Being a Leader in the Counseling Profession
Dear Colleagues,
A leader has its own personality.Since CACREP’s inception as counselor education’s accrediting organization, its role as a leader in the counseling profession has continued to gain prominence. This leadership is apparent through CACREP’s organizational characteristics and interactions with peer organizations both within and external to the counseling profession. Here are some of CACREP’s leadership characteristics and the ways in which they have been manifested.
CACREP has demonstrated that it has a strong, separate, and distinct identity. Through its standards revision process, CACREP is responsive to the evolving mental health needs of society and to the public feedback on the numerous revision drafts. CACREP is a good listener of the voices of those who are impacted by what it does. During the 2009 standards revision process, CACREP made a courageous and timely statement about counselor professional identity. The requirements of the Standards that speak to the development of a strong professional identity better define the counseling profession while simultaneously recognizing CACREP as the profession’s standard bearer. CACREP now has relevance not only for the counseling profession, but also for governmentally supported agencies.
A leader develops.
Through the standards revision process, CACREP has maintained the rigor of counselor preparation and made alterations to the Standards to meet the changing needs of society. In the development of the 2009 Standards, CACREP took a bold step in making substantial changes in the curricular content and organization of the standards. Of significant note in the standards is the resounding statement about Professional Counselor Identity. All of us must continue to support the transition to a strong professional counselor identity – acknowledging our profession’s past, while keeping our focus on the present and more importantly the future.
A leader focuses on people.
Part of CACREP’s accomplishments can be attributed to the successful working relationship with key organizations within the counseling profession. Two of those with which CACREP has a long-standing relationship are ACA and NBCC. CACREP continues to find ways to work collaboratively together with them to unify the profession.
A leader inspires trust.
Through the CACREP Standards and CACREP-accredited programs, CACREP maintains quality assurance of counselor preparation at the entry and advanced levels in multiple specialization areas. While the standards provide a measure of controls, inspiring and instilling trust in what CACREP does is of equal if not greater importance. Trainings and presentations at state and national conferences are not just a time for CACREP to provide information, but also a time to elicit feedback/comments from current and potential accredited program participants. The interactions at these public venues are an important way of ensuring that CACREP serves an informed constituency. read more >
Warm Regards,
Sylvia Fernandez,
CACREP Chair |