I am writing to express my support for the petition. As an educator in Virginia, I have witnessed the increasing difficulties that new MFT professionals are experiencing during the licensure process—loss of significant time, income, employment oportunities and confidence in the field, to name a few. Some highly skilled graduates have even elected to practice in other states or obtain other types of credentials to avoid the roadblocks experienced by their peers. Needless to say, such trends, if continued, have the potential to become quite devastating to the profession and community. The proposed solution seems a valuable first step towards improving the application process and eliminating many of the unfortunate struggles new professionals in Virginia are currently experiencing. I provide my strong support of this petition.

Andrea K. Wittenborn, Ph.D., LMFT

Assistant Professor of Family Therapy, Virginia Tech

AAMFT Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor

North Region Vice President, Virginia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy