Something I hear often is the confusion between scope of competence and scope of practice. Let’s break them down with examples together…
Scope of practice refers to the legally defined boundaries of the practice of our discipline within the mental health profession (social work, marriage and family therapy, counseling, etc.)
For example, it is out of the scope of practice for a therapist to prescribe medicine, issue a divorce between a couple, or provide legal advice. So, think of "practice" as all the members of that discipline. All members of that discipline are under those same rules and requirements.
Scope of competence refers to the limits of what an individual therapist is qualified to do based on his/her education, training, and experience.
For example, I have never been trained in hypnosis or EMDR. It would be out of my personal scope of competence to use these methods with my clients. So think of "competence" as "What I am personally qualified, educated, or trained to do in my specific work with clients?"
I hope this helps with times in which these terms can be confusing. Leave a reply in the comments if you have any additional comments or questions regarding this topic! How do you distinguish between the two? Come back soon for a question on this topic too!