Our Mission
NBCC advances counseling as the premier certification body of the profession.
Our Vision
Enhancing society worldwide through quality counseling.
Our Accreditation
NBCC’s National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential and Master Addictions Counselor (MAC) credential are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the accrediting body for the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE). ICE is the leader in setting quality standards for credentialing organizations.
For confirmation of this accreditation, as well as descriptions of the services and missions of ICE and NCCA, please feel free to visit the ICE website at www.credentialingexcellence.org.
Our History
President and CEO
The National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Affiliates (NBCC), an independent not-for-profit credentialing body for counselors, was incorporated in 1982 to establish and monitor a national certification system, to identify those counselors who have voluntarily sought and obtained certification, and to maintain a register of those counselors.
NBCC's certification program recognizes counselors who have met predetermined standards in their training, experience and performance on the National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification (NCE), the most portable credentialing examination in counseling. NBCC has more than 48,000 certified counselors. These counselors live and work in the U.S. and more than 40 countries. Our examinations are used by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam to credential counselors on the state and territory level.
NBCC was initially created after the work of a committee of the American Counseling Association (ACA). The committee created NBCC to be an independent credentialing body. NBCC and ACA have strong historical ties and work together to further the profession of counseling. However, the two organizations are completely separate entities with different goals.
- ACA concentrates on membership association activities such as conferences, professional development, publications, and government relations.
- NBCC focuses on promoting quality counseling through certification. In addition, NBCC promotes professional counseling to private and government organizations.
NBCC's flagship credential is the National Certified Counselor (NCC). NBCC also offers specialty certification in several areas:
- School counseling - The National Certified School Counselor (NCSC)
- Clinical mental health counseling - The Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC)
- Addictions counseling - The Master Addictions Counselor (MAC)
The NCC is a prerequisite or co-requisite for the specialty credentials.