Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, March 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule is being amended to clarify the
educational requirements for licensure as a professional counselor, to include
distance-based graduate programs and courses and rescind unnecessary regulatory
language.
PURPOSE: This rule defines the educational
requirements for an applicant seeking licensure as a professional
counselor.
(1) In order to
qualify for supervision, provisional licensure, or licensure as a professional
counselor, an applicant shall have received a graduate degree at the master's,
specialist, or doctoral level that consisted of a course of study with a major
in counseling from an acceptable educational institution. The educational
program must enhance and continuously reinforce the development of a counselor
identity through its course work, philosophies, counseling, education, faculty,
and field experiences.
(A) An acceptable
educational institution shall mean a regionally accredited institution approved
by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education.
(B) An applicant who
obtained a master's degree or was enrolled in an acceptable educational
institution prior to August 28, 2023, a master's degree with a major in
counseling shall consist of at least forty-eight (48) semester hours or
seventy-two (72) quarter hours.
(C)
An applicant who enrolled in an acceptable institution on or after August 28,
2023, a master's degree with a major in counseling as defined in this rule
shall consist of at least sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter
hours.
(D) Asynchronous learning
not to exceed fifty percent (50%) total course work. For the purpose of this
rule, asynchronous learning, non-interactive communication shall be defined as
those courses in which the student has no means of simultaneously interacting
with the course instructor visually and verbally during the transmission of
course information.
(E) Continuing
education or work experience shall not be considered as a form of graduate
course work, even if credit is awarded by the educational institution and the
offering appears on the transcript.
(2) Effective August 28, 2023, and pursuant
to section 337.520.1.(5), RSMo, a course of study with a major in counseling
shall consist of at least sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter
hours pursuant to 20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(C), include the teaching, training, and
supervision of multiple counseling principles, techniques, and interventions,
and shall be defined as one (1) of the following:
(A) A graduate degree accredited by the
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs
(CACREP), or its successor organization, or the Counseling on Rehabilitation
Education, Incorporated (CORE), or its successor organization;
(B) A graduate degree in counseling that is
consistent with the development of a counselor identity through its course of
study, that includes a three- (3-) semester-hour graduate course or a five-
(5-) quarter-hour graduate course in each core area defined as follows:
1. Assessment-Courses acceptable for this
area cover structured and unstructured assessment of the mental health
functions and psychopathology of a person using assessment, testing, and tools
consistent with counseling practice; and
2. Career Counseling-Courses acceptable for
this area cover concepts about how career development unfolds, the lifelong
processes and the influences upon clients or patients that lead to work values,
occupational choice, creation of a career pattern, decision-making style,
integration of roles, issues concerning identity, and patterns of work
adjustment; and
3. Counseling
Theory-Courses acceptable for this area shall cover the various major theories
and techniques of counseling; and
4. Counseling Skills and
Interventions-Courses acceptable for this area cover theoretical foundations
pertaining to counseling skills training and the development and implementation
of interventions and techniques that support effective treatment; and
5. Diagnosis-Courses acceptable for this area
provide an understanding and a working knowledge of psychodiagnostics using the
current editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM) and International Classifications of Diseases (ICD). Course content
regarding the manuals must include understanding the organizational structures,
professional terminology used in the manuals, and competence in their
application as they are used in the assessment process and subsequent treatment
planning; and
6. Human Growth and
Development-Courses acceptable for this area shall cover various stages of the
human growth cycle and include information about theories of development or
various aspects of development as it relates to the practice of counseling;
and
7. Group Counseling-Courses
acceptable for this area cover the theories, principles, and techniques of
providing counseling or psychotherapy with groups of people including group
process components, development stage theories, group members' roles and
behaviors, and therapeutic factors of group therapy. For the purpose of this
rule, a graduate course in marital and family therapy does not meet the
requirement of this core area; and
8. Social and Cultural Diversity-Courses
acceptable for this area cover various cultural and social class issues in
areas such as race, sexual orientation, aging, disability, socioeconomic,
ethnic, gender-related, or other issues of diversity that emerge in a
pluralistic society as it relates to the practice of counseling; and
9. Research Methods-Courses acceptable for
this area cover principles, methods, techniques, and tools used in performing
research in counseling; and
10.
Practicum/Internship-The practice or internship shall be a field experience and
span at least two (2) academic semesters or three (3) academic quarters and
shall consist of at least six hundred (600) clock hours and include a minimum
of two hundred forty (240) clock hours providing face to face counseling,
including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant
telehealth.
A. The field experience must be a
graduate-level supervised practicum/internship applying principles, techniques,
assessments, diagnosis and interventions in a practice setting, which must be
clinical in nature.
B. For purposes
of these rule, settings that focus only on intakes/assessments or in-school
settings do not meet the requirement of this core area; and
11. Professional Orientation and
Ethics-Courses acceptable for this area cover an orientation to the practices
and responsibilities of a professional counselor including the establishment of
a professional counselor identity and the legal and ethical standards of the
profession.
(3)
An applicant may submit a written request and fee to the committee to conduct
an educational review to determine compliance with 20 CSR 2095-2.010.
(A) Upon receipt of official educational
transcripts from the college or university and/or information relating to the
program, and upon payment of the fee for an educational review as defined in 20
CSR 2095-1.020 section (1), the committee will review education credentials or
a proposed plan for obtaining the appropriate education in compliance with
these rules.
(B) All information
shall be submitted to the committee no later than thirty (30) days prior to the
next regularly scheduled committee meeting.
(4) The applicant shall have the burden of
demonstrating that the degree consisted of a course of study including
teaching, training, and supervision of counseling principles, techniques, and
interventions as well as the development of a counselor identity. If the
applicant's transcript does not clearly delineate that the degree consisted of
the required course of study, the applicant shall obtain documentation on
official letterhead from the appropriate college or university official
providing an explanation on how the graduate course of study is acceptable
pursuant to this rule.
(A) Any seminar,
reading courses, or independent study shall be evaluated by the committee in
the same manner as on-site graduate courses or programs as defined in this
rule.
(B) Undergraduate course work
shall not be in compliance with core requirements unless graduate credit is
clearly delineated on the transcript.
(C) When evaluating transcripts based upon a
quarter hour system, the committee shall consider a quarter hour of graduate
credit as two-thirds (2/3) of a semester hour. A partial semester hour shall
not count as a full semester hour. A semester hour of graduate credit shall be
defined as fifteen (15) clock hours of regularly scheduled classroom
study.
(5) Graduate
course work consisting of a course of study as defined in section (2) of this
rule with a major in counseling and from a school, college, university, or
other institution of higher learning outside of the United States may be
considered in compliance with these rules if at the time the school, college,
university, or other institution of higher learning where the applicant was
enrolled or graduated maintained a standard of training substantially
equivalent to the standards of training of those institutions accredited by one
of the regional accredited commissions recognized by the United States
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The committee shall determine
if the standard of training was substantially the same as those institutions
accredited by one (1) of the regional accrediting commissions recognized by the
United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It shall be the
applicant's responsibility to document that the course work consisted of a
course of study as defined in section (2) of this rule.
*Original authority: 337.510, RSMo 1985, amended 1989,
1996, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 337.520, RSMo 1985, amended 1989, 1993,
1995.
