TPC Journal-Vol 9 Issue 3-FULL

The Professional Counselor | Volume 9, Issue 3 263 was to work to provide clearer information on their website and to ensure that staff who answered questions over the phone were well-versed in licensure requirements and application procedures. One participant’s recommendation was for state boards to create a flow chart detailing the paperwork required for licensure applications based on the variety of contexts from where counselors might be operating. Discussion Our exploration began with the understanding that despite initiatives and calls for consistency among licensure standards, the counseling profession continues to struggle to establish a unified identity. Participants’ narratives supported previous researchers who emphasized the need for a unified counselor identity, accomplished in part through consistent licensing criteria (Eissenstat & Bohecker, 2018; Mascari & Webber, 2013; Mellin, Hunt, & Nichols, 2011; Myers, Sweeney, & White, 2002). Participants described confusion related to licensure titles and licensing categories across states. Within the RMACES region, the highest level of licensure for professional counselors has four different titles. In addition to making the application process more confusing and tedious, this inconsistency contributes to the deeper problem of counselors not having a clear professional identity. The results of this study support both the objectives and the proposed outline for the national counselor licensure endorsement process. This initiative was prompted by calls from within the profession to establish greater consistency between state licensure requirements (AASCB, 2019; Kaplan & Gladding, 2011; Kaplan & Kraus, 2018; Kaplan, Tarvydas, & Gladding, 2014). In response, AASCB, ACES, AMHCA, CACREP, and NBCC have all agreed upon a national process for counselor licensure by endorsement. The joint statement’s proposal for licensure reciprocity demonstrates key governing organizations within the counseling profession are aligned on this issue and if enacted would eliminate the majority of issues participants described. Counselors can work to effect systemic change through advocacy at the state level. The more states that adopt this joint process for licensure endorsement, the easier the licensure reciprocity process will be for professional counselors who move to a new state. Professional counselors who directly serve on their state licensing boards also may be able to influence their state in moving toward this standard. Although we expected to hear narratives of frustration related to the licensure portability process, we were surprised by how pervasive this frustration was across everyone’s experience, to varying degrees. Our call for participants simply sought out licensed counselors who obtained a second license in a Rocky Mountain state, so it seems indicative of a larger issue of inefficiency across states that all participants described a system that does not function well. Specifically, we were surprised by how many different types of barriers applicants could encounter. Interactions with the state boards overwhelmingly contributed to the struggle to obtain clear instructions on how to manage typical and also unique circumstances. We were surprised that no participants spoke about the benefits of the NCC endorsement through NBCC. In addition to access to clinical resources, designation as an NCC voluntarily demonstrates to the public that a counselor has met high national standards (NBCC, 2019). Participants either did not address this certification or described it as irrelevant toward helping them with their licensure process. Until greater consistency between state licensure requirements can be enacted, the authors recommend counselors keep documentation of everything related to their clinical training, remain in a state for five years prior to relocating, and communicate with the board of the state that one