Question

make recommendations for how counselors decide when and how to advocate for a change they decide will benefit the profession. Describe processes through which you could advocate on behalf of the profession on an issue that impacts the credentialing (licensure, certifications) of Clinical Mental Health Counselors.

Answer 1

Clinical counseling is a profession that is concerned with the treatment and prevention of mental disorders. It is a broad area of practise that is referred to with a general term but is quite vast with professionals specializing in various disciplines. For counselors to decide to advocate for a change that will benefit the profession, it is equally important that the change involves betterment of the society. Counseling has come a long way, being an area of practise for more than 100 years.

According to the US Department of Labour's Bureau of Labour Statistics, there are approximately 552,000 mental health professionals (based on 2007-2010 statistics) out of which clinical and counseling professionals account for 152,000.

• Counselling, which is considered to heal stereotypical issues should widen its horizons globally and should be used to peactise healing on a global level.
• Mental health is extremely important for the well being of an individual and counseling must be the profession that ensures an individual/s happiness and wellbeing.
• The field has to evolve by addressing topics such as spirituality, culture, awareness etc.
• Counseling must start to address the issues that mainstream clinical counselors do not address. Such as homophobia, racial discrimination,or major trends in the society.
• More professionals should be given a chance to practise the profession of counseling and contribute to the overall welfare of the society.
• Counselors must be given the opportunity to incorporate anything that they feel will benefit the society.
• It has to become a more respectable and cost effective area.
• Accredition as a counselor is a very important concept since it is considered to be prestigious.
• Licensure and accredition are both different from each other since the standards of accredition are not written into law.
• Accreditions such as NCC show people that you have voluntarily met national standards for the practise of counseling.
• Accreditions also increase a client's satisfaction rate.