- CACREP has set forth guidelines for curriculum in graduate programs across the country, which help prepare counselors for their future work in the field.
- The curriculum outlines common core courses as well as what these classes should consist of for a foundational education and a specialty area.
- CACREP professional practice experiences allow students to gain experience as an actual counselor to practice their skills and theories.
- Accredited graduate programs ensure education is in line with licensure requirements for most states in the country.
- CACREP graduates are well-prepared for their first and subsequent jobs after graduation and find it easier to obtain licenses in multiple states.
When compared with other counseling degree accrediting bodies, the CACREP curriculum is the core standard that other bodies follow. While some programs have opted to not complete or even start the accreditation process with CACREP, many still position their program as having a “CACREP-aligned” curriculum to ensure that their learning experience is as close to the industry standard as possible.
The curriculum requirements that have been standardized by CACREP are important for three core stakeholders: students, program faculty, and employers.
For students looking to study counseling, the curriculum provided in a CACREP accredited program can be quite different than what is covered in a non-accredited program.
For program faculty, understanding what gaps might exist in your program curriculum vs CACREP requirements can be a key part in positioning your program to apply for accreditation.
For employers, understanding what the curriculum requirements are of a CACREP accredited program will allow you to understand what new counselors have studied and what gaps might exist.
Why CACREP Curriculum Matters
The CACREP curriculum matters because it establishes a consistent standard for how professional counselors are educated and trained. By outlining specific academic and clinical requirements, CACREP ensures that accredited programs prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed to function in the counseling field. This list of set standards and curriculum helps maintain the quality and credibility of counselor education across programs within the United States.
Another importance of the CACREP curriculum is the emphasis on experiential learning opportunities and professional practice. Accredited programs must provide students with structured experiences to gain supervised clinical practice through practicums and internships. These experiences allow students to apply counseling concepts they’ve learned about, develop ethical decision-making skills, and build confidence working with clients before entering the profession.
Finally, the CACREP curriculum supports criteria for licensure and professional portability. This means that many state licensure boards and employers recognize CACREP-aligned education, making it easier for graduates when seeking licensure or employment. By prioritizing a strong common core curriculum and specialty curricula, CACREP helps ensure counselors enter the workforce prepared to meet professional standards and client needs.
CACREP Standard Map
To understand how a program becomes accredited by the CACREP, let’s take a look at the standards map that the organization has for academic programs. We’ll highlight some of the most important standards the accrediting body looks for.
- Academic Quality: CACREP requires that accredited programs meet a high standard of academic quality so students can demonstrate knowledge and skills within the counseling field.
- Foundational Curriculum: Curricula in accredited programs must allow students to gather the necessary skills and education to function as a counselor upon graduation and once licensed.
- Professional Practice: Students pursuing a degree from a CACREP-accredited program must be able to obtain clinical experience through a practicum and internship under the supervision of a licensed professional.
Other standards for accreditation include the quality of the learning environment, specialized practice areas, and standards for doctoral programs. A full explanation of these standards can be viewed on the Accrediting Standards page of the CACREP website.
Common Core
With any graduate school program, a curriculum is essential to preparing its graduates for entering the professional workforce after they complete their academics. Students who are studying to become counselors in the mental health field need a curriculum that teaches them foundational skills of counseling, mental health disorders and diagnosis, human development, pharmacology, and all things psychology.
The CACREP’s website highlights how its common core curriculum ensures that professional counselors in the field are unified in their education and all graduate with the same knowledge of foundational counseling concepts. They state that the following areas are vital to a counselor’s education.
- Professional Orientation and Ethics: One of the most important concepts in counseling is the importance of professionalism and ethical practice. Curricula should spend time covering these two topics for their students.
- Social and Cultural Diversity: Those in the counseling field must know how to treat and support individuals from diverse backgrounds and be knowledgeable about various social and cultural practices.
- Lifespan Development: Counselors are required to know and understand the development of humans throughout life.
- Career Development: CACREP-accredited programs offer education for those pursuing career counseling and prepare them with skills for career decision-making and career theories.
- Counseling Practices and Counseling Relationships: Without a therapeutic relationship, individuals may seek other counselors, so the curriculum highlights the importance of building sound clinical practices and strong counseling relationships.
- Group Counseling: Education on how to run group counseling and group theories is important for those entering the field.
- Assessment and Diagnostics: CACREP standards require programs to ensure graduates understand how to provide assessment and diagnostics in the field.
- Research and Program Evaluation: Each program that is CACREP-accredited must be willing to self-assess to ensure its research and program meet standards, particularly with evidence-based practices.
Specialties
CACREP also highlights specialty curricula in their standards map. While common core courses are vital to counselor education, those pursuing different niches within the field also have high standards for their specialty classes. Different paths that a counselor can choose after graduating from school can include the following nine specialties:
- Addiction Counseling: This path prepares counselors to work with those who have addictions. From substance use to gambling to even food-related addictions, counselors learn proper treatment for recovery and relapse.
- Career Counseling: Some counselors choose to enter career counseling, which focuses on helping people who want to potentially change careers. Counselors learn how to determine potential paths for their clients based on the client’s skills, education, experience, and personality.
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Clinical mental health counseling is probably the most popular niche for counselors to work in upon graduation. This specialty allows a counselor to work in private practice or communicate mental health and see individuals, families, couples, or run therapy groups.
- Rehabilitation Counseling: Rehabilitation counseling is a line of work where a counselor helps those with disabilities to advocate for themselves and their support system. Counselors may also help their clients gain independent living skills and help them with getting necessary services. This role can be heavy in case management.
- Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling: Different from rehabilitation counseling, clinical rehabilitation counseling treats the mental health issues of those who have various disabilities. This role is more clinical compared to a rehabilitation counselor.
- Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling: Another speciality that CACREP addresses is systemic and relational work. Counselors can learn how to incorporate the family systems ideology into work with those in relationships.
- School Counseling: Many people choose to pursue school counseling, which allows them to work within a school system for students in K-12. School counselors primarily help students gain success through individual services, help in the classroom, and facilitate conferences between the school, teachers, students, and parents.
- College Counseling: Student affairs is the branch of higher education where college counselors can work with individuals in their young adult stage of life. College counselors may be involved in decision-making on a university or college campus for student development, student leadership, or student well-being.
- Counselor Education and Supervision: If you’re looking to deep dive into counseling, the counselor education path might be right for you. This is a doctoral program for those who want to focus their career on the education, development, and supervision of other counselors, both in and outside of academia.
Professional Practice
The foundational education is vital for a student who is pursuing counseling, but they also benefit deeply from CACREP’s professional practice standard. In short, the professional practice standards that the accrediting body sets forth allow students to gain experience actually applying the skills and theory they’ve learned in their program. Students are able to counsel clients under the supervision and guidance of professors and licensed practitioners.
The following bullet points highlight key components of the rigid guidelines established by CACREP to prepare students in accredited programs.
- Programs are covered by insurance policies to maintain high clinical care and support them during their training.
- Students are supervised through live observation or recordings of sessions to ensure they are providing ethical, moral, and skillful services.
- The CACREP programs must offer evaluations of a student’s knowledge and clinical skills, as well as the opportunity to learn about various resources within their field.
- Students will have the opportunity to engage in individual and group counseling.
The final stages of the professional practice that the CACREP highlights are the practicum experience for students and their clinical internships. We’ve broken down the basics for you here:
PRACTICUM
- Students must have 100 hours of supervised counseling experiences over a minimum of 10 weeks.
- Students will complete 40 hours of direct clinical care where they are seeing clients and developing their own clinical practice and skills.
- Weekly supervision with a qualified supervisor to discuss cases and skills.
- Participation of group supervision with a qualified supervisor.
INTERNSHIP
- After completion of their practicum within their program, students need 600 hours of internship in a clinical position that is supervised.
- 240 hours must be direct counseling services with clients
- Students must have weekly supervision with a qualified supervisor and participate in group supervision.
For more information on what makes a supervisor qualified to work with practicum and internship students, please visit CACREP’s website for their standards.
Wrapping it Up
This article is to provide you with information on how important the CACREP curriculum is for counselors-to-be. Their high-quality standards for core courses, speciality areas of practice, and professional experience opportunities ensure graduate programs are preparing their students for working in the field. Through both academics and supervised experiences, students can learn and develop who they are as counselors.
Understanding how important the CACREP curriculum can be to post-graduate success can help potential students when they are considering which universities or colleges they want to attend for their graduate work. Graduates of accredited programs have an easier time gaining licensure due to the rigid guidelines set by CACREP that align with most states’ licensure requirements. Lastly, the standards for accreditation are recognized among professionals and employers in the counseling line of work.