Home


Counseling Organizations:
 staying current and joining while you are a student, your responsibilities as a professional to give something back (free service);

OUR PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
we are the testers, not psychiatrists, not social workers, not psychiatric nurses, it is the counselors and counseling/clinical psychologists who are expected to have this expertise; it is our history going back to vocational psychology in the early 1900s.

THE MIDWESTERN UNIVERSITIES:
 the Univ of Minnesota (E.G. Williamson (trait-factor), W. Grant Dahlstrom, George Schlager Welsh, Leona E. Dahlstrom, Starke Hathaway & J. Charnley McKinley (authors), Paul E. Meehl, Darley (MMPI), Gough (CPI), Jo-Ida Hansen (Strong), David Campbell (CAI), Bob Chope,


the University of Missouri (Callis, Seymour, McGowan, Gysbers, Ferguson, Johnston, Dolliver, Willis, Heppner),


Ohio State University (Nancy Betz, Bruce Walsh, Fred Leong, Sam Osipow),


Arizona State University (Charles Claiborn, Barb Kerr, Patricia Arredondo, Miguel Arcienega, Terry Tracey),


Univ of Maryland (Nancy Schlossberg, Bob Lent, Courtland Lee, Ruth Fassinger)


SPECIALIZATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY
 Do you know the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?
(not even prescribing drugs since CAPP vs Rank)
a psychologist and a sociologist?
a clinical psychologist and a counseling psychologist?
counselor and a counseling psychologist?
social worker and counselor?

AMERICAN COUNSELING ASSOCIATION

Accreditation & Credentialing (Licensing, Certification, and Registration)

Accreditation: the process where a private nongovernmental agency or association grants public recognition to an institution or program of
study that meets certain established qualifications and periodic evaluations.
Licensing: state in scope, regulated by government, more restrictive than certification, grants individuals the legal right to practice a profession provided he/she has met the minimum qualifications established by the profession, licensure prescribes who can and cannot practice a profession.
Certification: national in scope, regulated by private governing board, a nonstatutory process by which a governmental body, agency, or
association officially grants permission for an individual to use a title adopted by a profession, providing the individual has met certain predetermined professional qualifications.
Registration: state in scope, regulated by private governing board or government, a voluntary listing of individuals who use a title and/or
provide a service that a government or occupational group believes is of benefit to require or encourage registration.

History of Accreditation:
 1953 - APA Committee on Accreditation, 65 APA accredited programs in counseling psychology at doctoral level only
1972 - Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) established by ARCA, National Rehab Coun Association (of the National Rehabilitation Assn, with government funding, recognized by National Commission on Accrediting in 1974 and then by its successor (Council on Postsecondary Accreditation) in 1975; by 1995, 79 programs accredited; only master's level.
1978 - ACES Commission on Standards Implementation recommends that ACES begin counselor education program accreditation on a voluntary basis
1981 - CACREP formally established by ACA Governing council resolution, 106 programs formally accredited out of a possible 350.
late 70s - National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (225 school counseling programs accredited); both CACREP and
NCATE accredit school counseling preparation programs.
late 70s-early 80s - AAMFT accredits 45 programs in MFT

History of Licensing:
 1967 - APA Committee on Legislation proposes restrictions on who can provide counseling services.
1973 - Southern ACES establishes the first counselor licensure committee.
1974 - APGA adopted a position paper on "Counselor Licensure: Position Statement"
1975 - Virginia passed the first regulatory act for prof counselors (revised in 1976 to license counselors)
1994 - 41 states and DC have counselor licensure laws, over 63,000 counselors licensed under some form of state licensing.

AAMFT has state licensing in 20 states.

History of Certification:
1940s - certification of school counselors was established.
1974 - ARCA certifies rehab counselors
1979 - AMHCA certifies mental health counselors, establishes National Academy of Certified Clincial Mental Health Counselors;
1983 - NBCC established
1985 - certification of career counselors was given to NBCC, this marks the beginning of specialty certification by NBCC
1992 - National Academy of Certified Clincial Mental Health Counselors merges with NBCC.
1994 - NBCC certified more than 19,000 counselors.
1994 - IAMFC creates National Academy for Certified Family Therapists.

1994
division membership certifications
AMHCA 10,963 1,753 (16%)
NCDA 5,345 819 (15%)
AADA 2,660 182 (7%)
ASCA 12,508 633 (5%)

Accreditation & Credentialing
  1. ACA does not have one accreditation body for all counseling specialities. CORE accredits rehab coun programs, whereas CACREP accredits all others.
  2. CACREP recognizes and accredits specialties rather than counseling training programs per se.
  3. ACA does not have one certification body for all counselors. NBCC certifies professional counselors (generalists) and specialists in career, school, gerontological, clinical mental health, and addictions. CRCC certifies rehab counselors.
  4. CACREP and NBCC comparison looks like this:

    CACREP NBCC
    community -------
    ------- counselor
    ------- addictions
    career career
    gerontological gerontological
    marriage and family -------
    mental health clinical mental health
    school school
    student development -------

    CACREP accredits training programs in specialies for which NBCC does not certify counselors to practice, and NBCC certifies counselors as competent to practice in areas for which there are not CACREP-defined standards of professional preparation.

  5. There is an accepted ACA code of ethics, but there is no unified ethical code, states have their own ethical code for licensed counselors, CRCC has a code, NBCC has a code, other Divisions of ACA have their own codes


Home