[Counselor_Educ] Clarification Regarding Required Internships for Master's Students

[Bhat, Christine]

Students,

I am emailing to provide clarification regarding the number of internships and the number of hours for internship for those of you interested in more than one specialization.

With the CACREP-CORE affiliation agreement being so new, there is much that is still being figured out.
Our application to have our Rehabilitation Counseling specialization officially become a Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling (CLRC) specialization is currently under review.

As we make the transition, we have to look to our accreditation bodies for guidance.
Some of these issues are complex. To avoid confusion, address your questions to your advisor or me directly.
Rest assured, the CE faculty are committed to ensuring smooth progress for you through the program.

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KEY POINTS
Based on the most recent information I have received on November 13, 2014 from Dr. Carol Bobby, President and CEO of CACREP, here are the key points:

1. Students who are doing Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling (CLRC) will do one 600 hour internship. This is possible because their programs will be dually approved by CACREP and CORE.

2. Students who are doing CMHC and School Counseling (SC) will do two 600 hour internships - one for CMHC and one for SC. This is because both of these specializations are CACREP accredited.

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EXPLANATION OF KEY POINTS WITH INFORMATION PROVIDED BY DR. CAROL BOBBY (My questions are in black and her responses are in red).

EXPLANATION FOR POINT 1

Our program has submitted an application for conversion of our Rehabilitation Counseling program to become a CLRC program.
The faculty seeks clarification for internships for students specializing in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling (CLRC) and CMH.

Would a student who nominates both CLRC and CMH as their program specializations (as it appears on their transcript) and completes a CLRC counseling internship of 600 hours have to complete another 600 hour internship for CMH?  At this point in time, since the rehab program is not CACREP accredited, if the student wished to be a graduate of a CACREP accredited CMHC counseling program, they would have to complete all of the curricular requirements of the CACREP program including a 600 hour internship program approved by the accredited program faculty.  Please note if the rehabilitation counseling program becomes a dually accredited program under the conversion policy, then it will be CORE accredited as a CLRC program and CACREP accredited as a CMHC program.  In this case, the internship would be approved by both organizations and only one internship would be required.

EXPLANATION FOR POINT 2

If students choose to specialize in Clinical Mental Health (CMH) Counseling and School Counseling, are they required to complete two 600 hour internships - one for school counseling and one for CMH Counseling? Yes

RELEVANT CACREP POLICY - Dual Degree Programs. Motion that if a student wishes to graduate from two counseling specialty areas concurrently, he or she must meet the degree requirements for both CACREP accredited specialties. This would include meeting the curricular requirements for each specialty, a minimum of a 600 clock hour internship for each specialty, and any differences in the core curriculum. The awarding of the degree(s) must occur simultaneously  http://www.cacrep.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2009-POLICY-DOC-rev.-March-2014.pdf

Yes, this policy was passed at the last meeting, published in our newsletter this fall, and placed in the Policy Document that is downloadable from our website.   It pertains to CACREP accredited programs only.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christine Suniti Bhat, Ph.D., L.P.C, L.S.C.
Associate Professor & Program Coordinator, Counselor Education,
Faculty Advisor, Alpha Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota,
Department of Counseling and Higher Education,
The Patton College of Education, OHIO UNIVERSITY, Athens, OH 45701
Office: McCracken Hall, 374
Phone: 740-593-4425; Fax: 740-593-0477; Email: bhatc at ohio.edu
Website: http://www.cehs.ohio.edu/facultystaff/bhatc/
Media: http://www.ohio.edu/ucm/media/experts/ohioexpert.cfm?formid=1822088&pageid=1844292

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