Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia

I'm interested in pursuing a masters in Pychology from NCU. First off, does that allow to to practice as a counselor in Virginia? e.g. could I do marrige counciling etc... and get paid for it? I keep hearing that the institution needs to be APA certified - and I read a bunch of threads but I'm still confused!

Any help would really be appreciated.

 

I did a little more research - you need 4000 hours of residency before you can start counciling????????????????? how on earth does that work?

 

Since you live in Virginia, check with Virginia COmmonwealth University. They have a distance master's degree that qualify's for licensure. It is in rehabilitation counseling, but is very flexible. Just a thought.

 

Other Distance programs in Prof. Counseling

In Virginia you can check two DL programs:

1. Regents University offers a Masters and a doctorate by DL.

2. Liberty University has a Masters program designed for licensure.

Others outside Virginia:

1. Capella University is the first online school to achieve CACREP accreditation for their professional counseling Masters degree. Few schools get that accreditation. Most States design their licensure requirements after CACREP standards.

YOu can check them out under their school of Human Services:

http://www.capella.edu

 

In my neck of the woods they call it an internship, an unpaid (usually) training experience where you essentially perform as an entry level couselor/therapist/whatever under the supervision of at least one senior counselor/therapist/whatever. In my experience these internships are often facilitated by the school. I'm unclear about how that works in a DL situation. You may have to find your own situation. BTW, I believe this is one of the reasons that there are no DL Social Work programs (I had to do almost 8000 internship hours to get my MSW). If you're still interested, send me a PM. I have a couple of ideas of how you might find your own internship site (that is, if it's necessary). In any case, good luck.
Jack

 

First, I doubt it has to be APA certified (to be an LPC). Second, I second Blackbird's advice. Liberty U is designed to meet licensure in many states and is a distance learning program (requires a couple of short modular residencies). For ex. the Group Counseling course is during a modular session and I support this approach since I doubt the effectiveness of Group Therapy methods by distance learning. You really need to experience this (i.e. lead and be part of a group).

Good luck!

North

 

You're also not ready to consider a master's in counseling. (Okay, I won't joke about your typo. ). Seriously, you need to do much more research into licensure before taking the next step. Here's where to begin . . .

First, APA has nothing to do with the licensure of master's-level counselors. The organizations that do deal with this area are the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC, whose exam is used for licensure purposes in Virginia) and CACREP (the accrediting body for counseling programs at the master's level). CACREP accreditation applies to board certification only, and is not necessary for licensure.

I know you indicated an aversion to religious programs, but quite frankly, the best program for your would be Liberty (Falwell's school, as opposed to Regent, which is Pat Robertson's school). You do not have to be religious to do their distance program, nor sign any doctrinal statement as the residential students do, although you may have to take one or two religious courses.

Why Liberty? (1) It's right in Virginia, so you can do their one-week residencies more conveniently than you could at NCU. (2) It's non-profit. I don't know about NCU, but my take is that it may be proprietary. (3) Many states use both a national adn a state-based exam. Study in Virginia. (4) Liberty is probably cheaper, has a brick-and-mortar campus, has been around a lot longer, and is highly respected in Virginia - even by nonreligious types. (5) They were one of the first schools to comport their counseling program to NBCC board standards, and their counseling faculty includes several people who are licensed in Virginia as LPC's themselves. Hands down, Liberty would meet your goals more effectively and cost efficiently than NCU.

Now, can you do marriage counseling as an LPC? Yes, but again, do your research. A professional counselor (LPC) s different than a marriage and family therapist (LMFT). Get to know the standards of both professions. My takem, FWIW: The LPC is a more marketable credential.

Your next step: Go to nbcc.org (the web site of the NBCC) and start learning about the various requirements.

 

Re: Re: Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia

Steve has offered some good advice here and as he has shown, this matter can be complicated. Here's another complication:
Just because you obtain some sort of license, LPC, LMFC, whatever, this doesn't necessarily mean that insurance companies are willing to reimburse you for your efforts. This is likely to vary from state to state so I won't hazzard a guess as to your situation. If you can not be reimbursed by insurance companies then this means you're restricted to having people pay out of pocket for their therapy. Some people are willing to to do this for some therapists, especially if they are well known and have special, proven skills. Few people are willing to do this for a newbie, especially if their insurance will pay for an alternative. Obviously this is less critical if you're willing to work within some sort of agency, but then, that's a different sort of job and a different set of questions. You haven't said what your employment plans might include but you might want to consider researching the insurance question as well.
Jack

 

Liberty recently began a Ph.D. in Counseling program.

"A MAJOR ACADEMIC MILESTONE was achieved at Liberty University when the College of Arts and Sciences, in cooperation with Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, extended their graduate programs to include the Ph.D. in Counseling with specializations in Professional Counseling and Pastoral Care and Counseling."

http://www.liberty.edu/DistanceLearning/index.cfm?PID=673

 

Virginia Licensed Professional Counselor

Hi,

I am currently a master's level counselor in Virginia and also a current doctoral student in counseling psychology in a distance program through Capella University.

In response to your questions about a distance degree that will allow you to work as a professional counselor in Virginia, blackbird mentioned Regent University. That is where I got my master's degree. They do have an online program but that is for a degree in human services, which does not lead to licensure. In order to do the program that qualifies for Virginia licensure, you have to attend their traditional programs (either in Virginia Beach or Alexandria).

My current school, Capella, does have a master's degree in human service counseling that would qualify you for Virginia Licensure. It has recently received CACREP accreditation (the Golden Seal of Approval for counseling programs). In VA if you graduate from a CACREP school, you get to count your 600 hours of internship toward your 4000 hour residency requirement… not a huge deal but will get you licensed about 6 months quicker.

Good luck.
Patti Williams

 

Re: Virginia Licensed Professional Counselor

Wow . . . this is impressive. I've never been a Capella fan (I tend to be leery about proprietary schools), but CACREP accreditation is certainly a feather in their cap, and I would thereore recommend this counseling program highly based on this alone.

For the uninitiated, CACREP is the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. They were unrecognized by DoEd and CHEA for many years, although I believe they are recognized by at least CHEA at this point (I haven't checked up on them recently). Patti is quite correct in calling referring to them as the "Golden Seal of Approval" when it comes to licensure-based counseling programs. But there's more . . .

Historically, there has always been a relationship between the ACA (American Counseling Association, formerly the American Association for Counseling and Development, the counseling equivalent of the APA), NBCC (the National Board of Certified Counselors, whose certification exam is used by many states for licensure purposes), adn CACREP. At one time, in fact, they were all headquartered together in Virginia, though they are now all independent of each other.

The primarily certification for professional counselors is "NCC" (National Certified Counselor), issued by the NBCC. The NCC exam, therefore, serves two purposes: In addition to licensure in many states, it is the exam used for board certification by the NBCC itself. Here's the CACREP tie-in: If you have graduated from a CACREP-approved counseling program and pass the NCC exam, you are immediately "board certified." If you did not graduate from a CACREP-approved school, even though you mght pass the NCC exam for licensure purposes, you are only "board eligible" for two years. Therefore, the obvious advantage of graduating from a CACREP-approved master's program (in addition to saving 600 hours on your internship" is immediate recogniation as an "NCC, board certified" upon passing the same eaxm you would have to take for licensure anyway. And yes, board certification does carry a lot of weight.

CACREP approval is also tough to get. Here in Pennsylvania, for example, when I wrote NIFI there were only three schools that had it: Villanove University, Shippensburg University, and the Uniersity of Scranton (where the Pennsylvania Counseling Association, the local arm of the ACA, is based). For one reason or another (meaning I don't know why), a few years ago Villanova opted out of CACREP.

Obviously, what is significant about Capella's approval is that it demonstrates that CACREP is now willing to approve a limited residency program with a dispersed student population. That shows not only the openness of CACREP to recognize such a program, but the credibility of Capella's counseling program itself.

 

EKFlag....

Another item I ment to address when replying to your post was your question about APA accreditation. Many people are confused about the issue of APA. To begin with, APA only accredits doctoral level programs. There is no such thing as an APA master's program. What you will want to look for in a master's counseling program is CACREP.

Good luck.

Patti

 

Out-of-state licensees

Hi Patti,
hope all is well. I recently completed a master's program in New York State. I'm presently completing my 3000 post graduate hrs for licensure in NYS. This will take me 1 1/2 years to complete. I do wish to relocate to Virginia afterwards. I was told the process was difficult. That was very discouraging to hear. I'm asking if you could shed some light on this situation. (Assuming I pass the National Exam)Do you know what I would need to do to become a recognized Licensed Mental Health Counselor in VA? I was told D.C.was not as difficult.
Thanks,
Daphne Denis

 

Hi Jack,

Just letting you know that there are MANY DL MSW programs. For instance, USC and University of New England to name a few. And, I know quite a few MSW interns (since I am a counseling intern)... most from Smith College and Springfield College (both from MA... but I know that most MSW programs have the same requirements for reciprocity), and their internship requirements don't seem very different than mine, which are 1,200 hours during the degree program. At 20 hours per week, this takes me 4 semesters. 8,000 hours would require 26 semesters of part time (20 hours per week) internship/field work, or 13 semesters of full time (40 hours per week) internship before the MSW. That's like getting 2 PhDs. Which school did you go to?

 

EKflag,

Virginia requires 4,000 hours of supervised work AFTER graduating with a degree in counseling. You do not need to be licensed as a LPC to provide counseling. It's solely required for independent practice and billing. Before getting the LPC, you will need to have clocked 4,000 hours of supervised work (in a counseling center, under a licensed clinical supervisor - LPC, etc) and 2,000 hours of direct face-to-face counseling. If you work 40 hours per week every week of the year, this will take you 2 years.

The cheapest school that will allow you to sit for Verginia LPC licensure is probably Liberty. Although, there is a heavy Christian bent to many of their classes (ie: one of the required text for Research & Evaluation was "The Holy Bible"). CACREP, which was already mentioned, is also important to consider. It's not currently necessary, but if you can find a program that is a good fit and CACREP-accredited you should really go for it. It could be helpful if you ever decide to move to a different state in the future.

Best of luck!!!

 

PS: Don't mind me misspelling "Virginia". We just came back from a long trip to New Jersey, and I've still got I-95 on the brain.

 

OK, so, just for the record, you're replying to a post that's nine years old. Maybe a few things have changed in those nine years.

 

Thanks for the info. I guess that I should have checked the date. Still... the 8,000-hour internship claim is wacky. I'd like to know what schools/states require that.

 

I wouldn't have even noticed it had you not pointed it out to me.

 

Don't worry about it. In my other life I am a notorious bad speller