Counseling in Brazil: Past, Present, and Future.

Since the 1950s, helping professionals in Brazil have engaged in activities that mirror those of counselors in the United States. Counseling as a unique and distinct area within psychology first emerged in the 1940s to respond to career and vocational guidance needs. Currently, psychologists who identify as counselors are giving a new dimension to their professional identity as they respond to the multicultural movement that is gaining momentum in Brazil, especially within the university setting. In this article, we discuss the past, present, and future of the counseling profession in Brazil. It is interesting to point out that the need for counseling in Brazil emerged prior to the establishment of psychology as a recognized profession. However, today, counseling is not an independent field of study or practice, but instead it is considered a specialty within psychology. Psychologists in Brazil are viewed as being either researchers or professors (i.e., those who work in a university setting and have obtained a doctorate or master's degree), or, as in the case of most professionals, they are clinicians (i.e., those who obtained a 5-year bachelor's degree and work with clients). The importance and the need for counseling in the form of career and vocational guidance (i.e., professional guidance) were recognized very early in Brazil. Angelini (1955) published an article reporting the findings of his research about career and vocational choices of Brazilian adolescents. He concluded that there was a need for offering professional guidance in schools to help students select careers on the basis of aptitude and interest rather than on familiarity or perceived status. It is important to point out that Brazilian students select their major area of study prior to enrolling at an institution of higher education. Once students select a major, they are not allowed to change. Angelini described the process of counseling students as having five main objectives, which half a century later are still accepted: (a) to inform students about the professions and careers they may select, (b) to learn about students' personalities through professional relationship and assessment inventories and to adjust the counseling process as needed, (c) to provide information about the requirements of each profession, (d) to provide information about the training required to become a professional in a given career, and (e) to recommend training or professional programs that are a good fit for a particular student. Although the importance and relevance of counseling was recognized and the need to have qualified professionals available in schools was unquestioned, the professionals working in the field identified themselves as psychologists or educators. Eventually, in 1962, the psychology profession was recognized in Brazil, and it incorporated the functions of counseling. Today, only licensed psychologists can work as counselors; however, the functions of counseling are distinct from those of psychology. * Past Brazil was a Portuguese colony from the early 1500s until its independence in 1822. Portugal did not allow institutions of higher education to be established until the beginning of the 19th century, when it became beneficial for the royal family (C. S. Hutz, McCarthy, & Gomes, 2004). Prior to that, Brazilians who wanted to pursue a career in professional fields such as medicine, law, or psychology had to obtain their education abroad, most commonly in Europe (C. S. Hutz, Gauer, & Gomes, 2012). The way for modern psychology (and counseling as a specialty) was paved in the second half of the 19th century (Lourenco-Filho, 1969/1971) through the establishment of medical schools, where psychology programs were initially housed, and through the establishment of schools of education that trained teachers. In 1942, prior to the establishment of psychology as an independent profession, a law passed in Brazil that required schools to provide professional guidance or counseling (i. …