I oppose this amendment as this would further decrease access to the critical mental health care folks need. There are currently lengthy waitlists for folks to gain access to care and this not decreasing but increasing. This would create further  the current mental health crisis. There is no documented evidence that licensed counselors who graduated from programs
accredited by CACREP are better prepared than their peers who graduated from other
programs! Why then, should the majority of licensed counselors who did not graduate from
programs accredited by CACREP be required to show 7 more years of experience than their
peers who graduated from programs accredited by CACREP? Why would the Commonwealth of Virginia want to unnecessarily reduce the number of licensed professionals at a time of great need?
The Counseling Compact is a significantly better option than this proposal! The Alliance for Professional Counselors (APC) fully supports portability for all counselors and
supports the Counseling Compact, which accomplishes portability in an inclusive way.
https://counselingcompact.org.