TPC Journal-V6, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 4 301 association that promotes the overall counseling profession. If ACA cannot restructure so that it represents the counseling profession as a whole, then perhaps a new association that is not controlled by specializations should be formed that would replace ACA. Failure to Standardize . State counseling licensure boards need to work together to achieve standardization in licensure laws and rules. The current movement to require that those licensed hold master’s degrees from CACREP-accredited programs is the best way to achieve standardization. NBCC has already announced that in the future only graduates of CACREP-accredited programs will be eligible for national counselor certification. The American Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB; 2015) is encouraging state licensure boards to standardize counselor licensure requirements and to recognize counselor licenses from state to state. When AASCB was formed in 1986, a major goal of the new association was to standardize state counseling statutes, but obviously it is a difficult task since 30 years later that goal has not been accomplished. Job Categories . In order to create job categories for counselors, each federal, state, and local agency and all private companies that hire mental health professionals must be lobbied individually. A massive effort to create job categories should be supported by NBCC and all counseling professional associations, and that effort should become a top priority. 6. Assuming some challenges will get resolved and others will not, what do you think the counseling profession will look like 20 years from now? In 20 years, if the current challenges I have identified can be met and resolved successfully, I believe the public will have a better understanding of who counselors are, what their training is, and what services they are capable of delivering. Counselors will be the preferred mental health providers of the public because counselors are better prepared than other mental health professionals to deliver high quality counseling services. If the current challenges for the counseling profession are not resolved, in 20 years we will be where we are today, stalled on the road to establishing counseling as a strong profession in American society and being left behind in the arena of public recognition compared to other mental health professions. 7. If you were advising current counseling leaders, what advice would you give them about moving the counseling profession forward? I see several contemporary leaders in the counseling profession already providing strong positive leadership. So I would say to other counselors that they should follow the lead of counselors who are arguing that ACA should be restructured so that it represents the counseling profession as a whole, who are advocating that state licensure boards adopt CACREP-accredited master’s degrees as the standard for licensure, and who are strongly and continually urging ACA to recognize that CACREP is the only legitimate organization that accredits counseling graduate programs. At the state level, counselor leaders should work toward getting counselor licensure board members appointed by governors who support adopting CACREP-accredited master’s degrees as the minimum standard for state counselor licensure. I appreciate the courageous leaders in counseling today who are willing to take the steps necessary to advance the counseling profession even when they lack the support they deserve. This concludes the initial interview for the annual Lifetime Achievement in Counseling Series. TPC is grateful to Dr. Neal Gray and Lindsay Kozak for providing this interview. Neal D. Gray is an Associate Professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Lindsay Kozak is a counselor at Crossroads Counseling Center. Correspondence can