PURPOSE: This rule defines the educational requirements for professional counselors.

1. (1) In order to apply for supervision, provisional licensure, or licensure as a professional counselor, an applicant shall have received a graduate degree at the doctoral, specialist or master level with either a major in counseling or another mental health discipline from an acceptable educational institution.

   1. (A) An acceptable educational institution shall mean a regionally accredited institution approved by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
2. (2) For the purpose of this rule and pursuant to sections 337.510(1) and 337.520(5), RSMo the equivalent basic educational requirements shall be a course of study in a mental health discipline and shall be a degree in counseling and guidance, counseling psychology, clinical psychology, or school psychology. The committee shall have the authority to review the composition of the degree to determine compliance with the education requirements of this regulation.

3. (3) To be considered an acceptable degree in counseling or another mental health discipline, the degree shall be either:

   1. (A) Issued by a counseling program accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), or its successor organization, or the Counseling on Rehabilitation Education, Incorporated (CORE), or its successor organization; or

   2. (B) Be from a graduate program designed primarily to teach counseling principles and techniques. It shall be designed to train the student to become a licensed professional counselor as defined in section 337.500(5), RSMo and to engage in the practice of professional counseling as defined in section 337.500(6) and (7), RSMo. The teaching of counseling theories, counseling techniques, and counseling interventions shall be the major course of study within the graduate program;

      1. 1. Prior to January 1, 2006 shall consist

of thirty (30) semester hours or forty-five (45) quarter hours of graduate study. After January 1, 2006 a degree shall consist of at least forty-eight (48) semester hours or sixty (60) quarter hours of graduate study; and

1. 2. An application received after January

1, 2006 shall document at least six (6) semester hours or nine (9) quarter hours of graduate level supervised practicum, internship, or field experience in the practice of counseling. Applications received prior to January 1, 2006:

1. A. With graduate education starting

before July 1, 1991, shall document at least five (5) semester hours or eight (8) quarter hours of graduate level supervised practicum, field experience, or internship in the practice of counseling; or

1. B. With graduate education starting

after July 1, 1991 shall document at least six (6) semester hours or nine (9) quarter hours of graduate level supervised practicum, internship, or field experience in the practice of counseling.

1. C. Any practicum, field experience,

or internship shall be clearly delineated on the transcript with graduate level credit and a passing grade.

1. (4) The applicant shall have the burden of demonstrating that the degree is in counseling or a mental health discipline as defined in section (2). If the applicant’s transcript does not clearly delineate that the degree is in counseling or mental health discipline as defined in section (2), the applicant may be required to obtain a letter from the chair of the department of counseling education or other appropriate school official, stating that the applicant has a master, specialist, or doctoral degree in counseling or a mental health discipline as defined in section (2). The letter shall be on official letterhead of the college or university. The applicant may also be required to provide evidence that the degree program included no less than one three (3)- semester-hour or one five (5)-quarter-hour graduate course in each of the following core areas:

   1. (A) Counseling Theory—Courses acceptable for this area shall cover the various major theories and techniques of counseling; and
   2. (B) Human Growth and Development— Courses acceptable for this area shall cover various stages of the human growth cycle and include information about theories of development or various aspects of development; and
   3. (C) Social and Cultural Diversity—Courses acceptable for this area cover various cultural and social class issues in areas such as race, sexual orientation, aging, disability, 20 CSR 2095-2

socioeconomic, ethnic, gender related, or other issues of diversity that emerge in a pluralistic society; and

1. (D) Helping Relationship—Courses acceptable for this area cover theoretical foundations pertaining to professional skill training that enable the counselor to understand the client’s problems more fully and accurately and to interview effectively; and
2. (E) Group Counseling—Courses acceptable for this area cover the theories, principles, and techniques of providing counseling or psychotherapy with groups of people; and
3. (F) Career Development—Courses acceptable for this area cover concepts about how career development unfolds, the lifelong processes, and the influences upon clients or patients that lead to work values, occupational choice, creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of roles, issues concerning identity, and patterns of work adjustment; and
4. (G) Appraisal—Courses acceptable for this area cover structured and unstructured assessment of the mental health functions and psychopathology of a person; and
5. (H) Research Methods—Courses acceptable for this area cover principles, methods, techniques, and tools used in performing research in counseling; and
6. (I) Professional Orientation—Courses acceptable for this area cover such areas as professionalism, legal issues and responsibilities, ethics, fields of training, and practice specialization.

1. (5) In determining whether a degree program included no less than one three (3)-semesterhour or a five (5)-quarter-hour graduate course in a core area, the following shall apply:

   1. (A) It shall be the applicant’s responsibility to document that the course was an indepth study of a particular core area through course descriptions from official school catalogues, course syllabi, bulletins, or with written documentation from an appropriate school official;
   2. (B) A seminar course shall be acceptable if the applicant is awarded a passing grade and graduate credit is clearly delineated on the transcript;
   3. (C) Reading courses or independent study shall be submitted to the committee for review;
   4. (D) Continuing education, workshops, work experience, or any course offered primarily by audio or video tape or noninteractive electronic communication shall not be acceptable. For the purpose of this rule, noninteractive electronic communication is defined as course(s) transmitted via satellite FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION

in which the student has no means of simultaneously interacting visually and verbally with the course instructor during the transmission of the course;

1. (E) Undergraduate course work shall not be in compliance with core requirements unless graduate credit is clearly delineated on the transcript;
2. (F) When evaluating transcripts based upon a quarter-hour system, the committee shall consider a quarter hour of graduate credit as two-thirds (2/3) of a semester hour. A semester hour of graduate credit shall be defined as fifteen (15) clock hours of regularly scheduled classroom study; and
3. (G) No more than six (6) semester hours or nine (9) quarter hours in seminar course work or independent study shall be applicable to the total number of hours of graduate study comprising the degree in the area of counseling or mental health discipline.

1. (6) Upon receipt of official educational transcripts from the college or university and/or information relating to the program, and upon payment of the fee for an educational review as defined in 4 CSR 95-1.040(1) the committee will review education credentials or a proposed plan for obtaining the appropriate education in compliance with these rules. All information shall be submitted to the committee no later than thirty (30) days prior to the next regularly scheduled committee meeting. Information received fewer than thirty (30) days before a committee meeting may be reviewed at the committee’s discretion.
2. (7) Graduate course work in counseling, or a mental health discipline as defined in section
3. (2) and from a school, college, university, or other institution of higher learning outside of the United States, may be considered in compliance with these rules if, at the time the school, college, university, or other institution of higher learning where the applicant was enrolled or graduated, maintained a standard of training substantially equivalent to the standards of training of those institutions accredited by one of the regional accredited commissions recognized by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The committee shall determine if the standard of training was substantially the same as those institutions accredited by one

4. (1) of the regional accrediting commissions recognized by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

   1. (A) It shall be the applicant’s responsibility to document that the course work is in counseling or another mental health discipline, as defined in section (2), is substantially the same as those institutions accredited by one (1) of the regional accrediting commissions recognized by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through course descriptions from official school catalogues, course syllabi, bulletins, or with written documentation from an appropriate school official explaining how the course was an in-depth study of particular core area as defined in subsections (4)(A)–(I).

AUTHORITY: sections 337.510, RSMo Supp. 2004 and 337.520, RSMo 2000.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 95-2.010. Original rule filed Oct. 16, 1986, effective Jan. 30, 1987. Amended: Filed May 2, 1989, effective July 27, 1989. Amended: Filed July 3, 1990, effective Dec. 31, 1990. Amended: Filed Aug. 5, 1991, effective Dec. 9, 1991. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Dec. 1, 2004, effective June 30, 2005. Moved to 20 CSR 2095-2.010, effective Aug. 28, 2006. *Original authority: 337.510, RSMo 1985, amended 1989, 1996, 2001, 2004 and 337.520, RSMo 1985, amended 1989, 1993, 1995.