Dear Virginia State Board of Counseling:

On behalf of Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic & Professional Honor Society International (CSI), we are writing to you to express our views on the proposed amendment to requirements for supervisors to include licensed clinical social workers. As the international honor society for professional counselors, many of our members are current or future Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), and we are dedicated to preserving the professional counselor identity of LPCs. CSI has 19 chapters in the state of Virginia.

CSI strongly opposes this proposed amendment. Only professional counselors should supervise counselors-in-training because this is critical to protecting the unique identity of the counseling profession, including its unique teachings and theories. For the same reason, neither the Board of Psychology nor the Board of Social Work permits LPCs to supervise future psychologists or social workers. Likewise, we believe that future LPCs should be supervised by experienced members of their own profession.