1. Professional Competence and Training
Chapter 8
Professional Competence and Training

2. Perspectives on Competence
Professional codes of ethics on competence have common themes.
Counselors practice only within the boundaries of competence, based on:
education
training
supervised experience
state and national professional credentials
appropriate professional experience
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (1)

3. Assessment of Competence
Assessment approaches are most effective when they integrate both formative and summative evaluations:
Formative assessment is a developmentally informed process that provides useful feedback during one’s training and throughout one’s professional career.
Summative assessment is an end point evaluation typically completed at the end of a professional program or when applying for licensure status.
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (2)

4. Developing or Upgrading Skills
Work with colleagues or professionals who have more experience.
Seek consultation before moving outside the areas in which you have received education and training.
Learn new skills by attending conferences and conventions, reading books and professional journal articles, taking additional courses, and participating in workshops that combine didactic work with supervised practice.
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (3)

5. Making Referrals When:
Counselors become aware that they do not have skills to offer client needed services
Counselors’ do not possess the competency for effective service.
How:
counselors must have thorough knowledge of the type and caliber of service available in the community
Who:
client must agree that problem exists and be willing to work with referral
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (4)

6. Ethical Issues in Training Therapists
Training programs have an ethical responsibility to:
establish clear selection criteria
provide exposure to major contemporary counseling theories
teach students strengths and limitations of theories
combine academic and personal learning
screen candidates to protect public from incompetent practitioners
teach range of skills to work with diverse clients
provide training in ethics
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (5)

7. Evaluating the Character and Psychological Fitness of Trainees
Interpersonal behaviors of trainees have a direct bearing on their clinical effectiveness, so these factors must be taken into consideration in the evaluation process.
Character
the honesty and integrity with which a person deals with others.
Psychological fitness
the emotional or mental stability necessary to practice safely and effectively. Fitness can be evidenced by the presence of personality adjustment, absence of psychological disorder, and appropriate use of substances.
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (6)

8. Gatekeeper Role of Faculty in Promoting Competence
The academic faculty in a professional program generally has a gatekeeper’s role, protecting consumers by identifying and intervening with graduate students who exhibit problematic behaviors.
The gatekeeper role is addressed in the ethics codes of most professional organizations.
When a student has good grades but demonstrates substandard interpersonal behavior, indicating serious unresolved conflicts, action needs to be taken.
Dismissal from a program is a measure of last resort.
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (7)

9. Certification and Licensure
voluntary attempt by a group to promote professional identity
attempts to verify qualifications
sets minimum standards
does not assure quality practice
Licensure
governs professional practice
highlights uniqueness of an occupation
restricts both use of title and practice of occupation
Issues and Ethics - Chapter 8 (8)