Preparation for
career, college, and citizenship; personal health and hygiene knowledge; racial and gender equity; leisure and aesthetic appreciation; social mobility;
scientific sophistication; safe driving practice; and sex, alcohol, drug, reproductive, and environmental awareness are all part
of the booming, buzzing, and sometimes antithetical public discourse that assigns
purposes to the nation's schools.
The «practice
of mental health counseling» is defined as the use
of scientific and applied behavioral science theories, methods, and techniques for the
purpose of describing, preventing, and treating undesired behavior and enhancing mental health and human development and is based on the person - in - situation perspectives derived from research and theory in personality, family, group, and organizational dynamics and development,
career planning, cultural diversity, human growth and development, human sexuality, normal and abnormal behavior, psychopathology, psychotherapy, and rehabilitation.