Verified Document

Advocating For Your Profession: Indiana Becoming Licensed Essay

Advocating for Your Profession: Indiana Becoming licensed

To become a LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor) in Indiana, an individual must have at least a master's degree with 60 hours of coursework in the field, have completed a supervised clinical practicum, and also have 3000 post-degree hours of experience in the field (Becoming licensed in Indiana, 2011, Indiana Counseling). After being certified, the counselor is expected to pursue continuing education in his or her profession. The 2005 ACA Code of Ethics strongly advises counselors to seek to continue their education in the profession (C.2.g) but the state of Indiana actually mandates that licensed counselors must devote 20 hours per year to their education.

Two challenges

One of the challenges faced by Indiana counselors has been the difficulty of new graduates finding employment. Many agencies could not hire new graduates due to licensure requirements of insurance companies and government programs. To address this issue the Indiana Legislature passed an amendment to licensure law to create a new category: Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate (LMHCA) for recent graduates of mental health counseling graduate programs who have not yet accumulated the 3000 post-degree hours necessary for regular licensure (Licensing board update, 2011, Indiana Counseling).

As well as improving the job prospects for candidates, this will also expand the potential field of counselors by facilitating the process of hiring new graduates for social service agencies. Agencies can immediately send new graduates to work for underserved populations. Finally, this new measure helps to answer the age-old dilemma of: 'how do I get the...

Drug addiction is one of the most serious problems currently afflicting the population, and counselors need knowledge that is tailored to the needs of this demographic. With this in mind, the Indiana Legislature approved the category of Licensed Addictions Counselor (LAC). Current addiction specialists have aided the state licensing board in implementing the requirements for this new subspecialty. Counselors with a background in addictions can be grandfathered in and become LACs while those without such a background must pursue specific coursework in this area (Licensing board update, 2011, Indiana Counseling).
Ethical issues

While the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics according to E.13.d stipulates that counselors must avoid potentially harmful relationships with clients of a sexual nature, the Indiana counseling board notes that these are not the most frequently reported troublesome practices of therapists. Substance abuse, rather than "financial or sexual irregularities" is the most serious issue that comes up when new applicants for counselor licensure and counselors seeking renewal of their license "make a personal appearance before the licensing board to discuss potential…

Sources used in this document:
References

ACA Ethical Code. (2005). Retrieved August 2, 2011 at http://www.imhca.org/ACA_2005_Ethical_Code.pdf

Becoming licensed in Indiana. (2011). Indiana Counseling. Retrieved August 2, 2011 at http://documents.clubexpress.com/documents.ashx?key=o5bu%2by%2fYhLFbLhJ9vfGgV50G%2bW9TS5ZLJJWq3hJ%2fvxE9OPyCmZOD0D0aOO59sKdP

ICA. (2011). Official website. Retrieved August 2, 2011 at http://www.indianacounseling.org/

Licensing board update. (2011). Indiana Counseling. Retrieved August 2, 2011 at http://www.indianacounseling.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=94517&module_id=847
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Career Assessment Testing Self-Awareness Managing Emotion Self-Motivation...
Words: 1659 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Career Assessment Testing Self-awareness Managing emotion Self-motivation Relating Well Emotional Mentoring Intuitive ability The assessment that has the most bearing on my career and the future direction of it pertains to emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a valuable part of interacting with individuals both within and outside of an organization because it represents one's ability to deal with intangible factors that can significantly influence the productivity and overall cohesion of an organization. The findings of my emotional

Jeremy's Career Assessment Plan
Words: 2171 Length: 7 Document Type: Assessment

Career Assessment Plan for Jeremy Career planning and development is an important process in personal and professional development that requires comprehensive self-assessment. The need to conduct a self-assessment is attributed to the fact that career planning and development begins at school and determines the transition from a learning institution into adult life. This implies that career planning and development requires making the best choices and decisions based on sound information. The

Career Development the Goal of This Project
Words: 1780 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Career Development The goal of this project is to create a comprehensive career development program for lower and middle class high school students. These students are more at risk than others because of their already suspect socioeconomic status. In general, this group does not have the same advantages as upper class individuals who can many times rely on better educational opportunities and networking possibilities as a whole. The program also seeks

Career Counseling in a Diverse
Words: 743 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

No matter how intelligent a person is and how successful he can be, there are many reasons for him to choose a career not really worthy of his talents. This can be due to the conception that some races do not succeed in a certain field. Similarly some women might want to become a space technician but not really take it up believing that women are not welcomed there

Career Counseling
Words: 1304 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Career planning is one of the most challenging aspects of human development and success. Within the context of career development there are many main theories, yet the theory that best applies to the information for the following client is the developmental-contextual model forwarded by a distinguished group of career development researchers and instructors at Penn State University. The concepts of the career development theory incorporate the concepts of the developmental-contextual

Career Assessment Professional Development Plan
Words: 1289 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

I am a psychology student, pursuing the degree I have always wished to since my childhood days. In addition to this degree’s scholastic advantages, I can identify a number of personal developmental elements attached to it. In specific, the advantages may be availed of through an explicit mission, professional target and aims, and a PDP (personal development plan). Through this essay, I attempt at providing a thorough view of my

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now