CACREP

What is CACREP Accreditation?

CACREP(Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) was formed in 1981 in cooperation with the American Counseling Association to promote the advancement of quality educational programs in counselor training. For a program to receive accreditation, it hosts a CACREP survey team of counselor educators who review the program to see that it meets national standards in eight core areas of counseling: human growth and development, social/cultural foundations, the helping relationship, group dynamics/counseling, career development, appraisal, research, and professional orientation/issues. In addition to the core areas, the team reviews additional standards of instruction and supervised clinical experiences for the counseling specialty training offered by that program.

The Department of Counseling and Student Personnel (CSP) at Minnesota State, Mankato was last surveyed in 2000 and is currently CACREP accredited through December, 2008 in three specialty areas:

• Professional Community Counseling
• Professional School Counseling
• Student Affairs Practice

For more information about CACREP and CACREP standards, please see the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs website.

Why is CACREP accreditation important for students selecting a program?

• Demonstrates an ongoing commitment to providing quality instruction and and clinical experiences for students
• Streamlines the licensure process for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC)
  • Most states' LPC laws (including Minnesota) define required coursework and qualifying clinical experience by the CACREP standards
  • Graduating students qualify to take the National Certified Counselor Exam, used by most states for LPC licensure
• Meets the application preferences of doctoral programs in counseling and counselor education

For more information on CACREP from the student's perspective, please see the CACREP Student Site.