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Kansas advisory group considers allowing post-graduate make-up of practicum hours for addiction-counseling licensure
Summary
Advisory committee heard that some graduates lack required practicum contact hours for addiction-counselor licensure; staff proposed drafting regulatory language to allow limited post‑graduate make-up under supervision and to offer a provisional license pathway.
Leslie Allen, assistant director and licensing manager for the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board, reviewed practicum requirements for addiction counseling licensure and asked the advisory committee whether the committee wanted to recommend a regulatory workaround for applicants who complete a degree but lack the required practicum contact hours.
Allen said current education regulations require at least 400 clock hours of practicum for the Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC) credential and 300 hours of direct client contact for the Licensed Master Addiction Counselor (LMAC) and Licensed Clinical Addiction Counselor (LCAC) levels. She told the committee that some graduates of certain accredited master’s programs complete fewer direct-contact hours in their practicum—Allen cited programs that require about 280 hours as an example—and therefore do not meet the board’s licensure-contact standard when they apply.
Allen noted the board already can grant provisional licenses in limited circumstances so applicants may accrue additional supervised hours post‑graduation, and that supervision during those make-up hours must follow the same 1 hour of supervision per 10 client-contact hours ratio required in the education regulation. Dulcinea Rickstraw, an advisory member, said the number of applicants affected is small—“just maybe a few a year”—but that given workforce shortages the committee should avoid adding unnecessary barriers.
Committee members discussed practical options: allowing regulated post‑graduate supervised make-up hours under a training plan, defining minimum learning objectives for workplace‑based practica, or creating a written agreement with the employing site. Several members said any post‑graduate pathway should require a documented supervision plan and time limits. The committee did not adopt a formal rule at this meeting but agreed to ask staff to draft regulatory language for the advisory committee to review. Leslie Allen said she would prepare proposed language and return it to the committee at a future meeting.
The committee requested that staff identify how a post‑graduate training plan would be documented and what audit or progress reporting the board would require before any provisional authority is granted. Committee members stressed any new pathway should preserve practicum learning objectives and supervision quality while removing unnecessary licensing barriers for people entering the field.
