Counseling Today: Foundations of Professional Identity, 3rd edition

Published by Pearson (October 8, 2026) © 2027
  • Darcy Haag Granello
  • Mark E. Young
  • Patrick R. Mullen

Title overview

For courses in Counseling.

Students become reflective practitioners

Counseling Today uses relatable, real-life scenarios and effective learning aids to introduce current research, controversial topics, and authentic counseling stories. Its developmental approach encourages students to take an introspective stance toward becoming counselors, considering how their own personality, beliefs, values, and experiences influence how they look at the world as they reflect on their own development as professionals.

The 3rd Edition offers a new layout and organization, new Ethical Alerts, features to support the 2024 CACREP Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice Standards, and much more.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Case Studies illustrate all of the essential competencies required for the professional practice of career counseling.
  • Informed by Research helps students connect current research to actual counseling practice.
  • Spotlights highlight major trends or issues in the field.
  • Counseling Controversies present current issues within the profession and encourage students to respond with their own opinions.
  • A dedicated chapter to succeeding in graduate school (Ch. 5) helps readers navigate academically, interpersonally, and intrapersonally.
  • Snapshots feature first-person stories from counselors, counselors-in-training or clients.

New and updated features of this title

  • 2024 CACREP Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice Standards are listed in the Advance Organizers and Reflective Questions sections at the start of chapters where content supports those standards. Also, a correlation table provides a quick reference to which standards apply to those chapters.
  • New Ethical Alerts callouts consider specific ethical challenges related to the chapter content (e.g., Telemental Health Counseling in Ch. 3 and Using Chatbots and AI in Graduate Writing in Ch. 10).
  • New and updated Spotlight features (30+ total, with 18 entirely new) discuss current issues such as Licensure Portability and the Counseling Compact (Ch. 3), Virtual School Counseling (Ch. 11), and Being Well as a School Counselor (Ch. 13).
  • Additional first-person stories from counselors and counselors-in-training include 25 Snapshots (10 new to the 3rd Edition), written in their own voices to help students hear from others.
  • A new chapter layout and a reorganization into 3 large sections enhance ease of use; the multicultural and ethics chapters are placed earlier in the text.
  • Clear, updated chapter learning objectives have been added.

Key features

Features of Pearson+ eTextbook for the 3rd Edition

  • Video Examples throughout the text link to examples of counselling sessions that provide insight into working with clients and engaging in counselling sessions. The authors also have recorded Zoom interviews, most with experts from the counselling field who share their experiences in various kinds of counselling practices.
  • Interactive Glossary Key terms identified by the authors are boldfaced and signify instant access to the online glossary. (Terms and their definitions are also located in the glossary of the printed text.)
  • LMS-Compatible Assessment Bank: All quizzes, application exercises, and chapter tests are included in LMS-compatible banks for Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, and Moodle. These packaged files give instructors maximum flexibility for importing, assigning, and grading. Assessment types include:
    • Chapter Review Quizzes written by the authors and aligned to the text’s Learning Objectives: Higher-order, multiple-choice questions in each quiz also provide correct answers and distractors, and explain why each response is correct or incorrect.
    • Application Exercises that provide links to counselling videos or counselling scenarios and ask students to apply what they’ve learned. A model response is provided for each exercise.
    • Chapter Tests: Suggested test items are provided for each chapter, and include questions in multiple-choice and short answer/essay formats.

Table of contents

I. INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELING

  • 1. Who Are Counselors?
  • 2. What Do Counselors Do?
  • 3. How Are Counselors Trained and Regulated?
  • 4. How Do People Develop as Counselors
  • 5. How Do Counseling Students Get the Most From Their Graduate Programs?

II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF COUNSELING

  • 6. How Do Counselors Promote Social Justice and Engage in Culturally Responsive Counseling?
  • 7. Why Do Counselors Use Theories?
  • 8. How Do Counselors Make Legal and Ethical Decisions?
  • 9. How Do Counselors Use Research?
  • 10. How Do Counselors Collect and Use Assessment Information?

III. THE PRACTICE OF COUNSELING

  • 11. Where Do Counselors Work?
  • 12. What Happens in a Counseling Session?
  • 13. How Do Counselors Support Wellness in Themselves and Their Clients?
  • 14. Counseling Tomorrow

Author bios

About our authors

Darcy Haag Granello is Professor of Counselor Education at The Ohio State University, a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Ohio, and Founder of The Ohio State University Suicide Prevention Program, the largest comprehensive campus suicide prevention program in the U.S. She has published over 80 articles, co-authored 5 books, made more than 400 international, national, and state presentations, and secured more than $6 million in grants and funding. Darcy’s research and interests are in suicide prevention, stigma reduction, and in methods to promote the cognitive development and professional identity of counselors and counselors-in-training. She is founder of COUNSGRADS, the national listserv for graduate students in counselor education.

Mark Young is Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. For more than 20 years, he worked as a counselor in community mental health, college counseling centers, private practice, and corrections. He has been a state and national leader in counseling. For 15 years he conducted research and provided services for couples at the UCF Marriage and Family Research Institute, garnering about $6 million in external funding. His writing is focused on practical issues that counselors face, including maintaining personal wellness. He continues to conduct research on meditation and clients’ religious and spiritual issues. His most recent books are Learning the Art of Helping (2025) and Counseling and Therapy for Couples (2021).

Patrick Ryan Mullen is Professor of Counselor Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and serves as the Chair of the Department of Counseling and Special Education. He holds a Pupil Personnel Services License from the Virginia Department of Education, is a National Certified Counselor, and is a National Certified School Counselor. He has published over 70 articles and delivered over 180 professional presentations. Patrick’s research and writing interests include the areas of school counseling, counselor education and supervision, and professional well-being. He draws inspiration from his work as an educator and school counselor.

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