Keeping Up With The
Counseling
Profession: Current
Issues on the
National Level
www.counseling.org/kaplan
David Kaplan
ACA Chief Professional Officer
dkaplan@counseling.org
2014 WVCA Conference
Things we might talk about
• Professional Identity
• Counselor Education Accreditation
• Key legislation
• Practice Issues
Things we might talk about
• Professional Identity
• Counselor Education Accreditation
• Key legislation
• Practice Issues
Dr. William Glasser
1925-2013
Professional
Identity
20/20:
A Vision for the
Future of Counseling
http://www.counseling.org/20-20
The 20/20 consensus
definition of
counseling
http://www.counseling.org/20-20/definition.aspx
Counseling is a professional
relationship that empowers
diverse individuals, families,
and groups to accomplish
mental health, wellness,
education,
and career goals.
The 20/20 Building
Blocks
to Portability Project
Building Blocks to Portability
The task was to develop:
• A consensus licensure title to recommend to all
state licensing boards
• A consensus scope of practice to recommend to
all state licensing boards
• Consensus education requirements to
recommend to all state licensing boards
The delegates
reached consensus
on the
licensure title!
Licensed Professional
Counselor
And the Scope of
Practice!
www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/20-20-a-vision-for-thefuture-of-counseling/current-activities
Open the sample endorsement letter
Some Key Elements
• Individual, group, couples, & family
•
•
•
•
counseling
Promote mental health wellness,
development across the lifespan, crisis
intervention and the diagnosis and
treatment of mental disorders
Consultation and program evaluation
Supervision
Ability to practice independently
What about the licensure
education requirements?
TWO OUT OF THREE
AIN’T BAD!
Where does 20/20 go
from here?
Counselor Education
Accreditation
The next CACREP
standards revision has
begun
Slated for 2016
More evolutionary than
revolutionary
“Clarify, Simplify, and Unify”
Three significant proposals
• By July 2020, all entry-level
programs, including:
– career counseling
– school counseling
– postsecondary counseling
be comprised of 60 credit hours
• Clinical Rehabilitation
Counseling added as a specialty
• Student Affairs and College
Counseling specialty becomes
Postsecondary Counseling
Important accreditation news
CACREP and CORE have become
corporate affiliates
CORE will jointly implement the
new CACREP Clinical
Rehabilitation Counseling
specialty
Alternative
Counselor
Education
Credentialing
Masters in
Counseling
Accreditation
Council (MCAC)
Initial MCAC programs
• U of Albany - mental health counseling
• U of Massachusetts - mental health
counseling & school
counseling
• U of Missouri – counseling & guidance
• U of Wisconsin – community counseling
Psychology
& counselor education
accreditation
THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST
VOL. 41, NO. 5, JULY 2013
Articles
• Quality of Master’s Education: A Concern for
Counseling Psychology?
• Looking to the Future – The role of Master’s
Programs in Counseling Psychology
• Integrating Master’s Education in Counseling
Psychology for Quality, Viability, and Value
Added
• Legitimizing and Reclaiming Master’s
Training and Education in Counseling
Psychology: An Urgent Concern
Contributing to the
ambivalent relationship of
counseling psychology to
masters training…
-Jackson & Scheel, p.676
In some situations, the
master’s training programs
were developed …to help
fund the doctoral training
program.
-Palmer, p.703
In some cases, master’s
programs help pay the bills for
doctoral education…in difficult
economic times, counseling
psychology doctoral programs
without master’s programs
may be easier to cut
-Jackson & Scheel, p. 687 &
688
To maintain CACREP accreditation
when budget cuts are required,
deans and other
administrators…may prioritize
master’s over doctoral programs
since master’s training is less
expensive than doctoral training.
-Jackson & Scheel, p.682
…such developments do
threaten counseling
psychology programs…
-Jackson & Scheel, p.682
The new MCAC accreditation
standards may serve to promote
a new direction for counseling
master’s education…consistent
with core values and
contributions of counseling
psychology
-Jackson & Scheel, p. 681
It is questionable…whether
we will be able to avert
eventual professional
annihilation…as a profession
we are experiencing THE
RECKONING
-Palmer, p. 701 & 704
Legislative Issues
Major Legislative Issues
• Affordable Care Act
• VA hiring of Counselors
• TRICARE independent practice
• Medicare
• Conscience clause legislation
The Other ACA – a lot to like
• Exchange plans must cover both mental
health and substance – use disorders.
• Coverage must be generally comparable
with coverage for medical care.
• Co-pays for mental health care abolished.
VA (Non-)Hiring of LPMHCs
www.usajobs.gov
• Number of VA social worker
positions posted in 2012: 1,563
• Number of VA LPMHC positions
posted in 2012: 58
ACA Has…
• Written to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki , and
met repeatedly with multiple VA staff
• Met with White House staff
• Met with members of Congress, and
worked with them to draft letters to the
VA
Goals
• Open up VA paid traineeships to
counselors
• Establish alternative eligibility criteria for
LPCs w/o CACREP degrees
• Have VA central office light a fire under
local VA directors to hire more counselors
TRICARE requirements: now through 2014
Licensed counselors must:
• have a master's or higher-level degree “from a mental health
counseling program of education and training”* and either
– Pass the NCE or NCMHCE (for CACREP-accredited degrees)
OR
– Pass the NCMHCE (for regionally-accredited degrees)
• have 2 years/3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice,
"provided by a mental health counselor”
* For at least CACREP degrees, this is interpreted by
DoD to mean only degrees with the title of “mental
health counseling” or “clinical mental health
counseling”
TRICARE independent practice
requirements: beginning 2015
Licensed counselors must:
 have a CACREP degree
 pass the NCMHCE
 same 2 years/3,000 hours of supervision as previous
slide
Practice under physician referral and supervision will
no longer be allowed.
Medicare and Counselors
• For the first time since 2009, we have TWO
Bills!
• S. 562 and HR.3662 call for Medicare to
reimburse Licensed Professional Counselors.
• We need you to call your Senators and
Representatives to ask them to support these
bills!
Conscience Clause
legislation
It’s getting
personal…language from
Michigan SR 66
“Whereas, The American Counseling Association, a
private organization that promulgates a code of ethics
widely used by university counseling programs and state
licensure boards in training for and regulating the
counseling profession, has publicly supported universities
that have punished or dismissed students for adhering to
their sincere religious convictions…”
California recently
banned reparative
therapy for children
For updates on legislative
issues go to the ACA website
at www.counseling.org
and click on the government
affairs tab
Practice Issues
DSM-5
Licensed counselors eligible
for participation in DSM
field trials for the first time
Current DSM-5 Issues
• Adjusting to the disappearance of the
multiaxial system
• Vague wording has increased confusion
• Autism as a spectrum
• Expanding criterion into the normal
range
Current DSM-5 Issues
• Adjusting to the disappearance of the
multiaxial system
• Vague wording has increased confusion
• Autism as a spectrum
• Expanding criterion into the normal
range
DSM-5 Tools
• ACA Webinars
(www.counseling.org/continuing-education/webinars)
• DSM-5: Navigating the New Terrain (6 hours)
• DSM-5 Specifics, Drilling Down With the
New Diagnostic Tools (2 hours)
• ACA Book
(www.counseling.org/publications/overview)
*DSM-5 Learning Companion for Counselors
New HIPAA Regulation
• Extending HIPAA to billing services,
document storage companies & other
business associates
• Clients can now request health records
in electronic form
• Mitigating and informing clients about
security breaches
How ACA can help you keep up
with current national issues
•
•
•
•
•
•
ACA Connect http://community.counseling.org/Home/
Read Counseling Today
Read CT online www.ct.counseling.org
Read ACA e-News
Subscribe to the ACA blogs www.my.counseling.org
Visit the ACA government affairs website
www.counseling.org/government-affairs/public-policy
• Visit the ACA Facebook page
• Follow ACA on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/CounselingViews
• Subscribe to counseling listservs (cesnet,
counsgrads, icn, etc.)
• Use Google alerts
• Ask David
Let’s schmooze!
Keeping Up With The
Counseling
Profession: Current
Issues on the
National Level
www.counseling.org/kaplan