Newsletter of the Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation
The University of Iowa - Spring 2002
Program Web Page: http://www.uiowa.edu/~rehab

The Mission of the Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation (GPR) at the University of Iowa is to prepare qualified rehabilitation counseling professionals who will assist persons with disabilities and other individuals who have barriers in meeting their functional needs in the areas of employment independent living, and personal or economic development. The Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation prepare these professionals to provide quality rehabilitation counseling services within an interdisciplinary and community-based context, serve as change agents and advocates for their clients, and sources of specialized knowledge and consultants for professionals, employers and others in the communities that they serve.

FROM THE COORDINATOR'S DESK

Welcome to the Rehab Review's new electronic home on our Web Page. Now many of us spend more time on-line than doing other things -- like reading our "snail mail"! We will be publishing our newsletter on-line every semester, and are sending all our usual
subscribers a first time notice and copy of our Web Page address so that you can save that and look at our Web Page for the newsletter in future editions. We are hoping that many more people will access the newsletter on-line. Of particular importance is easier access for people with visual and other disabilities who may use screen reader software to access the information. Of course, it will allow us to save in these times of decreased spending, too. We hope to improve on the timeliness and format of the Rehab Review in the next months while we are updating other areas of our Web Page. Hope you like the changes.

The Program has had a busy Fall Semester, 2001 much of which you will read about in the rest of the newsletter. I will mention one major change we are pleased to note -- the Substance Abuse Counseling Program was folded into our Rehabilitation Counseling Program and Dr. Karen Cocco has joined the rehab faculty. Students wanting education in substance abuse counseling will pursue this goal through the already existing specialty emphasis area of substance abuse counseling. See the following articles for details. Welcome, Dr. Cocco!

As usual, the faculty and students are quite busy and productive and I hope you will enjoy reading about several of these items in the newsletter. A couple of things coming up you might want to note include our Spring Semester Colloquium on Friday, April 26 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in Room N105 Lindquist Center. If you would like to have an ICN site added to allow broadcast to your area, please call the Division Office at (319)335-5275 to let us know. Dr. John Benshoff, the incoming President of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education and a Professor in rehabilitation counseling at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale will be our featured speaker. He is well known for his work in fusing the areas of substance abuse and rehabilitation practice and has recently co-authored a textbook in this area. Of course we will have our traditional Spring Awards Recognition that is alot of fun for all. We will announce our 2002 Alum of the Year and Miller Scholar at that time. Last year's winners were Alum of the Year Orville Townsend and Miller Scholar Holly Smigel, so you can see that the stakes are high! Who will it be?..... Join us to find out and celebrate.

NEWS FROM THE DIVISION OF COUNSELING, REHABILITATION AND STUDENT DEVELOPMENT: Dennis R. Maki, Ph.D., and Division Chair

The Division of Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Student Development continues to work towards accomplishing its mission, which is to generate and disseminate knowledge, develop skills, and promote attitudes about effective professional practices that foster human development across the life span. In achieving this mission there are threats and opportunities. The greatest threat is the current budget situation in the state of Iowa. As you may already know, the state budget and thus, the College and Division's budget are being cut. The most significant impact on our Division and specifically the Rehabilitation Program was the shutting down of a search for an additional faculty member this year. We are hopeful that we will be able to search for this faculty line next year. This will be critical to the continued quality of our programs in rehabilitation. We continue to seize the opportunities as they present themselves in spite of the budget.
One opportunity was our ability to have our front office remodeled. The Dean was able to secure funds at the end of last year to have our carpet and furniture replaced. The students, faculty and especially Reta and Ginny appreciate the new look for Division. The remodeling brings a new sense of contemporary professionalism to the division and its graduate programs.
In addition, the Division has redesigned its web page to better serve the students, faculty, staff, alumni and persons seeking information about quality graduate programs in Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Student Development. I invite you to visit our web page and visit our offices to see our new look. We as always invite your comments regarding our mission and programs. In fact, keep a watch out for an alumni survey, your response will help us continue to improve our programs. And finally, we are currently reviewing applications for next year's class. Please refer persons interested in our programs to our web site or directly to us so that we can maintain our tradition of excellence. Go Hawks.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAM CHANGEOVER

We are very excited about the recent changes in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program. As of Fall 2001, we have now incorporated the Substance Abuse Counseling program into the Rehabilitation Counseling Program. This move provides the Substance Abuse Counseling program strength, stability, and further enriches our already existing substance abuse counseling emphasis,. For the first time, students specializing in substance abuse counseling will be able to receive the course work that will allow them to sit for the CRC, the substance abuse credential, and Iowa licensure for mental health counseling. Also, this move allows professionals in the field who already have their CRC, or professionals in other fields, who want to expand their specialty areas to include substance abuse, to take the courses necessary for substance abuse credentialing (9 academic hours and a practicum) without completing a separate M.A. degree. The new courses that cover the requirements for the substance abuse credential are:

• Concepts of Addiction, Risk Behavior, and Prevention
  
• Issues in Addiction Treatment
• Intervention and Assessment of Addictive Disorders

DR. KAREN COCCO JOINS REHABILITATION FACULTY

Please welcome Dr. Karen Cocco as our newest faculty member. Dr. Cocco received an M.S. and Ph.D.-Psychology/Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She interned at the University of British Columbia in Canada and then worked for a year at Syracuse University with Dr. Kate Carey while finishing her dissertation. While there she worked on a community-based project interviewing clients with chronic and severe mental illness/mental retardation that were dealing with substance abuse issues. At the same time, she was also working part time at the Institute for Health at Rutgers (Dr. David Mechanic's institute) doing interviews with families in the U.S. who have children with chronic and severe mental illness to assess how managed care had affected service accessibility and delivery. She did post-doctoral work at Johns Hopkins University Department of Psychiatry where she worked on a community-based family study on people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. She did diagnostic and clinical interviews with children and adolescents who have obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as interviewing family members and extended family. Her other clinical experiences during include hospital based treatment in behavioral medicine focusing on patients with cancer and children who were HIV positive, hospice work with children 4-8 years of age who lost a sibling or parent to cancer, and clients who were dealing with gastrointestinal complaints, chronic pain, migraine headaches, and substance abuse. She also worked with college students in university based counseling centers both at the University of Iowa and Rutgers. Her research has been focused on children at high risk for chronic and severe psychiatric disabilities and children with intellectual disabilities, examining factors that may put them at risk for poor, long-term outcomes, such as poor community functioning, legal problems, and substance abuse. Related to this, she has been working on for the past 4 years is school-based early detection and intervention of children with mental health problems and policies related to these issues. Lastly, she's done research examining the efficacy of existing substance abuse assessment instruments in people with chronic and severe mental illness. Welcome Dr. Cocco!

SPRING COLLOQUIUM AND PRESENTER EMPHASIZE SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The spring colloquium will be entitled Substance Abuse: Disease, Disability, or Disaster? Dr. John Behshoff has noted that some consider substance abuse a disease; others argue it is a disability. Additionally, substance abuse may coexist with other, more "traditional" disabilities. In any situation the failure to recognize and respond to substance abuse issues usually results in disaster for the rehabilitation plan. This presentation will focus on substance abuse from the disability perspective, examining the functional capacities and limitations associated with substance abuse, and suggesting possible intervention strategies for the practicing rehabilitation counselor.

We are quite fortunate to have Dr. Benshoff, one of the leading authorities on rehablitation and substance abuse to present this topic. John J. Benshoff, Ph. D., CRC is Professor and Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counselor Training Program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) and is also Director of Studies in Substance Abuse. Following completion of his master's degree in 1968 Dr. Benshoff worked as a rehabilitation counselor and administrator with individuals with physical and mental disabilities. In the early 70's he became interested in substance abuse as a disability and worked in the substance abuse field until completing his doctorate in rehabilitation at the University of Northern Colorado in 1987. In 1988 he joined the Rehabilitation Institute Faculty at SIUC. Dr. Benshoff is the author of nearly 40 refereed articles focusing on a wide range of rehabilitation issues. He and Dr. Timothy Janikowski are the co-authors of the Rehabilitation Model of Substance Abuse Counseling, the only substance abuse counseling text to approach substance abuse from a rehabilitation perspective. This text currently is used in our substance abuse counseling courses and provides a very useful model to integrate these areas of practice. Note that our Spring Semester Colloquium is on Friday, April 26 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in Room N105 Lindquist Center. If you would like to have an ICN site added to allow broadcast to your area, please call the Division Office at (319)335-5275 to let us know.

EXPANDED DUTIES FOR DR. HARPER

The Leadership Team of the Center for Development and Disabilities (the re-named University Hospital School) has announced that Professor Dennis C. Harper, Ph.D., has assumed expanded duties to become Director of Clinical Program Development for the Center for Disabilities and Development. This change was effective December 1, 2001.

In this role, Dr. Harper will develop, implement, and direct new patient care initiatives and promote applicable scholarly activities on behalf of the Center in close partnership with other UI Health Care resources, UI colleges and departments, and key external agencies and constituents. In addition, he will help facilitate further enhancements to the Center's successful clinical performance improvement and quality assurance program.

As many of you are already aware, Dr. Harper is an accomplished and well-respected senior faculty member within the Division of Pediatric Psychology, Department of Pediatrics in addition to holding a secondary appointment in the Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation. He possesses a longstanding history of demonstrated clinical and academic contributions that have benefited the Center, Pediatrics, the field of disabilities, and countless numbers of individuals and families. We are very pleased that he has agreed to take on a this new leadership role.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Harper as he assumes these new duties.

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

Doctoral Students

We are please to have Barbara Cunningham, Susan Michaelson, and David Minor joined our doctoral program this fall. Barbara hails from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She received a B.S.-Criminal Justice from The University of Arkansas and a M.S.-Community Mental Health Counseling from Iowa State University. She enjoys reading and traveling. Susan comes fresh from the Master's program. She's specializing in disability law. She's interested the growing population of aging individuals with disabilities. Her hobbies include one very spoiled African Grey parrot and volunteering at UIHC. David has a Master's in rehabilitation counseling from Emporia State University in Kansas. He worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation before joining our program. Welcome Barbara, Susan and David!

Masters Students

We are also delighted to have Angie Creech, Tessa Derynck, Dell Edwards, Gillian Fox, Anne Giovanazzi, Tim Guetterman, Mary Gumm, Mamonate Nyane, Sunita Nagendra, April Schmidt, Christine Shea, Pam Terry, Andrea Tuttle, Stacia Wissink join our master's program. Angie is from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and received a B.S. from The University of Northern Iowa. She enjoys karate. Tessa is from Clarence, Iowa and received a B.A. in Psychology from Coe College. She's interested in specializing in substance abuse. Her hobbies include bowling, putting puzzles together, hanging with friends, and walking with friends. Dell is from Austin, Texas and has lived in Iowa for 8 years. She received a B.S.- Radio, T.V. & Film from The University of Texas. She enjoys spending time with her son who has autism, family, traveling, food, film, religious feast days, Play Station 2, horror films and The Simpson's. Anne lives in Grandview, Iowa. She and her husband John have been married 20 years. They have 3 children: Melinda, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. In her spare time she does "homework". Tim is an avid tennis player enjoys jogging, and is a hockey fanatic. Mary is a native of Iowa City and received a B.S. from McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. She enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling. Mamonate is from Lesotho, South Africa. She received a B.S.-Psychiatric rehabilitation form Utah State University. She enjoys sight seeing and exploring different cultures, particularly the food and the people. Sunita is from Bettendorf, Iowa. She received a B.S.- Psychology from The University of Iowa. She's interested in the area of mental health. She enjoys running and working with children. Pam is a native of Moscow, Iowa. She received a B.A.- Psychology/Sociology from Iowa Weslyan. She enjoys the outdoors and gardening. She's a beekeeper and owns a small apiary. Andrea is a native of Durant, Iowa. She received a B.A. from The University of Iowa and is interested in Substance Abuse Counseling. She enjoys reading and Basketball. Stacia is an Orange City, Iowa native who's interested in family counseling. She received a B.A -Interdepartmental/Aging Studies from The University of Iowa. She enjoys running, biking, reading, and going to the movies. Welcome aboard!

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

This year has been great to Rehabilitation Counseling Doctoral Candidate, Robinson A. Vazquez-Ramos. He and his wife Mireza Gonzalez gave birth to a beautiful boy named Robinson Alejandro Vazquez-Gonzalez on February 27, 2002. Congratulations Robinson and Mireza! Robinson was also awarded a Holmes Scholar Research Assistantship. The Holmes Scholar Program is a prestigious national program that selects talented minority student scholars nationwide that are in the final stages of their educational careers. The Holmes Scholar program provides its recipients up to two years of financial support to conduct research in their chosen areas. Robinson's dissertation is entitled: A Delphi Study to Assess Content Validity evidence for a Participatory Ethics Scale.

Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Research Symposium

The Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Research Symposium was held on Friday, February 1 in the Jones Commons. The symposium provides a forum where students in any program in the college of education can showcase their scholarly work (to fellow students, faculty, and community members) in a poster session format. Eighteen students participated in this year's symposium. Cash awards were given to the top three presenters. We are pleased to announce that one of our very own, James Bethea, 3rd year doctoral student in rehabilitation counselor education, took home the 1st place prize! James's work was entitled: Exploring African American spirituality in supervision: A framework for supervisors and counselors. In addition, Marnie Azadian, doctoral candidate in rehabilitation counselor education presented a poster entitled: Attitudes Towards Women's Equity: Implications for Rehabilitation Counseling. Noel Estrada-Hernández, 2nd year doctoral student in rehabilitation counselor education presented his poster that was entitled: Vocational Interests of Students in Puerto Rico with Visual Impairments. Noel will also present this work at the American Counseling Association's (ACA) annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 22-27. Susan Michaelson, 1st year doscotral student, presented her poster on "Genetic Exception to Choice--Prader-Willi Syndrome" at the MLK Diversity Day Symposium.

National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) Annual Conference

Several doctoral students joined Drs. Maki, Wadsworth, Maki and Tarvydas at the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) annual conference in Tuscon, Arizona on February 14-17. They spent a very productive and enjoyable time with several student presentations noted below. New doctoral graduates Dr. Tom Upton (Assistant Professor, SIU-Carbondale) and Dr. Yolanda Edwards (Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Maryland) were there providing presentations and renewing their ties with the current doc students and UI faculty. It was particularly fun to see the incredibly cute Breanna Upton, and her mom Lisa. Breanna is not yet 2 years old and the center of attention for all she smiled upon!

Christine Malaski, 2nd year doctoral student in rehabilitation counselor education, presented her program: "Professional Portfolio: Developing and Documenting Excellence". In this program Christine provided not only a model for producing a portfolio, but also sample materials and handouts including a computer disk with the entire set of portfolio materials for attendees.

"The Big 3: Doctoral Learning at a Distance" was presented by James Bethea (UI), Phillip Lewis (UI), Kathe Matrone (MSU), Charlotte Rodman-McGlynn (MSU), and Lois Ehrmann (PSU) representing the doctoral students who participated in The Big 3 Consortium's distance education doctoral seminar in Fall, 2000.

James Bethea teamed with Drs. Karen Cocco and Vilia Tarvydas in presenting a program entitled: "Integrating Addictions Counseling within Rehabilitation Counseling Programs". Additionally, James will be presenting at the American Counseling Association's (ACA) annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 22-27. The title of his ACA presentation is: "Examining substance use among African American late adolescents/young adults with mild mental retardation".

Susan Michaelson, 1st year doctoral student in rehabilitation counselor education participated in two poster sessions this winter. Her posters are entitled: "The Impact of Age-Related Medical Conditions on Persons with Mental Retardation" , presented at the UI College of Medicine and "Genetic Exception to Choice--Prader-Willi Syndrome", presented at the MLK Diversity Day Symposium. She also received her CRC in December.

Donna Runge and Stacia Wissink, 2nd year masters students in rehabilitation counselor education will present a project entitled: Expectation Theory at the American Counseling Association's (ACA) annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 22-27.

2001 GRADUATES

The Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation are delighted to announce the graduation of three new Ph.D.'s and ten M. A. students in 2001:

Dr. Bill Asenjo works as a vocational consultant for Crawford & Company. As a freelance writer, Bill has most recently written articles for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Surprise magazine, and the Catalyst. When he isn't conducting writing workshops for Barnes & Noble or teaching freelance writing at Kirkwood Community College, Bill writes and edits the UI Hospital Cardiology Department's newsletter. He will be appearing this summer at Barnes & Noble's summer-long writing workshop in Cedar Rapids, as well as Kirkwood's writing workshop in Cedar Rapids this fall. As a member of the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce, Bill speaks to high school students about discovering purpose in life - a topic that stems from Bill's journey from multiple brain tumor surgeries to PhD and his ongoing interest in Viktor Frankl's logotherapy. For more about what Bill's written, visit his website: http://www.consideration.org/asenjo/

Dr. David Dawson has been appointed director of the newly formed Iowa Center for Assistive Technology and Educational Resources (ICATER).

Dr. Yolanda Edwards accepted a position as Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Maryland- College Park.

Lisa Brown is currently working for a law firm in Iowa City, Iowa.

Jessica Delgado is currently working as a advocate/counselor for The Rape Crisis Center in Madison, Wisconsin

Linda Harris is working as a residential treatment counselor for MECCA in Iowa City, Iowa.

Elisabeth Klug is working at Foundations II in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Angie Lawson is working as a substance abuse counselor in Dubuque, Iowa.

Zachary Meder's employment is unknown.

Susan Michaelson is a doctoral student in Rehabilitation Counseling at The University of Iowa.

Jennifer Schmitz-Kruse is a CSP Coordinator at the Mid-Eastern Iowa Community Mental Health Center in Iowa City, Iowa.

Janet VanderMeulen is a Rehabilitation Counselor with the UIHC IMPACT program in Iowa City, Iowa.

Jennifer Willis is a Case Manager at The Abbe Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

FEATURED STUDENT (Each edition of the Rehab Review we will try to highlight different students who have distinguished themselves in ways that may not be so obvious "from the classroom".)

We are pleased to announce Mrs. Anne Giovanazzi as our featured student. Anne lives in Grandview, Iowa and works at Allied Therapies P.C., which is a private psychiatric agency. She's a therapist/social worker on a part-time basis while completing her graduate degree. She's a licensed social worker, a certified social work case manager, and certified in the treatment of sexual abusers. She and her husband John have been married 20 years. They have 3 children: Melinda, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. In her spare time she does "homework". Her philosophy on life is to: "Live Well, Laugh Often, and Love Much". After the September 11 attacks, Anne traveled to New York with the Red Cross to assist the World Trade Center victims. Here are her remarks regarding her experiences: "I am humbled by my experience in New York. I am glad I had the opportunity to assist those in need as I know they would assist us in a time of tragedy. It was especially hard because I had been there before and know how beautiful and majestic the WTC was. Now it is quiet, like a church, or cemetery. The area is devastated. It was rewarding, challenging, and painful. I continue to process emotions". The faculty and students of The Graduate programs in Rehabilitation are proud of Anne and the work she has done assisting the WTC victims.

BIG THREE CONSORTIUM MEETING

On October 10-14th, 2001, an evolving tradition continued at the W.G. Kellogg Convention Center near East Lansing, Michigan. In fall of 1996, the rehabilitation education faculty and doctoral students from The Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University, and The University of Iowa began an annual conference designed to enhance professional development, further professional networking, and to develop cross-institutional research partnerships. Since its beginning, each year progressively more collective work has been achieved.

This year's meeting was focused on developing a proposal highlighting the course and discussing the results of a student/faculty survey that each student and faculty completed after taking/administering the course. The diligent effort placed into developing a proposal paid off as our proposal entitled: "The Big 3: Doctoral Learning at a Distance" was accepted by the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE)and presented at their annual conference in Tuscon, Arizona on February 14-17. James Bethea (UI), Phillip Lewis (UI), Kathe Matrone (MSU), Charlotte Rodman-McGlynn (MSU), and Lois Ehrmann (PSU) represented the Big 3 in Tuscon. The results indicated that overall, students and faculty enjoyed the course and thought the course contributed to enhanced professional as well as personal development. All students indicated that they would take the course over again. The attendees also participated in an educational program that described the RSA Commisioner's award winning web-based resource co-created by MSU's REACH program and the Michigan State vocational rehabilitation agency. It provides an on-line information mangement resource and learning community for practicing rehabilitation counselors. The attendees concluded the meeting by discussing future planning or meetings and a new joint project.

UIRCA NEWS
We are pleased to announce Susan Michaelson as our new President of UIRCA. Susan served as Vice-President for two years under Past-President James Bethea. Susan reports the following information regarding UIRCA:
The University of Iowa Rehabilitation Counseling Association is our student branch of the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association (NRCA). It is open to any Rehab counseling student, Master's level, or PhD level, and our faculty sponsor is Dr. John Wadsworth.
The purpose of our association is multifaceted. It is to advance the role and function of rehab counseling in the habilitation and rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) by:
A. Increasing public understanding of the role of rehabilitation counseling and the intent to assist PWD so they can become self-sufficient and advocate for themselves in society.
B. Promote and encourage the development of professional training opportunities for all persons engaged in rehab counseling.
C. Develop professional standards for rehabilitation counseling, including the opportunity to participate in the certification process.
D. Provide a forum for discussing rehabilitation counseling.
E. Encouraging the development of rehab counseling as it contributes to an interdisciplinary approach to the solution of problems in rehabilitation.
F. Fostering research to advance our knowledge and skills
Please address any questions, comments, or input of any kind regarding UIRCA to Susan Michaelson, President, N360LC. susan-michaelson@uiowa.edu

RCE PROGRAM ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
The RCE Program Advisory Board will meet on April 26, 2002 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in N201Lindquist Center. All interested students are welcome to attend this meeting to meet our Advisory Board and share their ideas. These members of this board are prominent rehabilitation professionals, and along with the RCE Program faculty and students assist us in maintaining high standards that allow us to produce quality rehabilitation professionals. This board is actively involved in such activities as advising on curriculum, assisting in faculty recruitment, and strategic planning. We are delighted to have Allen Harris from the Division of the Blind, join the advisory board.

CREDENTIALING NEWS

CRCC Exam Now Accepted for Iowa LMHC

Effective in January 2002, the Iowa Board of Behavioral Science
Examiners how accepts the CRCC examination as an alternative examination within the licensure process for becoming a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. This is an important step forward in the acceptance of rehabilitation counseling within the licensure process. This change
joins the earlier acceptance of CRCC approved continuing education programs to meet the license's continuing education requirements to assist those rehabilitation counselors who wish to practice within clinical counseling and other mental health settings.

Information about licensure can be accessed in the Internet at: http://www.idph.state.us/licensure.

Other Licensure News

There are only 5 states that do not now have counselor licensure. They are California, Nevada, Hawaii, New York and Minnesota. That will be changing fast in that several of these states are on the verge of passing laws. Pennsylvania has recently passed a state licensure law that allows rehabilitation counselors who hold a CRCC to be grand-fathered into licensure. The governor extended the grand-fathering period for one additional year to February 19, 2003. It is important to get word of this option out to anyone interested in practicing in that state. If you are a member of ACA and/or PCA, persons could get information from the Pennsylvania Counseling Association Website via the licensure link, the website address is:
http://www.academic.uofs.edu/organization/pca/pcaleg.html

The licensure link reads: "February 13, 2002, Harrisburg, PA: Governor Mark Schweiker today signed HB 1813, a bill that provides a one-year extension of the grand-parenting period for professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers. Applicants for licensure by exemption (grand-parenting) will now have until Feb. 19, 2003 to meet the qualifications for grand-parenting and to apply."

California now has a Registry process rather than a license. They accept CRCC for their Registry that seems to be a precursor to the licensure they want to pass. After discussions with their Administrator, Dean Porter, it seems that they are likely to accommodate rehabilitation counseling standards in their eventual licensing due to their positive experience with it so far, as well as their intent to make it a process inclusive of all qualified counselors.

New York is expecting to pass a licensure law for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) by mid-March after over 12 years of effort. This law is crafted along the lines of the model bills that Drs. Tarvydas and Maki helped to write, so that if passed with the wording now in it, they should accommodate Master's trained rehabilitation counselors who wish to become LPCs. This bill is not the rehabilitation counselor- specific bill that has been pushed by a splinter group within the state for some time. In the view of this writer, this is a very positive development so that rehabilitation counselors can be seen as being on an equal footing as all counselors in the profession and then the CRC credential can be used to denote an advanced level of specialty expertise.

CRCC NEWS

CRC Exam Review - Scholarships

The CRCC are making scholarships available to students enrolled in CRC programs
to prepare for the CRC exam. Scholarships will allow students to access the
test prep site for the exam, which covers Multiple choice practice
questions, definitions, strategies for passing and online email. Sections
include Study Buddies, Resources, Registry, and Audio clips. Please feel
free to add a Link from your Program the CRC Links section. Contact us
at: http://CRCexam.com

CRCC Revises the Code

The CRCC Ethics Committee has been actively engaged in a review and revision process for the CRCC Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors (Code), which began with the appointment of a Taskforce in 1999. Dr. Tarvydas has served as member and consultant to this group.

The new code became effective January 1, 2002 is now available on CRCC's website at: http://www.crccertification.com

Please fill out the Online Personal Information Form