Counselor Training and Supervision - Research Paper Example

Counselor Training and Supervision Counselor Training and Supervision Quality control is important in professional careers to ensurethat the welfare of those involved is guaranteed. Each state provides its own quality control or the guidelines each profession is required to adhere to. The regulation is not meant to limit freedom but to ensure each person is working under a generally accepted law. This paper details the state of Mississippi guidelines for adequate training and supervision for professionals who work under other licensed professionals.

Adequate training or education is one of the requirements that each applicant who wants a professional license must fulfill. One must have a doctoral degree in guidance, counseling and other related fields from a credited college or university. Sixty semester hours are also required to fulfill the requirements of a person who can work as a licensed professional. If one has not completed the sixty hours then they are allowed to complete the course without an additional degree ( www.lpc.ms.gov).

Counselor education is defined as a course with the following areas of study; Cultural; and social foundations, human growth and development, lifestyle and career development , research and evaluations, group development and dynamics, helping relationships but this are a few of the training requirements to be fulfilled. Other courses taken by an applicant that do not fall on the described domain are evaluated on one on one basis to determine how they apply in the profession. The last educational requirement stipulates that an applicant must produce the transcripts of all the work done in college or university.

One can include them in the application or they are sent from the approved education facility to the board (www.lpc.ms.gov).Supervision requirements relate to the experience requirements for one to be given a professional license. Supervision is helping the counselor to gain expertise in the field and in development of performance evaluation methods for themselves. Supervision must be done by a supervisor who has been approved by the board and is qualified.The following hours are required as regard to the supervision by a licensed professional counselor.

A sum of 3500 hours which are supervised by the supervisor must be fulfilled in a clinical setting after one has attained the bachelor’s degree. 40 hours per work week is the maximum supervised hours. Internships or practicum’s accounts for 1750 hours preferably by the supervisor but this is not a requirement. This is done while taking the degree program. Direct counseling services must be done for a minimum of 1167 supervised hours. These include interactions with the clients and offering services to them.

Face to face supervision by a board approved and qualified counselor accounts for a minimum of 100 hours and only a maximum of 50 hours can be allowed under group supervision (www.lpc.ms.gov).According to (Corey et al., 2011) issues in counseling within the ethics and codes of professional counselors are the function of counselor’s personal values in a patient or client relationship, responsibilities and rights of the clients. Factors that determine the counseling practice to be adopted and used in the diverse clientele are also a contemporary issue.

The answers to these issues are guided by the six moral principles which dictate the decision making of the counselor. A Revision of the standards for education should be done to give more attention in fairness when testing new counselors. This involves including professional and approved counselors in provision of these tests (Freegard, 2006).ReferencesCorey, G., Corey. M.S., & Callanan, P. (2001). Issues and ethics in helping professions. Belmont: Brooks/ Cole Publishers.Freegard, H., & Isted, L. (2006). Ethical Practice for Health Professionals (2nd ed).

Melbourne, Australia.Mississipi State Board for Licenced Proffesional Counselors- NEWS & INFORMATION. (n.d). Mississipi State Board for Licensed Professional Couselors. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://www.lpc.ms.gov/lpc/web.nsf.