Week 3-Professional Associations Review and Report

Professional Associations Review and Report
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Professional Associations Review and Report
Academic researchers, practitioners, and scholars of psychology have a set procedure and guidelines when it is about seeking knowledge, information and research, when it comes to professional development, networking academic and career guidance, research resources among others. The guidelines and options include the way their work should be researched, compiled and formatted. This paper seeks to review the professional associations and report on them. These affiliations are the American Psychology Association (APA), American Counselling Association (ACA), and American School Counselling Association (ASCA), Society for Industrial Organization and Psychology (SCIOP) and the American Psychology and Law Society.
American Psychology Association (APA)
Established in 1892, by a group of about 31 young psychologists at a time when the field of psychology was at its initial stages of development, the APA came in to revolutionize not only the field of psychology but also the field of academia. Before the war, the APA worked as a disciplinary society that did minimal more than publish a couple of scientific diaries (Cashew, 2018). Having embraced psychology as one of the major branches of science, the organization was established to further both academic and political agendas. In the educational agenda, it tasked itself to start exploring psychology as a science, which necessitated deep research and experiments, with evidence, a set mode and model of communication, which encompassed a specific style of writing academic papers and journals. On the political agenda, considering founding members of the association were progressives, they set out a path that would change the social order of things that supported economic use of resources, encouraged honesty integrity practices. In its organizational structure, the Association segmented its divisions and department, according to the 50 branches of Psychology, meaning, it has more than 50 branches, all of which work in tandem to achieve the association’s goals, mission, and vision. In 1944, the first divisions were established, which were a total of 19, a number that has multiplied over time to the current 54 decisions. The largest divisions are the clinical and counselling divisions, while the most recently created divisions are international psychology, history of psychology, and women's and men's psychology.
The American Psychology Association has tasked itself with some functions, tasks, and responsibilities. Initially, APA has a mission while performing the functions, its mission reads, "The core vision and mission of APA is to enhance creation, correspondence, and utilization of mental learning to profit society and enhance individuals' lives''. From this we can pick out its major functions, two of which is, Advancing and Promoting Psychology. The founding guideline which was responsible for the creation of this organization was to enhance psychology as a discipline, a profession, and as a method for advancing well-being, education, and human prosperity. This they would do by promoting the growth of psychology, encouraging psychology research, setting professional standards for psychologists, taking part in the creation and distribution of psychological research and information or knowledge.
The other function of the association is regulation, where it makes sure only right persons, efficiently qualified are called psychologists. This aims at establishing the highest forms of professional standards and service delivery, from adequately qualified individuals. Based on this regulation, for one to be recognized as a Psychologist, he or she must have attained a doctoral degree in psychology, from a recognized institution, a regionally accredited university or a professional association.
By establishing an official writing and publishing style, the APA format, the Association performed its function of offering guidance in the compilation of research materials and information resources. PA style of writing has become very popular and is commonly used in education, sociology, and another field, as an established model to format papers.
The other function of the APA is to supervise and oversee the publication of psychology material used for educational purposes in schools and other learning institutions. This is to ensure accuracy, and they meet their set criteria that it would provide accurate information and knowledge to its readers.
The APA accomplishes its main goal of advancing psychology to benefit society and enhancing individuals' lives by ensuring the most elevated type of moral and scholarly benchmarks are adhered to. This it does through regulation, providing information and research material, accrediting institutions and making sure only qualified individuals are referred to as psychologists. PA as an organization provides a platform for its members to further their skill in the profession and gives them resources concerning journals and information and data related to the profession of psychology. To the public, PA has offered a writing format which is used in academia, sociology, and journals, to help compile work and structure papers. Also, the association offers clinical and counseling services to those in need.
American Counselling Association
Established in 1952, after the need for counseling professionals to have a single solitary group to build the field, the American Counseling Association is a participation association for authorized instructors, directing understudies and other guiding experts, with the point of showing its individuals. It has 19 divisions which give assets, data, and guiding particularly to specific territories and by the standards of directing. It has enrolment in four areas universally all who give advising administrations and participation.
The mission of ACA is to advance professional development of counsellors, champion for the profession (American Counseling Association, 2014). This has formed the core mandate of its operations and also has had a huge influence on its functions and responsibilities, which are structured in a way that they would help, meet the association's mission. Functions of the ACA include enhancing human development through the lifespan. This entails offering services that would increase human lifespan, such as counselling. CA also promotes social justice not only among its members but also among the outside world in which it operates, by upholding the principles of human rights, liberty and equality. It safeguards the integrity of the counselor-client relationship by adhering to the set ethical standards within the organization, of not disclosing their client's information. This helps in building trust between the association and its clients. The clients' privileges are given top most priority within the organization. The ACA also practices competently and professionally, making sure it adheres to the standards of counseling and providing the best counseling services. To excel in its major role of advancing professional development of counsellors and championing for the profession, CA is responsible for the registration and accreditation of professional counselors and the adhering to set guidelines of practice by the organization. They also give student counselors a platform to explore their talents and get the right exposure while still at school to make them skilful and ready for their future opportunities as counsellors.
The member benefits of the ACA include having a platform to put forth various issues that come up in the counseling profession, have them looked into and resolved. Members of this association are also protected from any occupational hazards and are fully compensated in case of any accrued while in the line of duty. The student members have an advantage of practicing in the association's branches during their studies as interns, or after school as a registered counselor. ACA provides ...