Residents may have had experience in counseling professions before the start of their Masters, and many graduate from well-established programs that provide a level of training that is on-par with the supervised experience of some Residents. While the Board of Counseling already accepts 500 hours of supervised experience from the Masters internship, this has done little to reduce the time that it would take for a Mental Health professional to become licensed post-Masters.

Some states have adopted polices to accept a greater number of pre-Masters hours towards the post-Masters experience, so long as the hours occur after 35 course hours, and in excess of the required practicum an internship hours. This petition requests that Virginia's policies be more in line with states that have chosen to focus on the quality of education for counselors rather than the quantity of hours acquired post-Masters. 

Not making a shift towards better credentialing practices will sustain the mental health and substance abuse crisis facing Virginians today. The current licensure process ensures burnout, deters individuals from entering the counseling workforce, and setups a condition where mental health professionals are unable to find meaningful work after the completion of their Masters. The current system may also encourage the abuse of Resident clinicians as they are forced to work in settings where their work isn't fairly compensated.

Again, I strongly support changing the required hours for licensure. I feel that the change is necessary, and I believe that it could benefit all Virginias by expanding the counseling workforce and by highlighting counseling programs that supervise their students for a much broader training experience under the foundations established by CACREP.