Kayleigh Re: Shrinks and us

[Guest guest]

It amazes me how many variations there are. I started looking into

this after Pete brought up the question. It would take a long time to

research it.

I've also looked up (more thoroughly) requirements for drug and

alcohol counselors in various states. There is no standard for this

like the one for social workers and psychologists, namely a degree

from accredited institutions. (There are more than a few

accreditation bodies, of course, and not all states recognize the same

ones.) I believe there is at least one state that still requires

no more than attendance of AA, NA, or one of the affiliated *-Anon

meetings, or requires that in addition to supervised clinical

experience.

Mind you, in some states you can practice psychotherapy without a

license and get nailed if you haven't got a professional credential,

even if they don't define it as practicing without a license. In

Wisconsin, however, it used to be the case (and I no longer know if it

is) that you could practice psychotherapy without a social work or

psychology degree, and, in fact, without a license.

In this state you are required to get a license if you want to be a

professional counselor, but lots of states don't address that issue,

and standards differ dramatically for licensing of professional

counselors. Some states require that school psychologists be

separately licensed from psychologists, some states don't care.

It's so easy to get around all this stuff by calling yourself a

consultant. I wonder how anyone keeps track of all the people out

there that call themselves consultants or personal coaches and so

forth. How about all those consultants who call themselves

" communication specialists, " and counsel company personnel about stuff

that maybe only licensed social workers and psychologists ought to

tackle? How about " motivational speakers, " like Tony Robbins?

I am currently studying to be a certified mediator. There is no

license required anywhere for this, so far as I know. Retired judges

are often hired as mediators, but I doubt they have any more mediation

expertise than your mailman (mail delivery person?) or the guy or gal

who teaches you computer programming. There is now a push to give

degrees in mediation, and so there are all kinds of methods out there,

none proven (except the one I'm studying, of course <g>, which is

nationally known and admired). Anyone anywhere who has been hired as

a professor of psychology or law or whatever can teach a course in

mediation and then the person can go hang out a shingle. Many will

probably fall into the trap of trying to offer financial,

psychological or legal advice while doing this. I do know that the

program I'm in will get me on the list of referrals for the courts,

but I bet lots of courts just accept anyone who comes along and says

they're a mediator.

I find personally that people who are totally uneducated can be far

more effective than licensed professionals in these areas (and I do

not refer to anyone practicing medicine. Just mediation and

psychotherapy). Sometimes I think that licensing boards for these

specialties should be completely abolished, because I don't see any

way of making them smart (the boards). I hate to say how many

psychologists I've met that I consider totally incompetent, but they

are well regarded as professionals in the community.

The whole licensing thing is a mess, and unless people get smarter

about effectiveness (as opposed to supervision), I'm not sure we're

going to progress in this matter.

> In a message dated 4/4/01 4:06:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time,

> kayleighs@m... writes:

>

> << n some states it's expressly forbidden to hold

> yourself out as practicing psychotherapy unless you are a licensed

> social worker, counselor, or psychologist. >>

>

>

> I didn't know other states allowed anyone else to practice

besides social

> workers, counselors or psychologists. Everything, at least in CA,

is very

> well defined in a 50 page booklet under penal codes.

>

> This, of course, brings up the question of standardization for

states. Most

> don't know what other state requirements are. There are certain

core states

> that require satisfaction of more criteria than others, which makes

it

> complicated in going from state to state. A challenging project to

say the

> least.

>

> Piper

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

> I didn't know other states allowed anyone else to practice besides

social

> workers, counselors or psychologists. Everything, at least in CA, is very

> well defined in a 50 page booklet under penal codes.

Actually, the California Penal Code (which is a whole lot bigger

than fifty pages) refers to psychotherapists only as related to mandatory

child abuse reporting.

Licensing requirements would most likely be under Health & Safety,

Business & Professions or Welfare & Institutions codes. Here's a great link

for searching all of the California codes, if anybody wants to check on

specific licensing requirements (and penalties for unlicensed practice --

not all criminal offenses in California are contained in the Penal Code).

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

Bob Marshall

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

> I didn't know other states allowed anyone else to practice besides

social

> workers, counselors or psychologists. Everything, at least in CA, is very

> well defined in a 50 page booklet under penal codes.

Actually, the California Penal Code (which is a whole lot bigger

than fifty pages) refers to psychotherapists only as related to mandatory

child abuse reporting.

Licensing requirements would most likely be under Health & Safety,

Business & Professions or Welfare & Institutions codes. Here's a great link

for searching all of the California codes, if anybody wants to check on

specific licensing requirements (and penalties for unlicensed practice --

not all criminal offenses in California are contained in the Penal Code).

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

Bob Marshall