I support this petition. I have worked in the human services field for 20 years, in southwest Virginia.  I have supervised students, master's level clinicians, and licensed clinicians for over 8 years.  My supervisees have come from MSW programs, Counselor Ed programs, and Counseling and Clinical Psychology programs. I have every confidence in professionals from each academic program. It is unreasonable to not at least allow for a "grandfather clause" in this situation, when individuals, who are tax payers and constituents, completed degrees in clinical psychology that met the requirements for seeking licensure in this state at the time of their graduation. I hope that our Board of Health and our legislators will understand that the efforts of the counseling board infringes on their ability to work, but also our ability to serve others in need. Our area is designated as a rural area underserved in healthcare. In a time when our state is ridiculed in the media for having lacking mental health services, following the tragedies of the Va Tech shootings and now following the injuries of our senator Mr. Deeds and the apparent suicide of his son, this is not the time to take further steps to reduce our resources. One of my staff in particular will be effected if this change goes through. If my stepsons needed therapy, she would be my first choice, if it weren't for our professional relationship. There are so many issues that we as human services workers and mental health professionals need to tackle, and this is not one of them. We need reinforcements, not a reduction of competent clinicians.