High density: School counselling in Israel

Counseling Psychology in Israel

This article discusses the status of counseling psychology in Israel in the context of its unique characteristics. Despite the respected status of psychology as a profession in Israel and its overall acceptance and involvement in numerous social issues, counseling psychology as a separate specialty is nonexistent, especially because of resistance to the clinical psychology specialty. In addition to general subjects where counseling may be applied, special problem areas—including continuous security threats, massive immigration, non-Jewish minorities, issues concerning religiosity, and effects of the Holocaust—create the necessity for counseling psychology interventions. Nevertheless, actual, successful, professional accomplishments make this either unnecessary or call for a change in the counseling-related training of clinical psychologists.