Tusculum College Counselor Connie Kretchmar-Sitz was recently awarded her Licensed Professional Counselor -Mental Health Service Provider certification, College officials announced this week.
Kretchmar-Sitz, who has a master’s of arts degree in counseling from East Tennessee State University, has been with the College since January 2007.
The LPC-MHSP is a state certification permitting Kretchmar-Sitz to diagnose from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and to operate an independent private practice as a counselor.
The certification takes approximately two years to attain (beyond a master’s degree) and the requirements include additional master’s level courses, 1,000 hours of further counseling experience and two years of supervision totaling 100 hours from a credentialed/licensed professional.
Other requirements include passing three comprehensive exams covering counseling theory and practice, diagnostic procedures and jurisprudence issues.
“We are very proud of Connie and the effort she has put forth in obtaining this certification,” said David McMahan, Tusculum College Dean of Students. “By increasing her training and education, she has by extension increase the level of service we can provide to our students, staff and faculty.”
Kretchmar-Sitz is actively involved in Tusculum College community and the Greeneville community. Through her work at the College, she has secured grants from the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services and the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities programs to collect survey data on alcohol and other drug use on campus and implement social norms media campaign.
Such campaigns help students to understand (through advertising with posters, flyers and student newspapers) that alcohol abuse is not as common as many are led to believe. When students have accurate information about other students’ use or nonuse of alcohol it influences their decisions about alcohol. Research has shown that when students know that most other students either do not drink or drink moderately, they abstain or lower their own high risk use of alcohol.
Kretchmar-Sitz serves as secretary of the Coalition of Healthy and Safe College Campuses and as secretary of the Watauga Counseling Association. She is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American College Counseling Association.