Please do not limit licensure for clinical counselors to CACREP certified programs. I am blessed to have attended a CACREP program. However, I have worked with clinicians in Virginia and elsewhere who have been educated in rigorous programs across the United States. It is troubling to see a certification body have a monopoly on educational pathways for clinicians. I am not sure what this gains patients and the community clinicians serve.

My private practice in just over the Va/Md line near Lovettsville, Va. This is an underserved area for mental health services. The last thing this region needs is less providers. I am not sure why we need to limit the avenues to education and training for mental health therapists. Virginia already has a very rigorous set of standards for clinicians to be licensed.

My hope is that whatever concerns there are about qualified candidates for licensure can be addressed through the testing and post-graduate work required for licensure. 

Most Sincerely,

Diane Younkins, LCPC-S (Maryland), NCC