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Prior to 1970, counsellors who worked in publicly supported agencies (e.g. schools, community service agencies, correctional facilities) enjoyed broadly based social and fiscal support from professional and consumer groups. With the slowing of economic growth and the rise in inflation that occurred through out much of the world in the 1970s came a pressure, particularly by consumer groups, for accountability in counselling. For many counsellors in school and community agencies, this accountability pressure has been translated into a demand that counselling services either be shown to be effective or be eliminated.

A number of authors have argued that the public pressure for accountability in counselling is not only reasonable. But desirable (Humes 1972, Kanpper 1978, Krumboltz 1974, Pine 1975, Shertzer and Stone 1980), Basically, accountability requires counsellors to both set goals and evaluate progress toward accomplishment of these goals. Supporters of the accountability movement suggest that goal setting and evaluation of goal attainment enhances the counselling process by helping counsellors to improve their counselling skills and by improving the quality of service to consumers. Opponents, on the other hand, have argued that many important aspect, of counselling outcome are simply not available and that the demand for accountability has created an unfortunate focus on short term and often superficial changes in client behaviour. Regardless of how the professional view accountability. It is likely to be a reality for counsellors as long as resources in the helping professions are scarce.

Unfortunately, many counselling agencies are ill prepared to meet the demand for accountability, and evaluation of services frequently is not undertaken until after a sanctioning agent (e.g. school board, board of directors, funding agency) requests evidence of effectiveness. Under such conditions, the counselling agency often hurriedly pulls together whatever data are conveniently available that seem to meet the demands of the sanctioning agent. Such an approach to accountability is reactive and has two problems associated with it: (a) the sanctioning agent not the counselling service, determines the content of the accountability data, and (b) only data that are routinely collected for other purposes and happen to fit the demands of the sanctioning agent can be used in the evaluation of services.

To avoid the problems associated with reactive accountability. Atkinson et al (1979) have suggested a four-component model for pro-active accountability. The model is based on the assumption that all accountability data can be placed into one of four categories: (a) qualitative-transactional (b) qualitative-product, (c) quantitative-transactional and (d) quantitative product. The qualitative-transactional category includes descriptive data about counselling outcome. Data included in the quantitative-transactional category are numerical data associated with counsellor activity. And the quantitative-product category includes numerical data associated with counselling outcome.

In pro-active accountability, counselling agencies systematically and continuously collect data in each of the four categories. To be pro-actively accountable, however, it is important to identify from the outset the kind of data to which sanctioning agents will be responsive. By doing so, counselling agencies can meet the pressure for accountability in counselling while exercising some control over the form and content of the evaluation.

Counselling, Confidentiality in The nature of counselling is such that clients often reveal intimate feelings and thoughts that could be embarrassing to them if revealed to parties outside the counselling relationship. Confidentiality in counselling refers to the counsellor's professional commitment to not share information acquired through the counselling relationship with anyone outside the relationship. Without such assurance, counselling clients are unlikely to disclose anything but the most superficial aspects of their psychological problems.