What I have learned from the development of counseling

psychology in Taiwan

Li-fei Wang, Ph.D.National Taiwan Normal University

Taiwan, R.O.C.

The Development of Counseling Psychology in Taiwan

I. Rooted in the Schools– School guidance and counseling

have been planed since the 1950’s. – The development of counseling

and counseling psychology have been intertwined and profoundly influenced by educational policies and school cultures.

– Some counseling psychologists in Taiwan still call themselves a “counseling teacher” rather than a “psychologist”.

– Clients view themselves as “receiving counseling” in the manner of “going to class”, which means they receive “education” rather than “treatment” in counseling.

– Be easy to connect with and receive resources from educational systems • created the first new

employment position in the elementary schools

– Create new challenges• multiple roles • different parameters of

confidentiality• ecological perspective

~The Influence of School Systems and Culture ~

II. Influence of the Western Knowledge of Counseling Psychology and Indigenous Cultural Reflection– Counseling psychology has been viewed as a “weste

rn import” profession.– Indigenous movement of psychology in Taiwan star

ted in the late 1980’s.– Taiwanese counseling psychologists began to re-eva

luate western-based counseling theories and models (e.g., Chen, 2005; Jin, 1999; Wang, Tu, & Chao., 2008; Yee, 2005)

• Jin (1999) called for the counseling psychology profession to be responsive to indigenous culture and societal needs.

• Yee (2005) contended that the indigenous healing model should incorporate human relationship ethics (e.g., social harmony ethics, family ethics) and spiritual well-being specific to culturally Chinese societies.

• Chen (2005) postulated a self-relation-in-situation-coordination counseling model to contextualize the psychological conflicts experienced by Taiwanese who are cultivated by both individualistic and Confucian cultural values.

• Wang, Tu, & Chao (2008) found that counseling services were more effective when counseling psychologists applied the Chinese interpersonal ethics principle, differential order, into counseling practice.

III. Profession Molded by the Psychologist Statute• In the late 1990’s, a series of disastrous events and social

problems stimulated an awareness of the necessity for qualified mental health services.

• Clinical psychologists stepped up to draft a statute for clinical psychology.

• The Clinical Psychologist Statute would exclude non-clinical psychologists from psychological practice.

• Counseling psychologists engaged in negotiations with clinical psychology colleagues and also networked with officials in government administrative and political offices.

• The Clinical Psychologist Statute was revised and become the Psychologist Statute.

• It is the first national counseling psychology licensure system in Asia in 2001.

~The Impact of the Psychologist Statute~

– The psychopathology orientation is predominant in the Psychologist Statute.

–The traditional normal-developmental emphasis was threatened.

After some discussion and debate within the profession, counseling psychology in Taiwan now considers the psychopathology orientation as complementary to the growth and developmental approach in actual practice.

• The demands of counseling psychology are broader than what we have been trained in the graduate schools – embrace a proactive approach to

consolidate continuing growth and development

– Become more active participants in political policy making processes.

• The passage of the Psychologist Statute has challenged counseling psychologists in Taiwan to engage in professional self-reflection.

Conclusion

• counseling psychologists in Taiwan have strived to – maintain and collaborate with school and

educational systems, – balance the normal-developmental approach

in training while working with psychopathology,

– increase the profession’s visibility by public education and political involvement

– promote awareness of sociopolitical systems’ forces.

• These unwavering efforts have brought the profession of counseling psychology in Taiwan to its current status. Moreover, by recognizing counseling psychology’s historical relationship with school counseling and asserting its indigenous scholarship and role, counseling psychology in Taiwan has shaped its unique functions and contributions to the school systems and the society.