Caldwell Ch. 1 Flashcards
Scope of Practice
Establishes in law what tasks and functions you can perform as a result of becoming licensed.
LMFT
LPCC
LCSW
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Each is a psychotherapy license, allowing the holder to assess, diagnose, and treat the full range of mental and emotional disorders in the DSM.
Title Protection vs. Practice Protection
California offers mental health professionals both title protection and practice protection.
Title protection means that you have to have a license to call yourself an LMFT, LPCC, or LCSW. (When you’re an Associate, you can’t use the term “Licensed”; you have to use the term “Associate”.)
Practice protection means that the specific tasks of the profession are also reserved for only those who hold an appropriate license.
Big-picture difference between psychology (not the focus of this book), professional clinical counseling, clinical social work, and marriage and family therapy
A traditional psychologist would examine a person’s inner world to find the root of his dysfunction. Whether looking to his childhood (as a Freudian would), or his present (as a behaviorist would), the focus would be on the patient/client as an individual. Furthermore, traditional psychology would focus on pathology.
The professional clinical counseling field emerged from school and career counseling. While today they focus on mental health, LPCCs tend to see a person’s struggle as an individual, developmental issue. They will examine a person’s psychological and social development as well as current functioning, and treatment will focus on improving overall development and wellness. This includes treatment of mental illness.
Clinical social workers focus on connecting people with the resources they need to function well. Those resources may be internal (such as personal skills and strengths, including latent or underutilized strengths) or external (such as community resources and support groups). Traditionally, LCSWs tend to see a person’s struggle as a resource issue.
LMFTs look at behavior in its social and relational context. Ultimately, they believe that no behavior exists in a social vacuum. When appropriate, they will work with family members and other important figures in a person’s life––in addition to the individual “client.”
True or False: None of these philosophies (LPCC, LCSW, LMFT) are any better or worse than the others. They’re just different.
True
Each profession (LPCC, LCSW, LMFT) has a skill set that can be broken down into three categories:
- Tasks that all mental health professional do, and that all do relatively similarly (e.g., suicide assessment).
- Tasks that all mental health professional do, but that each profession does from a different conceptual framework.
- Tasks that members of the specific profession do that members of the other professions would not necessarily be expected to do.
Examples of a task that members of each profession (LPCC, LCSW, LMFT) does that members of the other professions would not necessarily be expected to do.
- LPCCs do not just intervene when clients are experiencing problems, but promote resilience and optimal functioning throughout the lifespan.
- LCSWs use their work not just to provide immediate support to their clients, but to advance human rights and social and economic justice.
- LMFTs understand complex interpersonal systems and are able to intervene with the intention of influencing those larger systems.
In each case, members of the other professions may have been trained in these tasks, but they probably were not.
Scope of Practice vs. Scope of Competence
Scope of practice applies equally to everyone in a given profession, is defined by state law, and is relatively static (unless the law changes).
Scope of competence varies from person to person, is defined by a person’s education, training, and experience, and may expand through additional education, training, and experience.
Note: Associates and trainees should be especially mindful of their scope of competence.
What kind of clients can LMFTs serve?
Individuals
Couples
Families
Groups
LMFTs and psychological testing in California
Contrary to a common misunderstanding among mental health professionals, LMFTs in California are indeed allowed to do psychological testing. However, the testing must be performed in the context of an ongoing psychotherapy relationship.
In addition, it appears that prelicensed MFTs can also do psychological testing, albeit under appropriate supervision.
LPCCs and psychological testing in California
LPCCs can use psychological tests and measures. However, LPCCs are explicitly prohibited from using any of the following four categories of testing procedure:
- Projective tests of personality (e.g., Rorschach)
- Individually administered intelligence tests
- Neuropsychological testing
- Utilization of a battery of three or more tests to assess psychosis, dementia, amnesia, cognitive impairment, or criminal behavior
What kind of clients can CSWs serve?
individuals
couples
families
groups
Reparative Therapy or Conversion Therapy
It can be considered unprofessional conduct, and can lead to action against a therapist’s license or registration, for a licensed or registered therapist to attempt to change a minor’s sexual orientation through therapy.
This law has been controversial. California was the first state in the country to enact a ban on conversion therapy for minors. Such bans now exist in more than 20 states. Several therapists in different states have sued in an effort to have the bans lifted, primarily on free speech grounds.
What kind of clients can LPCCs serve?
individuals
couples
families
groups
Two areas that are clearly outside the scope of practice of LPCCs, LCSWs, and LMFTs
Medicine
Law
Mental health professionals should not offer medical advice, nor should they offer legal advice
