Reconceptualizing the Counseling Profession

Dr. Edil Torres Rivera has a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in multicultural counseling from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He is a professor of counseling and the director of the Latinx Cluster initiative at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas. Edil Torres Rivera is native Puerto Rican with a career of over 25 years in counseling. This includes 12 years in the United States Army. He is the president elect of the American Counseling Association (2022-2023).Dr. Torres Rivera research interests are in multicultural counseling, group work, chaos theory, liberation psychology (decolonial approaches), indigenous counseling, Puerto Rican studies, identity development, and gang/prison-related behavior. Specifically, his primary research focuses on complexity and how indigenous healing techniques are a necessary ingredient when working with ethnic minority populations in the United States. Dr. Torres Rivera has additional interests in studying the implications of social injustice and oppression in counseling and psychotherapy with ethnic minorities in the United States.His community work includes consultation services to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Council in Nevada, visiting professor to the Universidad del Valle, Guatemala, and he was the director of the Graduate School of Education’s School Counseling Program in Singapore.

Thisis a very thoughtful and powerful book, pointing to opportunities toreformulate Counseling theory, research, and practice from decolonialityperspectives, making it more culturally relevant and inclusive. The authorsprovide a critical and constructive analysis of the Counseling profession fromits beginnings to a contemporary shifts, ones inclusive of the Global South andIndigenous Ways of Knowing, often omitted in education and training. Corevalues of equity, cultural humility, ethical integrity, and social justiceground the proposed reformulation of the profession, ones already recognizedbut not necessarily integrated in Counseling. The chapters with applications ofdecoloniality are rich, written by experienced practitioners. The authors donot propose scraping what is taught but rather to adapt the curriculum tointegrate decoloniality. Finally, a very instructive glossary of terms fordecolonial counseling is provided. I believe this book is transformative and shouldbe recommend reading for all counselor educators. After all, counseloreducators hold the responsibility to shape the profession.Dr.Patricia Arredondo President,Arredondo Advisory Groupwww.arredondoadvisorygroup.comFacultyFellow, Fielding Graduate UniversityFoundingPresident, National Latinx Psychological Association

• Part 1: Theories and Bases Chapter 1: History of Counseling: An anti-oppressive beginningChapter 2: A short recount of the intersectionality of counseling and decoloniality: Revisiting the Horse before the Carriage metaphor Chapter 3: Identity as a form of liberation: An anti-oppressive and Decolonial Liberation process  Chapter 4: Development of the Theories on Decolonization: The North Meet the South Chapter 5: Concepts of Decolonization: Definitions and IntersectionalityChapter 6: Relationship between Colonization and RacismChapter 7: Counseling for Social Justice without Decolonization: A Fallacy Chapter 8: Reconceptualization of the Counseling Profession from a Decoloniality ApproachPart II: ApplicationsChapter 9: Clinical Approaches: Theory without Application is UselessChapter 10: Indigenous Way of Knowing ApproachesChapter 11: Clinical Supervision: Deconstructing the Westernization of Counseling SupervisionChapter 12: From Decolonization to Decoloniality as an Evolving Counseling ApproachChapter 13: Different methods of decoloniality in counselingChapter 14: Implications and future direction