Practice and Scope of Counselor - Psychology Essay Example

According to the law, counseling refers to the mental health, human, development and psychotherapeutic check up to enhance development in a person (Marinoff, 2013).The scope of the counselor is to help an individual through giving them a systematic guidance. The counselor is expected to respect the individual regardless of their background and understand the various factors that are contributing towards a certain state in the person. The counselor is expected to assist the patient or client by offering a therapeutic relationship to be in a position of achieving physical, educational, social, and emotional or a spiritual development in the clients entire life. The counselor is expected to assess the clients attitudes, abilities, and interests, behavioral and mental disorders through the use of methods that help in the understanding of how human beings behave as part of the practice. It is within the scope of the counselor to consult and be assisted to understand the client better. The practice allows the counselor to refer the client to other specialists for further help.

Requirements to be a CounselorIn Texas, for one to be a licensed counselor the individual is required to have a masters degree in the field of counseling which is from an accredited institution. The individual is also required to have a graduate program which should be of at least a 48 hours graduate semester and also be related to counseling. A person aspiring to be a counselor in Texas should have a practicum experience that has been supervised and is related to the field of counseling. The transcript of the individual should display a credit score for the practicum experience which should be undertaken for a period of 300 clock-hours with at least 100 clock-hours having a direct contact with a client. After the board gives a person a temporary LPC license, the individual is allowed to start the post graduate internship which is supervised and should last for 3000 clock-hours with at least half of the time dealing with a direct client (Hays, Sutter, McPherson, & Texas Psychological Association, 2005).

The Steps for the Process

During the application process, the individual is required to have three letters which for reference. The transcripts are sent directly from the school. The application fee is $220.The person's fingerprints should be recorded to check for any criminal history. The state's vendor Morpho Trust is used to capture the fingerprints electronically whereby the fee is then paid to the vendor in the case where the individual is from the state of Texas but for those who are out of state have the fingerprints taken manually then the vendor digitalize them later. The fingerprint fee is $41.45.The board of Texas requires an individual to undertake two examinations at the LSSP level that is the jurisprudence examination and praxis II for school psychologists. After the board has given authority to the person that is when he/she undertakes the jurisprudence examination. The fee charged for the examination is $210.A person is considered to have fulfilled the educational requirements after being accredited by the American Psychological Association or have been approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (Texas, 1960).

Importance of the Professional Bodies

The professional bodies help to protect the integrity that will exist between the counselor and the client. They contribute towards ensuring that the client is provided with the required services that will help in his/her development. It helps regulate the behavior of the counselor while dealing with the client to prevent causing any harm. Through having being certified, it ensures that the counselor has achieved the required standards of competency. It assists both the counselor and the client to be able to efficiently deal with each other despite being in a world that is culturally diverse. The guidelines help the client to be aware of the fee to pay to avoid disagreements with the counselor. It regulates the relationship that exists between different professionals and how they should treat their colleagues (Sue & Sue, 2016).

References

Hays, J. R., Sutter, E. G., McPherson, R., & Texas Psychological Association. (2005). Texas law and the practice of psychology: A sourcebook. Austin, TX: Texas Psychological Association.

Marinoff, L. (2013). Therapy for the Sane: How Philosophy Can Change Your Life. New York: Argo-Navis.

Sue, D., Sue, D. W., Sue, S., & Sue, D. M. (2016). Understanding abnormal behavior.

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2016). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice.

Texas. (1960). New standards for guidance in Texas public schools: (effective 1961-62 school year). Austin.