§1375.130. Professional Experience for Licensure as a Clinical Professional Counselor

Professional counseling experience shall be obtained as set forth in this Section:

 

a)         A person holding a master's degree in counseling, rehabilitation counseling, psychology or similar degree program shall have completed the equivalent of 2 years of full-time satisfactory supervised experience working as a counselor in a professional capacity under the direction of a qualified supervisor subsequent to the degree.

 

b)         A person holding a doctorate in counseling, rehabilitation counseling, psychology or similar degree program shall have completed the equivalent of 2 years of full-time satisfactory supervised experience working as a counselor in a professional capacity under the direction of a qualified supervisor at least one year of which is subsequent to the degree.  Internships may count toward professional experience.

 

c)         A qualified supervisor means any person who is a licensed clinical professional counselor, licensed clinical social worker, licensed clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist as defined in Section 1-121 of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.  If supervision took place outside Illinois, the supervisor shall be a master's level or doctoral level counselor engaged in clinical professional counseling, clinical social work, clinical psychology or psychiatry.  The supervisor shall hold an active license if the jurisdiction in which the supervisor practices requires licensure.

 

d)         One year of experience shall be a maximum of 1680 clock hours obtained in not less than 48 weeks, including 960 clock hours of direct face to face service to clients.  Part time experience shall be counted toward the experience requirement.

 

e)         For purposes of this Section, supervised experience shall be experience obtained under a qualified supervisor as defined in Section 10 of the Act and entail the provision of professional counseling and mental health services defined in Section 10 of the Act.

 

1)         The supervisor shall have met with the applicant at least one hour each week.  The supervision means the review of counseling and case management.

 

2)         The experience shall have been evaluated by the supervisor as satisfactory or better.

 

f)         Live face to face supervision does not include mail, email, telefax or phone.

 

g)         Acceptable modes for supervision of direct client contact are as follows:

 

1)         Individual supervision: the supervisory session is conducted by an approved supervisor with one or two counselors  present.

 

2)         Group supervision: the supervisory session is conducted by an approved supervisor with no more than 5 counselors present.

 

h)         The counseling activities must be performed pursuant to the supervisor's order, control, oversight, guidance and full professional responsibility.

 

i)          A qualified supervisor may be provided at the applicant's place of work or may be hired by the applicant to provide supervision.

 

j)          The following activities are not acceptable clinical supervision:

 

1)         Peer supervision.

 

2)         Administrative supervision.  For example, clinical practice performed under administrative rather than clinical supervision of an institutional director or executive.

 

3)         A primarily didactic process wherein techniques or procedures  are taught in a classroom, workshop or seminar.

 

4)         Consultation, staff development, or orientation to a field or program, or role-playing of family interrelationships as a substitute for current clinical practice in an appropriate clinical situation.

 

k)         An applicant may begin gaining the required experience upon completion of the degree requirements.  Verification of the date of completion of the degree, when different from the date of graduation, shall be certified to the Division by the applicant's educational institution.

 

l)          Professional experience may be gained through volunteering when the volunteer holds a licensed professional counselor license.

 

m)        When providing professional counseling services as set forth in Section 10 of the Act (in the independent practice of clinical professional counseling work), a licensed professional counselor shall always operate and represent himself/herself as an employee of the independent practice and may not work as an independent contractor as defined by Internal Revenue Service regulations.

 

(Source:  Amended at 35 Ill. Reg. 7586, effective May 13, 2011)