State Requirements
Student’s Name
University

State Requirements In this profession, licensing is mandatory prior to commencement of practice. As a future practitioner, I am interested in knowing the regulations governing this profession. My state is Virginia; therefore, I have accessed Virginia Board of Counseling website, and my state requirement worksheet source is this website.
Required Courses and Hours To apply for a license in Virginia one must have acquired a graduate degree. This degree must not be undergraduate degree but Master’s or higher degree. For a graduate to be licensed he must have completed at least 60 hours of graduate study or quarter years not less than 90.The area of study should be in counseling, and the academic credentials must have been from an accredited university or college. The coursework contains thirteen core courses; the minimum for all coursework is three semesters.
Internship (residency) Hours The residency requirement is of 3,400 hours in counseling practice. The residency hours are in various clinical problems, populations and theoretical framework in the following areas. Changes to these took effect as from 3rd July 2014. In a recap these areas encompass, diagnosis, assessment, evaluation, Appraisal, case management and professional ethics. It is a requirement that one has to have acquired at least 2,000 hours of direct client contact which are within the 3,400 hours of residency. It is also a requirement that residents must document at least 600 hours of internship experience whereby 240 hours of these must be with direct contact with the clients.

Supervision Hours The state specifies at least 200 hours of supervision. Monitoring must occur once between 1- 4 hours of 40 hours of working and experience within the residency. Supervision may be at the group level or individual level, and it is to be done by a clinician with two years experience prior to licensure.
National or State Exam To qualify for licensure, one must sit for (NCMHCE), National Clinical Mental Health Counselors Examination, when applying for application by endorsement, one is exempt from this exam. Our state requires this national exam from NBCC, and they do not have their exams.
MISC
The applicant for licensing must have completed at least a master’s degree program or higher that prepares them for counseling practice. The age that qualifies one to apply for license corresponds to the age of attainment of the minimum level in this case that is master’s degree. The board evaluates the individual background and denies licenses to those who have previously been convicted either due to a misdemeanor, violation of regulations or aiding violation.
Scope of Practice The state specifies that a counselor is licensed only to perform these functions. Anything beyond this is considered a violation of the law. These functions are counseling, psychotherapy, appraisal, diagnostic procedures, psychopathology, treatment of addictive disorders, research and marriage and family systems theory. In our state Virginia, there are two forms of licensing. These are licensure by examination and licensure by endorsement. Licensure by endorsement applies to counselors who have previously held professional counseling license in other jurisdictions outside the state of Virginia. As such these instructors are required to provide proof and documentation that their credentials and experience meet the criteria as that set in Virginia. When seeking licensure by examination, an applicant has to sit for the relevant exams as earlier discussed. In Virginia, the Board has authority to revoke, to suspend or even deny the license.

Reference
Virginia Board of Counseling. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2015.