Licensure Reciprocity: A Critical Public Protection Issue That Needs Action. David Kaplan, chief professional officer for the American Counseling Association, delivered the following keynote presentation at the American Association of State Counseling Boards on Jan. He can be contacted via email at dkaplan@counseling. I am a prisoner in my own state.”These were the words of a professional counselor who had called ACA in tears. She had been licensed and practicing in Wisconsin for over 2. Then, through no fault of her own, she fell in love. And love lead to a proposal of marriage. The complicating factor was that her fianc. No big deal, she decided to transfer her license to her new state and start her new life and family. But when she contacted the state licensing board in her fianc. She had to choose between practicing in her home state and leaving the counseling profession to be with the man she loves.
![]() We have a real crisis in counselor licensure. Counselors are trapped in their own states. My goal for our time together is that by the end of my talk you will understand the problem. But I want to go way beyond that. I am hoping that you will take ownership of the problem because you are the ones with the power to solve it. And, if you are not too furious at me by the time I get to it, I want to propose a way that we all can work together to solve this longstanding and painful issue. Let me read to you from an op- ed that just came out in the January Counseling Today by Thomas Sherman, a licensed counselor and a clinical supervisor with the military One. Source program which provides counseling and support services to active duty, National Guard, and Reserve service members and their families. I would like to read an extended portion because I think it really gives you a feeling for what counselors are going through when they try to transfer their license to a new jurisdiction. Sherman. As an existentially oriented counselor, I am well versed in the absurd, but I was not quite prepared for how far my ability to accept it would be stretched when I moved three hours away and across state lines. I graduated with my doctorate in counselor education in May from a well- known university and, following graduation, moved to join my partner who had received an outstanding job in another state. Being a licensed counselor, I assumed it would be easy for me to follow her and get a job practicing counseling. How wrong I was. When I graduated with my master’s degree, I moved to a state that required unlicensed counselors to be under the supervision of a licensed professional. In three years, I completed the 4,0. In June 2. 01. 0, I passed my state licensure exam. In April 2. 01. 1, when my partner and I knew we would be moving to a different state, I began reviewing the requirements for transferring my license to the new state. The requirement for transferring a license is listed as either two years of practice as a licensed counselor or 2,0. Despite these requirements being listed twice on the licensing forms, I called the state counseling board to confirm that I met the requirements and was completing the correct forms. After outlining my experience, I told the person at the counseling board that I had held my license in the other state for only one year but that I possessed well over 2,0. The person with whom I spoke at the board notified me that, given my clinical experience, I should be able to transfer my license. By the end of May, I had gathered the required signatures from my professors and former supervisors, collected transcripts from all of the schools I had attended, written the required check to the board and mailed a license verification form to the state counseling board where I currently held my license so it could sign and return the form to the new state to which I was moving. After waiting several weeks into June, I called the counseling board in the state to which I was moving to see if it had received my licensure verification form. I was told the person with access to the files was on vacation and would “be back sometime next week.” The next week, I called several times before reaching the person with whom I needed to speak, only to be informed that the form had not yet been received. This person also told me that if the form was not received by July 1. ![]() I would have to wait until Aug. Having this information, I called my former licensing board to inquire about my licensure verification. A voice mail greeted me, informing me the board had a high volume of applications and instructing me to leave a name and number, which I did. The following day, having not received a return phone call, I called several times until finally reaching an actual human whom I could ask about the status of my license verification. I told this person the check for the verification fee I had sent with the form had been cashed in June, but as of July, my new counseling board had not received the form. This person told me my former counseling board met only once per month and had already convened in June prior to my request being received. I inquired as to when the counseling board would meet next. The response: “Sometime in July.” The person could not provide a date when the board would meet to sign my form. This raised a second concern for me. Residential Treatment Therapists and Staff are hired for their strong clinical credentials and experience building healing relationships. Oregon Nurse Aide Registry. Oregon Nurse Aide Registry Oregon State Board of Nursing 17938 SW Upper Boones Ferry Road, Portland, Oregon 97224 Phone: (971) 673-0685. Find a doctor who practices alternative, natural or complementary medicine in your state! Just click a state below to see the list of medical doctors (MD. Because I had submitted all of my forms in June, I had allowed my license in my former state to lapse at the end of that month, not seeing the benefit of paying for and carrying two licenses in different states. I attempted to call my former licensing board again to determine if this lapse would affect the verification of my license because the board would not be reviewing it until July. TRAVEL PROTECTION PLAN. United States Fire Insurance Company Administrative Office: 5 Christopher Way, Eatontown, NJ 07724 (Hereinafter referred to as "the Company"). The National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) is the nation's leading provider of legal advocacy skills training. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in. Once again, I was unable to reach anyone, so I left my question on voice mail. I never received a phone call. Instead, on July 1. I received an email indicating the board had mailed out my licensure verification. The email didn’t address my question of whether my license was still valid. After waiting another week, I called my new counseling board to confirm receipt of the licensure verification form. It was at this point I was notified that I did not meet the requirements for transferring my license because I had not held my previous license for two years. I told the person at the board I was getting different messages and asked if I could speak with someone higher up. I was given the number of the board’s director. I reviewed my previous conversations with the director, indicating that someone at the board had confirmed my understanding of the state’s licensure requirements. The director said the expectation was that if an individual had a counseling license for two years, he or she would also have 2,0. I shared that the state where I previously had been licensed required 1,0. I was told I had two options: I could wait for the board to review my application in September and inform me of its decision in October, or I could send in another check, complete a different set of forms and mail back in the application for regular licensure — and still wait until October. Exasperated, I communicated to the director that I had been unemployed for three months while following the instructions provided by the board to get my license transferred. When told the earliest I would hear whether my forms were correct would be October — another three months away — I asked how the board could justify the delay in responding given that a license is required to practice. The director told me that even if the board had received my application materials in June, they still would not have been reviewed until September. In May and June, the director explained, the board reviewed disciplinary issues that kept its members from approving licensure applications, and then the board was on recess through July and August, despite what the person at the counseling board had previously told me regarding the board’s meetings. For four months (fully one- third of the year), the counseling board did not review applications, and when it would review them, it would take 3. Following a response, applicants must still sit for a counseling law exam and/or a licensure exam. I finally asked if I could speak to someone on the licensing board who might possibly give me some concrete answers. The director said she could make the request but added that the board did not usually honor such requests. As of mid- August, I still had not received a response from the counseling board. In October, I finally received my letter from the board indicating that I could sit for the licensing examination within a week. The letter indicated I would need to bring a license to confirm my identity. On the letter, my name was incorrect. When I attempted to contact the person listed on the letter to follow up, I reached her voice mail, which informed me she would be out of the office until after the date of the exam. Through the counseling board’s main number, I was able to reach a person who could correct my name. Finally, at the end of October, nearly six months after I began the licensing process, I received my counseling license in the new state.*****Unfortunately, what I heard from the counselor in Wisconsin and what you just heard from the op- ed is not unusual. ACA receives a dozen calls a week – a week – from licensed counselors who have been stymied and frustrated in their attempts to transfer their license to a new state. We hear horror story after horror story. I’ll bet you do, too – or at least your administrator does. So how did this nightmare develop? There are two levels of answers to this. The simple explanation for why license reciprocity for professional counselors is so difficult is that there is a patchwork of licensure titles, scopes of practice, and sets of education requirements. There are over 4. How can that be anything but confusing to the public? There is one state with a “Certified Mentor” credential and another with a “Certified Advisor” credential. What the heck do those mean? Some states have one tier. Some have two tiers.
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