Assessment of clinical mental health counseling competencies for preparation programs

Abstract

The evaluation of clinical mental health counseling competencies is essential for preparation programs. Therefore, our article (a) reviews the developmental nature of counselors‐in‐training, (b) presents the importance of quality evaluation measures, (c) introduces the Assessment of Clinical Mental Health Counseling Competencies, and (d) offers implications for research and practice.

The Assessment of Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling Competencies: A Measure to Support Preparation Programs

“…Clinical supervision is a cornerstone of the counseling profession, and supervision is critical for MCF-CITs’ development during practicum and internship field experiences (Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2022). Each week of practicum and internship experiences, supervisors are required to provide MCF-CITs with (a) 1 h of individual and/or triadic supervision and (b) 1.5 h of group-based clinical supervision (CACREP, 2016).…”

“…Given that MCF-CITs’ growth in counseling competencies is a complex, ongoing, and developmental process, evaluation is a critical element of clinical supervision during the practicum and internship experiences (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019; Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2022). Supervisors should utilize both formative and summative evaluation throughout practicum and internship relationships (CACREP, 2016; Lambie & Ascher, 2016; Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2021), which is consistent with the American Counseling Association's (ACA, 2014) Code of Ethics that outlines the need for supervisors to provide continual feedback concerning supervisees’ performances throughout the supervisory relationship (F.6.a, p. 13).…”

“…To provide effective clinical counseling services to clients, counseling trainees must develop specialized sets of behaviors, skills, and dispositions known as counseling competencies (Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2021; Parham, 2002; Swank & Lambie, 2012). Since these competencies are critical for CITs to engage in effective and ethical practice, counseling scholars have extended increased attention to developing strategies for high-quality assessment of counseling competencies that are grounded in professional standards (Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2022; Lambie et al, 2018; Swank, 2014). Professional guidelines outline core counseling and specialty-specific marriage, couples, and family counseling competencies.…”

“…CACREP (2016) defines practicum and internship as supervised experiences that provide CITs the opportunity to apply professional counseling knowledge and cultivate their basic clinical counseling skills. These supervised field experiences allow CITs to gain essential experiential practice and apply content knowledge from counseling curriculum toward working with individuals, couples, and families (DePue & Lambie, 2014; Lambie & Stickl Haugen, 2022). These field experiences are also critical evaluation periods for assessing CITs’ development of marriage, couples, and family counseling competencies in realistic clinical settings.…”

A differential item functioning study of counseling competencies scale‐revised scores

“…Additionally, rubrics are used to support explicit assessment of counseling competencies during field experiences, which may provide programs with the broadest, most direct, and authentic appraisal of student counseling competencies from multiple raters (e.g., site‐supervisors and faculty supervisors; Barrio Minton et al., 2016). Few quality assessment measures are available to address the developmental and complex nature of the competency and skill development of CITs (Hamlet & Burnes, 2013; Lambie et al, 2018; Lambie & Haugen, 2021; Swank et al, 2012). As a result, scholars developed a standardized rubric grounded in professional competencies and accreditation standards to promote sound evaluation of CITs’ development and quality remediation processes, the Counseling Competencies Scale—Revised (CCS‐R; Lambie et al, 2018; Swank et al, 2012).…”