Which Statute Implies That Mental Health Counseling Services Can Be Provided Without Remuneration?

Can Licensed Mental Health Counselors Administer and Translate Psychological Tests?

ANALYISIS AND POSITION Newspaper By

THE NATIONAL BOARD OF FORENSIC EVALUATORS

The National Board of Forensic Evaluators (NBFE) adopts the position that accordingly trained licensed mental health counselors may administrate and interpret psychological tests, a viewpoint consistent with various state licensure boards including Florida, the country the NBFE is headquartered in, which declared that licensed mental health counselors, clinical social workers, and spousal relationship and family therapists "may administer and interpret such tests as long equally they take received the advisable preparation, and thus, are qualified to perform such procedures."   Nosotros support the efforts of organizations such as the National Off-white Admission Coalition on Testing that advocate for "the protection and support of public access to professionals and organizations who have demonstrated competence in the assistants and interpretation of assessment instruments, including psychological tests."

Our position is based on four premises: (1) Counselors have always been experts in testing; (ii) Testing is within the telescopic of practice of counselors; (3) Counselors meet the standards of examination manufacturers; and (four) It is impractical and unethical to prohibit counselors from administering and interpreting tests.

FACT: COUNSELORS HAVE Always BEEN EXPERTS IN TESTING

The counseling profession began in the late 1890s and early 1900s.  The starting time professional counselors were vocational guidance counselors who specialized in the administration and interpretation of diverse tests, including intelligence and aptitude tests.  We believe Newsome & Gladding (2014) put it well when they wrote that the kickoff counselors "quickly embraced psychometrics to gain a legitimate foothold in psychology" (p. 7) .  Counselors take continued to administer and interpret such tests up to the present day.

FACT: TESTING IS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF Practice OF COUNSELORS

At that place is a consensus within the counseling profession that testing is within the scope of do of professional person counselors.

The main counselor education accrediting body is the Quango for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP).  CACREP'due south 2016 instruction standards refer to the expectation that all accredited counseling caste programs teach counselors to administer and interpret tests:

Department 2: Professional Counseling Identity

Subsection: Counseling Curriculum

The eight common core areas represent the foundational knowledge required of all entry-level advisor education graduates. Therefore, counselor education programs must document where each of the lettered standards listed below is covered in the curriculum.

seven. Cess AND TESTING

a) historical perspectives concerning the nature and pregnant of assessment and testing in counseling
b) methods of effectively preparing for and conducting initial cess meetings
c) procedures for assessing risk of aggression or danger to others, self-inflicted harm, or suicide
d) procedures for identifying trauma and abuse and for reporting abuse
e) use of assessments for diagnostic and intervention planning purposes
f) basic concepts of standardized and non-standardized testing, norm-referenced and benchmark-referenced assessments, and grouping and individual assessments
grand) statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations
h) reliability and validity in the utilise of assessments
i) utilize of assessments relevant to academic/educational, career, personal, and social development
j) use of ecology assessments and systematic behavioral observations
k) use of symptom checklists, and personality and psychological testing
l) use of cess results to diagnose developmental, behavioral, and mental disorders
k) ethical and culturally relevant strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and examination results

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) is the offset and largest certifying body in the Usa for professional counselors.  The credential NBCC has established for clinical mental health counselors is Certified Clinical Mental Health Advisor (CCMHC).  In order for this credential to be awarded to a counselor, the advisor must have been educated on the administration of psychological tests .  In addition, counselors must pass the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE), which includes examination items on the administration of psychological tests for purposes of cess, diagnosis, and handling planning .

The American Counseling Association (ACA) is the largest association representing counselors in the U.s.a..  The ACA identifies "the administration of assessments, tests, and appraisals" equally a master component of the telescopic of professional person counseling.   The ACA's most recent Code of Ethics refers repeatedly to the ability of counselors to administer and interpret tests, provided that counselors are appropriately trained in the tests they utilize.

The American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) is a division of the ACA that exclusively represents clinical mental health counselors.  AMHCA's published standards for clinical mental wellness counseling analyze that mental health counselors are expected to exist trained in clinical assessment and testing.   Similar the ACA, AMHCA's 2015 Code of Ethics refers to the power of counselors to administer and interpret psychological tests provided that counselors are appropriately trained.

From 2005 to 2013, the 31 major counseling associations, organizations, and certifying bodies met to go far at a consensus for the definition and scope of practice for professional counseling.  The scope of do they adopted includes "Assessment: The practice of counseling includes the administration and interpretation of assessments for appraisal, diagnosis, evaluation, and referral determination to help establish individualized counseling plans and goals that may include the handling of individual with emotional, mental, and physical disorders."

FACT: COUNSELORS Encounter THE STANDARDS OF TEST MANUFACTURERS

Licensed counselors meet the criteria for the highest qualification levels of the three most popular psychological test distributors in the United States.

Level C is the highest qualification level established by Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR).  This level of qualification requires "an avant-garde professional caste that provides appropriate grooming in the administration and interpretation of psychological tests, or license or certification from an agency that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethical and competent use of psychological tests."   Considering licensed counselors must have a minimum of a Master's caste, which is an advanced professional person degree, and considering CACREP- and CACREP-equivalent advisor education programs require training in the assistants and interpretation of psychological tests, licensed counselors come across PAR's criteria for qualification level C and are commonly certified as such by PAR.

Similar to PAR, Pearson Clinical drafted a Level C qualification policy for tests administered in the category of clinical psychology requiring that evaluators earn a "doctorate degree in psychology, education, or closely related field with formal training in the ethical administration, scoring, and interpretation of clinical assessments related to the intended use of the assessment OR licensure or certification to practice in your state in a field related to the purchase OR certification past or total active membership in a professional system (such equally APA, NASP, NAN, INS) that requires preparation and experience in the relevant area of assessment."   At showtime glance, readers may deduce that Pearson Clinical requires test administrators to earn a doctoral caste.  However, Pearson emphasizes the discussion "or" repeatedly in their policy through bold impress and/or capitalized letters to announce that an evaluator need only encounter one of the listed criteria.   Because licensed mental health counselors are licensed, and in some cases certified, to practice mental health counseling in their corresponding states, the second criterion should be met past all licensed mental health counselors.  In addition, some counselors volition meet the get-go and third criteria depending on teaching level and association membership.

Western Psychological Services (WPS) provides 2 advanced qualification levels.  Level C permits an evaluator to buy "all products except advanced psychiatric instruments and avant-garde neuropsychological instruments" and requires evaluators to have "a principal's degree (MA, MS, MSW, CAGS) in psychology, school counseling, occupational therapy, speech–linguistic communication pathology, social work, didactics, special education, or related field."   Again, licensed mental health counselors run into this criterion because they agree master's degrees in a related occupation.  Level Due north is the highest level designated past WPS, allowing purchase of all tests.  This level requires "a doctoral degree (PhD, PsyD, Doctor) in psychology or related field or MA (psychologist, social worker) a master's degree (MA, MS, MSW) in fields listed above and at least a weekend workshop on neuropsychological assessment."  Many but non all licensed mental wellness counselors will encounter these guidelines.  Specifically, counselors who agree a doctoral degree in a related field see the criteria, likewise as primary'southward-level counselors who have completed at least a couple days of additional preparation in neuropsychological evaluation.

PREVENTING COUNSELORS FROM ADMINISTERING AND INTERPRETING PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS WOULD BE IMPRACTICAL AND UNETHICAL.

The need for bear witness-based practices and treatment approaches continues to rise in the United States.  3rd political party payers and regime in the behavioral healthcare sector keep to appply pressure to providers to offer show substantiating diagnoses and treatment methods, as well every bit efforts to measure response to behavioral health interventions.  Increasingly, testing provides an integral source of information to comply with these standards of care.  Testing aids counselors in formulating a diagnosis, planning treatment, and measuring client progress.

Co-ordinate to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, counselors incorporate the largest percentage of the U.S. behavioral healthcare workforce in the National Provider Identifier database, which all healthcare providers are required to annals with in order to accept insurance.

To deny the largest sector of the U.Southward. behavioral healthcare workforce the opportunity to administer and interpret psychological tests is illogical.  It implies that licensed mental health counselors are qualified to care for mental disorders but not to diagnose them nor evaluate the efficacy of their treatment approaches.  This exercise is akin to expecting a physician to diagnose and treat hypertension without allowing the physician to measure a patient'southward claret pressure.

Counselors cannot be expected to treat what they cannot objectively diagnose or measure.  Ultimately, such a practice would negatively impact customer care.  Thus, NBFE views any efforts to restrict the rights of counselors from administering and interpreting psychological tests as potentially harmful to clients and therefore unethical.

A CALL TO ACTION FOR FAIR TESTING PRACTICES

The National Board of Forensic Evaluators calls on state legislatures, licensing boards, and regime in all disciplines of the mental health profession to advocate for laws, rules, and policies that protect the rights of all appropriately-trained licensed mental health professionals to administer and translate psychological tests.  We likewise encourage licensed mental wellness counselors to seek ongoing training in this area that exceeds the that which they received in graduate school.  Counselors should abide past ethical guidelines that require that they be appropriately trained on any exam they administer.

Nearly THE NATIONAL Board OF FORENSIC EVALUATORS

The National Board of Forensic Evaluators (NBFE) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization defended to providing quality training and certification of all licensed mental wellness professionals (eastward.g., counselors, social workers, union and family therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists) in the specialty area of forensic mental health evaluation.  NBFE is a proud partner of the American Mental Health Counselors Association and several other land, local, and international organizations in the mental health field.  To learn more near NBFE, visit www.nbfe.net .

Position paper authored past Aaron Norton, Executive Director of NBFE, edited by Dr. Norman Hoffman, President and Founder of NBFE, and approved by the NBFE Lath of Directors 8/15/16.

Foster, South.J. (2000, Feb 4). Letter to Judge Roger McDonald

National Off-white Admission Coalition on Testing (due north.d.). The National Fair Access Coalition on Testing Mission. Retrieved from http://world wide web.fairaccess.org/domicile.html.

Newsome, D.W. & Gladding, Due south.T. (2014). Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Community and Bureau Settings (4th ed.). Boston: Merrill.

CACREP (2016). 2016 CACREP Standards. Retrieved from http://www.cacrep.org/section-3-professional person-do/.

NBCC (2016). Certified Clinical Mental Health Advisor. Retrieved from http://www.nbcc.org/Certification/CertifiedClinicalMentalHealthCounselor/.

NBCC (2016). Content covered in the NCMHCE. Retrieved from http://www.nbcc.org/InnerPageLinks/ContentCoveredInTheNCMHCE.

ACA (2016). Endorsed scope of practice for professional counseling. Retrieved from https://world wide web.counseling.org/virtually-us/about-aca/aca-media-heart.

ACA (2014). 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://world wide web.counseling.org/docs/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ideals.pdf?sfvrsn=4.

AMHCA (2016). AMHCA Standards for the Practise of Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Alexandria, VA: AMHCA.

AMHCA (2015). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.amhca.org/?page=codeofethicsia.

20/20 Task Forcefulness (2013). Meeting notes from Delegates coming together.

PAR (2012). Qualification levels. Retrieved from http://www4.parinc.com/Supp/Qualifications.aspx.

Pearson (2016). Clinical Psychology Qualifications Policy. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/qualifications.html.

WPS (due north.d.). Qualification Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.wpspublish.com/store/Qualification_Guidelines%20V3.pdf

American Psychological Association (2014, September). What percentage of the nation's behavioral wellness providers are psychologists?  Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/09/datapoint.aspx.

Which Statute Implies That Mental Health Counseling Services Can Be Provided Without Remuneration?,

Source: https://nbfe.net/News/4193098

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