CACREP Undertakes Emergency Preparedness Initiative

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) has been awarded an historic, first-of-its-kind federal contract to consider establishing guidelines and standards that will prepare counselors to work as health care providers in national emergency situations.  Funded by the Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, this special project will seek to involve all counseling professionals in the discussion of how new educational requirements related to counselor involvement in disasters such as bioterrorism, hurricanes, and/or pandemics should be implemented.

To introduce the emergency preparedness initiative to its stakeholders, CACREP will extend its current standards revision process for an additional year.  With the extension, CACREP will circulate a third draft of the standards that includes a core set of competencies designed to provide national continuity in healthcare disaster preparedness education. Members of CACREP’s Standards Revision Committee will release the third draft of the 2008 standards in late spring 2007. 

This award acknowledges the vital roles counselors have performed in recent national emergencies and establishes the counseling profession as a leader in the task of coordinating disaster preparedness education across healthcare disciplines. For more information about this project and the standards revision process, look for future updates posted on CACREP’s website at www.cacrep.org