a positive psychology framework encourages students to let go of “negative bias” and to adopt a “more appreciative perspective” that encourages positive processes and human strengths (Sheldon & King, 2001, p. 217). Next, we present potential applications of positive psychology in career development and counseling coursework that may contribute to the development of counseling psychologists’ professional values and attitudes.
Career development and counseling coursework
CareerCycles (CC) is a career counseling framework that integrates several aspects of positive psychology (Zikic & Franklin, 2010). CC encourages clients and counselors to identify valued career and life experiences, including past well-being, contentment, and satisfaction; future hope and optimism; and present flow and happiness. Through a holistic and narrative approach, the model focuses on client strengths, desires, preferences, assets, and future possibilities. CC reframes career obstacles and negative experiences as opportunities and learning experiences that can be used to discover more positive career choices. An outcome study of 68 individuals who engaged in an average of five CC sessions showed statistically significant increases in six key measures: hope, optimism, confidence, resilience, curiosity and exploration, and personal growth (Franklin, 2012). Correlations of these findings with career clarity, job satisfaction, and job fit suggest that this approach leads to sustainable and positive career outcomes.
Reflective Practice/Self-Assessment/Self-Care
The Foundational Core Competency of Reflective Practice/Self-Assessment/Self-Care serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student performs “practice conducted with personal and professional self-awareness and reflection; with awareness of competencies; with appropriate self-care” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 8). Because positive psychology is concerned with topics such as hope and happiness, which constitute everyday experiences, self-reflective experiential learning is well suited to the discipline (Biswas-Diener & Patterson, 2011a). Consistent with the counseling psychology orientation and professional identity, positive psychology constructs and theories promote opportunities for students to reflect on the factors that shape clients’ subjective experiences, as well as the treatment interventions used to address their concerns. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of reflective practice follow.
Psychological assessment, diagnosis, and appraisal coursework
In psychological assessment courses, counseling psychology students should be required to personally engage in the same positive assessments and interventions they learn about for use with their clients. Such self-assessment enables students to gain greater self-understanding, and engaging in positive psychological interventions can enhance their own well-being. This not only promotes reflective practice but also offers experience in assessment and appraisal that can enhance students’ abilities to assess others. Applications of positive psychology to assessment are detailed in the latter portion of this article, as well as in Owens, Magyar-Moe, and Lopez (2015).
Scientific Knowledge and Methods
The Foundational Core Competency of Scientific Knowledge and Methods serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses an “understanding of research, research methodology, techniques of data collection and analysis, biological bases of behavior, cognitive-affective bases of behavior, and development across the lifespan, [as well as] respect for scientifically derived knowledge” (Covey et al., 2013). Martin (2007) considered positive psychology to be in its infancy. Consistent with this view, Lopez et al. (2006) had found that most of the positive constructs in the counseling psychology literature focused on practice, with little being done to operationalize or measure positive constructs/processes. Advancing scientific knowledge in the field includes conducting empirical research from strength-based rather than pathology-focused perspectives. From strength-based perspectives, new research paradigms are created (Snyder & Lopez, 2002). Also, strength-based research conducted by counseling psychologists and students advances the identity and philosophical focus of the profession. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of scientific knowledge follow.
Research methods and design, data analytics, and psychometrics coursework
Although further research is needed to provide additional support for positive psychology theory and practice, there have been a number of studies utilizing a variety of research methodologies that offer empirical support for positive psychology interventions. Such studies can be utilized in research methodology coursework to demonstrate the myriad of research designs that can be leveraged to investigate the efficacy of interventions. Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson (2005) conducted a study on the influence of key positive psychology interventions. They found that using strengths in a new way and using gratitude interventions significantly increased happiness and decreased depression for 6 continuous months. Participants who engaged in gratitude-letter writing showed the most significant boosts in happiness and decreases in depression, with effects lasting 1 month. Emmons and McCullough (2003) investigated the influence of gratitude on well-being, and found that research participants who wrote weekly about five things for which they were grateful demonstrated increased positive affect, reporting that they felt better about their lives in general, were more optimistic about the upcoming week, and felt more connected with others.
Biological, cognitive/affective, and social bases of behavior coursework
Coursework covering the biological, cognitive/affective, and social bases of behavior can also incorporate positive psychology into the curriculum to address counseling psychologists’ scientific knowledge development. Research well suited to biological, cognitive/affective, and social bases of behavior coursework can be used to demonstrate the associations between positive psychology and social relationships, cognition, affect, and the brain. One such study by Jack, Boyatzis, Khawaja, Passarelli, and Leckie (2013) investigated the differential impact on the brain of (a) positively focused coaching/mentoring that emphasizes compassion for an individual’s hopes and dreams, and (b) negatively focused coaching/mentoring that emphasizes externally defined criteria for success and an individual’s weaknesses in relation to those criteria. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure responses associated with these two coaching styles, researchers found that when students were asked detailed questions about where they saw themselves in 10 years, the lateral occipital cortex, superior temporal cortex, medial parietal, subgenual cingulate, nucleus accumbens, and left lateral prefrontal cortex showed the greatest activity. These are the areas associated with visioning, parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, and positive affect such as empathy, emotional safety, ability to see the big picture, and proactive approaches to reaching goals. Such neural activity is also associated with curbing defensive responses and increasing openness to behavioral changes. When asking students to concentrate on their immediate weaknesses and areas of improvement, the medial prefrontal regions and right lateral prefrontal cortex showed the greatest activity. These areas are associated with sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity, self-trait attribution, and negative affect, including a fight-or-flight response, self-consciousness, and a shutting down to future, sustainable change.
Life span development and individual differences coursework
Coursework covering life span development and individual differences can also be infused with positive psychology to address counseling psychologists’ scientific knowledge development. Positive developmental psychology is the study of the promotion of human strengths such as creativity, happiness, flow, personal and social responsibility, and optimal performance throughout one’s life span. Aims include understanding positive developmental processes as well as prevention and strength cultivation, in contrast to treatment and symptom remediation. Positive developmental psychology provides a large body of research that can be integrated easily into life span development coursework (Lerner, Bowers, Geldhof, Gestsdóttir, & DeSouza, 2012). Much of this research addresses individual differences in development. For example, Denham (1997) examined the relation between parental socialization of emotion and preschool-age children’s emotional competence with peers. Results showed that children who perceived their parents as comforting them when they needed to be eased, sharing positive emotions and fun times with them, and not returning negative emotions, were able to do the same with their peers. Conversely, children who saw their parents as matching their negative emotions were viewed by teachers as less cooperative, and children who more frequently saw their parents as noncomforting were viewed as less skilled with peers, less cooperative, and less empathic. Thus, this resesarch shows the individual developmental differences in positive peer relations that are correlated with parental role modeling of positive or negative expressiveness.
Ethical and Legal Standards and Policy
The Foundational Core Competency of Ethical and Legal Standards and Policy serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses an “application of ethical concepts and awareness of legal issues regarding professional activities with individuals, groups, and organizations” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 12). Handelsman, Gottlieb, and Knapp (2005) highlighted the importance of developing an ethical identity as part of becoming a psychologist. Too often, ethical training and legal standards are taught from an ethical decision-making model that focuses on consequences of unethical behavior inclusive of the “slippery slope phenomenon” (Knapp, Handelsman, Gottlieb, & VandeCreek, 2013). Next, we suggest examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ understanding of ethical and legal standards.
Professional issues in counseling psychology/legal and ethical issues coursework
Moving away from negative bias in ethical training promotes aspirational ethics, as students are exposed to a curriculum that promotes positive values (Vella-Brodrick, 2011). Aspirational ethics and positive psychology are closely aligned in that both encourage students to seek balance and integrated awareness. When acculturated into a psychology that integrates positive constructs and processes, students are more likely to aspire to do what is best for the client (Handelsman et al., 2005). Handelsman, Knapp, and Gottlieb (2002) stated that positive ethics “consider ethics in a multifaceted context, with greater awareness of both internal (e.g., personal and professional values) and external (e.g., societal influences on professional behavior) perspectives” (p. 732). A positive ethics perspective increases the likelihood that students will develop an ethical philosophy that actualizes personal and professional core values.
Functional Core Competencies
Functional Core Competencies include six essential components or subcategories that are described in the sections that follow. Examples of potential applications of positive psychology into coursework most relevant for the development of the Functional Core Competencies are provided (see Figure 2).
Advocacy
The Functional Core Competency of Advocacy serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student performs “actions targeting the impact of social, political, economic or cultural factors to promote change at the individual (client), institutional, and/or systems level” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 13). Understanding and fostering the development of positive social institutions is a core emphasis of positive psychology. Social activism is also an aspect of positive psychology, as it fosters the enhancement of justice and the common good (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009). To challenge a status quo that maintains inequities, advocacy must be infused into strength-based counseling (Grothaus, McAuliffe, & Craigen, 2012). Counselors acting as advocates and social change agents can help clients learn skills they can use to interact successfully with various forces within their communities (Herlihy & Watson, 2003). Collectively, the client and counselor can encourage development of prevention programs to reduce the negative impact of discrimination and oppression. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of advocacy awareness and practice are presented next.
Practicum and internship training coursework
Advocacy work can serve as excellent field training for counseling psychology doctoral students. Although some may question the relevance of positive psychology in advocacy and social change, Biswas-Diener and Patterson (2011b) did an exceptional job of highlighting this critical relationship. The authors pointed out that one of positive psychology’s purposes is to aid in achieving individual potential. In discussing how positive psychology is relevant in advocating for those living in poverty, the authors noted, To the extent that poverty acts as an obstacle to achieving personal potential, it is a positive psychology concern. Further, individuals living within poverty possess strengths, hopes, motivation, happiness, and many other psychological phenomena that are the direct concern of positive psychology research. (pp. 126-127)
George Mason University’s (GMU) counseling and development master’s and doctoral programs have systematically infused social justice counseling and advocacy, research findings, and practice throughout their entire curriculum, largely through the classroom without walls concept (Bemak & Chung, 2011). Classroom without walls engages students in field-based experiences where they apply social justice classroom learning in real-world settings. It is grounded in humanistic principles that affirm clients’ dignity, self-worth, and potential for cultivating new and untapped aspects of their potential by addressing ecological, historical, and cultural factors that enhance or inhibit clients’ growth. One example of a GMU classroom without walls project involved counseling psychology students working along the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, providing counseling and support services for individuals in low-income and ethnically diverse communities where such services were scarce. Counseling students experienced a growing sense of hopefulness and empowerment after learning about the efficacy of the advocacy interventions, as well as the deep gratitude survivors’ conveyed for the ongoing services being provided as a result of the students’ efforts. The humanistic platform of classroom without walls lends itself nicely to positive psychology principles with its emphasis on strengths and self-actualization. Integration of specific positive psychological interventions within this framework could build a stronger bridge between counseling psychology’s advocacy commitment and positive psychology.
Intervention
The Functional Core Competency of Intervention serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student “utilizes interventions designed to alleviate suffering and to promote health and well-being of individuals, groups, and/or organizations; integrates research and clinical expertise in the context of client factors (evidence-based practice; EBP)” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 14). Duckworth, Steen, and Seligman (2005) suggested that positive psychology interventions are valuable in therapy for two reasons. First, positive interventions build pleasure, engagement, and meaning, which is inherently a plus. Second, research suggests that building pleasure, engagement, and meaning may actually counter disorder (Duckworth et al., 2005).
Positive psychological interventions such as writing gratitude letters, counting blessings, engaging in altruistic activities, applying signature strengths, practicing optimistic thinking, replaying positive experiences, envisioning a positive future, and socializing have been shown to increase well-being in non-clinical populations (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Fordyce, 1977; Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2011; Ruini, Belaise, Brombin, Caffo, & Fava, 2006; Seligman et al., 2005; Shapira & Mongrain, 2010; Williams, Haber, Weaver, & Freeman, 1998). Furthermore, research has indicated that exerting high levels of effort in practicing a happiness-boosting strategy and continuing to practice it after the intervention is over promotes greater improvements in well-being and depression (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011; Seligman et al., 2005). Consequently, Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) suggested that clinicians should encourage clients to regularly practice and keep a record of positive strategies, incorporating them into their everyday lives and turning them into habits. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of therapeutic intervention skills follow.
Theories and techniques of counseling psychology coursework
Rashid’s (2008) Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) provides a solid framework for counseling psychology students to systematically use positive psychological interventions with clients. Studies have also shown that PPT, delivered to clients with depression in either a group or individual setting, significantly boosts well-being and decreases depression (Fava et al., 2005; Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006). Although PPT is primarily focused on treating depressive symptoms, it is believed to be potentially effective for many disorders (Seligman et al., 2006). PPT is designed to build positive emotion (pleasant life), engagement (engaged life), and meaning (meaningful life), through a series of 14 therapeutic sessions, each of which focuses on a different positive psychology construct and related homework assignments (Rashid, 2008). Select interventions utilized in PPT include keeping a blessings journal, creating a signature strengths action plan, writing a forgiveness letter and gratitude letter, developing a family strengths tree, planning and carrying out a pleasurable activity, and helping someone in need.
Counseling psychology doctoral students can also be introduced to Fredrickson’s (1998) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which states that individuals’ positive emotional experiences combine and intensify over time to build a myriad of personal resources that promote emotional well-being. A study conducted by Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, and Finkel (2008) indicated that meditation generated progressive increases in daily experiences of positive emotions, which consequently cultivated boosts in personal resources, such as mindfulness, purpose in life, and social support, as well as decreased illness symptoms. Moreover, these enhanced personal resources facilitated increases in life satisfaction and reductions in depressive symptoms. Many other applications of positive psychology in counseling and therapy are provided in Magyar-Moe, Owens, and Conoley (2015).
Supervision
The Functional Core Competency of Supervision serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student receives “supervision and training in the professional knowledge base of enhancing and monitoring the professional functioning of others” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 16). Counseling psychology students would benefit from having positive supervision methods modeled for them through their practicum and internship supervision experiences. Traditionally, little attention has been given to the quality of life that psychologists experience at work (Howard, 2008). Positive psychology research on work engagement, sense of coherence, self-efficacy, flow, and resilience provides direction for supervision interventions that go beyond traditional review of self-care and stress management, and seek to enhance supervisee well-being. Furthermore, counseling psychology students can be instructed in supervision and training coursework that addresses how to use positive psychology interventions when they serve as supervisors. Infusing positive psychology into the supervision and training coursework enhances counseling psychologists’ development of supervisory skills.
Supervision and training coursework
Howard (2008) proposed a narrative approach to supervision that is collaborative and focuses on strengths and abilities. In this approach, the supervisor uses language that moves beyond the problem-dominated story to facilitate change possibility, strengths, exceptions, and unique outcomes through a restorying process (McKenzie, 2005). Opportunities to engage in such discussions include case discussion, video- and audiotape review, reviewing success, learning needs assessments, evaluation processes, professional competence reviews, and teamwork analyses. Furthermore, supervisors should have counselors in training describe their most successful counseling cases, drawing attention to the students’ counseling strengths (Smith, 2006). Supervision informed by the application of positive psychology constructs and research findings improves the quality of the supervision process and supervisory relationship, and promotes the development of lifelong learning (Wade & Jones, 2015).
Assessment
The Functional Core Competency of Assessment serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student is capable of conducting “assessment and diagnosis of problems, capabilities and issues associated with individuals, groups, and/or organizations” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 18). The medical model has long guided assessment and intake procedures, sharply limiting counselors’ problem conceptualization, and subsequently the value of interventions counselors choose (Harris, Thoresen, & Lopez, 2007). Rather, assessment should focus on both the presence of liabilities to be reduced and the presence of strengths and resources to be supported and maintained. To this end, positive psychology assessments and frameworks can be incorporated into psychological assessment courses to offer counseling psychology students a more inclusive way to work with clients. Potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of assessment skills follow.
Psychological assessment, diagnosis, and appraisal coursework
Positive psychology has devoted considerable energy toward developing reliable, stable, and valid assessments (Duckworth et al., 2005). There are a plethora of positive psychological assessments available that measure constructs such as character strengths, personal talents, life satisfaction, positive emotions, positive coping, gratitude, forgiveness, empathy, hope, optimism, creativity, and others (Magyar-Moe, 2009). Such assessments include, but are not limited to the Values in Action (VIA) Inventory of Character Strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), Satisfaction with Life scale (Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffin, 1985), Subjective Happiness scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), Life Orientation Test–Revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), Adult Hope scale (Snyder et al., 1991), Personal Growth Initiative scale (Robitschek, 1998), Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002), Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (McCullough et al., 1998), Attributional Style Questionnaire (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995), and Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (Kashdan et al., 2009). Comprehensive information on other positive psychological tests, measures, and client strengths assessments is available in Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (Lopez & Snyder, 2003).
Although clients can find validation of problematic experiences through an accurate diagnostic label, some consider a diagnosis to be negative (Magyar-Moe, 2009). Some problems that can occur when labels are applied to clients, particularly those related to negative functioning, include miscommunication, deindividuation, and self-fulfilling prophecies. Utilizing the Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook (CSV; Peterson & Seligman, 2004) in conjunction with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), allows counseling psychology students to learn the importance of attending to strengths in all people, including those with psychopathology (Tomlinson-Clarke & Georges, 2014). The CSV’s 24 character strengths are organized under the umbrella of six core virtues: (a) wisdom and knowledge (creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, and perspective), (b) courage (bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality), (c) humanity (love, kindness, and social intelligence), (d) justice (citizenship, fairness, and leadership), (e) temperance (forgiveness and mercy, humility and modesty, prudence, and self-regulation), and (f) transcendence (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality). The CSV broadly outlines strength assessment strategies as well as interventions.
Magyar-Moe (2009) also has suggested devising a seven-axis system of positive psychological assessment that involves a few simple alterations to the previous Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) five-axis system. This system expands upon the four-front approach proposed by Wright and Lopez (2002). The seven-axis system suggests the following: (a) broadening Axis IV to include not only psychosocial and environmental problems but also psychosocial and environmental resources; (b) broadening Axis V to include two global assessment of functioning scales, with one focused on symptoms of mental illness (i.e., global assessment of negative functioning) and the other focused on symptoms of well-being (global assessment of positive functioning); (c) adding Axis VI, in which positive and negative aspects of the client’s cultural identities are documented; and (d) adding Axis VII where clients’ personal strengths and facilitators of growth are documented. This system of assessment can be used with the current DSM-5, despite the removal of the axis model from the updated edition. Alternatively, the Diagnosis, Individual strengths and weaknesses, Cultural assets and struggles, Environmental resources and deficits—Physical wellness and health concerns, and Mental health (DICE-PM) Model of Balanced Diagnostic Impressions (see Owens, Magyar-Moe, & Lopez, 2015) can be utilized to ensure that clients are viewed from a holistic perspective and that treatment approaches are consistent with the counseling psychology orientation.
Research/Evaluation
The Functional Core Competency of Research/Evaluation serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student is capable of “generating research that contributes to the professional knowledge base and/or evaluates the effectiveness of various professional activities” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 21). Research methods in counseling psychology courses provide a forum for counseling psychology students to learn about and conduct positive psychological research. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of research and evaluation skills follow.
Research methods and design, data analytic techniques, and psychometrics coursework
Kim-Prieto and D’Oriano (2011) outlined strategies for integrating positive psychology topics into research methodology courses. A broad overview of positive psychology was provided on the first day of class, focusing on happiness, with subsequent classes discussing predictors and outcomes of happiness. Various research methodologies for assessing happiness were also discussed, covering accessibility of information, conversational norms, reliability, and validity to provide students with potential methods for testing their hypotheses. Students subsequently developed a research question, conducted a literature review, selected their research methodology, conducted a small-scale happiness study utilizing the department’s student participant pool, and wrote an extensive research report.
Teaching
The Functional Core Competency of Teaching serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student is capable of “providing instruction, disseminating knowledge, and evaluating acquisition of knowledge and skill in counseling psychology” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 21). Effective teaching is based on knowing one’s strengths and preferences, being authentic, and having integrity (Russo-Netzer & Ben-Shahar, 2011). Thus, successful teaching emerges when the instructor exhibits passion, offers stories of personal and professional experience, practices what he or she professes, and when personal strengths are utilized. Noble and McGrath (2010) noted that positive teacher–student relationships contribute significantly to students’ well-being, prosocial behaviors, and learning outcomes. Within the context of educational psychology and consultation coursework, counseling psychology students can be exposed to teaching models that incorporate positive psychological concepts. For more details regarding such models, see Magyar-Moe (2011) and Parks (2011).
Consultation coursework
Applications of positive psychology to consultation coursework help develop counseling psychologists’ teaching and instructional capabilities. To this end, McGovern and Miller (2008) strategically redefined Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) 24-character strengths to be directly applicable to learning and teaching; such information is useful in consultation work. McGovern (2011) subsequently devised a four-module program with reflective exercises that use virtues and character strengths to inform teaching practice: Module 1 on Core Virtues introduces participants to all six virtues and their broad applications to learning and teaching. Module 2 on Thinking about Learning explores the virtues of Wisdom and Knowledge and Humanity and how character strengths intersect with the philosophical assumptions for learning and teaching held by participants. Module 3 on Learning about Teaching evaluates how the virtues of Justice, Temperance, and Courage are integral to the management of critical incidents. Module 4 on Sustainable Renewal and Strategic Planning probes how the virtue of Transcendence is a capstone for the reflective exercises and becomes the platform for strategic planning for growth and sustained renewal. (p. 447)
Such a model can be useful for counseling psychology students in learning how to meaningfully apply positive psychology practices in the classroom to enhance student learning and engagement, and in consultation work to enhance organizational performance.
Organizational Core Competencies
Organizational Core Competencies include four essential components or subcategories that are reviewed in the sections that follow. Potential applications of positive psychology into coursework most relevant for the development of the Organizational Core Competencies are suggested (see Figure 3).
Interdisciplinary Systems
The Organizational Core Competency of Interdisciplinary Systems serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses “knowledge of key issues and concepts in related disciplines, and the ability to identify and interact with professionals in multiple disciplines” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 23). Psychology is a field born from a variety of disciplines. It has roots in and continued relationships with physiology, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy (Hergenhahn, 2008). Students must first be trained in the history of the field to facilitate their ability to effectively collaborate with partners in the other helping, education, and health professions to take the discipline in new directions. Positive psychology has the potential to play a critical role in driving such collaborative new initiatives. Positive psychology applied to history and systems coursework facilitates counseling psychologists’ development of knowledge and skills about interdisciplinary systems.
History and systems of psychology coursework
Although positive psychology is a newer branch of the larger field of psychology, we can trace many of its elements back to well-known philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Kierkegaard, and psychologists such as Frankl, Maslow, and Rogers (Duckworth, Steen, & Seligman, 2005). Positive psychology strategically connects earlier elements of counseling psychology that focused on strengths, empathy, and meaning, and has also cultivated a myriad of new concepts and interventions that have enhanced counseling psychologists’ ability to promote clients’ well-being.
Consultation and Management
The Organizational Core Competency of Consultation serves to ensure that the counseling psychology doctoral student possesses “the ability to provide expert guidance or professional assistance in response to a client’s needs or goals, wherein the client may be an individual, group, or organization” (Covey et al., 2013, p. 25). Similarly, the Organizational Core Competency of Management ensures that the counseling psychology doctoral student can “manage the direct delivery of services and/or the administration of organizations, programs/departments, or agencies” (p. 26).
The positive psychology movement has stimulated new research and applications within organizations, igniting a subspecialty in positive organizational psychology (Donaldson & Ko, 2010). Several identifiable domains and approaches to positivity in the workplace have recently emerged, including positive organizational behavior (POB; Luthans & Youssef, 2007), positive organizational scholarship (POS; Cameron, Dutton, & Quinn, 2003), and positive psychological capital (PsyCap; Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). These positive organizational theories and practices can be taught to counseling psychology students in consultation, program evaluation, and career development courses to facilitate students’ capacity to effectively collaborate with, provide consultation for, and manage organizations. Examples of potential applications and ways to infuse positive psychology into the coursework most relevant to counseling psychologists’ development of consultation and management skills follow.
Consultation, program evaluation, and career development and counseling coursework
POS has been instrumental in providing scholars with a conceptual framework for organizing and integrating research on positive organizations (Cameron et al., 2003). It is defined as the study of that which is positive, flourishing, and life-giving in organizations. Positive refers to the elevating processes and outcomes in organizations. Organizational refers to the interpersonal and structural dynamics activated in and through organizations, specifically taking into account the context in which positive phenomena occur. Scholarship refers to the scientific, theoretically derived, and rigorous investigation of that which is positive in organizational settings. (Cameron & Caza, 2004, p. 731)
POB is defined as “the study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace” (Luthans, 2002, p. 59). To be considered a POB construct, a psychological construct needs to meet a specific set of criteria including: (a) being grounded in theory and research, (b) being a valid measurement, (c) being relatively unique to the field of organizational behavior, (d) being a state-like construct that is open to development and change as opposed to a fixed trait, and (e) having a positive impact on work-related individual-level performance and satisfaction. The positive psychological constructs that meet these inclusion criteria include hope, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy, and when combined, these four constructs represent PsyCap.
PsyCap has been comprehensively defined as: an individual’s positive psychological state of development and is characterized by: (1) having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; (2) making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; (3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resilience) to attain success. (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007, p. 3)
A 24-item measure of PsyCap was developed, and a highly focused PsyCap development intervention was designed, tested, and found to significantly increase managers’ and employees’ PsyCap levels (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007), which positively affected performance and satisfaction (Luthans et al., 2007). Direct training in POS, POB, and PsyCap research and application can have positive effects on counseling psychology students’ ability to apply positive organizational psychology concepts in their work with organizations, as collaborators, consultants, and managers.
Conclusion
Defined as “the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues,” positive psychology encourages “a more open and appreciative perspective regarding human potentials, motives, and capacities” (Sheldon & King, 2001, p. 216). Emerging from the humanistic movement with a focus on developmental strengths, resilience, and optimal human functioning, a focus on positive psychology reaffirms the strength-based work in the counseling psychology profession (Westefeld, Altmaier, Pickett, & Sikes, 2004). Developmental roles for counseling psychologists extend beyond remediation and prevention to the enhancement of human functioning (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). To this end, we proposed strategies for integrating positive psychology with CoPSY (Covey et al., 2013) and within specific course contexts as elucidated in the guidelines for the Model Training Program in Counseling Psychology (Epperson et al., 2005; Murdock et al., 1998). This integration strategically addresses the critical need for clients to self-actualize and leverage their strengths to manage challenges and live more fulfilled, meaning-driven lives (Sheldon & King, 2001). These core competencies supported by the infusion of positive psychology align with counseling psychology’s philosophical focus, and prepare counseling psychology graduates with 21st-century skills needed to assist individuals, communities, and organizations in achieving positive life outcomes.
In addition to the aforementioned strategies for infusing positive psychology into the commonly offered counseling psychology training program coursework, doctoral programs can also offer elective courses in positive psychology theory and practice. This provides an opportunity for students to gain an advanced foundation in positive psychological theories, assessment, and interventions. A sample syllabus is provided in the appendix to serve as a potential guide for faculty in counseling psychology programs who are interested in offering an introductory course specifically focused on positive psychology. Additional sample syllabi can be found at http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/teachingpp.htm.
Footnotes
Appendix
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.