What is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)?
A Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) is a core mental health provider credentialed by the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Psycho-Educational Specialists. They are qualified to provide formal assessment, diagnosis, and treatment services within the scope of their training, education, and experience. According to South Carolina Law, “assessment” in the practice of counseling and therapy means selecting, administering, scoring, and interpreting evaluative or standardized instruments; assessing, diagnosing, and treating, using standard diagnostic nomenclature, a client’s attitudes, abilities, achievements, interests, personal characteristics, disabilities, and mental, emotional, and behavioral problems that are typical of the developmental life cycle; and the use of methods and techniques for understanding human behavior in relation to, coping with, adapting to, or changing life situations. A counselor may assess more serious
A Licensed Professional Counselor is a designation for master’s level mental health professionals who are able to provide psychotherapy to improve the functioning of their clients. They are trained to employ a combination of mental health and human development principles to alleviate the distress of their clients. They are able to provide some evaluation/assessment services, but are more limited in their scope than psychologists. For instance, they are not permitted to use standardized projective testing methods or to diagnose physical conditions or disorders unless they are under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. Licensed Professional Counselors do not prescribe medication.
Related Questions
- Is the NCCA licensure and board certification the same as (or equivalent to) a state’s Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) certification?
- Is the NCCA license and board certification the same as (or equivalent to) a states Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) certification?
- What is an LPC (licensed professional counselor)?
