ABEC Administrative Rule 255-X-3-.01(3)(b)2: An applicant may subtract 1000 hours of the required professional experience for every 15 graduate semester hours or 22.5 quarter hours obtained beyond the master’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, provided that such hours are clearly related to the field of professional counseling, are focused on increasing knowledge and use of skills in the private practice of counseling in one or more of the following areas: counseling theory and practice, human growth and development, social and multicultural foundations, helping relationships, group dynamics, lifestyle and career development, appraisal of individuals, research and evaluation, or professional orientation; and are acceptable to the Board. However, in no case may the applicant have less than 1000 hours of the required professional experience. Formal graduate course work utilized as continuing education for licensure renewal cannot also be utilized as a substitute for supervised experience required to become a Licensed Professional Counselor. Formal graduate course work used as a substitution for supervised experience to become a Licensed Professional Counselor cannot also be utilized as continuing education for licensure renewal.
As the reduction of supervised hours is removing time in which the ALC would have gained valuable clinical experience and growth as a professional counselor, the course work that is used to substitute for that time must be focused on increasing knowledge and skills in the practice of counseling. As the license the applicant is pursuing is in the field of professional counseling, the course work (not necessarily the program the courses are contained within) must be clearly related to the field of professional counseling. While all counseling training and developmental coursework is mental health related, not all mental health related coursework is counseling in focus or nature.
Course work used to replace supervised experience must evidence the field of professional counseling in its essential areas [listed in ABEC Administrative Rule 255-X-3-.01(3)2] and must support and advance the professional identity of professional counseling in its structure and content. This evidence is usually identifiable in the course title and course content but may be interwoven with other professional mental health perspectives. Nonetheless, the content of the course work must be clearly related to the field of professional counseling and applicable to the field of counseling as a whole.
For Reduction of Supervised Experience Requests ABEC does not approve Practicum or Internships that are beyond the Master’s or post-graduate certificate level; Residencies; Thesis or Dissertations courses or hours; courses that are introductory courses to the school, program, libraries, learning environment, learning management systems, academic writing, or APA formatting; courses that are focused on educational teaching, pedagogy/andragogy, curriculum, design, leadership, or policy; medical healthcare services, or healthcare management; or are focused on specialty areas of counseling that are not applicable to the broader field of professional clinical counseling services, or are used for licensure/certification in other mental health or medical disciplines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Professional Counseling must be addressed in the course content, and preferably in the course syllabi. Professional Counseling and the perspectives of Professional Counseling (to potentially include but not be restricted to) the organizations and structures of Professional Counseling (e.g., ACA, AMHCA, CACREP, ALCA) should be reflected in the course content.
Was Professional Counseling addressed or mentioned in any of the syllabi? Did the course integrate Professional Counseling, and the perspectives of Professional Counseling (ethics, legal issues, professional identity), into the course content? Was Professional Counseling as a profession discussed in relation to the course content?
We cannot use a representation of the process with other terminology as evidence that the courses were clearly related to the field of Professional Counseling.
No. The courses can be free-floating and are not required to be a part of a larger certificate or degree. But they must equal, at least, 15- graduate-semester hours (or 22.5 graduate-quarter hours). We cannot approve a reduction based on less than the required 15- graduate-semester hours (or 22.5 graduate-quarter hours). The supervised experience cannot be prorated down for less than the hours requirement (e.g., 9 graduate-semester hours will not get you a reduction of 600 supervised experience hours).
Yes, that would be true. While the use of the Reduction of Supervised Experience may reduce the hours ABEC requires for licensure, it also means that the applicant did not complete the required 3,000 hours, but may have only completed 2,000 or 1,000 of client service hours. This could adversely affect licensure applications in other states as ABEC cannot then certify that the 3,000 hours of client service hours were completed.
No, this is specifically forbidden by ABEC Administrative Rule 255-X-3-.01(3)(b)2:...Formal graduate course work utilized as continuing education for licensure renewal cannot also be utilized as a substitute for supervised experience required to become a Licensed Professional Counselor.
No, Provisional licensees cannot use Reduction of Supervised Experience requests to reduce the required supervised experience hours for LPC licensure. This is due to the fact that each Provisional License agreement is unique to the circumstances of that applicants Provisional License application.