TPC-Journal-V5-Issue4

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 4 482 The second theme, no need for a doctorate to practice , consists of responses expressing the lack of need for someone to pursue a doctoral degree in order to practice because counselors can become fully licensed at the master’s level. As one respondent stated, “A master’s degree is a terminal degree. Our 60-hour requirement makes our master’s degree an advanced clinical degree. No further coursework is needed for full licensure.” This theme also includes responses indicating that a degree in CES does not prepare you for further clinical practice, as this respondent communicated: “Degrees in counselor education are really about preparing someone for a faculty or supervisor position, in my opinion, and often require little in the way of advanced counseling skill development.” For this question, as in many of the others, a theme emerged related to the individual student, depends on the student and their attributes . One respondent said that young and bright people can make it happen: “Still believing that bright young people can master most things easily, I don’t believe that waiting to get experience is necessary.” The final theme, desire to specialize , includes responses indicating the following recommendations: use PME to find a specialization before pursuing a doctorate, PME would make the doctoral program more meaningful, and some students may decide they do not need the doctorate in order to do what they want. A respondent illustrated this theme: “Get some counseling experience and have your counseling license in hand before embarking on doctoral study. Gain some perspective about the areas you want to study in depth, based on what challenges you encounter in actual practice.” Impact of PME on Doctoral Student Performance Finally, researchers asked CACREP liaisons about the positive or negative impact of post-master’s counseling experience on their doctoral students’ performance in class. Two themes emerged in the participants’ answers: (1) the more experience the better and (2) experience is valuable, but not essential. In the first theme, the more experience the better , respondents described the ways that PME helps doctoral students in the classroom. This includes observations from CACREP liaisons that doctoral students who have worked in the field know what mental health issues look like and how to respond. They also are better able to apply content learned in the doctoral program to practice. PME helps doctoral students feel more confident and increases their credibility with master’s students they are teaching and supervising. When doctoral students have PME, they are better equipped to help master’s students in their developmental journey. One respondent illustrated some of these thoughts: The more experience the better, particularly in terms of supervision and teaching. Without a fairly substantial fund of knowledge about applied practice, doctoral students have difficulty helping master’s counselors-in-training understand abstract concepts in practical terms. What does PTSD look like? How do I respond to a client who becomes suicidal in session? . . . Because our doc students begin providing supervision in the first year of their program, I would be particularly concerned if the ONLY experience they had was in their own master’s internships. They would be essentially just one year (maybe semester) ahead of those they are supervising. In the second theme, experience is valuable, but not essential , respondents wrote about the experience gained in the master’s and doctoral programs being enough. An example of this rationale is shown here: “. . . although we will admit students without post-master’s experience, we offer deep clinical experience while in our doc program. Many doc students complete two full years of internship while in the program.”