Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues in Counselor Education: The Potential of Service-Learning in the Development of Sensitive and Competent Mental Health Professionals

This chapter briefly traces the history of homosexuality in psychology and counseling in addition to the impact it has had on both counseling practices and counselor training. A second focus examines contemporary counselor training practices that focus on non-heterosexual populations. The authors then assert that by infusing service-learning projects with gay, lesbian, and bisexual populations into counselor education courses. Under this model, counselor education programs can create educational environments that integrate professional competencies and subsequently provide the most benefit for consumers of counseling services.