State of Louisiana

LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS BOARD OF EXAMINERS

8631 SUMMA AVENUE, SUITE A

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70809

TELEPHONE 225/765-2515 WEBSITE www.lpcboard.org

The following information is a synopsis of the Louisiana Mental Health Counselor Licensing Act and the Board rules on licensure. Before one can make application for license one must have obtained a graduate degree in mental health counseling, a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised mental health counseling experience over a minimum two year post graduate degree period, and have passed the National Counselors Examination.

Those persons beginning their supervised counseling experience on or after January 1, 1993 must comply with the supervision requirements outlined in Part II and register their supervision with the Board office prior to beginning their experience.

I. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

1. Twenty-one (21) years of age or older;

2. Good moral character;

3. Not in violation of any of the provisions of R.S. 37:1101-1115 and the rules and regulations adopted herein;

4. Has received a graduate degree the substance of which is professional mental health counseling in content from a regionally accredited institution of higher education offering a masters and/or doctoral program in counseling that is approved by the board and has accumulated at least forty-eight (48) graduate semester hours as part of the graduate degree plan containing the eight required areas, the supervised mental health practicum and supervised internship in mental health counseling (as defined by rules adopted by the Board listed under Chapter 5), which shall not be interpreted to exclude post-graduate course work in mental health counseling, as part of the degree plan containing 48 graduate hours including eight content areas, practicum and internship approved by the Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) Board. Graduate degree shall be defined as: A CACREP accredited counseling program; a counseling program incorporating the word "counseling" or "counselor" in its title; a program incorporating a counseling-related term in its title (e.g. "marriage and family therapy"); or a program incorporating the eight content areas, a counseling practicum and a counseling internship. In addition, the above should not be construed to include degrees in disciplines licensed elsewhere by the State of Louisiana (e.g., social work, psychology) with the exception of counseling psychology, and vocational rehabilitation counseling programs.

The following eight (8) areas are required to have at least one semester course:

1. Counseling/theories of personality.

2. Human growth and development.

3. Abnormal behavior.

4. Techniques of counseling.

5. Group dynamics, processes, and counseling.

6. Lifestyle and career development.

7. Appraisal of individuals.

8. Ethics.

Description of course content listed below:

Counseling/theories of personality. Description: counseling theories including both individual and systems perspectives; research and factors considered in applications of counseling theories; or theories of personality including major theories of personality.

Human growth and development. Description: the nature and needs of individuals at developmental levels; theories of individual and family development and transitions across the life-span; theories of learning and personality development; human behavior including an understanding of developmental crises, disability, addictive behavior, psychopathology, and environmental factors as they affect both normal and abnormal behavior; strategies for facilitating development over the lifespan.

Abnormal behavior. Description: emotional and mental disorders experienced by persons of all ages; characteristics of disorders; common nosologies of emotional and mental disorders utilized within the U.S. health care system; the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, as published by the American Psychiatric Association; preferred treatment approaches for disorders based on research; common medications used by psychiatrists to treat disorders; working with other health care and mental health care professionals in treating individuals with emotional and mental disorders.

Techniques of counseling. Description: basic interviewing, assessment, and counseling skills; counselor characteristics and behaviors that influence helping processes including age, gender and ethnic differences, verbal and nonverbal behaviors and personal characteristics, orientations, and skills; client characteristics and behaviors that influence helping processes including age, gender and ethnic differences, verbal and nonverbal behaviors and personal characteristics, traits, capabilities, and life circumstances.

Group dynamics, processes, and counseling. Description: principles of group dynamics including group process components, developmental stage theories, and group members' roles and behaviors; group leadership styles and approaches including characteristics of various types of group leaders and leadership styles; theories of group counseling including commonalities, distinguishing characteristics, and pertinent research and literature; group counseling methods including group counselor orientations and behaviors, ethical standards, appropriate selection criteria and methods, and methods of evaluation of effectiveness; approaches used for other types of group work, including task groups, prevention groups, support groups, and therapy groups.

Lifestyle and career development. Description: career development theories and decision-making models; career, avocational, educational, and labor market information resources, visual and print media, and computer-based career information systems; career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation; interrelationships among work, family, and other life roles and factors including multicultural and gender issues as related to career development; career and educational placement, follow-up and evaluation; assessment instruments and techniques relevant to career planning and decision-making; computer based career development applications and strategies, including computer-assisted guidance systems; career counseling processes, techniques and resources including those applicable to specific populations.

Appraisal of individuals. Description: theoretical and historical bases for assessment techniques; validity including evidence for establishing content, construct, and empirical validity; reliability including methods of establishing stability, internal and equivalence reliability; appraisal methods including environmental assessment, performance assessment, individual and group test and inventory methods, behavioral observations, and computer-managed and computer-assisted methods; psychometric statistics including types of assessment scores, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, standard errors, and correlations; age, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, and culture factors related to the assessment and evaluation of individuals and groups; strategies for selecting, administering, interpreting, and using assessment and evaluation instruments and techniques in counseling.

Ethics. Description: ethical standards of the American Counseling Association, state counselor licensure boards, and national counselor certifying agencies; ethical and legal issues and their applications to various professional activities; history of the helping professions including significant factors and events; professional roles and functions of counselors including similarities and differences with other mental health professionals; professional organizations, primarily the American Counseling Association, its divisions, branches, and affiliates, including membership benefits, activities, services to members, and current emphases, professional preparation standards, their evolution, and current applications; professional credentialing including certification, licensure, and accreditation practices and standards, and the effects of public policy on these issues; public policy processes including the role of the professional counselor in advocating on behalf of the profession and its clientele.

5. Has declared special competencies and demonstrated professional competence therein by passing the National Counselors Examination;

6. Can document a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised experience during a minimum of two years of post-master's degree experience in professional mental health counseling under the supervision of a licensed professional counselor. Five hundred hours of supervised experience may be gained for each 30 graduate semester hours earned beyond the master's degree, provided that such hours are clearly related to the field of mental health counseling and are acceptable to the board provided that in no case the applicant has less that 2,000 hours of supervised experience.

7. Has provided to the board a Declaration of Practices and Procedures, with the content being subject to board review and approval.

II. SUPERVISION REQUIREMENTS FOR 3,000 HOURS OF EXPERIENCE

(For applicants beginning their counseling experience on or after January 1, 1993)

A. Supervision Requirements

1. Supervision is defined as assisting the counselor intern in developing expertise in methods of the professional mental health counseling practice and in developing self-appraisal and professional development strategies. Supervision must comply with standards as set by the board.

2. Pursuant to R.S. 37:1107(A) an applicant for license must document a minimum of 3,000 hours of post-master's experience in professional mental health counseling under the clinical supervision of a board-approved supervisor, with said supervision occurring over a period of no less than two years and not more than seven years from the original date such supervision was approved. Five hundred hours of supervised experience may be gained for each 30 graduate semester hours earned beyond the master's degree provided that in no case the applicant has less than 2,000 hours of board-approved supervised experience within the aforementioned time allowance. Only those applicants already receiving board approved supervision prior to June 30, 1998 are exempt from the aforementioned time allowance.

a. Based on the above, the board has broken down the required 3,000 hours of counseling experience in the following manner:

i. a minimum of 1,900 hours (up to 2,900 hours) in direct client contact - individual or group counseling.

ii. a maximum of 1,000 hours in additional client contact, counseling related activities (i.e., case notes, staffing, case consultation, or testing/assessment of clients) or education at the graduate level in the field of mental health as defined above.

iii. a minimum of 100 hours of face-to-face supervision by a board approved supervisor.

An applicant may utilize supervised hours earned in post-master's degree courses in counseling or in a doctoral degree program in counseling toward the required hours of supervised experience in addition to exercising the option of substituting 30 graduate semester hours earned beyond the master's degree for 500 hours of supervised experience, as long as supervised experience, practicum, or internship courses are not included in the 30 graduate semester hours that are substituted for 500 hours of supervised experience. In no case, may the applicant have less than 2,000 hours of supervised experience.

b. The board recommends one hour of supervision for every 20 hours of direct client contact as outlined in Clause i. Supervision may not take place via mail, or telephone. Telephone or mail contacts with supervisor may be counted under Clause ii (i.e., consultation), however, it cannot be counted as face-to-face supervision as defined in Clause iii.

3. Acceptable modes for supervision of direct clinical contact are the following:

a. Individual Supervision. The supervisory session is conducted by an approved supervisor with one counselor interns present.

b. Group Supervision. The supervisory session is conducted by an approved supervisor with no more than ten counselor interns present.

4. At least 100 hours of the counselor intern's direct clinical contact with clients must be supervised by an approved supervisor or supervisors, as defined below.

a. At least 50 of these 100 hours must be individual supervision as defined above. The remaining 50 hours of these 100 hours may be either individual supervision or group supervision as defined above.

b. A supervisor may not supervise more than ten counselor interns at any given time.

5. Supervisors of counselor interns, as defined in these rules, have the responsibility of assisting counselor interns in increasing their skills as a mental health professional. Supervisors, as defined in these rules, have no control, oversight, or professional responsibility for the services of counselor interns whom they are supervising, unless a supervisor also serves as the administrative supervisor of a counselor intern in the setting in which the counselor intern is employed or contracted or is rendering counseling services on a volunteer basis. The control, oversight, and professional responsibility for counselor interns rests with the counselor intern's administrative supervisor in the setting in which the counselor intern is employed or contracted or are rendering counseling services on a volunteer basis. Counselor interns must notify and obtain permission for outside supervision from their administrative supervisor in the setting in which they are employed or contracted or are rendering counseling services on a volunteer basis. In obtaining permission for outside supervision, counselor interns must notify their administrative supervisor of the identity of their supervisor for the purposes of gaining the supervised experience for licensure and the nature of the supervisory activities, including any observations or taping that occurs with clients, after obtaining the clients' permission, in the setting.

6. The process of supervision must encompass multiple strategies of supervision, including regularly scheduled live observation of counseling sessions (where possible) and review of audiotapes and/or videotapes of counseling sessions. The process may also include discussion of the counselor intern's self-reports, microtraining, interpersonal process recall, modeling, role-playing, and other supervisory techniques.

7. The supervisor must provide nurturance and support to the counselor intern, explaining the relationship of theory to practice, suggesting specific actions, assisting the counselor intern in exploring various models for practice, and challenging discrepancies in the counselor intern's practice.

8. The supervisor must ensure the counselor intern's familiarity with important literature in the field of counseling.

9. The supervisor must provide training appropriate to the counselor intern's intended area of expertise and practice.

10. The supervisor must model effective professional counseling practice.

11. The supervisor must ensure that the mental health counseling and the supervision of the mental health counseling is completed in an appropriate professional setting.

12. The supervisor and the counselor intern must share a similar area of specialty. Also,

a. the counselor intern must have received a letter of supervision approval from the Board; and

b. the professional setting can not include private practice in which the counselor intern operates, manages or has an ownership interest in the private practice, unless the counselor intern is authorized to participate in the private practice by authority of a separate license issued by the state of Louisiana..

13. Supervisors may employ counselor interns in their private practice setting. The supervisor may bill clients for services rendered by the counselor intern; however, under no circumstances can the counselor intern bill clients directly for services rendered by him/herself.

14. The supervisor must certify to the board that the counselor intern has successfully complied with all requirements for supervised counseling experience.

B. Qualifications of a Supervisor

1. Those individuals who may provide supervision to counselor interns must meet the following requirements:

a. Licensure requirements : The supervisor must hold a Louisiana license as a Licensed Professional Counselor.

b. Counseling practice: The supervisor must have been practicing mental health counseling in their setting (i.e., school, agency, private practice) for at least five years. Two of the five years experience must be post licensing experience.

c. Training in supervision: Supervisors must have successfully completed either i) or ii) below:

i. Graduate-level academic training: At least one graduate-level academic course in counseling supervision. The course must have included at least 45 clock hours (equivalent to a three credit hour semester course) of supervision training.

ii. Professional training: A board approved professional training program in supervision. The training program must be a minimum of 25 direct clock hours with the trainers and meet presentation standards established by the board.

2. A supervisor may not be a relative of the counselor intern. Relative of the counselor intern is defined as spouse, parent, child, sibling of the whole- or half-blood, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, one who is or has been related by marriage or has any other dual relationship.

3. No person shall serve as a supervisor if his/her license is expired or subject to terms of probation, suspension, or revocation.

C. Responsibility of Applicant Under Supervision

1. During the period of supervised counseling experience an applicant will identify him/herself as a counselor intern.

2. Each counselor intern must provide his/her clients with a disclosure statement (as outlined in the Appendix of the LPC Code of Conduct) that includes:

a. his/her training status; and

b. the name of his/her supervisor for licensure purposes.

3. Counselor interns must comply with all laws and regulations relating to the practice of mental health counseling (R.S. 37:1101-1115).

4. Counselor interns may not initiate a private practice during their period of supervised counseling experience. Counselor interns who are employed within their supervisors' private practice setting can not, under any circumstances, bill clients directly for services they render.

5. Upon completion of the required number of hours of supervised counseling experience, the counselor intern needs to submit an application for licensure. Any individual who does not apply for licensure within three months after completing the required number of hours of supervised counseling experience cannot continue to practice professional mental health counseling.

6. Supervision hours do not begin accruing until after the application for supervision has been filed and approved by the LPC Board.

D. Registration of Supervised Experience

All proposed supervision arrangements beginning on or after January 1, 1993 must be approved by the board prior to the starting date of the supervised experience.

1. The counselor intern will:

a. Along with his/her supervisor provide the board with a written proposal outlining with as much specificity as possible the nature of the counseling duties to be performed by the counselor intern and the nature of the supervision.

b. Submit this written proposal on forms provided by the board at least sixty days prior to the proposed starting date of the supervision.

c. Submit along with the written proposal the appropriate fee determined by the board.

2. Supervised experience rendered by the counselor intern in an exempt setting needs to meet the requirements in this rule if that supervised experience is to meet the requirements for licensure as set forth by R.S. 37:1107(A).

3. Following the board's review, the counselor intern will be informed by letter either that the proposed supervision arrangement has been approved or that it has been rejected. Any rejection letter will outline, with as much specificity as practicable, the reasons for rejection.

III. FEES; APPLICATION FOR LICENSE

1. Application, License and Seal $200.00

2. Privileging/ Registration of Supervision $100.00

3. Renewal of License $150.00

4. Late fee post marker after June 30th. $ 50.00

5. Reissuance of Lost or Destroyed License $ 25.00

6. Copy of File $ 25.00

No part of any fee shall be refundable under any conditions.

IV. OTHER IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THIS LAW

1. Licenses the title - Licensed Professional Counselor;

2. Licenses the practice of mental health counseling;

3. No Reciprocity; each application is reviewed case by case;

4. Establishes a seven (7) member board consisting of three (3) counselor educators, three (3) licensed professional counselors, and one (1) citizen-at-large;

5. Renewal Requirements:

a) every two years license must be renewed;

b) during the two year period, forty (40) clock hours of continuing education must be obtained in the area of mental health counseling;

c) one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) renewal fee; Any renewal received with a postmark later than 6/30 will be charged a late fee of $50.00.

6. Establishes penalties for violation of the law;

7. Exclusions:

1) Certified School Counselors: A certified school counselor who meets the standards prescribed by the State Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, while practicing school counseling within the scope of his employment by a board of education or by a private school. Nothing herein shall be construed to allow such persons to render mental health counseling services to the public unless they have also been licensed under the provisions of R.S.37:1107.

2) Any non-resident, temporarily employed in this state to render mental health counseling services for not more than thirty (30) days a year who meets the requirements of licensure in R.S.37:1107 of this Chapter or who holds a valid license and certificate issued under the authority of the laws of another state.

3) Any student in an accredited educational institution, while carrying out activities that are a part of the prescribed course of studied, provided such activities are supervised by a professional mental health counselor. Such student shall hold himself out to the public only by clearly indicating his student status and the profession in which he is being trained.

4) Any person licensed, certified or registered under any other provision of the state law, as long as the services rendered are consistence with their laws, professional training, and code of ethics, provided they do not represent themselves as licensed professional counselors or mental health counselors, unless they have also been licensed under the provisions of R.S.37:1107.

5) Any priest, rabbi, christian science practitioner or minister of the gospel of any religious denomination, provided they are practicing within the employment of their church or religious affiliated institution and they do not represent themselves as licensed professional counselors or mental health counselors unless they have also been licensed under the provisions of R.S. 37:1107.

6) Any person with a master's degree in counseling while practicing mental health counseling under the board approved supervision of a licensed professional counselor. The supervisee must use the title "counselor intern" and shall not represent himself to the public as a licensed professional counselor.

It is important to recognize that this is but a synopsis of the Board's rules regarding licensure and of the licensing act. It is being distributed solely for the purpose of information. A complete copy of the Board rules can be obtained for a fee by calling the Board office 225/765-2515. Copies of the acts below can be obtained for a fee by calling the Senate Docket 225/342-2365.

Act 892 of the 1987 Legislative Session Act 415 of the 1989 Legislative Session

Act 834 of the 1997 Legislative Session Act 225 of the 1988 Legislative Session

Act 1301 of the 1995 Legislative Session Act 72 Act 1159 of the 1999 Legislative Session

Mental Health Counseling Practicum. Licensure requires the completion of a mental health counseling practicum totaling 100 clock hours. The practicum includes:

a. a minimum of 40 hours of direct counseling with individuals or groups;

b. a minimum of one (1) hour per week of individual supervision by a counseling faculty member supervisor or supervisor working under the supervision of a program faculty member;

c. a minimum of one and one-half (1 1/2) hours per week of group supervision with other students in similar practica or internships by a program faculty member supervisor or a student supervisor working under the supervision of a program faculty member or an approved on-site supervisor that meets the on-site supervisor requirements established by the university.

Mental Health Counseling Internship. Licensure requires the completion of a mental health counseling internship totaling 300 clock hours. The internship includes:

a. a minimum of 120 hours of direct counseling with individuals or groups

b. a minimum of one (1) hour per week of individual supervision by a counseling faculty member supervisor or an LPC working in conjunction with the faculty member;