Dear Governor McAuliffe,

I am writing in response to the proposed regulation 18 VAC 115-20 aimed at governing the practice of counseling in Virginia.  Representing a nationally respected academic program in the field of counseling, we at George Mason University have serious concerns regarding the proposed regulation.

I am pleased to outline the reasons for our strong opposition. The following summarizes the reasons why we are not in favor of the passage of this regulation.

• CACREP-only policies are highly restrictive and not in the interest of public protection, limiting the number of licensed professional counselors in Virginia eligible to serve the significant numbers of clients with mental health needs in the Commonwealth.
• There is a lack of evidence that finds differences in quality, skills, or ethical practice between CACREP trained and non-CACREP trained counselors.
• After the first attempt to restrict counselor licensure to graduates of CACREP programs was reversed in New Jersey in 2011 other states and state leaders have rejected attempts to create a CACREP linkage with professional licensing.   All but 3 states (Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina) currently determine licensure eligibility through state boards based on a determination of specific requirements for graduate education, training, and professional experiences as well as other standards specifically designed for counselors. (Appeals have been made in Kentucky and North Carolina to reverse regulations that would link state board licensure requirements with CACREP).
• Forty-seven state licensure boards are not partnered with CACREP, or any other accreditation system to determine the awarding of licenses to professionally trained counselors. Subsequently, in virtually all states, licensure boards have determined the standards and prerequisites for state licensure without the specific requirement of academic program accreditation by CACREP. Thus the overwhelming majority of academic counseling programs in the United States have determined, through their appointed licensure boards, standards and pre-requisites for state licensure without requiring academic program accreditation by CACREP.
• Approximately 20% of colleges and universities nationwide with graduate programs in counseling are accredited by CACREP. It should be noted that the numbers of total CACREP accredited programs may appear higher in the CACREP literature, but this may be based on multiple accredited programs (i.e. specialty areas in the field of counseling) at the same university being counted. Many of the graduates, from the approximately 80% of programs in the United States that are not CACREP accredited, are licensed as professional counselors (LPC’s or LCPC’s) in their respective states having met rigorous licensure standards without the requirement of CACREP accreditation. The requirement of CACREP accreditation as a prerequisite for state licensure in the field of counseling is the exception, rather than a standard in this profession.
• CACREP has been virtually non-existent in many states with 7 states having no CACREP master’s program until 1 year ago (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, Rhode Island, and West Virginia). Many other states had only 1 or 2 CACREP accredited programs (Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming). One example, in a study conducted by the American Counseling Association, was in New York State finding that only 14% of licensed mental health counselors earned their degrees at CACREP accredited programs.
• Future licensed professional counselors from other states who do not graduate from CACREP accredited programs such as in New York State as well as states bordering Virginia will not be able to move and become licensed in Virginia.
• More services are needed to meet the counseling needs of the public which is inconsistent with the proposal to restrict training and licensure to programs accredited by CACREP. Limiting licensed professional counselors with the proposed requirement of CACREP accreditation for future applicants for professional counselor licensure in Virginia will both restrict and limit the pool of professionals needed to provide service for the mental health needs of the citizens of Virginia. Estimates are that 17% people in Virginia were identified as having some type of mental illness with only 47% of them receiving treatment.
• The CACREP 2016 standards define who is eligible to be a core faculty member in the CACREP accredited programs. In Section I W the standard reads as follows: Core counselor education program faculty have earned doctoral degrees in counselor education, preferably from a CACREP accredited program, or have related doctoral degrees and have been employed as full time faculty members in a counselor education program for a minimum of one full academic year before July 1, 2013. This means that faculty who are not trained in CACREP accredited programs or have not taught in a counseling program for a full academic year prior to July 1, 2013, are not eligible to ever become a CACREP approved core faculty member.  Further restricting faculty eligibility CACREP Standard Section 1 S reads: To ensure that students are taught primarily by core counselor education program faculty, for any calendar year, the combined number of course credit hours taught by non-core faculty must not exceed the number of credit hours taught by core faculty. This means that the future Sigmund Freuds or other world renowned psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and family therapists would not be able to be hired as core faculty in a CACREP approved program, even if they identified with counseling as their primary professional identity, published in counseling journals, and attended the national and state counseling conferences. The consequence of these standards is to restrict student exposure to core faculty from related disciplines who are renowned for their work that may inform the counseling field. Numerous highly regarded textbooks and DVD’s that are used in counseling training are from psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and family therapists, most of whom would be prohibited from becoming a core faculty member in a CACREP accredited program.
• The recent Economic Impact Analysis report by the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget concluded that “Costs will likely outweigh benefits for this proposed change.” The CACREP website specifies charges as follows: $2500 application process fee; $2,000 per visitor for a site visit (2-5 site visitors [typically 3 or more]; annual maintenance fee $3299; graduate student certificate $50 per student. George Mason University (GMU) anticipates a cost of $70,000 initial costs to apply to CACREP ($1,000 for CACREP self-study workshop; $6,000 consultancy fees; $50 for CACREP manual; $2,500 initial application fee; an estimated $10,000 in site visits; $20,000 buy-out time of faculty member to oversee the 12-18 month approval process; $30,000 to hire half-time administrative assistant).
• These costs are prohibitive for many universities without the resources to afford the application and annual ongoing CACREP costs and for universities such as GMU, which is an R-1 Research Intensive University, where the teaching load for tenure-track faculty is 2:2 (teaching two courses per semester). As mentioned above CACREP requires core faculty to teach 50% of the classes as well as maintain student faculty ratios of 1:12. This would necessitate GMU to hire an additional full time faculty member ($114,000 including fringe benefits) and adjunct faculty ($26,000) to meet the standards for the currently enrolled 68FTE masters level students.  In addition, the current part-time administrative assistant would need to be upgraded to full time at a cost of $34,000 (including benefits). This would be required at the same time that the Commonwealth has directed state universities to prepare for significant budget reductions, currently estimated to be in the range of 7.5%,
• Total estimated additional costs for GMU = $70,000 initial start-up costs and $250,000 annually.
• CACREP standards require that ALL graduate counseling program concentrations be 60 credits (which will take effect for 3 program concentrations [school counseling, career counseling, and college counseling and student affairs] in 2020). There is no evidence or research to support that 60 credit programs provide higher quality training than our current program requirements with fewer credit hours. Requiring 60 credits increases the tuition for school counseling students and has significant financial impact on low income students.

I would urge you to reject the proposal to restrict counselor licensure to graduates of CACREP programs in Virginia. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or would like any additional information.

Sincerely,

Fred Bemak, Ed.D., P.C.L.C.

Professor and Academic Program Coordinator

Counseling and Development Program

George Mason University

703-993-3941