There is no scientific evidence stating that people who do not graduate from CACREP programs are any less qualified than those who do. This mandate would greatly restrict the amount of counselors who are in the mental health field at a time when practitioners are desperately needed. This is an elitist movement to discredit those who have graduated from programs that are perfectly qualified to educate counselors just because they don’t have an arbitrary badge of accreditation next to their name. Licensure requirements should be based on critical individual requirements being fulfilled by a degree program, not because it has the endorsement of an organization. This mandate cannot go through and restrict access to licensure. There is a shortage of mental health practitioners in the field and to deliberately deny perfectly qualified graduates from obtaining licensure is to the great detriment of the public that needs these mental health resources. This is an unethical mandate and should not be passed.