Overview of Texas Licensing Board for Counselors
Mar 7, 2015 | 8:00 am
The State of Texas is extremely strict when it comes to obtaining a Texas Counseling License to practice counseling. There are several steps to obtaining a license and it can be time consuming. Following are some of the requirements needed for a license as outlined according to the Texas Licensing Board for Counselors.
Master’s Degree: In order to be a licensed counselor, a Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree is required. The degree can be in any related field such as family counseling, marriage counseling, psychology, psychiatry, and social work.
LPC Application Forms: Becoming a licensed counselor requires a lot of paperwork. Forms can be accessed on the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors home page.
Texas Licensing Board for Counselors Testing Requirements
In order to obtain a Texas State License, candidates must take the State Counselor’s Examination. If a candidate fails the test, it can be retaken three times before having to either wait two years to reapply or take courses in areas of weakness. Two examinations are needed to fulfill the requirements for obtaining an LPC-1 license (Licensed Professional Counselors Intern).
The tests needed are the National Counselor Examination and the Texas Jurisprudence Exam. The NEC is the primary counseling exam. Registration is required, so forms will need to be filled out and sent to the NBCC Assessment Department in North Carolina. It takes about a month to get the materials by mail and there is a $185.00 fee. Texas has nine testing sites to choose from. Information will be sent to the candidate by mail.
Supervised Practice: Before becoming a Licensed Counselor in Texas, a candidate will be required to do internship counseling under the supervision of a Licensed Counselor.
Texas requires 3,000 hours of supervised counseling, with at least 1,500 of those hours working directly with patients. Supervised counseling should take place at least an hour per week, with patient counseling via webcam or face-to-face. The minimum time for counseling internship is at least 18 months. An Internship License is good for three years. If internship is not completed within the three-year period, a candidate will have to start over again.
Counselor Licensing can be vary from state to state and license information can be found online at such sources as Counselor-License.com. Even if a fully licensed counselor moves to Texas from another state, they will have to meet the requirements mandated in Texas.
Obtaining a license as meeting approval with the Texas Licensing Board for Counselors can be a long, arduous journey. A student considering a career as a Licensed Counseling should make sure that this is their career choice and is something the candidate is passionate about. A clear picture of the type of counseling a student trains for should be decided before taking the courses needed to fulfill the requirements leading up to a Counseling License.
Many students who consider this their career choice, the reward of working with patients and knowing that they are getting better can be truly satisfying. Counselors play an important role in the recovery process of their patients. When using a Licensed Counselor, patients should feel confident that they are getting the best treatment possible in the state of Texas.