(1) Is my certificate a legal instrument/document which entitles me to voting privileges or the right to purchase stock?

(2) Is my certification/diplomate a license to legally practice my profession?

(3) If a certification is acceptable in one state, or by a federal agency/department, does this make it acceptable through reciprocity elsewhere?

(4) Why are your organizations certification criteria so stringent—is this an elitist organization?

(5) Are you stating that Supervisors, Educators and Trainers do not know what they are doing or that they are incompetent?

(6) Can I apply, without penalty, if I meet some but not all minimum eligible standards?

Are there processes/procedures to remedy deficiencies in my qualifications?  What are those processes/procedures?

(7) Will I receive directive assistance and guidance in filling out the application, forming special requests—such as those for exceptions/exemptions, cover letters of justification/remediation and etc

(8) Are the decisions of the Board regarding (a) exceptions/exemptions, (b) conflict or interest or violation of conduct leading to application rejection, and/or (c) certification suspension/revocation deliberately vague and obtuse, capricious and arbitrary? 

(9) Do you have an ethics code and procedures for adjudicating complaints and appeals?

(10) What are the criteria for refunds? 

(11) Why do you use a mail service from New Jersey, a mail box from Las Vegas Nevada, and a New Jersey phone number?

(12) How is the size of an organizations membership determined?

(13) Does membership size dictate the purposes, methods or motivations of an organization?

(14) Does a website legitimize an organization or company?

How does a  frequently asked questions section of a website contribute to assessing credibility? What might the absence of such a section mean?

(15) In terms of  legitimacy, do the educational and experiential (i.e., related to job function) backgrounds of organizational officers have meaning?  How can this be determined?

(16) Does your organization respect the Holidays Observance of the membership?

(17) How does your organization treat individuals with Disabilities?

(18) Does your organization make efforts to deal fairly with those speaking English as a second language?

(19) Is your organization affiliated with any other organization or certifying body?

(1)  Is my certificate a legal instrument/document which entitles me to voting privileges or the right to purchase stock?

(a)  As stated on our application and on our website “†   As is the standard industry practice, all applicants for certification do so voluntarily (i.e., it is neither mandatory nor required) and in the full knowledge that certification/membership contains neither voting rights nor retains for them the privilege to purchase stock.”.

(c) Under Nevada Law, Non-profit organizations cannot issue stock and therefore any such issuance would be unlawful; under such circumstance individuals issued said stock would be in possession of a valueless and unenforceable instrument.

(b)  Furthermore, your certificate is your property as we state on the acceptance document signed by new certificants : “ I.  The certificate enclosed is permanent and is considered to be your property; the Board believes that it would demonstrate poor integrity to state this in any other manner.  However, the form and content of this instrument—that is, the titles issued, the font combinations, color schemes and logo are exclusively the property of the organization through copyright and registry laws.  Any use of the latter, for personal or collective gain, without explicitly expressed permission will result in revocation of all credentials and legal action with no monies refunded.”.

(c)  Any certifying body which does not inform you of the foregoing, is in our opinion, by law at risk of having said instrument claimed as either a stock issuance and/or a proof of the right to vote on corporate matters.  Lastly, in the spirit of informed consent, any organization which issues a certificate, which it intends to claim as property, must inform the applicant apriori (before the fact)—simply stating that after the fact is entirely classless, wholly unethical and deceptive.  It is fundamental to business law that when you pay for something you must receive something, and, when you sign your name, you are to receive a tangible object for said signature.

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(2) Is my certification/diplomate a license to legally practice my profession?

(a)    As stated on our application: “Please note that certification reflects our evaluation of your competence to engage in the activities within your Domain of Practice and not “lawful practice”—the latter is expressed by your current state and federal licenses/certifications and the laws [pertaining to the latter].

(b)    The organization is not focused on certification of direct/front line activities—rather it focuses on activities resting upon tiers which transcend the service delivery level.  These activities, Supervision, Education and Training, essentially reside outside the current body of most Federal and State law.

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(3) If a certification is acceptable in one state, or by a federal agency/department, does this make it acceptable through reciprocity elsewhere?

It absolutely does not.  This is one reason this organization does not seek to certify at the service delivery level.  Not only is this part of the profession confusing for practitioners but it is entirely baffling to consumers.  Any organization which seeks to legitimize its credentials by presenting particular states or state agencies or federal agencies which accept its credentials, and does not diligently and directly inform the public or prospective applicants of the limitations on acceptance and/or reciprocity, is deliberately engaging in distorted/convoluted logic to mislead by, and through, deceptive practice—some might call that fraud while others claim it is racketeering.

How can I tell if such practices are occurring?

The best method is to compare what is stated as opposed to what is logical.  For example, if an organization says “our credential is the only one accepted by the Coast Watch Company” while it is merely the preferred one, or the preponderant one—selected by personnel of the Coast Watch Company, then clearly there is distortion of the truth.  Taking this example yet further, would it not violate antitrust laws for a company to give an exclusive control to an independent for-profit organization in this manner and thereby clearly violating a federal law?  Clearly in this scenario it would violate the latter and therefore the comparison between what is stated and what is potentially practiced violates logic.

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(4) Why are your organizations certification criteria so stringent—is this an elitist organization?

The certification criteria were set to maximize the quality assurance of its members and their respective activities—as such this method preserves the integrity of our goals and mission and protects the general and professional public from substandard services by individuals passing through certification processes which are known to be “Diploma Mills” and “Cookie Cutting Factories”.  Clearly, under our auspices the foregoing and the following does not and will not occur, however, we feel it is our responsibility to clarify some industry practices such as what follows:

Commendation Applications vs. Acceptance through Commendations—If all people are eligible to be accepted by commendation, then what constitutes commendable background or activities?  Commendable activities/background must be distinguished by comparative analysis which yields a contrast between the norm and the identified applicant—if all people are commendable then there is no contrast and commendability is equated with normality—which begs to ask “what then is the distinction?”.  Essentially, the latter misappropriated process should be aptly called Commendation by/through Application—that is, if you apply then you are commendable. 

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(5) Are you stating that Supervisors, Educators and Trainers do not know what they are doing or that they are incompetent? 

Absolutely not.  We express our perspective as follows:

There is no intention to imply/infer that trainers, educators and supervisors lack proficiency/ competency, individually or collectively in their respective function(s).  Rather, it is due to their competence that they are capable of learning and utilizing complex training, teaching, and supervisory mechanisms and methods.  Therefore, the trainers,  educators and supervisors are also able to simultaneously apply the forgoing in delivering novel and unique training and supervisory content to service delivery personnel(SDP).  Likewise, viewing the SDP as similarly competent, they are capable of learning and simultaneously applying the information and techniques when they are properly trained,  educated, and supervised.

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(6) Can I apply, without penalty, if I meet some but not all minimum eligible standards?

Are there processes/procedures to remedy deficiencies in my qualifications?  What are those processes/procedures?

Yes.  Please click here “Certification Requirements” and refer to exceptions, exemptions, forbearance, remediation and Acceptance through Commendation (i.e., Portfolio Review) on the website.

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(7) Will I receive directive assistance and guidance in filling out the application, forming special requests—such as those for exceptions/exemptions, cover letters of justification/remediation and etc.? 

Absolutely Yes.  We are available to assist you in these processes as it is our responsibility to make this process smooth and simple without sacrificing procedural and quality assurance protocols.

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(8) Are the decisions of the Board regarding (a) exceptions/exemptions, (b) conflict or interest or violation of conduct leading to application rejection, and/or (c) certification suspension/revocation deliberately vague and obtuse, capricious and arbitrary?

Absolutely not.  There are clearly defined protocols for such actions.  The Board does not subscribe to the tone and tenor of statements such as “ the Board has the authority to expel any member who, in its judgment, has violated professional standards which it defines as misconduct”.  Clearly, this approach is capricious and violates a fundamental rule of law and constitutional right to “Due Process”; in particular, this transgression is compounded when individuals are obligated to this tyrannical process without having had the benefit of “Informed Consent” prior to being subjected to a dictatorially-based Board and its “decision making processes”.

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(9) Do you have an ethics code and procedures for adjudicating complaints and appeals?

As we have stated, the certified member is the ethical standard commensurate with their highest educational degree and predominant licensure/certification.  For example, a doctoral level licensed social worker would be expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the community standards dictated at that educational level.  The specific ethics codes which applies in this case would be that of the NASW and/or their state/national licensing board.

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(11) Why do you use a mail service from New Jersey, a mail box from Las Vegas Nevada, and a New Jersey phone number?

In this era of mass communication and rapid mobility, it is obsolete to expect a nationally oriented organization to root itself in one location solely—this stifles responsiveness, ruins the fluidity of multi-task activity and increases costs. We are an organization which has sound experiential background in fiscal matters at its administrative level.  We have certain limitations and a particular uniqueness to our approach to costs—namely, it is felt that broad staffing and entirely permanent structures for offices are unnecessary in this day and age and that lavish facilities are mere pretentiousness; therefore, our preference is to utilize the resources ordinarily dedicated to those unnecessary “frills” as fiscal resources for chartered activities and the benefit of members thereby benefiting the public health, welfare and safety.

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(12) How is the size of an organizations membership determined?

One would think that a straightforward and honest method would be to count the number of actual members be they certified or not (as we do); however, some organizations seem to have been taught a different type of mathematics.  For example, a certified member with two certifications is counted as two members, and, if that person’s certifications have two specialty areas then magically the organization has four more members!  Obviously, this type of “math” is deliberately misleading and is likely to represent a pervasive attitude of distorting the organization’s self-importance and influence; potentially, this misrepresentation could be used to obtain member benefits such as insurance.  Regarding the foregoing, if the insurer discovers that the master policy was obtained by fraudulent or false representation, all insured and their claims could have their coverage voided, and claims instantly nullified, respectfully.

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(13) Does membership size dictate the purposes, methods or motivations of an organization?

Yes.  For example, a unique quality to this organization is that its certified membership will always be extremely limited as compared to the number of professionals in its “Domains of Practice”; very few of the professionals engaged in the education, training and supervision areas will be eligible due to our stringent certification criteria—in fact, this was done by design as we desire a smaller rather than larger membership (i.e., quality assurance dilutes itself as the size of the membership exceeds managerial oversight).

In addition, many organizations which certify attempt to obtain enrollment from all professionals within their domain, sacrificing quality for quantity, prioritizing monetary gain for a betrayal of the professional and public/consumer trust.  Nowhere is the behavior more abhorrently demonstrated than when it manifests under the auspices of a 501 A-type organizations—the primary purpose(s) for 501A and 501C designations are to facilitate the activities of organizations who’s primary function is to benefit the public good.  Violation of the latter function(s) through purposive and designed profiteering is a deliberate desecration of a sacred trust.

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(14) Does a website legitimize an organization or company?

In and of itself it does not.   Keys to utilizing that factor to assess legitimacy are a “frequently asked questions” section (see more details below), the frequency of update, timeliness of promised scheduled updates compared to the actual date of update, style elements, grammar and spelling, and the use of costly yet effective site management properties and tools.  Furthermore, the character of the website use—that is, utilizing a website for purposes demonstrating integrity does not include petty commentary about internal problems of an organization, retaliatory—defamatory—and/or specious remarks about other organizations, competitors, former members, and/or requesting members to engage in activities which are rightfully the responsibility of the administrative officers, ethics committee and legal counsel of the organization—action by any other method has the tone and tenor of nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance.

How does a  frequently asked questions section of a website contribute to assessing credibility? What might the absence of such a section mean?

A.  Listening to members, having enough depth of experience to anticipate certain key questions and issues, questions tend to contribute to the breadth of knowledge/fund of information  within the general public and the profession (both sacred trusts), having enough respect for members and interested parties to facilitate the flow of inquiry and by making their curiosity a rewarding experience, it decreases cost by reducing staff time on the phone allows them to focus on other predominant imperatives (such as member problems), and demonstrates that the monies used by the organization—which are partly derived from the membership, are applied  judiciously, expediently and effectively.

B.  It is important to state at the outset that in some instances organizations feel certain information should not be readily available for public/member inquiry; in many instances an organization is not obligated to disclose certain information, and therefore, they are fully within their rights.  However, the absence of such a section may indicate one or more of the following:

(1) in many instances an organization is so autocratically controlled—that is, the only method to achieve consistency is to censor the content and source of responses.

(2) The latter might indicate that answers to the same questions vary due to arbitrary rules or that such responses  are so deliberately capricious, vague and obtuse that those responses would not hold up to scrutiny.

(3) The answers to fundamental questions may be totally absent.

(4)  The organizational attitude is apathetic—that is, their view is “our needs come first and last” “you are here for our purposes—we are not here for yours!”, or similarly, “we are not working at your behest,  you work at our behest!”.

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(15) In terms of  legitimacy, do the educational and experiential (i.e., related to job function) backgrounds of organizational officers have meaning?  How can this be determined?

Yes.  One should expect that when an officer holds a primary position and function they should have the background experience to effectively serve in that function.  A simple method to determine this is to obtain information which clearly demonstrates that the individual(s) have served in the same, similar or related function in the past with generally good results.  In addition, looking to the educational background of the person(s) provides additional levels of assurance—although this in and of itself does not render positive proof.

Clearly, if the educational background(s) cannot be verified, are misrepresented,  distorted, and/or misleading, then one could claim this as some positive affirmation of invalidity or illegitimacy.

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(16) Does your organization respect the Holidays Observance of the membership?

Absolutely Yes.  The organization utilizes a multi-denominational calendar to schedule its special events. In addition, holidays held as sacred by employees or members will be respected, and therefore, no direct business activity will be conducted on those days.

The administration is well aware of organizations who conduct regular or special event activities either apathetically or deliberately in conflict with religious or national holidays. It holds such behavior in contempt and recognizes that what is allowed by an organization reflects directly on the membership.

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(17) How does your organization treat individuals with Disabilities?

Wherever and whenever possible the organization complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act--this includes employees and members.  Activities such as examinations are tailored to the needs of individuals who have identifiable challenges—this  includes those candidates who may not qualify for ESL time but clearly merit such extra examination time (without additional charge).

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(18) Does your organization make efforts to deal fairly with those speaking English as a second language?

Yes.  Whenever a member has a special need all efforts are made to adjust to fulfill that need.

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(19) Is your organization affiliated with any other organization or certifying body?

The National Alliance for Counsellors is not affiliated with any other organization or certifying body at this time. If, in the future, such an affiliation is considered, it will be subject to the input of the Certified Membership.