President's Welcome
Melanie M. Wilcox, Ph.D., ABPP, SCP President 2024-2025
Welcome to the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP), Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. Throughout the history of our organization, SCP has been grounded in addressing issues of equity and justice. More recent years have seen counseling psychologists, including recent SCP Presidents, operationalize our commitments with clarity: SCP strives to dismantle racism and white supremacy, move toward decolonization, and transform psychology in the service of liberation. These commitments are codified in our new SCP Values, which now include (among others) critical consciousness, advocacy, accountability and repairing harm, and liberation.
We welcome you to join our community and to work together toward a more just and equitable world. The strengths and values of counseling psychology are needed now more than ever.
President | Society of Counseling Psychology, Division 17, APA
  What is Counseling Psychology?Counseling Psychology is a specialty within professional psychology that maintains a focus on facilitating personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span. The practice of Counseling Psychology encompasses a broad range of culturally-sensitive practices that help people improve their well-being, alleviate distress and maladjustment, resolve crises, and increase their ability to function better in their lives. With its attention to both to normal developmental issues and problems associated with physical, emotional, and mental disorders, the specialization holds a unique perspective in the broader practice-based areas of psychology. For more information, click here. The Benefits of Membership
The success of our efforts rests heavily on the membership and the work of SCP volunteer leaders – our Executive Board, our committee chairs and members, our task group chairs and members, our student affiliate organization, and the staff of our central executive office. We currently have 13 Sections and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) tailored to specific foci in counseling psychology. I encourage you to browse our websites and join as many Sections or Special Interest Groups as you like, many of which offer free or very inexpensive membership. We also have a nationally ranked journal, The Counseling Psychologist, a useful blog, SCP Connect, and a Facebook page for more frequent updates of SCP activities. I hope you will make use of these many means of communication and connection with SCP. Depending on your needs, you have several membership options. Regardless of which option you choose, you will receive a welcome packet by email within 2-3 weeks of joining Division 17. You will begin receiving The Counseling Psychologist shortly thereafter or at the beginning of the new membership year. JOIN TODAY! |
With more than 2000 members and affiliates who live these values through a wide diversity of identities, interests, and professional activities and commitments, SCP can offer YOU a home. If you are not yet a member or an active participant in SCP, we heartily invite your involvement!