Reclaiming Competency in the Mental Health Profession

Let’s talk about reclaiming competency. Twenty-five years ago all 50 states did away with oral exams required to display competency prior to licensure as a mental health counselor. 60% of examinees failed those oral exams. That’s more a statement about how well their academic institutions prepared them for their career than anything having to do…

Clinical Integrity: A Call to Reinstate Oral Exams

By Rick McCarthy, MFT

In 2003, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) discontinued the oral examination requirement for licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). This decision, followed by the eventual elimination of the Written Clinical Vignette Exam in 2016, was justified as part of an effort to streamline licensure and align California with national testing standards.…

Fixing Our Accrediting Institutions

By Phillip Crum

Fixing our accrediting institutions will not be easy but it must be done. One of the key segments in need of repair in The New Counselor Supply Chain is the one dealing with Accrediting Institutions and for the most part they are broken. Their function is to determine which universities are the cream of the…