Tag Archives: CACREP

NCC will require graduation from a CACREP accredited program beginning in 2022

November 20, 2014

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) has announced that after January 1, 2022, individuals applying for the National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential must hold their degree from a counselor education program accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

NBCC is an independent credentialing organization based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the NCC is a voluntary, private certification. Counselors who did not graduate from a CACREP accredited institution who have, or will, receive their NCC before 2022 will continue to be recognized by NBCC after this change occurs.

This decision was made by the NBCC board and formally announced on November 17 to those holding the NCC and to other organizations such as ACA.

Learn more about the NBCC announcement here.

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An Open Letter from the ACA President and President-Elect

Cirecie West-Olatunji and Robert Smith May 19, 2014

Cirecie West-Olatunji and Robert Smith address recent changes to the counseling profession.

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The past few years have been significant for the counseling profession. Among other advancements, we have secured licensure in every state, crystallized our professional identity, and opened up new frontiers for employment. The new counselor job description in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and TRICARE independent practice status are clear examples of growth.

Advancing the profession is certainly important to our future. However, we are fully aware that recent changes have been cause for concern, anxiety, and stress for many ACA members. While the vast majority of counseling positions do not require increased educational requirements, we realize that the requirement of a CACREP degree for employment in the VA, paneling by TRICARE, and (starting in 2018) licensure in Ohio shuts out well-qualified ACA members who were trained in a time when these requirements were either not available or required.

We want to make it clear that while ACA is committed to advancing the counseling profession and committed to CACREP and its affiliate CORE as the accrediting body for the profession, we are also just as committed to doing whatever we can to ensure that ACA members who do not have CACREP-accredited degrees will not be left behind. ACA is working tirelessly for grandparenting provisions and holding meetings to address the need for flexibility with constituencies as new job options open for professional counselors. As examples:

On Feb. 27, 2012, ACA submitted a letter to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson and asked him to consider removing the stipulation that only counseling degrees from CACREP-accredited programs be recognized after this calendar year.
In testimony to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Feb. 13, 2013, then-ACA President Brad Erford recommended that the VA expand the hiring eligibility criteria for Licensed Professional Counselors to include those who may have graduated from programs that were not CACREP accredited.
In recommendations submitted to the White House Interagency Task Force on Military and Veterans Mental Health, ACA urged the Obama administration to direct TRICARE and the VA to create alternative pathways to hiring eligibility for LPCs who received their degrees from non-CACREP-accredited programs.
ACA has held a number of discussions and meetings with CACREP and NBCC to secure their commitment to promoting grandparenting for those without CACREP degrees. These discussions will continue.

In closing, please know that ACA values all of our members and fully recognizes the need to be an advocate for all who are struggling with workforce requirements. We are as fully committed to members who graduated from non-CACREP-accredited programs as we are to members who graduated from CACREP-accredited programs.

Thank you for your continued support.

Cirecie West-Olatunji, Ph.D.
ACA President, 2013–2014

Robert L. Smith, Ph.D.
ACA President-Elect, 2014–2015

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Click here for PDF version of the letter.

CACREP degree to be required for counselor licensure in Ohio

By Bethany Bray May 13, 2014

A major change in the educational requirements for counselors looking to become licensed is coming to Ohio.

Starting in 2018, a counselor graduating from an Ohio counselor program designed for licensure will need to have graduated from a clinical mental health, clinical rehabilitation or addiction counseling program accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) to be considered for licensure in Ohio.

Ohio will be the first U.S. state to require a CACREP degree for licensure.

Ohio’s state Legislature passed a bill this spring changing the requirement. The new law takes effect July 9.

Roughly 18 of the 23 graduate counseling programs across Ohio are currently accredited by CACREP. The few programs that aren’t are working on becoming accredited, according to Jim Rough, executive director of Ohio’s Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board.

Ohio’s counselor-educator community was involved with and supportive of the bill’s more than three-year journey to become law, according to Rough.

Ohio counselors who are licensed prior to July will be “grandfathered” in, and the change will not affect these counselors, he says. Additionally, counselors who have graduated from a CACREP-accredited clinical mental health, clinical rehabilitation or addiction counseling programs from outside the state will automatically meet the educational requirements for licensure in Ohio.

“I think we’ve made this [bill] as inclusive as we possibly can,” Rough says says. “Everybody talks about [licensure] portability – here is a step toward simplifying things for everybody.”

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For more information

Read the full bill here (search for section 4757.23): legislature.state.oh.us/BillText130/130_HB_232_I_N.html

Ohio’s Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (click on “what’s new” for details about the bill): cswmft.ohio.gov

CACREP website: cacrep.org

An open letter from ACA President Cirecie West-Olatunji and President-Elect Robert Smith: http://t.co/JGYDY6WUK3

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Bethany Bray is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Contact her at bbray@counseling.org

Letters to the editor: ct@counseling.org

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