What is CSI?
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What is CSI?
What is a Professional Counselor?
CSI is an honor society dedicated to promoting excellence in the profession of counseling. Because common usage of the term "counselor" can be misleading, professional counselors are distinguished by their preparation at the graduate level in pursuit of both Masters and doctoral degrees. One's highest or terminal degree in counselor education is considered evidence of desire to identify with the profession and through membership to support the mission of the Society.
For purposes of clarity among helping professionals who use counseling as a method or its techniques, the graduate education of members of the profession of counseling are defined by the national standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Individuals whose programs of study in counselor education were accredited by the Council of Rehabilitation Education (CORE) also are eligible for membership.
While a small number of members may be enrolled in programs that are not accredited by CACREP at the present time, the program where chapters are located must prepare its graduates to be eligible for state or national credentialing as professional counselors and fundamentally meet the minimum standards as defined by CACREP.
Over eighty percent of the counselor education programs that sponsor CSI chapters are nationally accredited. CSI's goal is to encourage and ultimately expect all chapters to be located in nationally accredited counselor education programs in the next few years.
The CSI Executive Council (5/10) in an effort to support solidarity in the profession endorsed the ACA and AASCB 20/20 Visions for the Future of Counseling consensus definition of counseling by incorporating it into the following statement to be consistent with the mission of CSI. CSI was a participating organization throughout the 20/20 initiative:
Professional counselors hold their highest graduate degree in counselor education from a nationally accredited preparation program, are credentialed by authorized state and/or national agencies, and adhere to its competency standards on matters of ethics, diversity and behavior in order to contribute to the realization of a healthy society by fostering wellness and human dignity. As a consequence, counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.
What is Chi Sigma Iota?
Chi Sigma Iota is the international honor society of professional counseling. It was established in 1985 through the efforts of leaders in the profession of counseling whose desire was to provide recognition for outstanding achievement as well as outstanding service within the profession. CSI was created for counselors-in-training, counselor educators, and professional counselors whose career commitment is to research and service through professional counseling.
Our mission is to promote scholarship, research, professionalism, leadership and excellence in counseling, and to recognize high attainment in the pursuit of academic and clinical excellence in the profession of counseling.
We currently have over 14,000 active members and over 82,000 initiated members. This makes CSI one of the largest single member organizations of professional counselors in the world. We have 283 chapters in the USA, Europe, and the Philippines with more added as counselor education programs commit to meeting national accreditation preparation standards. Members will be found in countries all over the world, most of whom were educated in US university programs described above. With the spread of professional counseling to other countries on the rise, we expect to support more chapters in more countries in the future.
More About the Society.....
Chi Sigma Iota has a rich history, summarized in pictures in our CSI Scrapbook. The benefits of membership, and a listing of numerous activities and accomplishments of the Society, working alone and in conjunction with other counseling associations to provide services to members of the counseling profession. In addition, the CSI Strategic Plan, Bylaws and Policies provide information about the purposes of and membership requirements for the Society. A listing of past-presidents is included, as these persons reflect the rich tradition of excellence that is the hallmark of Chi Sigma Iota.
The Greek letters for CSI were selected to denote that we are the Counseling Society International. Our mission is to promote excellence in the profession of counseling on a truly international scale. The officially approved abbreviation of "Chi Sigma Iota" is "CSI" Greek letter abbreviations that sound like undergraduate fraternities and sororities are confusing to non-members and denotes less than the distinction of the honor of membership that it deserves.
The CSI colors of white and blue were chosen to symbolize the values of the Society.
- White is for virtue, meaning goodness; general moral excellence; right action and thinking
- Blue is for trustworthy, incorporating honesty, integrity, reliability, and justice toward others
- Integrity is implicit in the meaning of both of these colors.
The wreath was chosen to encircle the Greek letters in our trademarked logo as a symbol of honor earned and promise for continued commitment to high ideals.
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