A. A P-LPC license
will be issued once all of the following are completed and approved by the
Board: Application, general requirements, Official Transcript(s), Background
check, Verification of a passing score on the Jurisprudence Exam, Online
Supervision agreement, Supervision Contract, and Declaration of
Practices.
B.
Education
Requirements:
The following is a list of education requirements that all
Applicants must meet in order to be licensed:
Either sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter hours
of graduate study.
For degrees conferred after January 1, 2017, the Board will
only accept sixty (60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter-hour master's
degree programs. Those programs shall be either
1. CACREP degree programs or degree programs
with the word counseling in its title and meet the structure of CACREP as it
specifically pertains to the twelve (12) courses specified, as part of sixty
(60) semester hours or ninety (90) quarter hours that are required for
completion of the degree or
2. An
earned doctoral or educational specialist degree primarily in a counseling,
guidance, or related field, which meets similar standards as specified
above.
Please note that all references to hours of college credit
are for semester hours. Quarter hours may be converted to semester hours using
the standard formula (Number of quarter hours X .67 = Semester hour
equivalent). Semester hours must total sixty (60) hours.
A graduate program related to counselor education is defined
as one that contains course work in all of the following areas. Each Applicant
must have completed a three (3) hour semester course or its equivalent in each
of the following areas:
1. Human
Growth and Development - Course work includes studies that provide a broad
understanding of the nature and needs of individuals at all levels of
development, normal and abnormal human behavior, personality theory, life-span
theory, and learning theory within cultural contexts. Emphasis is placed on
psychological approaches used to explain, predict, and modify human
behavior.
2. Social and Cultural
Foundations - Course work includes studies that provide a broad understanding
of societal changes and trends in human roles, societal subgroups, social
mores, interaction patterns, and multicultural and pluralistic trends in
differing lifestyles, and major societal concerns including stress, person
abuse, substance abuse, discrimination, and methods for alleviating these
concerns.
3. Counseling and
Psychotherapy Skills - Course work includes studies that provide a broad
understanding of philosophic bases of helping processes, counseling theories
and their applications, basic and advanced helping skills, consultation
theories and their application, client and helper self-understanding and
self-development, and facilitation of client or consultee change.
4. Group Counseling - Course work includes
studies that provide a broad understanding of group development, dynamics, and
counseling theories; group leadership styles; basic and advanced group
counseling methods and skills; and other group approaches.
5. Lifestyle and Career Development - Course
work includes studies that provide a broad understanding of career development
theories; occupational and educational information sources and systems; career
and leisure counseling guidance and education; lifestyle and career
decision-making; career development program planning resources and
effectiveness evaluation.
6.
Testing and Appraisal - Course work includes studies that provide a broad
understanding of group and individual educational and psychometric theories and
approaches to appraisal, data, and information gathering methods, validity and
reliability, psychometric statistics, factors, influencing appraisals, and use
of appraisal results in helping process. Additionally, the specific ability to
administer and interpret tests and inventories to assess interests and
abilities and to identify career options is important.
7. Research and Evaluation - Course work
includes studies that provide a broad understanding of different types of
research, basic statistics, research-report development, research
implementation, program evaluation needs assessment, publication of research
information, and legal considerations.
8. Professional Orientation to Counseling or
Ethics - Course work includes studies that provide a broad understanding of
professional roles and functions of counselors, professional goals and
objectives, professional counseling organizations and associations,
professional history and trends, ethical and legal standards, professional
standards, and professional credentialing.
9. Theories of Counseling Psychotherapy and
Personality - Course work includes studies in basic theories, principles and
techniques of counseling, and their application to professional counseling
settings.
10. Marriage and/or
Family Counseling/Therapy - Course work includes studies that provide a broad
understanding of marriage and family theories and approaches to counseling with
families and couples. This includes appraisal of family and couples systems and
the application of these to counseling families and/or couples in premarriage,
marriage and/or divorce situations.
11. Abnormal Psychology and Psychopathology -
Course work includes studies that provide a broad understanding of individuals'
current mental/emotional states consistent with accepted classifications such
as those provided in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, as published by the American Psychiatric
Association; and the most recent edition of the ICD and the development of
planned, diagnostic - relevant interventions, including the goals of
counseling, methods of treatment, and means of monitoring progress.
12. Internship - Supervised, planned,
practical, advanced experience obtained in a clinical setting observing and
applying principles, methods, and techniques learned in training and/or
educational settings.
C.
Official Transcripts:
Official transcripts from an approved educational institution
of all graduate work verifying educational qualifications must be submitted to
the Board. Official transcripts shall be submitted through an online transcript
verification service such as Parchment, Credentials Solutions or The National
Student Clearinghouse or mailed or delivered to the Board office in a sealed
envelope signed across the envelope's seal by the transcript clerk.
1. Only graduate-level transcripts are
required.
D.
Examination Requirements:
Applicants must have a passing score on the Mississippi
Jurisprudence Exam. This required exam is administered through an entity
determined by the Board. The Applicant must pay any fees related to taking the
exam. Mississippi Board approval is not required. Individuals making initial
application for provisional licensure must include in their application packet
the certificate indicating a passing score on the Mississippi Jurisprudence
Exam.
E.
Supervision Requirements:
1. An online agreement and written contract
between the Applicant and an LPC-S and the Declaration of Practice must be
submitted as part of the online application process.
2. Post-master's supervised experience begins
once the P-LPC is issued and must be documented using the online
portal.
3. A P-LPC must remain
under supervision until the individual is licensed as a Licensed Professional
Counselor (LPC).
4. The supervisor
must be a Mississippi Board qualified supervisor (LPC-S).
5. An applicant for licensure in Mississippi
can only accrue supervised hours in Mississippi. For out of state applicants,
the Board may accept hours supervised by an LPC-S or equivalent.
6. In order to receive supervision by a
Mississippi LPC-S (Board qualified supervisor), a P-LPC may practice in a
clinical setting at a site that is governed by either federal, state, county,
or municipality. For other sites of practice, the P-LPC may practice under the
supervision of an LPC-S as long as an LPC or an individual licensed to provide
psychotherapy services independently in Mississippi is available on the
premises. In such case, the affiliation between the P-LPC and the on-site
licensed provider must be documented in the Declaration of Practice. Proof of
his/her/their licensure (such as copy/photo of license, wall certificate, or
online verification) must be submitted to the Board. The LPC-S is responsible
for verifying the independent practice setting and the onsite licensed
practitioner.
7. The P-LPC shall
neither practice independently nor hold oneself out as a counselor in
independent practice.
F.
Pay the nonrefundable Application Fee of $50.00 in the form of check, money
order, or via the online process for payment. Checks and money orders should be
made payable to the Mississippi Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional
Counselors.
G. The P-LPC shall be
renewable for not more than four (4) years. Licensees may appeal to the Board
for an extension.
H. Upon yearly
renewal, the LPC-S shall submit the online evaluation of the P-LPC.
