Editorial Independence
Funding for Counseling Accreditation is provided by its readers through donations. We currently do not run sponsored listings or monetize the site in any way. Due to this, we can make editorial decisions in a purely unbiased way.
How We Verify Accreditation
With accreditation being a core focus of our site, we take the process of updating program accreditation statuses seriously. While program accreditation statuses generally change yearly, we complete quarterly audits of our lists to ensure that our content is as up to date as possible.
We recognize and maintain up-to-date information on the following accrediting bodies:
- CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) for master’s and doctoral counseling programs.
- COAMFTE (Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education) for marriage and family therapy programs.
- MPCAC (Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council) for master’s programs in psychology and counseling.
- APA (American Psychological Association) for doctoral psychology programs.
- ASCA (American School Counselor Association) for school-wide school counseling programs.
All of the above accrediting bodies provide their own directories of accredited programs. This is the core source we utilize on a quarterly basis to keep our content up-to-date or if we are notified of a discrepancy.
Fact Checking
In addition to working with writers who are licensed practitioners, our content is also verified against primary sources by our lead editor prior to going live. The following are primary sources that we utilize to source data and fact-check our content:
- State licensing boards for information regarding licensing requirements (educational, supervised hours, fees, etc.)
- Counseling accreditor directories (CACREP, COAMFTE, MPCAC, APA) for program accreditation status
- BLS and OEWS for salary and job growth data
- The Counseling Compact
Third-party organizations and school marketing pages are not treated as primary sources in relation to licensing requirements or program accreditation.
Update Cadence
All of our site content includes a “Last Updated” date to communicate to the readers when the page was last updated and verified against current sources. Our content is updated based on these review cadences:
- State Licensing Pages: reviewed and updated yearly (every twelve months) unless a state board announces changes prior to this
- Accreditation Guides: these are updated yearly (every twelve months) unless an accreditation board announces additionals, removals, or status changes to their accredited programs
- Salary and Career Outlook: update cadence aligns with updated BLS findings
Corrections
We take reader-reported feedback and corrections seriously and encourage our readers to reach out to us at info@policylab.us with details. Our team will review your feedback within two business days and if there is an issue or correction, will aim to resolve it within five business days.