Action | Requirement for CACREP accreditation for educational programs |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ends 7/1/2015 |
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I strongly support utilizing a 60-hour CACREP standard in establishing the fundamental post-graduate level counseling skills for future Licensed Professional Counselors. Although the program is strenuous compared to a 40 hour or 46 hour program, the opportunity for internship really helps to develop basic skills while under constant guided supervision. The truth is many people who enroll in mental health counseling programs are unfit to counsel others and an internship provides an opportunity to "make or break" those individuals before they get into roles where they can cause realistic harm through negligence or malpractice. Additionally, most Psy. D. programs refuse to accept M.Ed. counseling graduates into their programs because they have not had psychological research training but these same program officials are demanding psychology-counseling M.A. or M.S. graduate students be allowed to pursue their LPC licenses even though those students have far less credit hours in the discipline. To put it bluntly, the argument is Counseling students aren't skilled enought to become Doctors of Psychology but Psychology students should be allowed to become Counselors! This argument does not make sense.To preserve the integrity of the Professional Counselor Licensure, to establish a foundation of counseling skills competency, and to ensure a probationary Internship is part of the process, I argue that CACREP standards must be accepted.