AHC’S PUBLICATION PATHWAYS INITIATIVE

Bringing Practitioners and Academics Together in the Publishing Process

The Association for Humanistic Counseling (AHC) is proud to announce Publication Pathways, an initiative to help humanistic practitioners bring ideas and clinical case experiences to publication by working with counseling academics in a collaborative, mutually beneficial writing partnership.

Recognizing that the voice of counseling practitioners is now absent from contemporary academic journals, AHC Publication Pathways is designed to help practitioners develop two types of papers for submission to the Journal of Humanistic Counseling (JHC): Case Studies and Practice articles. 

Many experienced humanistic counselors have important and practical insights to share, based on either unique client interactions (i.e., case studies) or specific practices (e.g., interventions with a specific subpopulation). However, translating good ideas into publishable form is not always easy. 

Through Publication Pathways, any practitioner can complete the PPI Application Form (below) to explain their clinically focused idea for a manuscript and submit it for editorial team review.

What makes this initiative unique is that it is 100% collaborative rather than a mentorship program, so both practitioners and our academic volunteers must come to mutual agreement before moving forward with a project. Our team of academic volunteers will review every proposal submitted by practitioners and either a) provide written feedback on how to improve the proposal, or b) schedule a time to meet and talk further. We are creating a unique opportunity for connection and seeing if it can become something beneficial to both professional counselors and counselor educators alike. 

 The role of the practitioner is to provide detailed explanations about some aspects of their practice (including either real or hypothetical transcriptions of client-counselor interactions). The role of the academic is to take the lead in terms of translating those explanations into a product for academic publication. In the end, both parties will contribute to the writing process, both can seek to publish a journal article in JHC, and both can potentially save time and gain inspiration via the partnership. 

 Please note that the priority for this initiative is Case Study submissions, as we believe that it is high time to support a renaissance in the case study format for humanistic counseling. You can review JHC’s detailed guide for pragmatic case study submissions below. Practice submissions are also an option, and good examples of this submission type are plentiful across previous JHC issues.

Why Should You Submit?

If you’re a licensed counseling practitioner who would like to publish a journal article in JHC about your humanistic work but have either limited or no experience in writing for academic publication, then this initiative is designed for you. Your clinical experience in the field matters to us. We want to hear your ideas and create a space for practitioners to add to the literature. Whether you’re looking to publish your very first article or build upon an established resume, Publication Pathways can offer you invaluable support in the academic writing-for-publication process.