I am a Resident-in-Counseling with 3 years in the community mental health field. I have, as most all of my fellow residents-in-counseling have in CACREP-accredited counseling programs, been extensively trained in the assessment of mental health diagnoses and effective interventions from a wide-range of disciplines to treat such diagnoses. As such, the Board of Counseling has validated and asserted my ability to provide outpatient therapy in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

As my colleague has eloquently stated, there is an extroardinary amount of need for counseling and psychotherapy for children and disadvantaged individuals - mental illness knows no privilege, in fact we know that low-income individuals, those that require Medicaid assistance for their health needs, are particularly vulnerable to developing mental illness, or to have a preexisting mental health diagnosis. The proposed changed regulations would needlessly and severely limit access to robust mental health care to the most vulnerable citizens of the Commonwealth. It should be amended to allow that residents-in-counseling and supervisees in social work can provide outpatient psychiatric services, as the pool of qualified providers is already critically small.

Personally, my brother with autism is currently seeing a supervisee in social work and would be forced to stop seeing him if this new rule is enforced. As you may know, it is difficult for those with autism to find people they connect with and my brother has found that. There is NO reason for that to be taken away. Additionally, I along with my colleagues and my brother's counselor, are completely capable of working with any individual with mental health needs. Medicaid or no Medicaid- it makes no difference. All this rule does is take away possible counselors for those out there who are using Medicaid thus further taking away needs and services that they desperately are searching for in order to succeed as healthy human beings. Please reconsider this idea, it only hurts those who are already hurting the most.