CACREP or the Council for Accreditation of Counseling an Related Educational Programs is an organization that provides accreditation to various types of counseling programs offered by different US-based institutions and those that have international presence.  Whether an institution is involved with counseling for drug addicts or mental illness for example, they can gain accreditation through CACREP.  With recognition given by the US Council for Higher Education, CACREP is authorized to provide accreditation to masteral and doctoral programs of various educational institutions in the US that offer counseling services for various fields including those for career, family matters, student concerns, marital problems, substance abuse, and mental illness among many others.

For a counseling program to be accredited by CACREP, it must meet several requirements including those that are considered core and basic.  Core programs of educational institutions must emphasize on student involvement in terms of their social, cultural, and ethical responsibility to others.  The main counseling programs should also promote a very healthy relationship between the counselors themselves and their students.  There are also basic requirements in terms of semester credits or hours for a counseling program to be accredited by the CACREP.  Most programs require a minimum of 48 semester credits regardless of the field involved.  There are special cases though that require more than 48 hours of semester credits like those in the field of addiction and family counseling.  In terms of class size, institutions may only seek accreditation from CACREP when class rooms are set to a maximum of ten students and practical courses are set to 6 students maximum.

Once all requirements are met, educational institutions typically get 8 years of accreditation. There are cases though that only 2 years is granted and this is applied to situations wherein there are parts of the counseling program that need some minor adjustments.  Under the 2-year period, all pending requirements must be met in order to retain the CACREP accreditation.