Counseling and psychology are distinct disciplines which produce graduates with professional identities particular to each discipline. Counselors are not psychologists, nor are psychologists counselors. Yes, there can be overlap regarding professional duties and interdisciplinary coursework, and we share the common desire to ameliorate clients' mental health issues, yet our disciplines are not the same and thus, we are not licensed the same.

An LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and those who hold the LPC are held to the standards of the counseling profession through their counseling master's degrees, their professional identities, their professional affiliations, and their professional focus. There are three licenses that people who align with and hold degrees in psychology can obain in the Commonwealth: Applied Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, and School Psychologist. As a person who holds a counseling master's degree, I would not expect the Commonwealth of VA to license me with any of the three aforementioned licenses because the LPC is the appropriate designation for the education credentials I hold. At the core, public welfare is at stake if people with psychology degrees are granted an LPC just as much as it would be if those of us who hold counseling master's degrees were granted a psychologist license. Ethically, it would be erroneous and dangerous to public welfare to issue LPC credentials to people who do not hold counseling master's degrees.

I feel for the folks who have earned degrees that do not lead to the license they thought they would be able to obtain. Faculty in both counseling and psychology master's programs are responsible for educating their students about their profession's identity, licenses, and responsibilities. So too, students are responsible for researching master's programs, professional identities, and what license(s) each degree will prepare them to obtain. From my perspective, this is petition is a "knee-jerk reaction," and it endangers counseling consumers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia was first in the US to recognize and credential counselors as a distinct profession. A high standard was set, and that standard needs to be maintained. I do not support this petition.