Are You A Registered Counselor In Private Practice? How Will New Counselor Regulations Affect You?

This year the Washington State legislature passed a bill eliminating the registered counselor (RC) credential and establishing several new credentials in its place. When the new credentials go into effect in 2010, RCs will have to fulfill new requirements, including consultation or supervision, and work with a clearly limited scope of practice. If you are an RC in private practice, you may be wondering how the new law will affect you. Will you be able to continue your work? Will your clients still have the right to choose your services?If you are not an RC but are interested in the controversy over the regulation of counselors, you may wonder what was wrong with the old law? Why did we have both registered and licensed counselors? Why is this issue important to the community at large?As president of Washington Professional Counselors Association (WaProCA), an organization representing private practice RCs, and as a member of the Department of Health Registered Counselor Work Group, I have been at the epicenter of the effort in our state to reform counselor regulation. I have a different perspective from <a href="http://biznik.com/learn/articles/industry-specific/how-washington-states-new-rules-affect-counselors-coaches-healers-and-you">other Biznik articles on this topic</a> and offer  (1) information on how the new law affects RCs, (2) how you can influence the development of rules for the new counselor credentials, and (3) why this issue is important for our community.When will the new law go into effect? The RC credential is abolished July 1, 2010 and all registered counselors must obtain another health profession credential by that date.  Application for new credentials may be made beginning July 1, 2009.If I am currently registered in WA as a counselor, will I be grandparented into one of the new credentials? If you have 5+ years registration and no unresolved actionable complaints, you will have to take a course in ethics, risk assessment and referral, and WA law regarding counselors and pass a test in these subjects. You will be able to continue counseling under the new limited scope of practice and a consultation agreement with a licensed mental health professional.What if I was registered as a counselor for more than 5 years and then let my registration lapse? If you renew your registration before the 7/1/09 cut-off date, there is a chance that you may still qualify for the above 5+ year category. It’s well worth the investment because the requirements for starting over are more stringent and expensive.What about RC’s with less than 5 years experience? Newly trained counselors and/or RCs with less than 5 years experience will be required to have a bachelors degree in counseling or a related field and a supervision agreement with a state-qualified supervisor in order to become a certified counselor. The more limited certified adviser credential requires an AA degree and supervision.Can I take the test now to become certified? No because the Department of Health (DOH) won’t know what to include in the course or test until after the rules are adopted for implementing the new law.I have been a registered counselor for a number of years, have a great deal of training in my field and a very positive relationship with my clients, and yet I still read disparaging remarks about how meaningless this credential is. There was a great uproar in the press and in Olympia about the assumption that people were counseling without any training because there are no educational requirements for registration. Until 2007 even the DOH had very little data on RCs. When legislation based on these assumptions failed to pass in 2007, the DOH hired Gilmore Research Group to conduct a statistically valid survey of RCs and evaluate what skills and training they actually have (vs. what they are required to have).The Gilmore findings show that 46% of registered counselors have a Masters degree, 4% have Doctoral degrees, and 22% have a Bachelors degree in counseling or a closely related field. 66% have had supervised internships and over half are working with other professionals who oversee their counseling – all this without any requirement to do so!Why originally were there no educational standards set for RCs? (1) Back in 1987 when the RC credential was established, registration was instituted specifically for the protection of clients so that they would have recourse through the DOH in the event their counselor behaved unethically or abusively. Otherwise, as with coaches and other professionals who operate under a business license and are not subject to professional disciplinary action by the DOH, clients would not have any recourse other than a civil suit regarding bad business practices.(2) The RC credential has included counselors who specialize in many diverse forms of counseling and personal growth not taught in universities and/or not licensed in Washington State. There are RCs who are Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts, and those who have advanced degrees in Human Development, Transpersonal Psychology, Body Centered Psychotherapy. Other RCs specialize in Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi, Voice Dialogue, Bio Energetics, to name just a few modalities not taught in degree programs. There are also RCs who do a great job helping their clients with smoking cessation, diet and exercise programs, stress management, etc. and do not need an advanced degree in treating mental illness in order to qualify for the work they do.So, how will the new educational requirements be made appropriate for such a diverse group of counselors? RCs may vary greatly in the modalities they use to work with their clients, but all counselors must treat their clients ethically and be able to assess accurately when a client is a danger to themselves or others and/or needs licensed mental health care for problems beyond the counselor’s scope of practice. How will the new standards benefit RCs? (1) With the new credentials counselors will finally have a way to demonstrate their training to the public. (2) Requirements for consultation and supervision and training in ethics and appropriate referral foster cooperation and heightened accountability at all levels of the counseling professions. (3) The new law will help to eliminate all likelihood that a completely unqualified person could set up business as a counselor.How will the new standards benefit the public? The public wins with this new law because (1) clients will still have protection through the DOH, (2) there will still be availability of a broad range of services including alternatives to the medical model big pharma approach to dealing with life’s daily challenges and stress, (3) there will be standardization in counselor training in the essential areas of ethics, risk assessment, and referral, and (4) by limiting the scope of practice, we can be sure that counselors will not be diagnosing and treating mental illness unless licensed to do so.Why do we need both certified and licensed counselors? In a word, choice. (1) A great deal of the brilliance, creativity, and innovation in counseling has traditionally come from sources outside of academia, and typically only years later do these forms of counseling become integrated into academic programs. (2) A troubling national trend is the movement toward pathologizing and increasingly medicating life’s ordinary stresses. We need the expertise of licensed mental health professionals to diagnose and treat the mentally ill, and we also need to preserve access to counseling that is not based on a medical model of disease and treatment and is instead rooted in presence, connection, and honoring each person’s innate wisdom.I hear that passing a new law is only part of the process. How can I have a say in how the rules are developed to implement the new law? When a new law is passed, the next step in the process is the development of rules to implement the law through the Washington Administrative Code (WACs). The DOH will hold hearings and provide opportunities for public comment so that all the stakeholders can have a say in these rules.Here are some ways that you can participate: <ol> <li>Go to the DOH website and sign up for the RC listserv at <a href="http://listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A0=REGISTERED-COUNSELORS">listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A0=REGISTERED-COUNSELORS</a>, and you will receive notification of hearings and public comment periods. </li> <li>Read the new law so you can better understand its implications and how it may affect you. Go to <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/2674-S2.PL.pdf">apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/2674-S2.PL.pdf</a>. </li> <li>Participate in the rule-making process – show up for hearings, file your comments, make your voice heard. </li> <li>Get to know your fellow professionals. RCs came very close to losing our right to practice because we had no organization. Nobody knew who we were, and we didn’t know each other. Washington Professional Counselors Association changed that. We have spent two years (and thousands of unpaid hours) actively working in Olympia, building relationships with lawmakers and creating respect and recognition for private practice RCs. We have a listserv where RCs can keep up to date with each other and with the legal process. We have regular meetings in Seattle, and you are welcome to attend. You can become a member, join the listserv, or get more information at <a href="http://www.waproca.org">www.waproca.org</a>.</li> </ol> 2008-07-09T21:41:18Z