THE PROFESSION OF MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING



THE PROFESSION OF MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING

➢ Mental Health Counseling is a distinct profession with national standards for education, training and clinical practice. The American Mental Health

Counselors Association is the professional membership organization that

represents the profession nationally. New York Mental Health Counselors

Association is a state chapter of the American mental Health Counselors

Association and has more than 1,100 members!

➢ Graduate education and clinical training prepare mental health counselors to provide a full range of services for individuals, couples, families,

adolescents, children and groups.

➢ The core areas of mental health programs approved by the Council for

Accreditation of Counseling and related Educational Programs include:

diagnosis and psychopathology; psychotherapy, testing and assessment, group

counseling, human growth and development, counseling theory and supervised

practicum and internships.

➢ New York State requires that mental health counselors have a masters or higher in professional counseling or its substantial equivalent. Counselors need a minimum of a 60 credit masters. Three thousand (3,000) hours of post-masters supervised experience is also required before a counselor can sit for the licensure exam. These are the national standards for the profession.

➢ Mental health counselors are licensed in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

➢ Mental Health Counselors practice in a variety of settings, including

independent practice, community agencies, managed behavioral health care

organizations, integrated delivery systems, hospitals, employee assistance

programs and substance abuse treatment centers.

➢ More than 90% of the nation’s managed care organizations either employ or contract with licensed mental health counselors.

➢ In the Journal of Counseling & Development (Summer 2001 – Volume 79) article: Clinical Judgment in Case Conceptualization and Treatment Planning Across Mental Health Disciplines, it was found that mental health counselors scored higher than social workers and similar to psychologists on assigned clinical tasks.

➢ Mental Health Counselors are highly skilled professionals who provide a full range of services including: assessment and diagnosis; psychotherapy; treatment planning and utilization review; brief and solution-focused therapy, alcoholism and substance abuse treatment; psycho-educational and prevention programs, and crisis management.

➢ Mental Health Counseling was rated 33rd on Money Magazine’s Top 50 Jobs in the Country!

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