Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-19

dAC kchnuHhDly COmpcteul ana
well trained. They rate the
other half as varying from
questionable to downright
screwball."
About half the psychologists
doing marriage counseling here
are members Of the American
Psychological Association,
which requires a Phi. d. degree
or its equivalent and adherence
toa definite code Of ethics. The
association is currently urging
a certifcation law for the Dis
trict-similar to ones now In
effect in Maryland and Vir-
ginia--to separate the qualified
PSYCHOLOGISTS from the un-
trained.
A few practitioners in the
private practice Of marriage
counseling are members Of the
National Association Of Social
Workers, which requires mas
ter's degree in social work and
a period Of supervised training.
A group Of social workers here
has been studying the lack of
sufficient counseling services,
the possibility Of a new fee plan
for the social agencies to en-
able them to accept more
clients and ways of setting UP
standards to protect the public
against unqualified counselors.
The medical groups here
some of whose members do
marriage counseling-take the
view that marriage counselors
should be regulated and con-
trolled. But they shy away
from any licesening procedure
implying approval of an indi-
vidual who strays from coun-
selling into treatments. They
insist, for the protection of pa
tents. that when psychologists,
social workers or other profess
sions contribute to diagnosis
and treatment, the work must
be done under medical super
vision.
The National Council on
Family Relations and the
American Association of Mar
rage Counselors regard mar
riage counseling as a special
lied field requiring not only a
graduate degree for any one
who enters it but also advanced
accredited training in courses
dealing specifically with mar
riage and the family and actual
experience as a clinical assist
ant in marriage counseling I'M
der approved supervision.
They emphasize as a quail
fication "diagnostic skill in
differentiating between the SUI
perficial and the deeper level
types of maladjustment and the
ability to recognize when the
latter type requires referral to
other specialists.
How He Failed
That is where the particular
counselor this reporter visited
demonstrated his inadequacy.
1t is because he is not the
only one who can't or won't
recognize a problem too big for
him to handle that both indi-
vidual counSelors and spokes-
men for the United Givers
Fund agencies today are urg-
ing licensing or certification
for qualified marriage coun-
selors.
Licensing won't be a total
remedy" commented George
M. Pikser. executive director of
the Jewish Social Service Agen-
cy. but it should help weed
out the really incompetent
counselors."
Persons who want to prac-
tice marriage counseling should
be required to show more than
good intentions" said John
Theban, executive director of
the Family and Child Services
OF Washington. "There should
be minimum standards of
education, training and expe-
rience which they would have
to meet before operating here.
THE problems that the mar
rage counselor is called on to
solve are specialized ones that
can make or break a marriage.
I don't think an unframed per-
son should be allowed to tam
per with peoples lives"
"An unframed person just
interested in the money angle"
said DR.. Paul Orso, executive
director of the Lutheran Inner
Mission Society, will take
these people for all they can
get out of them, make them
come back for years and years.
This can cause individuals to
become very dependent on
them, even become psychotic
and do many things they
ordinarily wouldn't do"
"An incompetent marriage
counselor" warned DR.. Al
phonse H. Clemens, director of
the Marriage Counseling Gen.
ter at Catholic University, can
take a marriage that just has
a minor problem and wreck it
through his bungling."