Chapter Five: Education, Licensure, and Certification
Chapter Overview
The professional identity of mental health counselors is closely aligned with the academic
preparation and licensure of these counselors. The fifth chapter turns to a thorough explanation
of the education, licensure and certification of clinical mental health counselors. The Council for
and program evaluation. Secondly, the curriculum model also puts forth standards for the
clinical mental health counseling specialization. Students in these programs are required to
complete 60 credit hours. The three components of these training programs (which are each
described further in the chapter) are foundations, contextual dimensions, and practice.
Professional practice experiences are crucial to the training of clinical mental health counselors,
because this allows counselors-in-training to experience the therapeutic relationship firsthand,
learn about themselves as counselors, and assess their “goodness of fit” with the profession
which they have chosen. Both practicum and internship make up the professional practice
experience component. Practicum requires 100 clock hours, composed of at least 40 direct client
hours with individuals and groups, an hour per week in individual/triadic supervision, and an
hour and a half per week in group supervision. Internship requires 600 clock hours, composed of
240 direct client hours, an hour per week in individual/triadic supervision, and an hour and a half
per week in group supervision.
After academic preparation, credentialing is a second step by which individuals establish
professional identity. Three approaches to credentialing include registry, certification, or
licensure. Registry simply entails providing information and paying a small fee to be listed on a
registry with others in the profession. Certification is a voluntary process in which a professional
organization attempts to regulate itself by setting standards for quality which the individual must
meet or exceed in order to obtain certification. For clinical mental health counselors, the most
highly recognized counselor certification is the National Certified Counselor (NCC) certification
Portability of licensure from one state to another continues to be an area of negotiation and
needed growth.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the chapter, students should be able to:
• List and describe the eight core areas of study infused into all CACREP programs.
• List and describe the three components of CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health
Counseling programs.
• Explain the value of professional practice experiences and describe the requirements for
Practicum and Internships for CACREP-accredited programs.
• Describe and differentiate between registry, certification, and licensure.
Key Words/Terms
• Certification– the process by which an individual demonstrates his/her competency in
meeting or exceeding standards of quality that have been set forth by the profession itself.
• Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC)– a specialty certification offered
by NBCC for practitioners who have attained the NCC, met further requirements, and
achieved a passing score on the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination
(NCMHCE).
• Credentialing– the process by which individuals are identified as part of a professional
group after they have completed academic requirements.
• Internship– clinical experience requirement in the CACREP model which entails 600
have met certain requirements in training, experience, and performance, and have
attained a passing score on the National Counselor Exam (NCE).
• Portability– the ability of professionals to move their licensed status from state to state.
• Practicum– clinical experience requirement in the CACREP model which entails 100
clock hours with at least 40 direct client hours, one hour per week in individual/triadic
Lecture Outline for Chapter Five
Education, Licensure, and Certification
I. Academic Preparation for Clinical Mental Health Counselors
A. Professional practice, professional identity, and the training model are
interdependent and provide criteria for credentialing
B. CACREP- sets the national standards for training clinical mental health
counselors. Three general components of the curricular model:
1. Common Core Curriculum – knowledge and skills that are foundational to
all graduate counseling students regardless of specialization
3. Professional practice Experiences – courses that provide opportunity to
1. Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice
3. Human Growth and Development
5. Counseling and Helping Relationships
7. Assessment
8. Research and Program Evaluation
D. CACREP Standards for CMHC
1. Foundations
3. Practice
E. Clinical Experience Requirements:
1. Practicum
a. Minimum of 100 clock hours
and 1.5 hours of group supervision per week
2. Internship (begun after successful completion of Practicum)
a. Minimum of 600 clock hours
b. Of these hours, 240 hours must be direct contact hours
F. 2016 CACREP Standards: Strengths
G. 2016 CACREP Standards: Concerns or Controversies
II. The Credentialing of Clinical Mental Health Counselors
A. Credentialing- the process by which individuals are identified as part of a
professional group after they have completed academic requirements.
B. Three Types of Credentialing:
1. Registry– a list of members of a professional group. Being listed on a
2. Certification– the process by which an individual demonstrates his/her
competency in meeting or exceeding standards of quality that have been
3. Licensure– the legal process by which an individual demonstrates his/her
competency in meeting or exceeding standards of practice that have been
set forth by the state to regulate the profession.
a. A state’s licensure laws will:
i. Regulate professional titles
ii. Legally define basic terms
III. Contemporary Issues in Education and Credentialing of Counselors
A. Portability- the ability of professionals to move their licensed status from state to
state.
B. Reciprocity- a system in which certain states have negotiated agreements with
other states so that the license in one state would be automatically accepted in the
other, as long as appropriate fees are paid
C. Merging of mental health and community counseling specializations to create the
Clinical Mental Health Counseling Specialization.
1. Disagreements regarding number of credit hours, required clock hours for
2. Disagreement about basic nature of profession: Licensed Professional
References/Resources for Chapter Five
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