Australian counselling psychologists’ perceptions of the similarities and differences between clinical and counselling psychology

ABSTRACT

Objective

The struggle to distinguish a clear professional identity has been an ongoing issue for counselling psychology. In Australia, this struggle has been associated with discrepancies between the definition and competencies of counselling psychologists. This is further exacerbated by the overlap between clinical and counselling psychologists’ scopes of practice. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion surrounding the similarities and differences between clinical and counselling psychology.

Method

A web-based survey was distributed to Australian counselling psychologists (n = 290) seeking information regarding respondents’ demographics and their perceptions of the similarities and differences between clinical and counselling psychology.

Results

Reflexive thematic analysis generated three key themes: 1) overlap in the scope of practice and competencies of clinical and counselling psychologists; 2) the philosophy of counselling psychology; and 3) the negative impact of the Better Access scheme on counselling psychology.

Conclusions

These findings indicated that despite overlap across core competencies, counselling psychologists perceive they are a distinct area of practice to clinical psychology. In identifying counselling psychologists’ perceptions of the similarities and differences between the two areas of practice endorsement, this study has the potential to clarify scopes of practice and perceived competencies.

Key Points

What is already known about this topic:

1. Professional identity has been identified as an issue for Australian counselling psychologists.

2. A lack of clarity exists over counselling psychology’s similarities and differences with clinical psychology.

3. No prior comparisons of similarities and differences between the two areas of practice endorsement have been published with Australian psychologists.

What this topic adds:

1. Participants perceive an overlap in the competencies and scope of practice of clinical and counselling psychologists.

2. Counselling psychologists perceive a unique philosophy and orientation to practice.

3. External factors, such as funding schemes, have negatively impacted on public understanding and recognition of counselling psychology.

KEYWORDS:

• Counselling psychology
• clinical psychology
• similarities
• differences
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.