To the Virginia Leadership,

I encourage you to reject all attempts to restrict counselor licensure in Virginia to graduates of programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Services (CACREP). I further urge you to reject the current regulations that limit counseling graduates’ choice of supervisors to people with Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) licenses.

Seton Hall University’s department of Professional Psychology and Family Therapy Department is proud of our success over more than 50 years in preparing ethical and effective counselors, and other mental health professionals. We are also proud of our more than 20 year success with online delivery of counselor preparation programs. Our alumni are licensed practitioners making a difference nationally and internationally. The decisions you make in Virginia will have an impact on the Seton Hall programs, students, alumni – and, most importantly, the people we all seek to serve.

I urge you to reject efforts to limit counselor licensure in Virginia to graduates of programs accredited by CACREP. As two successive Virginia Economic Impact Analyses (2016, 2017) conclude, “costs likely outweigh benefits for this proposed regulation.” Furthermore, we urge you to consider the overwhelming opposition to this proposal during the 2017 public comment period. Adoption of a CACREP-only licensure restriction would unnecessarily limit the number of licensed counselors in Virginia at a time when more counselors being sought for school and community settings.

Similarly, as part of the periodic review of regulations for the practice of professional counseling, I urge you to reverse the regulation, adopted outside the normal processes, that restricts counseling residents’ supervisors to people with LPC and LMFT licenses. The majority of qualified supervisors are licensed psychologists psychiatrists, and social workers. As there is no evidence to suggest that LPCs and LMFTs are more qualified to serve as supervisors than licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, this restriction would unnecessarily limit options for counselors seeking licensure in Virginia and is therefore detrimental to both the public and profession.

Thank you for your consideration of my comments.

Sincerely,

Maureen D. Gillette, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Education and Human Services

Seton Hall University

maureen.gillette@shu.edu