Licensure for Professional Counselor in State of Virginia - Essay Example

Licensure for Professional Counselor in of Virginia Licensure for Professional Counselor in State of VirginiaLicensed professional counselors (LPC) are basically counselors who have been certified to provide assistance and other material that can help to provide care to the patients who reside in America. (Marini, 2009) Basically these licensed professional counselors are individuals that possess a masters degree in the field. Their purpose is to cater to individuals, families, or even a bunch of people in order to treat their issues that are interlinked to their medical health that is mental, physical, emotional disorders and disabilities.

They are trained within their preferred field of specialization. These counselors are being employed at a good ratio at various organization the government as well as the private sector to ensure the fitness of individuals in Virginia, they are responsible to work out health plans and provide assistance to all those in need. The educational requirements for a Licensed Professional counselor are "The Virginia professional counseling license requires a masters degree in counseling, 60 graduate credit hours, including 12 specified courses and a 600-hour internship.

The LPC also requires completion of 4,000 supervised post-master’s degree residency hours in an applicable work setting and a passing score on a qualifying written examination." (LPC requirements) So as to acquire the license to become a counselor for mental health one needs to pass the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination in Virginia. This will help to get the initial license. This is the final step required to acquire the license. After this the application and the necessary documents will be sent to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Then it will approximately take about a month to receive the confirmation.After obtaining the prescribed education required being a licensed professional counselor, the applications to start practicing go the Virginia Board of Counseling Applications and Instructions. "The Board of Counseling depends on the expertise of the licensed supervisors to provide the necessary training and experience to the residents in order to prepare them for the exam and independent practice." (Virginia Board of Counseling) The committee then reviews the applications through a process of filtering.

After all the requirements are met then the individual possessing knowledge in this field is granted a license to practice his work and help the people. This license is granted by the state and allows the person to practice individually or for the state according to his/her choice. Like I mentioned earlier one needs to acquire a license for professional counseling one needs to complete 4000 working hours that are supervised by a post masters degree of residency or in other words they should complete four hours of supervision per every forty hours of the work they do CONCLUSION In a nutshell, in order to acquire this license one needs to put in effort and has to go through a tough and defined procedure to render their services.

The duty of a licensed professional counselor is very complex and therefore a strict procedure is followed while granting a license.WORKS CITEDMarini, I., &Stebnicki, M. A. (2009).The professional counselors desk reference. New York: Springer Pub..LPC Requirements – VCU School of Allied Health Professions.(n.d.).Virginia Commonwealth University School of Allied Health Professions. Retrieved June 24, 2013, from http://www.sahp.vcu.edu/rehab/current/lVirginia Board of Counseling.(n.d.).Virginia Department of Health Professions - Home.

Retrieved June 24, 2013, from http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/counseling/