Assessing Counseling Student Readiness to Return After Program Interruption

Students who voluntarily self-select to take a leave of absence from a counseling program due to personal reasons should be commended for compliance with the self-monitoring requirements of the ACA Code of Ethics. However, post-leave, counselor education programs must ensure that returning students are dispositionally and academically capable of success once resuming the program. Accurate assessment of student readiness to return is a critical duty for counselor education faculty. This roundtable will review practices and procedures currently in place to review student readiness to return from a leave of absence. Student privacy, confidentiality, and ethics will be reviewed, along with lessons learned and implications for clinical supervision, the field-experience, and exit requirements.