Kentucky Administrative Regulations
Title 201 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT CABINET
Chapter 38 - Board of Licensure for Pastoral Counselors
Section 201 KAR 38:030 - Equivalent course of study

Universal Citation: 201 KY Admin Regs Service 38:030

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2024

RELATES TO: KRS 335.620

NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 335.615 requires the Board of Licen-sure for Pastoral Counselors to promulgate administrative regulations to implement KRS 335.600-335.699. KRS 335.620(1)(d)-(g) authorizes the board to promulgate administrative regulations establishing a course of study equivalent to a master of divinity degree. This administrative regulation establishes the criteria for the equivalent course of study.

Section 1. Clinical membership at the fellow level in the American Association for Pastoral Counselors or one (1) of its regional affiliates shall indicate that the applicant has met both the educational and experiential requirements for certification as set forth in KRS 335.620(1)(d)-(g).

Section 2. To qualify as an equivalent course of study, a master's or doctoral degree shall consist of a minimum of sixty (60) semester hours of coursework that meets the requirements of Section 3 of this administrative regulation. The course work may:

(1) Include or extend beyond the one (1) professional degree in a theological or spiritual discipline or a mental health discipline; and

(2) Include unlimited hours earned in:
(a) An American Association of Pastoral Counselors or one (1) of its regional affiliates approved Training Program in pastoral counseling with fifteen (15) contact hours equaling one (1) semester hour; or

(b) Another educational institutional program that meets the requirements stipulated by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors' Certification Committee or one (1) of its regional affiliates, or the Institutional Accreditation Committee.

Section 3. A master's or doctoral degree in an equivalent course of study shall include the following:

(1) Religious foundations. This area shall consist of a minimum of twenty-one (21) semester hours in the following areas:
(a) Scripture;

(b) Theology;

(c) Religious history;

(d) Theological and social ethics;

(e) Spirituality; and

(f) World religions.

(2) Core clinical theory. This area shall consist of:
(a) A minimum of six (6) semester hours in counseling and psychotherapy techniques, which provides a historically informed theoretical foundation for helping relationships and foun-dational skills for counselors. Coursework shall include:
1. A range of counseling theories that will help them learn to conceptualize client behaviors and make appropriate theoretical choices for interventions;

2. Broad categories of theoretical approaches: cognitive, behavioral, affective, and systemic, with opportunities to explore their differing implications in relation to case material and rationales for employing various models;

3. Particular current models that have established research and practice literatures to assist them in becoming conceptually and clinically grounded in a model of their choice;

4. A conceptual foundation in essential clinical practices such as developing clinical relationships, establishing appropriate goals, designing intervention strategies, evaluating outcomes, and successfully terminating counseling relationship;

5. Self-other awareness related to therapeutic and ethical boundary considerations;

6. Consultation as a related skill, with attention to continuities and discontinuities with counseling;

7. The historical development of current primary models for consultation and a developmental approach to the predictable stages of consultative processes;

8. Relevant technological strategies and applications for clinical practice and consultation; and

9. Ethical and legal considerations relevant to counseling and consultation; and

(b) A minimum of three (3) semester hours in each of the following:
1. Group dynamics and techniques, which shall provide theoretical and experiential understanding of clinical group processes and shall include: the value, predictable stages of development, and dynamics of counseling with groups as well as attention to preparation standards for professional group leaders and related ethical and legal issues. Coursework shall include:
a. Review of a range of counseling methods and approaches including the principles of group development, process, dynamics, various members' roles and behaviors as well as related therapeutic factors;

b. Consideration of possible leadership styles and the factors recommending each style;

c. Identification of distinguishing characteristics and recommended contexts for varied theories and methods of group counseling with attention to current literature and relevant research; and

d. Discussion of ways of working with non-clinical group processes such as task and psycho-educational groups;

2. Couples and family systems, which shall provide a basic introduction to couples and family systems theory and practice. Coursework shall include:
a. An overview of general systems and cybernetic models of family functioning;

b. Acquaintance with historic models of family therapy including structural, strategic, object relations, and Bowenian;

c. An introduction to emerging post-modern and behavioral understandings of family function and therapy;

d. Attention to couple dynamics and models of couple intervention; and

e. Ethical and legal factors;

3. Social and cultural diversity, which provides students with a way of understanding the cultural context of relationships and institutions as they contribute to complex social identities in individuals and disclose the necessity of analytical and clinical skills for addressing an increasingly diverse society. The range of issues related to differences that we will address shall include race, ethnicity, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, cognitive and physical characteristics, and religion. The course shall address:
a. Helping students identify the complexity of their own social identity in relation to the asymmetrical distribution of power in societies related to various aspects of differences and the implications they pose for effective practice;

b. Developing introductory levels of knowledge about emerging increasingly plural demographic trends related to various racial, ethnic, and religious identities and the implications for relationships within and between those groups;

c. Establishing introductory levels of understanding about each form of difference including experiential strategies;

d. Current literatures to develop competency for working with culturally different client populations including work with individuals, couples, families, groups, and larger community contexts;

e. Several theories of multicultural counseling and theories of multicultural competency for clinicians;

f. Ethical and legal considerations as well as advocacy issues for clinicians that accompany the consequences of prejudice, racism, and other forms of oppression that clients encounter; and

4. The function and ethics of professional identity as a counselor, which shall address the following aspects of professional identity as a counselor:
a. The history and philosophy of the counseling profession with reference to particular cultural and historical factors of significance;

b. Professional roles, functions, and ways of establishing relationships with other related human service providers;

c. Expected areas of computer and related technological competencies;

d. Primary professional organizations and their priorities as well as identification of benefits and accountabilities related to membership;

e. Professional credentialing, such as certification, licensure, and accreditation practices and standards and their relation to contemporary public policy debates;

f. The role of advocacy on behalf of the profession regarding public and private policy issues as well as advocacy for clients in relation to institutional and social barriers that deny them access to or equity in resources; and

g. The ethical standards of the profession and current legal considerations as well as development of skills in applying these in practice; and

(c) A minimum of six (6) semester hours taken from the following areas:
1. Professional identity function and ethics;

2. Theories of human behavior, learning, personality development, which shall provide an introduction to developmental theory concerning the nature and needs of individuals and families across the lifespan. While varied theoretical approaches may inform the course, the following topics shall be included:
a. Theoretical approaches to individual and family development across the lifespan and attention to transitions in development;

b. Learning theory;

c. Personality development theories;

d. Proposals for enhancing development;

e. Attention to human behavior in light of varied developmental crises, compulsive behaviors, disability, psychopathology, exceptional behavior, and situational and environmental factors affecting both normal and abnormal behavior; and

f. Ethical and legal issues;

3. Career development, which introduces students to ways of approaching career development. The following information shall be addressed:
a. Theoretical approaches for career development and related decision-making models as well as relevant instruments and techniques;

b. Career counseling models including those for particular populations;

c. Career related information systems and media resources in print, visual, electronic, computer, and other forms regarding career, avocation, education, occupation, and labor market information;

d. Models for career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation;

e. Possible relationships intersecting work, family, and other areas of life including forms of diversity such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender;

f. Career and educational planning, placement, follow-up, and evaluation;

g. Technology supported career development applications such as web and computer assisted information systems for career guidance; and

h. Ethical and legal factors;

4. Appraisal, evaluation, and diagnostic procedures to make a current diagnosis, which introduces students to individual and group approaches for assessment and evaluation and shall include all of the following:
a. Historical and conceptual perspectives of assessment;

b. Basic concepts for standardized, non-standardized, group and individual testing, and inventory methods; additional assessment techniques including norm and criterion referenced assessment, environmental and performance assessment; behavioral observations; and computer managed and assisted methods;

c. Statistical concepts that shall include, at a minimum, scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations;

d. Reliability and validity measurement procedures;

e. Assessment factors related to specific populations and types of diversity;

f. Strategies for determining, administering, and interpreting evaluative instruments and techniques in counseling;

g. Principles and methods for case conceptualization, assessment, and diagnosis of mental and emotional status including use of current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; and

h. Ethical and legal factors;

5. Abnormal behavior, which provides an overview of psychosocial difficulties in living that disrupt personal, familial, work, or other functioning. It shall include:
a. An exploration of cultural differences in defining normalcy and health;

b. Individual and systemic developmental contributions to psychopathology and diagnostic categories as outlined in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders;

c. Psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral descriptions of psychopathology; and

d. Introductory discussion of treatment options; and

6. Addictions, which addresses current understandings of the description, etiology, and treatment of addictive disorders including addictions to legal and illegal substances such as alcohol and drugs, as well as sexual, love, gambling, and religious addictions. It shall include:
a. An overview of developmental precursors of addictive disorders including neurobiological and psychodynamic factors;

b. Attention to the contextual triggers of addictive behaviors and to their repetitive, compulsive nature, increasing tolerance for the object of addiction;

c. Treatment options including 12-step programs;

d. An awareness of the effects of addictions on the person, children, family system, and the unique role of pastoral interventions;

e. Recognition that addictions may co-occur with mental health disorders (dual diagnosis);

f. Ability to acknowledge and address values, issues, and attitudes regarding alcohol and drug use and dependence in oneself, and in one's own family; and

g. Capacity to shape, form, and educate caring groups and support persons for those affected by alcohol and drugs, in congregations and the wider community; and

(3) Pastoral counseling theory. This area shall include a minimum of three (3) semester hours distributed among the following:
(a) Basic pastoral care, which shall include crisis intervention, grief counseling, and hospital ministry;

(b) History of pastoral care and counseling;

(c) Psychology of religion;

(d) Faith development;

(e) Pastoral theology;

(f) Theology of psychotherapy;

(g) Spiritual formation; and

(h) Clinical pastoral education.

(4) Specialized technical studies. This area shall include a minimum of nine (9) semester hours of the following areas:
(a) Psychodynamic psychotherapies, which provide an overview of the historical roots of dynamic psychotherapy, tracing the key concepts of classical Freudian analysis through modern self-psychology. Attention shall be paid to:
1. The theoretical foundations that support the aims and goals of psychotherapy;

2. Psychotherapeutic methods, strategies, and processes; and

3. Appropriate applicability will be explored and illustrated through case vignettes;

(b) Marriage and family therapy, which provides a basic introduction to family systems theory and practice. While it may focus on one (1) model of therapy for skills competence, it shall also provide:
1. An overview of general systems and cybernetic models of family functioning;

2. Acquaintance with historic models of family therapy, including structural, strategic, object relations, and Bowenian;

3. An introduction to emerging post-modern and behavioral understandings of family function and therapy; and

4. Attention to couple dynamics and models of couple intervention;

(c) Humanistic psychotherapy, which includes courses that explore in breath or depth the theories and techniques of psychotherapy emerging from the humanistic tradition in psychology and personality theory. This tradition shall include the phenomenological, existential, and experiential schools. Major theorists in this area may include persons such as R. May, C. Rogers, V. Frankl, S. Maddi, J. Bugental and I. Yalom. Examples of courses that satisfy the requirements of this area shall include: Client Centered Therapy, Existential Psychotherapy, Experiential Psychotherapy, and Third Force Psychotherapy;

(d) Transpersonal psychotherapy, which provides an overview of the interdisciplinary, "fourth force", field of transpersonal psychotherapy with particular attention to the mutual contributions of Eastern and Western notions of self, wholeness, and consciousness, including particularly the writings of Wilber, Tart, Walsh, and Vaughan. Attention shall be paid to:
1. Relationships with humanistic, depth psychology and psychodynamic theories;

2. The eclectic integration of those techniques in transpersonal psychotherapy; and

3. Roles and potential risks of specific practices such as meditation, yoga, and other spiritual practices;

(e) Cognitive therapy, which examines the theoretical roots, assumptions, and practices of Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapies. From its roots in Behaviorism through the ground-breaking work of Aaron Beck through contemporary Constructivist Cognitive theory, this course shall cover the core concepts and practices of the cognitive approaches. Key topics to be explored include:
1. The role of cognition in the development and maintenance of psychological problems;

2. The process of identifying and testing problematic thinking;

3. The role of culture in forming and maintaining dysfunctional cognitions;

4. The basic practices of Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral therapy, especially in the treatment of depression and anxiety; and

5. The use of Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral theory in various modalities of individual, couple, family, and group therapies;

(f) Behavior therapy, which examines a range of therapies, both theory and methods, broadly defined as "Behavior Therapies" based on shared assumptions regarding the nature of human behavior, behavioral change or modification, and the role of environmental factors. The primary shared assumption shall be that even complex human behavioral problems can be defined in terms of their component parts and that these components can be treated. The course shall address:
1. Treatment approaches based on classical conditioning, such as relaxation training and desensitization, those commonly referred to as behavioral modification, and other current treatments;

2. Critical analysis of the appropriate use of techniques and methodologies as well as their limitations for specific types of problems such as panic disorders and phobias; and

3. Particular populations such as women, adolescents, racial or ethnically under-represented groups, panic disorders, and phobias;

(g) Brief therapy, which shall include courses that explore in breadth or depth the theories and techniques of short-term or time-limited approaches in psychotherapy. Courses shall attend to theoretical foundations, client selection and applicability, treatment techniques, and intervention strategies. Examples of courses satisfying the requirements in this area shall include Short-Term Psychotherapy, Solution-Focused Psychotherapy, Brief Family Therapy, and Time limited Couples' Therapy;

(h) Group therapy, which examines therapeutic modalities and theory designed to be used in group therapy settings. A variety of possible psychological frameworks for group therapy shall be reviewed such as Depth Psychology, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis, and supportive or growth-oriented group approaches. Key topics to be addressed shall include:
1. Group composition and size, group contracting, and goal setting;

2. Heterogeneous verses homogeneous groups;

3. Therapist or counselor role;

4. Structured versus unstructured group work;

5. Open versus closed groups;

6. Physical settings; and

7. Critical analysis of appropriate use of techniques and methodologies as well as:
a. Their limitations for specific types of problems; and

b. Particular populations, including women, adolescents, and racial or ethnically under-represented groups; and

(i) Post-modern and Constructivist therapies, which include therapeutic approaches that have emerged out of post-modernist assumptions, especially the assumption that reality is socially constructed. The course shall focus on the theories and methods used to help people explore their life stories and their meanings. The unique focus of building positive, option-rich future stories shall be thoroughly explored. Key topics to be explored shall include:
1. Post-modernism and post structuralist theory;

2. The role of culture in constructivist therapies;

3. Mutuality and self-disclosure in the counseling relationship;

4. Deconstructive methods in counseling;

5. Methods for generating narratives of possibility and hope; and

6. Individual, family, and group modes for constructivist therapies; and

(5) Practicum, internship, or residency. This area shall be a minimum of three (3) semester hours.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 335.615(6), 335.620(1)(d)-(g)

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