PREFACE

Many therapeutic fields are embracing principles of neuroscience into their work, with such principles rapidly influencing best practices. For over 10 years, the counseling field has also been exploring how neuroscience, neurobiology, and related physiology (e.g., endocrine, immune, and gastrointestinal functioning) can best be used to inform, explain, and enhance the theory and practice of counseling while still honoring its humanistic roots.

In 2012, leaders in the counseling field articulated that neuroscientific findings were becoming the "practice standards of the future" (Myers & Young, 2012, p. 21). Recognizing the growing influence of neuroscience on counseling practice, the American Counseling Association (ACA), the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, and the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) established interest networks in which members have worked collaboratively to present a unified vision of how neuroscience can be used to explain and enhance counseling practice. National groups such as AMHCA have also developed specific training standards in the biological basis of behavior. In 2015, ACA's magazine Counseling Today began featuring a monthly column on neurocounseling.

In 2016, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) began requiring counselor training programs to address the biological, neurological, and physiological factors that affect human development, functioning, and behavior. In 2023, reflecting further development of knowledge in the field, CACREP broadened the 2016 training mandate to encompass "biological, neurological, and physiological factors that affect lifespan development, functioning, behavior, resilience, and overall wellness" (CACREP, 2024; Section 3, Standard C.10.). The inclusion of resilience and overall wellness in this CACREP standard reflects how neuroscience helps counselors understand the adaptive nature of the nervous system, rather than using neuroscience to merely support deficit-based models such as diagnostic psychopathology.

Since 2017, the Journal of Mental Health Counseling has devoted a section to neuroscience-informed counseling. In addition, a growing number of counseling texts and national, regional, and state conference presentations have highlighted the enduring integration of neuroscience into counselor practice. New or revised textbooks have emerged addressing counseling theories from the neuroscience perspective (Chad Luke), neuroscience-informed child and adolescent counseling (Thomas Field and Michelle Ghoston), and neuro-informed clinical supervision (Lori Russell-Chapin and Ted Chapin). Other recent publications include a neuroeducation toolbox (Raissa Miller and Eric Beeson) and a practical neurocounseling text showing computerized LORETA brain maps written by counseling students and faculty (Lori Russell-Chapin, Nicole Pacheo, and Jason DeFord). In this preface, we underscore how integrating neuroscientific principles into the practice of counseling can support and advance the profession (Beeson & Field, 2017) and how this second edition builds on this knowledge.

2024 CACREP Standards

With that background in mind, this preface addresses the 2024 CACREP Standards that are pertinent to the foundational curriculum area of Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice (Section 3, Standard A):

• History and philosophy of the counseling profession and its specialized practice areas (Standard A.1.)
• The role and process of the professional counselor advocating on behalf of the profession (Standard A.5.)

Definition of Counseling

Who are counselors? What do they do? What does it mean to be a counselor? How are we similar to and different from other mental health professionals? How do advances in the field, such as neuroscience and neurobiology, pertain to counseling?

All of these questions are important to ponder throughout one's career, from new graduate student to experienced practitioner. As counselors consider who they are as professionals, neuroscience and related physiology provide the information and tools to support their belief in certain core principles as foundational to counseling practice.

The field of counseling is unique among the mental health professions in its historical beliefs about the human condition and how to enhance optimal living. In 2010, a consensus definition of counseling was agreed on by multiple stakeholders in what was formally titled "20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling" (Kaplan et al., 2014). The stakeholders distilled into one sentence how the counseling profession could be defined: "Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals" (Kaplan et al., 2014, p. 368). This definition identifies as foundational to counseling practice several important concepts: (a) the professional relationship takes precedence; (b) the goal of counseling is to empower people, especially those from diverse backgrounds, and address systemic barriers that prevent optimal health; and (c) counseling assists people to not only achieve optimal mental health and wellness but also alleviate distress and mental disorders.

Neuroscience supports and provides models for implementing these concepts into counseling practice. As the chapters in this text will elucidate, neuroscience can help counselors to understand how relationships are forged, leading to deeper and more meaningful working relationships with clients; to recognize the persisting impact of systemic barriers such as oppression, marginalization, and trauma on clients' ability to achieve their goals; and to take a wellness and strengths-based perspective that serves to empower clients and increase optimal performance. In other words, the use of neuroscience in counseling is consistent with the orientation and identity of the counseling profession.

Neurocounseling and Neuroscience-Informed Counseling Defined

Mental health fields, including counseling, are rapidly evolving. One of the most important emerging trends in counseling has been the integration of neuroscience into practice (Beeson & Field, 2017), often referred to as neurocounseling (Montes, 2013; Russell-Chapin, 2016) or as neuroscience-informed counseling (Duenyas & Luke, 2019; Field & Ghoston, 2020; Field et al., 2022; Russo et al., 2021; Schauss et al., 2019). Neurocounseling has been defined as "the integration of neuroscience into the practice of counseling, by teaching and illustrating the physiological underpinnings of many of our mental health concerns" (Russell-Chapin, 2016, p. 93). Neuroscience-informed counseling is commonly understood to mean the same as neurocounseling, but the use of different terms has become a source of friendly discussion among leaders in this area, and the terms may mean different things to different practitioners, including the editors of this text. Both neurocounseling and neuroscience-informed counseling reflect a focus on the brain-mind-body and neurological-physiological factors that influence cognition, behavior, and emotion.

Lori prefers to use the term neurocounseling because it reflects a thorough psycho/social/medical assessment that customizes and prioritizes client interventions for neurological and physiological dysregulation. For chronic or severe client symptoms, a more thorough assessment than the typical paper-and-pencil instruments and psycho/social/medical history may be necessary. A 5- or 19-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) could be used. Turning these EEG brain wave recordings into visual brain maps assists the counselor and client to better understand where the areas of dysregulation occur. Then, symptom priority and goal setting are personalized for each client. Using both qualitative and quantitative assessments creates an easy method for successful goal obtainment and research (Russell-Chapin et al., 2021).

Conversely, Laura and Thom fear that the term neurocounseling implies that a counselor who integrates neuroscience into their work is doing a different form of counseling altogether. There are growing concerns within the counseling field that the counseling profession is overemphasizing specialization (e.g., school counseling, couples and family counseling, career counseling) at the expense of its unified identity and straying away from its humanistic roots. Laura and Thom prefer the term neuroscience-informed counseling because it represents a unified identity, and the integration of neuroscience and related physiology can be applied to any and all work in which counselors are engaging. Furthermore, Laura and Thom agree that using a term that suggests integration, rather than using a wholly new term, emphasizes that they are still honoring the core traditions of the field while also incorporating knowledge from other fields that may further strengthen our field and the work of counselors within it. Perhaps reflecting the shared valuing of a unified counselor identity, the term neuroscience-informed counseling is also becoming more prevalent within the counseling literature.

Honoring all views, we all agreed as editors to use the term neuroscience-informed counseling in the title of this second edition but to allow the authors of each chapter to use whatever term they preferred. The terms are roughly equivalent but sometimes differentiated in focus.

The integration of principles of neuroscience and related physiology into counseling has a variety of uses. For example,...