Announcement
Regarding The Creation of Master’s-Granting Psychology Programs for Licensure
ACES Government Relations & Public Policy Committee
ACES Executive Director & Presidential Trio
This fall, ACES made formal presentations at each ACES regional conference about the sustainability and wellness of our Counselor Education and Supervision programs. As the American Psychological Association (APA) moves forward with accreditation and subsequent licensure of their master’s programs in Health Service Psychology (HSP; school psychology, clinical psychology, and counseling psychology), it is critical for us to publicly respond to their “Proposed Title and Draft Scope of Practice” by end of day November 24, 2024.
Information can be found at: https://www.apaservices.org/practice/ce/faq-psychology-multitiered-profession
To publicly comment, you will need to register as a non-member at this link: https://commentinggov.apa.org.
Please take this opportunity to advocate for professional counselors and encourage APA to establish completely separate licensure from professional counselors across the U.S.
ACES Statement
The American Psychological Association (APA) is considering the formal creation and subsequent pursuit of licensure status for master’s-level psychologists trained in “health services psychology (HSP).”
Currently, 20 states allow for licensure of psychologists at the master’s level, while others allow for licensure as professional counselors. APA would like to formally accredit these master’s programs with accreditation standards, and move toward national licensure for HSPs. This movement is detrimental to the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) and represents a threat to professional counseling identity nationwide.
Case law established professional counseling as a distinct and unique profession in 1976. ACES believes that professional counseling must not be conflated with psychology or other distinct mental health professions. While APA may consider the creation and subsequent licensure of these programs, we do not believe these graduates have the training or professional identity to be licensed as professional counselors. Licensure as professional counselors must be earned only after the completion of a CACREP-accredited (or equivalent depending on state requirements) master’s degree program in counseling with appropriate examination and clinical experience periods as determined by the applicant’s jurisdiction.
To ensure the protection of the counseling profession, ACES and its members must work towards counselor-only licensure practices in all states and territories in the United States. That is to say, licensed professional counselors should have the educational background and training in counseling. We encourage APA to seek out their own professional licensure distinct from professional counseling. At the graduate level, we support professional counseling degrees with sole accreditation by CACREP (or CACREP-equivalent depending on the state) which include courses related to professional counselor identity and professional counseling core areas (e.g., lifespan development, clinical practice and techniques, multiculturalism, ethics, assessment and diagnosis, research, career development, group work) without exception. We recommend counseling specific exams (e.g., National Counselor Examination, National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination) as benchmarks for professional counseling licensure. Individuals outside of the counseling profession with distinct and different professional identities and training experiences should not be licensed as professional counselors.