Advocating for the Counseling Profession
INTRODUCTION
In this assignment you will determine strategies to advocate for the counseling profession by developing a position statement. A position statement, like a white paper, is a report that presents both facts and opinions on a particular issue to inform readers and influence them. Often, a position statement concludes with a call to action and provides recommendations for next steps. (For examples, see Mental Health America's Position Statements describing and calling for advocacy efforts on many issues impacting counselors.) Position statements are primary tools for influencing organizational or government policies.
In this assignment, you will gather facts and make inferences to formulate a well supported argument for a position and make advocacy recommendations regarding a specific policy influencing professional credentialing (in other words, certifications or licenses) of clinical mental health counselors.
ASSIGNMENT PREPARATION
To prepare your assignment, gather facts and formulate a well supported argument that counselors' scope of practice should be expanded in some way (for example, extending Medicare provider status to mental healthcounselors, extending the Indian Health Service to recognize professional counselors as health care providers, or urging state counseling licensure boards to adopt the requirement of graduation from a CACREP-accredited counseling program for licensure to improve license portability across state lines).