Gatekeeping in Counselor Education: Experiences of Terminating Students for Nonacademic Concerns

Counselor educators are required by both the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (2005) as well as the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2009) to serve as gatekeepers to the counseling profession. In this role, counselor educators ensure the safety of future clients and the counseling profession, meaning they have the responsibility to prevent students of concern from entering the counseling profession. While this duty of counseling educators is necessary, it is not often easy. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of five counselor educators from across the country with gatekeeping (terminating) a counselor-in-training for nonacademic concerns.