School Counselor Professional Identity in Relation to Post-master's Supervision

Abstract

School counselors and clinical mental health counselors are trained through master’s programs with similar course objectives. One major difference between school counselor and clinical counselor licensure/certification post-graduation is the requirement for continued supervision. While required for clinical counselors, school counselors may choose to pursue supervision, but are not required to do so. This quantitative study utilized Jurekovic’s (2019) School Counselor Professional Identity Model and Scale to examine the differences between school counselor professional identity and post-master’s clinical supervision. Results from this study indicate that there are significant differences in SCPI between those who participated in post-master’s clinical supervision and those who did not. Furthermore, while not statistically significant, there is descriptive evidence that CACREP accreditation, years of experience, and level of education do impact professional identity development.