Who are LPCs

Licensed professional counselors (or in some states, “licensed clinical professional counselors” or “licensed mental health counselors”) provide mental health and substance abuse care to millions of Americans. Licensed professional counselors (LPCs) are master’s level mental health service providers, trained to work with individuals, families, and groups in treating mental, behavioral, and emotional problems and disorders. LPCs make up a large percentage of the workforce employed in community mental health centers, agencies, and organizations, and are employed within and covered by managed care organizations and health plans. LPCs also work with active duty military personnel and their families, as well as veterans.

LPC qualifications

More than 90,000 professional counselors are licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. LPC education and training standards for licensure are on par with those of the other two master’s level mental health providers – marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers. State licensure requirements for professional counselors typically include:

• possession of a master’s or doctoral degree in counseling from a national or regionally-accredited institution of higher education, including an internship and coursework on human behavior and development, effective counseling strategies, ethical practice, and other core knowledge areas;
• completion of a minimum of 3,000 hours of post-master’s supervised clinical experience, performed within two years, and periodic completion of continuing education credits/hours after obtaining licensure;
• passage of the National Counselor Examination (NCE) or a similar state-recognized exam; and
• adherence to a strict Code of Ethics and recognized standards of practice, as regulated by the state’s counselor licensure board.

What do LPCs do?

The practice of professional counseling includes, but is not limited to, the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders, including addictions; psychoeducational techniques aimed at the prevention of such disorders; consultation to individuals, couples, families, groups, and organizations; and research into more effective therapeutic treatment modalities. Counselors’ training in the provision of counseling and therapy includes the etiology of mental illness and substance abuse disorders, and the provision of the established, research-based “talk therapies” of cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic therapy. Counselors’ education and training is oriented toward the adoption of a truly client-centered, and not primarily illness-centered, approach to therapy. Licensed professional counselors and members of the other non-physician mental health professions of psychology, clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, and psychiatricnursing provide the majority of mental health services in the U.S.

Source: American Counseling Association publication on “Who are LPCs?”