Dr. Galaxina Wright, NCDA Trustee for Counselor Educators and Researchers hosts panelists Dr. Elif Balin (San Francisco State University) and Dr. Jackie Peila-Shuster (Colorado State University) discussing the shrinking number of CACREP-accredited graduate career counseling programs (six remaining) amid job insecurity, AI-driven workplace change, discrimination, immigration barriers, disability, and chronic illness. They describe structural challenges including internship site shifts from counseling to advising/coaching that reduce qualified supervision, licensure terminology and requirements that can marginalize career counseling, and the greater public visibility of career coaching versus career counseling. The panel explains career counseling specialization training within professional counseling programs, emphasizing a wellness model, prevention, and integrating guidance, education, and counseling to address “the thing beneath the thing.” They highlight social justice, advocacy, and “decent work,” and call for stronger collaboration, clearer professional identity, and broader integration of career-work issues across counselor education. Dr. Galaxina G. Wright is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at Florida International University and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida. Her scholarship focuses on career development barriers and interventions, mental health, and equity, with particular attention to the career experiences of historically marginalized and underserved populations. She is passionate about preparing counselors to recognize the vital connection between work, identity, well-being, and mental health and advocating for career development as an essential component of the counseling profession. Dr. Wright’s work bridges research, counselor education, and practice to expand access to meaningful career development and promote more equitable career opportunities. Dr. Elif Balin (Ph.D., LPC/PA, NCC) is an Associate Professor of Counseling and Coordinator of the Career Counseling specialization at San Francisco State University. Her teaching and scholarship focus on counselor education, social justice-oriented career counseling, international students and immigrants, and the intersection of work and well-being. Elif also provides counseling and psychoeducational programs that support the cultural and career transitions of international students and immigrants in higher education and community settings. She has been actively involved with NCDA for more than a decade, including serving as a co-founding chair of the International Student Services Committee (ISSC; 2013-2015) and later leading its research team until 2020. Elif currently serves on NCDA’s Research Committee and as a subgroup chair on the task force revising the Multicultural Career Counseling Competencies. Jacqueline (Jackie) J. Peila-Shuster, Ph.D., LPC, NCC is an Associate Professor in the Counseling and Career Development graduate program at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, USA. She is also the program coordinator and career counseling specialization coordinator there. She has a Ph.D. with an emphasis in Counselor Education, an M.Ed. specializing in Counseling and Career Development, and a B.S. in Occupational Therapy. Jackie also serves as the co-chair of the Counselor Educator Academy for the National Career Development Association. Her areas of teaching and research interest include career counseling and development across the lifespan, counselor education, career construction counseling, and life design. NCDA Resources Counselor Educator and Researcher Constituency GroupCertified Career Counselor (CCC) CredentialCACREP Resources CACREP Homepage cacrep.org ; 2024 CACREP Vital Statistics ReportHow to Become a Career Counselor: A Step-by-Step Guide
