Many school, community, and counseling psychologists, special educators, speech and language pathologists, counselor educators, reading specialists, and educational administrators engage in individual consultation and organizational change research and practice. Because of their educational backgrounds and experiences, they bring unique perspectives to the process. However, members of other disciplines tend to be unfamiliar with these different orientations, the bodies of knowledge supporting them, and their applications to consultation practice, as the conceptual foundations most professionals bring to consultation tend to be based on information developed within their specific field. One needs to look no further than journals in any of these disciplines to see that the vast majority of the references cited in each article are confined primarily to other journals and books from that specialty.

Based on the viewpoint outlined, the goals in developing this special thematic issue were twofold. First, it was to enable members of one discipline--community psychology-- to share their perspectives with other professionals who may be relatively unfamiliar with community psychology principles. Second, it was to encourage community psychologists to examine their own consultation experiences and to seek additional applications for their expertise.