Many have wondered about the credentials for being a spiritual counselor. Do they need to be licensed? The short answer is that there is currently no licensing for spiritual counselors. Yet! However, that is why The International Guild of Certified Spiritual Counselors and Coaches requires its members to receive the holistic spiritual counseling certification (HSCC). Since no current licensing program exists for spiritual counselors, we want our clients to be assured that their certified counselor is qualified and well-trained. Moreover, with few exceptions, at the minimum, we require our certified counselors to be in an accredited graduate studies program in the counseling, mental health, or medical fields or to have graduated from an accredited graduate program with a Master’s or Doctoral Degree in the counseling, mental health, or medical fields. Consequently, they will have received the foundational counseling preparation, which we then build upon in the holistic spiritual counseling certification (HSCC) training.
At the same time, this anticipates the day when more and more clinical practitioners enter the field. Eventually, spiritual counseling will become an accepted therapeutic field, so it will not be a surprise that governmental licensing boards will move to develop licensing standards and practices. An already functioning certification system should assist in that process. Hopefully, certified spiritual counselors will then be grandfathered in.
Licensing is still a ways off, but The International Guild of Certified Spiritual Counselors and Coaches is proud to be in on the ground floor for the promotion and acceptance of our wonderful and blessed field. We provide our clients with diverse and powerful counseling and spiritual tools that literally transform lives.
Blessings,
Tom
Rev. Dr. Tom Norris