TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

185 Stephanie Burns, Daniel R. Cruikshanks Evaluating Independently Licensed Counselors’ Articulation of Professional Identity Using Structural Coding Inconsistent counselor professional identity contributes to issues with licensure portability, parity in hiring practices, marketplace recognition in U.S. society and third-party payments for independently licensed counselors. Counselors could benefit from enhancing the counseling profession’s identity as well as individual professional identities within the counseling profession. A random sample of 472 independently licensed counselors self-rated and then documented their individual professional identity via their occupational role discussions with others. Results demonstrate that independently licensed counselors rarely accurately self-evaluate their occupational role communications. Further, counselors rarely establish the counseling profession’s identity when discussing their occupational role. Participants’ responses guided the creation of a model that can guide counselors in evaluating and improving the communication of their professional identity to clients, other professionals and the general public. Keywords: counselor professional identity, licensed counselors, occupational role, parity, structural coding Authors have expressed concerns about counselor professional identity for over 10 years (Gale & Austin, 2003; Gibson, Dollarhide, & Moss, 2010; Kaplan & Gladding, 2011; Mellin, Hunt, & Nichols, 2011; Myers, Sweeney, & White, 2002). An inconsistent counselor professional identity contributes to issues with licensure portability, parity in hiring practices, marketplace recognition in U.S. society and third-party payments for independently licensed counselors (Calley & Hawley, 2008; Myers et al., 2002; Reiner, Dobmeier, & Hernández, 2013). Additionally, the lack of counselor professional identity has been a factor related to students with master’s degrees in psychology becoming licensed as counselors in many states (Lincicome, 2015). If the profession of counseling appears the same as all the other mental health professions, legislators struggle to understand how specific licenses tie to specific professions that have specific graduate education programs. Licensure boards protect the public from harm by ensuring that counselors have appropriate graduate degrees based on relevant curricula and direct application experiences under supervision (Simon, 2011). Licensing boards require uniform standards to measure minimum training criteria for a profession to assist in expeditious reviews of licensure applications (Mascari & Webber, 2013). A strong counselor professional identity increases counselors’ ability to work with their client populations of interest, receive third-party reimbursement, offer all of the appropriately trained services afforded in their scope of practice and make a greater impact when advocating for clients (Calley & Hawley, 2008; Myers et al., 2002; Reiner et al., 2013). Apprehensions exist about counselors articulating their profession in generic, non-counseling terms such as therapists or psychotherapists as a method for establishing their ability to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders. Confusion increases because other health providers, such as physical therapists, respiratory therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, psychologists, social workers and psychiatrists, also utilize the same generic descriptors (Lincicome, 2015). The profession of counseling lacks a consistent identity in U.S. society (Myers et al., 2002); thus, counselors must establish the counseling profession’s identity as well as counselors’ The Professional Counselor Volume 7, Issue 2, Pages 185–207 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2017 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi:10.15241/sb.7.2.185 Stephanie Burns, NCC, is an Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University. Daniel R. Cruikshanks is a Professor at Aquinas College. Correspondence can be addressed to Stephanie Burns, 1903 W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5226, stephanie.burns@wmich.edu .