Internship and the Journey of 3000 Hours.

So you’ve made it through grad school and you’ve passed the NCE. Nice.

Now it’s time to get your LPC-Associate designation. The hard part about this, believe it or not, is navigating the board’s website and finding all the forms you need. Here’s what I would do:

1. Start looking for an LPC-Supervisor. Speak with different LPC-Supervisors and see if you find one that is a good fit. Remember, you cannot be an LPC-Associate without an LPC-Supervisor. This person can help you with all the paperwork.

2. Look at the LPC rules, and (if you are in Texas) review Section 681.31: Counseling Methods and Practices.

   “But why Dr. Leeth?” you may ask, “Don’t counselors do counseling?”

   Well, yes, counselors “do” counseling. The real question is what can count towards my licensure? And this particular section tells us exactly what can count. And I’m willing to bet there are more opportunities listed in that section than you might be know about.

   This section lists 18 different “methods, techniques, and modalities” that Licensed Professional Counselors use. Licensed Professional Counselor-Associates can use 17 of them:

   1. Individual counseling

   2. Group counseling

   3. Marriage and relationship counseling

   4. Family counseling

   5. Addictions counseling

   6. Rehabilitation counseling

   7. Education counseling

   8. Career counseling

   9. Counseling for sexual issues

   10. Referral counseling

   11. Psychotherapy

   12. Play therapy

   13. Hypnotherapy

   14. Expressive/creative arts counseling

   15. Biofeedback

   16. Testing and assessment

   17. Crisis counseling

   Look at the list! There are many options for getting your hours, and the LPC rules go into (slightly) more detail for each of these types of counseling.

   Oh yeah. The 18th one (that LPC-Associates are not allowed to count) is consultation (e.g., helping a company understand why it has a high turnover rate, or working with an agency to deal with implicit racism).

3. Look at your current or future job responsibilities to see which domain they fall into. Speak with your potential LPC-Supervisor BEFORE signing anything to see if they are comfortable with how you would like to gain your hours. Signing off on hours is ultimately up to the discretion of the LPC-Supervisor. Find a supervisor that is knowledgable about the approved ways of getting hours. Don’t leave hours on the table!

4. Complete your paperwork with your LPC-Supervisor, and submit it to the Board.

5. Be patient. Unfortunately, the Texas Board is not known for being quick. Hopefully this changes with the newly created Texas Behavioral Executive Council.

You might be wondering why I have such a detailed list of what to do. These past few years I’ve been spending some time in each of my classes going over all these points. I’ve seen many students graduate with a Masters in Counseling but they don’t pursue licensure because they already have a full-time job, and an LPC-Supervisor told them that they would have to either a) get a second job or b) volunteer somewhere to get hours that would count towards their LPC. Sometimes this is necessary (for example, if you are a banker or a chef, it is unlikely that those hours could count). However, there are many jobs that (unbeknownst to the Supervisor and Associate) can and should count towards licensure. School counselors, student development specialists, student conduct, intakes, ABA…these are things that may count towards your license. There are many ways to get hours for your LPC, in addition to the traditional counseling process.

On a different note: Am I pretentious because I used the word “unbeknownst?” It seems like one of those words.

If you or someone you know is struggling to find an LPC-Supervisor, contact me and we see if I’d be a good fit, or I can provide names of supervisors that I know, trust, and respect.