Educational Requirements

PURPOSE: This rule defines the educational requirements for an applicant seeking licensure as a professional counselor. (1) In order to qualify for supervision, provisional licensure, or licensure as a professional counselor, an applicant shall have received a graduate degree at the master’s, specialist, or doctoral level that consisted of a course of study with a major in counseling from an acceptable educational institution. The educational program must enhance and continuously reinforce the development of a counselor identity through its course work, philosophies, counseling, education, faculty, and field experiences. (A) An acceptable educational institution shall mean a regionally accredited institution approved by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (B) An applicant who obtained a master’s degree or was enrolled in an acceptable educational institution prior to August 28, 2023, a master’s degree with a major in counseling shall consist of at least forty-eight (48) semester hours or seventy-two (72) quarter hours. (C) An applicant who enrolled in an acceptable institution on or after August 28, 2023, a master’s degree with a major in counseling as defined in this rule shall consist of at least sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter hours. (D) Asynchronous learning not to exceed fifty percent (50%) total course work. For the purpose of this rule, asynchronous learning, non-interactive communication shall be defined as those courses in which the student has no means of simultaneously interacting with the course instructor visually and verbally during the transmission of course information. (E) Continuing education or work experience shall not be considered as a form of graduate course work, even if credit is awarded by the educational institution and the offering appears on the transcript. (2) Effective August 28, 2023, and pursuant to section 337.520.1.(5), RSMo, a course of study with a major in counseling shall consist of at least sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter hours pursuant to 20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(C), include the teaching, training, and supervision of multiple counseling principles, techniques, and interventions, and shall be defined as one (1) of the following: (A) A graduate degree accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), or its successor organization, or the Counseling on Rehabilitation Education, Incorporated (CORE), or its successor organization; or (B) A graduate degree in counseling that is consistent with the development of a counselor identity through its course of study, that includes a three- (3-) semester-hour graduate course or a five- (5-) quarter-hour graduate course in each core area defined as follows: 1. Assessment—Courses acceptable for this area cover structured and unstructured assessment of the mental health functions and psychopathology of a person using assessment, testing, and tools consistent with counseling practice; and 2. Career Counseling—Courses acceptable for this area cover concepts about how career development unfolds, the lifelong processes and the influences upon clients or patients that lead to work values, occupational choice, creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of roles, issues concerning identity, and patterns of work adjustment; and 3. Counseling Theory—Courses acceptable for this area shall cover the various major theories and techniques of counseling; and 4. Counseling Skills and Interventions—Courses acceptable for this area cover theoretical foundations pertaining to counseling skills training and the development and implementation of interventions and techniques that support effective treatment; and 5. Diagnosis—Courses acceptable for this area provide an understanding and a working knowledge of psychodiagnostics using the current editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classifications of Diseases (ICD). Course content regarding the manuals must include understanding the organizational structures, professional terminology used in the manuals, and competence in their application as they are used in the assessment process and subsequent treatment planning; and 6. Human Growth and Development—Courses acceptable for this area shall cover various stages of the human growth cycle and include information about theories of development or various aspects of development as it relates to the practice of counseling; and 7. Group Counseling—Courses acceptable for this area cover the theories, principles, and techniques of providing counseling or psychotherapy with groups of people including group process components, development stage theories, group members’ roles and behaviors, and therapeutic factors of AND INSURANCE group therapy. For the purpose of this rule, a graduate course in marital and family therapy does not meet the requirement of this core area; and 8. Social and Cultural Diversity—Courses acceptable for this area cover various cultural and social class issues in areas such as race, sexual orientation, aging, disability, socioeconomic, ethnic, gender-related, or other issues of diversity that emerge in a pluralistic society as it relates to the practice of counseling; and 9. Research Methods—Courses acceptable for this area cover principles, methods, techniques, and tools used in performing research in counseling; and 10. Practicum/Internship—The practicum or internship shall be a field experience and span at least two (2) academic semesters or three (3) academic quarters and shall consist of at least six hundred (600) clock hours and include a minimum of two hundred forty (240) clock hours providing face-toface counseling, including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant telehealth. A. The field experience must be a graduate-level supervised practicum/internship applying principles, techniques, assessments, diagnosis and interventions in a practice setting, which must be clinical in nature. B. For purposes of this rule, settings that focus only on intakes/assessments or in-school settings do not meet the requirement of this core area; and 11. Professional Orientation and Ethics—Courses acceptable for this area cover an orientation to the practices and responsibilities of a professional counselor including the establishment of a professional counselor identity and the legal and ethical standards of the profession. (3) An applicant may submit a written request and fee to the committee to conduct an educational review to determine compliance with 20 CSR 2095-2.010. (A) Upon receipt of official educational transcripts from the college or university and/or information relating to the program, and upon payment of the fee for an educational review as defined in 20 CSR 2095-1.020 section (1), the committee will review education credentials or a proposed plan for obtaining the appropriate education in compliance with these rules. (B) All information shall be submitted to the committee no later than thirty (30) days prior to the next regularly scheduled committee meeting. (4) The applicant shall have the burden of demonstrating that the degree consisted of a course of study including teaching, training, and supervision of counseling principles, techniques, and interventions as well as the development of a counselor identity. If the applicant’s transcript does not clearly delineate that the degree consisted of the required course of study, the applicant shall obtain documentation on official letterhead from the appropriate college or university official providing an explanation on how the graduate course of study is acceptable pursuant to this rule. (A) Any seminar, reading courses, or independent study shall be evaluated by the committee in the same manner as on-site graduate courses or programs as defined in this rule. (B) Undergraduate course work shall not be in compliance with core requirements unless graduate credit is clearly delineated on the transcript. (C) When evaluating transcripts based upon a quarter-hour system, the committee shall consider a quarter hour of graduate credit as two-thirds (2/3) of a semester hour. A partial semester hour shall not count as a full semester hour. A semester hour of graduate credit shall be defined as fifteen (15) clock hours of regularly scheduled classroom study. (5) Graduate course work consisting of a course of study as defined in section (2) of this rule with a major in counseling and from a school, college, university, or other institution of higher learning outside of the United States may be considered in compliance with these rules if at the time the school, college, university, or other institution of higher learning where the applicant was enrolled or graduated maintained a standard of training substantially equivalent to the standards of training of those institutions accredited by one of the regional accredited commissions recognized by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The committee shall determine if the standard of training was substantially the same as those institutions accredited by one (1) of the regional accrediting commissions recognized by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It shall be the applicant’s responsibility to document that the course work consisted of a course of study as defined in section (2) of this rule. AUTHORITY: sections 337.510 and 337.520, RSMo Supp. 2023.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 95-2.010. Original rule filed Oct. 16, 1986, effective Jan. 30, 1987. Amended: Filed May 2, 1989, effective July 27, 1989. Amended: Filed July 3, 1990, effective Dec. 31, 1990. Amended: Filed Aug. 5, 1991, effective Dec. 9, 1991. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Dec. 1, 2004, effective June 30, 2005. Moved to 20 CSR 2095-2.010, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Nov. 21, 2008, effective May 30, 2009. Amended: Filed Oct. 4, 2023, effective April 30, 2024. *Original authority: 337.510, RSMo 1985, amended 1989, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2018, 2020, 2023, and 337.520, RSMo 1985, amended 1989, 1993, 1995, 2018.