Lpc Texas Board When Does It Let Me Try to Login Again
Summer 2019 update: The American Counseling Association has created a state-by-state guide with updated information on licensure requirements beyond the country. Get to counseling.org/cognition-heart/licensure-requirements for data on licensure in your state or U.Southward. territory.
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As an existentially oriented advisor, I am well versed in the absurd, but I was not quite prepared for how far my ability to accept it would be stretched when I moved three hours away and across country lines. I graduated with my doctorate in counselor education in May from a well-known university and, following graduation, moved to join my partner who had received an outstanding job in some other land. Existence a licensed counselor, I assumed it would exist piece of cake for me to follow her and become a job practicing counseling. How wrong I was.
In light of the twenty/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling initiative's "Principles for Unifying and Strengthening the Profession," I felt compelled to share my story. The fourth principle is "Creating a portability arrangement for licensure will benefit counselors and strengthen the counseling profession." Through writing nigh my experience, I hope to help other counselors anticipate some of the difficulties of transferring a license from one state to some other and aid counseling boards sympathise the touch of restricting the portability of licenses.
When I graduated with my master's caste, I moved to a state that did not require a license to practice merely did require unlicensed counselors to be under the supervision of a licensed professional. In iii years, I completed the 4,000-hour clinical residency, which included 2,000 hours of direct client contact and 200 hours of supervision required for licensure in the state. In June 2010, I passed my state licensure test while enrolled in my doctoral program. In April 2011, when my partner and I 
knew we would be moving to a different state, I began reviewing the requirements for transferring my license to the new state.
I was informed that the licensing structure where I was moving was modeled after the state'southward social work license, which required fifty-fifty recent graduates to have a graduate license to practice. The requirement for transferring a license is listed as either ii years of exercise as a licensed counselor or 2,000 hours of clinical professional counseling experience. Despite these requirements being listed twice on the licensing forms, I chosen the state counseling board to confirm that I met the requirements and was completing the correct forms. After outlining my experience, I told the person at the counseling board that I had held my license in the other state for only one twelvemonth simply that I possessed well over two,000 hours of clinical experience. The person with whom I spoke at the board notified me that, given my clinical feel, I should be able to transfer my license.
By the terminate of May, I had gathered the required signatures from my professors and quondam supervisors, nerveless transcripts from all of the schools I had attended, written the required cheque to the board and mailed a license verification course to the state counseling lath where I currently held my license so it could sign and return the course to the new country to which I was moving. Afterwards waiting several weeks into June, I called the counseling board in the state to which I was moving to see if it had received my licensure verification class. I was told the person with access to the files was on vacation and would "be back erstwhile adjacent week." The side by side calendar week, I chosen several times before reaching the person with whom I needed to speak, only to exist informed that the form had not notwithstanding been received. This person besides told me that if the class was not received past July 15, I would take to wait until Aug. 15 for the counseling lath to review my awarding.
Having this data, I called my quondam licensing board to inquire about my licensure verification. A voice postal service greeted me, informing me the lath had a loftier book of applications and instructing me to leave a name and number, which I did. The post-obit day, having not received a render telephone call, I chosen several times until finally reaching an bodily human whom I could ask about the status of my license verification. I told this person the check for the verification fee I had sent with the form had been cashed in June, but as of July, my new counseling lath had non received the course. This person told me my former counseling board met only once per month and had already convened in June prior to my request being received. I inquired as to when the counseling board would see next. The response: "Sometime in July." The person could not provide a date when the board would see to sign my form.
This raised a 2d business organization for me. Because I had submitted all of my forms in June, I had allowed my license in my former country to lapse at the cease of that month, not seeing the do good of paying for and carrying 2 licenses in different states. I attempted to telephone call my former licensing lath once again to determine if this lapse would affect the verification of my license because the board would non be reviewing it until July. Again, I was unable to reach anyone, so I left my question on phonation mail service. I never received a telephone call. Instead, on July fifteen I received an electronic mail indicating the board had mailed out my licensure verification. The e-mail didn't address my question of whether my license was still valid.
After waiting another week, I called my new counseling board to confirm receipt of the licensure verification class. It was at this point I was notified that I did not meet the requirements for transferring my license because I had non held my previous license for two years. I told the person at the board I was getting different letters and asked if I could speak with someone college up. I was given the number of the board's director. I reviewed my previous conversations with the director, indicating that someone at the lath had confirmed my understanding of the country's licensure requirements. The director said the expectation was that if an individual had a counseling license for two years, he or she would also take 2,000 hours of clinical practice, meaning that a person was required to have both, not either/or, despite the wording on the forms. I shared that the state where I previously had been licensed required 1,000 more contact hours and 100 more hours of supervision than did my current land's licensure requirements. I was told I had two options: I could wait for the board to review my application in September and inform me of its decision in Oct, or I could send in some other bank check, complete a different set up of forms and mail dorsum in the awarding for regular licensure — and nonetheless wait until October.
Exasperated, I communicated to the director that I had been unemployed for three months while following the instructions provided past the lath to become my license transferred. When told the earliest I would hear whether my forms were right would be October — another three months away — I asked how the board could justify the filibuster in responding given that a license is required to exercise. The director told me that fifty-fifty if the lath had received my application materials in June, they still would not accept been reviewed until September. In May and June, the director explained, the board reviewed disciplinary issues that kept its members from approving licensure applications, so the lath was on recess through July and August, despite what the person at the counseling board had previously told me regarding the board'due south meetings. For four months (fully one-third of the yr), the counseling board did non review applications, and when it would review them, information technology would accept 30 days to respond. Following a response, applicants must however sit down for a counseling police exam and/or a licensure exam. I finally asked if I could speak to someone on the licensing lath who might perhaps requite me some concrete answers. The director said she could make the request but added that the lath did not usually honor such requests.
Every bit of mid-August, I however had not received a response from the counseling board. In the concurrently, I renewed my license in my previous state. Information technology took five minutes to exercise online, and I received my paper license in the mail within a calendar week. I accepted that, at least for a while, I would take to commute beyond state borders if I wanted to continue practicing as a advisor.
In October, I finally received my letter from the board indicating that I could sit for the licensing examination within a week. The letter of the alphabet indicated I would need to bring a license to ostend my identity. On the letter of the alphabet, my name was wrong. When I attempted to contact the person listed on the letter to follow up, I reached her vocalism mail, which informed me she would be out of the office until after the date of the exam. Through the counseling lath's main number, I was able to reach a person who could correct my name. Finally, at the stop of Oct, most half dozen months after I began the licensing process, I received my counseling license in the new country. I am currently working in my former state, but I am going to go on my new license agile so I can avoid having to go through the licensing procedure once more merely in case I desire to accept a chore in my new land.
As counseling continues to abound as a profession, we demand to work on developing common licensure standards. Common standards will help ensure the quality of counselors, protect the public and move us toward developing a shared trunk of noesis to foster a unique advisor identity. These common standards will also better the portability of licenses across state lines. I accept a few recommendations from my experience that I promise volition help prepare other counselors planning to transfer their licenses.
1) Prepare well in advance of a move, especially given the current economical climate. It was hard having to decline jobs considering my licensure application had not been approved and not applying for other openings while I waited.
2) Make sure that y'all're talking to a director or another officer at a licensing lath when transferring your license. Although individuals who answer the phones at licensure boards tin seem helpful, they are not always familiar with the intricacies of licensure.
3) Brand sure to maintain a tape of all of your do and supervision hours in case you need to resubmit the information if you lot are unable to transfer your license.
I encourage the continued development of common licensing standards that will increase consistency for insurance panels and assist in legislation efforts regarding counselors. Common licensing standards would assist strengthen the counselor identity and continue to validate counseling every bit a cohesive profession, while likewise making it easier for counselors to proceed to do their good works.
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Thomas J. Sherman is a clinical supervisor with the Military OneSource program providing support and resource to agile-duty, National Baby-sit and Reserve service members and their families. He is also an adjunct professor in the counselor teaching program at McDaniel College. Contact him at tom.j.sherman@gmail.com.
Letters to the editor:ct@counseling.org
Source: https://ct.counseling.org/2012/01/license-portability-one-counselors-journey-across-state-lines/
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