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Welcome from Your Department Chair
Welcome to the Department of Counselor Education
Welcome to the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We offer undergraduate and graduate programs in several counseling specialties including community mental health counseling, school counseling, human services counseling, alcohol and drug abuse counseling, and gambling counseling. Our graduate programs are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and prepare students for counseling practice in a variety of human service and educational settings. Department faculty maintain diverse research and practice interests and represent a variety of counseling theories and models.
Dear New Counselor Education Student,
Welcome to our Counselor Education Department (CED) and to the profession of counseling. Your graduate program will prepare you to work with clients
and students in a variety of environments. You will learn to apply current research, integrate theory and employ your gleanings in a multitude of
interventions. You will work with individuals in settings that include mental health and community agencies, public and private schools, colleges,
legal/justice and addiction prevention settings. Indeed you are embarking on an exciting adventure.
There are three primary organizations/agencies to which you will want to pay attention as you go through your program. When you first hear some acronyms, they will sound like "Alphabet Soup" but you will get used to the terms and they will make sense as time goes on. Their letters include ACA, CACREP and NBCC. There are many more letters such as our own CED but we can start with these.
CED New Student Orientation
Dr. Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson
"Dr. Dale"
Helpful Links
Professional Membership
The American Counseling Association (ACA) is our parent and guiding association. ACA has over 20 divisions and offers general professional guidance and
specific specialty information. ACA offers benefits such as relevant publications including the Counseling Today, a monthly newsletter of 50 pages or more,
and a peer reviewed journal. ACA conducts an annual national convention, offers reasonable liability insurance, professional development opportunities and,
most importantly, ACA developed the professional code of ethical practice to which we subscribe and apply to all our endeavors. The American School Counseling
Association and the American Mental Health Counseling Association are affiliates of ACA. Whichever one you choose to join, know that all align with the professional
guidelines of ACA.
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Professional Accreditation
Your Counselor Education Program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP). The CACREP guidelines have
been drawn from best practices and ethical mandates. CACREP Standards are the highest in terms of counselor education and preparation and are considered the
'golden standard' of our profession. You will hear about CACREP often. Most, but not all, Counselor Education Programs are CACREP accredited. We go through site
reviews (kind of an inspection) every 5-7 years and we maintain rigorous requirements to uphold this accreditation.
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National Certification
The National Board of Certification for Counselors (NBCC) is the only regulatory board developed for professional counselors and overseen directly by counselors.
Students who graduate from a CACREP program are eligible to take the national certification examination (NCE… more letters) to become nationally certified
counselors (NCC…and more letters). We encourage you (whether school or mental health) to prepare for the national certification examination as you go through
your program. Certification is strong evidence that you are seeking to attain the highest level of education and preparation as you ready yourself for entry
into your practice. A nice benefit of the national certification examination is that 49 states out of 50 use it for state licensure examination for professional
counselors. Nevada was the 49th state to adopt this policy. So by passing this one test, you will get credentials for both licensure and for certification.
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