Okay, so, I’ve been digging into this whole thing about whether or not LPCs can do psychological testing. It’s been a bit of a journey, let me tell you.
First off, I started looking into what it takes to even become an LPC. I found that you gotta pass something called the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE). Made sense to me, gotta prove you know your stuff, right?
Then, I stumbled upon this thing from CACREP. Apparently, they’re the folks who set the standards for counseling programs. I read through their 2024 education standards and saw that they expect counseling programs to teach people how to administer and interpret tests. That was a big deal because it means that LPCs are supposed to have some training in this area.
I also checked out what the NBFE had to say. They’re all about licensed mental health professionals doing their thing, and they include counselors in that group. It seemed like they were saying that as long as you’re licensed, you should be good to go with certain tests.
But then I got into the nitty-gritty of what LPCs can and can’t do. I saw some chatter online about how LPCs might need to refer folks to other professionals if they need a diagnosis. That got me thinking, “What’s the point of testing if you can’t diagnose?”
- Started by figuring out the path to becoming an LPC.
- Found that passing the NCMHCE is a must.
- Dived into CACREP’s standards and saw testing is part of the curriculum.
- Checked NBFE’s stance on licensed professionals and testing.
- Got confused about the diagnosis part and referrals.
I kept digging and found these PAE guidelines. They were talking about assessment procedures and how they apply whether or not you use fancy psychological terms. It was all a bit over my head, honestly, but it seemed important.
Then I hit a wall. There was this whole section about “Privileged for Appraisals” and “Psychological Testing” and which LPCs could do what. It was like a maze of rules and regulations, and I started to feel like I was going in circles.
I even looked into what clinical psychologists do with psychological assessments. I realized that they perform psychological assessments in many places. They have a big job, figuring out diagnoses and treatments. It seemed way more complex than what I was reading about for LPCs.
I even looked at a forum to see what counselors might say. I read there that counselors can do tests if they’re trained for them. But they have to be clear with instructions and answer any questions. They also have to think about who they’re testing. Sounded like a lot of responsibility. I kept reading and found that psychometrists can do tests too, but not the ones for finding out if someone’s sick in the head.
So, after all this, do I think LPCs can do psychological testing? I’m still not 100% sure. It seems like they can do some testing, but maybe not the full range that a psychologist can. And there’s definitely some gray area around diagnosing. I guess it really comes down to what kind of training you have and what your state lets you do.
My Realization
I guess at the end of the day, the rules are super complicated. I’m just a blogger, not a lawyer or a counselor. But I wanted to share my little adventure in trying to figure this out. Maybe it’ll help someone else who’s just as confused as I was. Or maybe it’ll just be a funny story about a guy who spent way too much time reading about psychological testing.
Either way, I hope it was worth the read.
