TPC Journal V8, Issue 1 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 1 35 independently licensed counselors’ views on CACREP Standard 2.1, which stipulates that students learn the history and philosophy of the profession of counseling. Third, we wanted independently licensed counselors’ views on CACREP Standard 3.p, which proposes but does not require that licensed professional counselors supervise master’s- and doctoral-level students. Fourth, we wanted independently licensed counselors’ views on the states that require only independently licensed counselors to supervise graduate students and postgraduates earning their independent license. Fifth, we wanted independently licensed counselors’ views on states that require all graduate counseling programs to be CACREP-accredited. We also wanted to examine the relationship between independently licensed counselors’ clarity in identifying as a counselor to others and their scores on the combined 5-item scale of professional identity standards. Lastly, we wanted to examine the relationship between independently licensed counselors’ clarity in identifying as a counselor to others and their views on each of the five separate professional identity standards. Independently licensed counselors from across the United States helped us answer these questions. Method For this study, approved by the HSIRBs of our universities, we analyzed a subset of data collected about professional issues from independently licensed counselors. We analyzed five questions asking independently licensed counselors about professional identity development in the context of CACREP training and state supervision standards to achieve independent counseling licensure. We have not published results from this subset of data previously, nor will the data in this study be used in future data analyses. Participants We defined independently licensed counselors as counselors who have graduated with at least a master’s degree, have obtained postgraduate clinical supervision, and currently hold a license to practice as a counselor independently without supervision in their state. Every state in the United States independently determines the graduate degree requirements for licensure—if that degree must come from a CACREP-accredited program, the length of time spent in postgraduate supervision, and the license required to provide supervision. Because states drive licensure requirements, we purposely refrained from asking if the independently licensed counselor graduated from a CACREP- accredited program, the length of time they spent in postgraduate supervision, the license of the individual who provided them postgraduate supervision, or if their master’s degree was from a counselor education program. We included any currently active independently licensed counselors in the United States because every independently licensed counselor creates the professional identity of the counseling profession. Therefore, we sought the views of independently licensed counselors in the United States, not any given subset of that total population. To achieve independent licensure, the counselor must complete state-approved training and have at least two years of practice under supervision. Consequently, participants had spent several years in clinical practice prior to participating in the study. Participants included 494 independently licensed counselors with a mean age of 41 (range = 25–73, SD = 10.5) who completed the specific sections of the measure analyzed in this study. A majority identified as female (n = 410, 83%) and European American (n = 418, 84%). Other racial demographic responses from participants included: African American (n = 23, 5%), Hispanic (n = 19, 4%), Biracial (n = 17, 3%), No Response (n = 9, 2%), Asian American (n = 5, 1%), and Native American (n = 3, <1%).