Fall 2013 CACREP Connection

 

Council for Accreditation and Counseling

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

Fall 2013

IN THIS ISSUE…

Chair’s Report

Accreditation Decisions

Events at ACES

Policy Updates

News

SRC Committee Updates

IRCEP Updates

ACCREDITATION DECISIONS

The CACREP Board met in July in Alexandria, VA, to make accreditation decisions.

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Become a fan of CACREP on Facebook! We can reach a wide audience quickly with important updates on CACREP and other counselor education matters. Recent facebook posts have focused on the TriCare recommendation and notice of training sessions.

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Accreditation Decisions

The CACREP Board met in July in Alexandria, VA, to make accreditation decisions. read more >

EVENTS at ACES

Team Chair Training – Thursday, October 17th, 8 – 11 am (free but registration required)

Table Talk – Thursday, October 17th, 11:00 – 11:50 (open to all)

2016 Standards Feedback Session – Friday, October 18th, 3:30 – 5:00 pm

POLICY UPDATES

CACREP Supports Licensure Portability

Counselors are literally on the move. There are a variety of reasons this occurs – the counselor’s partner takes a new job in a different state, an elderly parent in a different location needs care, there is a decision to enter a doctoral program, or the counselor decides to retire to a new location but maintain a small private practice. One of the biggest drawbacks for these “counselors-on-the-move” is getting a new license to practice. Every state now requires counselor licensure and every state has its own unique requirements. An LPC in Illinois may not be eligible to seek a license in Ohio due to differing requirements.

CACREP supports the licensure movement and is proud of the role that its standards have played in outlining the educational eligibility requirements in most states. In fact, of the 50 states, more than half specifically identify graduation from a CACREP-accredited program as an option for meeting the education requirements for licensure with the remaining states (plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia) incorporating CACREP’s core curricular areas within their education requirements. Several states have even begun the process of revising their licensure regulations to require graduation from a CACREP-accredited program.

Because CACREP Standards were developed to serve as the counseling profession’s entry-level educational requirements for entering the profession and have been recognized by the federal government as the required degree requirements for hiring within the Veteran’s Administration and TRICARE health systems, CACREP believes that the time is right for all state counseling licensure boards to adopt the requirement of graduation from a CACREP-accredited counseling program for licensure. Such a requirement will establish a single standard for the educational requirements written into state licensing regulations, thus making licensure portability for professional counselors a future reality. Naturally, transitioning to these new regulations will take time and generous grandparenting provisions would need to be created to allow for currently licensed professionals who may not have graduated from a CACREP program to benefit.

To assist with making the dream of licensure portability a reality, the CACREP Board adopted a position statement on licensure portability that can be used with state boards, legislators, and program faculty. If you are interested in making this happen in your state, download a copy of the position statement and then contact the CACREP office to find out how you can get involved.

The “or’ Clause in Standard I.W

Standard I.W.2 states that core faculty members “Have earned doctoral degrees in counselor education and supervision, preferably from a CACREP-accredited program, or have been employed as full-time faculty members in a counselor education program for a minimum of one full academic year before July 1, 2013.” While the term “doctoral degree” does not follow the “or” in the standard, core faculty must be doctoral level faculty. This has been a requirement in all previous sets of CACREP Standards and the intention remains the same in the current Standards.

The “or” clause addresses the ‘grandparenting’ of faculty members holding doctoral degrees in closely related disciplines other than counselor education and supervision but having significant experience with and solid identity in counselor education. If the terminal degree is in a related discipline, the core faculty members must have been employed as full-time faculty members in a counselor education program for a minimum of one full academic year before July 1, 2013, and similarly meet the professional identity and activity requirements in Standards I.W.3-5. Individuals holding master’s degrees may serve as faculty members in counselor education programs but will fall under the standards addressing non-core faculty (Standards I.Y.1-3). Programs may put hired doctoral candidates (i.e., ABD) forward as core faculty providing the program can ultimately demonstrate completion of the degree within an anticipated graduation time frame.

Board Member Openings

CACREP is currently looking for a few good Counselor Educators to serve a five year term on the CACREP Board beginning July 1, 2014. Application materials and details.

CACREP Faculty RFP

CACREP is soliciting research proposals from counselor educators and researchers that (1) examine the appropriateness, utility, and impact of CACREP Standard I.N. which requires, “Institutional data reflect that the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) students to FTE faculty should not exceed 10:1” and, (2) employ empirically-based research methods for collecting and analyzing data from which conclusions and implications for practice can be made. Other research topics of interest to CACREP that will be considered include empirically-based research studies regarding the impact of CACREP accreditation on students, graduates, programmatic changes, faculty productivity, and professional identity.

Applicant researchers can be funded up to $1,500. Full details on the faculty RFP can be found in the announcement. (Deadline to apply is December 5th, 2013.)

CRIGS Fellows Opportunity

The CACREP Research Initiative for Graduate Students (CRIGS) Program is wrapping up its inaugural year and CACREP is now seeking two graduate students to become CRIGS Research Fellows for 2014. Further details about the CRIGS program and information about how to apply can be found on the CACREP website. Applications are due by November 15th, 2013. CRIGS info and how to apply.

NBCC Foundation Announces 2014 Scholarships

The NBCC Foundation is pleased to announce the 2014 military, rural and minority scholarships. These scholarships provide financial support to students who are currently enrolled in a CACREP-accredited, master’s-level counseling program, and who commit to serving one of these priority, underserved communities for a minimum of two years upon graduation.

The military scholarships are provided to students who are active duty, have served in the military within the past five years or are a military spouse. Rural scholarships are intended for those who live in a rural area. Applicants for the minority scholarships must represent racially, culturally and/or ethnically diverse populations.

Five scholarships in the amount of $5,000 are available for each category. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2013.

For more information or to apply, please visit www.nbccf.org/programs.

The NBCC Minority Fellowship application period will begin December 1, 2013. For more information, see http://www.nbccf.org/mfp/

SRC COMMITTEE UPDATES

The 2016 Standards Revision Committee (SRC) is entering its final year of service, having initiated its work in July 2011. The SRC spent the 2012-13 year gathering feedback on Draft 1 of the 2016 CACREP Standards through (1) an online survey that was made available through the CACREP website in late August 2012, (2) conference sessions held at regional ACES meetings in Fall 2012, at the AASCB conference in January 2013, and at the ACA conference in March 2013, and (3) letters submitted directly to the SRC by various professional organizations. After reviewing all of the feedback the SRC spent the spring and summer months making determinations regarding whether and how to incorporate various recommendations, culminating in the preparation of Draft 2 of the 2016 CACREP Standards. See draft 2.

IRCEP Updates

“The International Registry of Counsellor Education Programs (IRCEP) is excited to announce that its first international program, Centro Argentino de Psicologia Humanistica y Counseling Holos-San Isidro in Argentina, successfully completed the IRCEP review. Holos San Isidro was the first school of counseling in Argentina when counselling was approved by the Ministry of Education as a career. The program trains professionals in the discipline of counselling from the Person-Centered Approach and Humanistic Psychology. Students who graduate from this program are awarded a certificate of Consultor Psicologico Counsellor and are licensed to practice counselling in a variety of settings.”