A bipartisan bill authored by a Spotsylvania County mental health professional and introduced by Del. Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) was signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin Thursday and will go into effect July 1.
House Bill 426 removes a hurdle to becoming a licensed counselor in Virginia that therapist Bridgette Williams, who wrote the legislation and submitted it to Cole, said may have been a hindrance to more minorities entering the mental health field.
Williams, who owns and operates Angelo Recovery Center on Falcon Drive in Spotsylvania, believed the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination created a barrier for many attempting to become mental health professionals, thus leading to fewer services available for those experiencing a crisis.
The new law will allow therapists to become licensed in Virginia by passing the less burdensome National Counselor Examination.
The bill states that the NCE will be administered by the National Board for Certified Counselors “as a valid examination to meet the qualifications for licensure as a professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
The board will incorporate the NCE into its licensure regulations and procedures unless it conflicts with other compacts or agreements previously agreed to by the Commonwealth.
Cole and Williams spoke to the house subcommittee March 5 in support of the bill.
Williams noted that the bill is specifically for potential counselors who want to practice in Virginia and that there may still be more requirements for anyone seeking multi-state licensure.
“We aren’t seeking to lower the standard,” Cole said. “But instead find a way to make our standards more accessible to all potential counselors regardless of their lived experiences.”
Williams said her goal is not to say, “Everybody can do therapy.” She noted that counselors still must have a master’s degree and complete 3,500 hours under the supervision of a licensed professional.
She said it often takes three to four years to complete the required hours, and by then there should be enough evidence to show that one is qualified for licensure.
She said the previous exam tests decision-making and information gathering. She noted that once one passes the test, they still must be supervised for an additional two years.
“Just because you are brand new and you passed the exam, you still don’t know anything,” Williams said. “So, what makes you better than someone working under a license for 25 years? There’s one major difference – one has proven to have great decision-making skills and information gathering because they’ve got years of experience. That piece of paper doesn’t mean anything.”
Williams said it was “a monumental fight” to get the bill passed. It was rejected in previous years after Del. Phillip Scott (R-Spotsylvania) introduced it. It passed the house (54-46) and the Senate (71-28) this time around.
Williams said the bill will bring practical skills to the forefront rather than the ability to pass a test. Williams first intended to eliminate testing but garnered more support with a substitute exam, including from Del. Bobby Orrock (R-Caroline) whose office is two doors from hers.
“They were preventing people that we know are great in the field from getting in,” Williams said. “They were telling people after six years of so-called residency, ‘You’re no good now, even though you have all this experience.’ That’s not including their degree in mental health counseling, all because they did not meet criteria with the state. You can’t do that to people. So, what I did is, I created a pathway.”
Williams, who is Black, said race was not her primary motive when presenting the bill to Cole.
But she added that it was encouraging when she was filling her role on the Rappahannock Area Community Services board of directors when a Black woman inquired about the status of the bill. The woman said she wanted to enter the mental health field but was unable to pass the exam.
She thought the effort was in danger of failing again, but Williams informed her it’s “coming through like a freight train.”
“We’ve known for a long time that melanin has no correlation with brain power,” Cole said. “But some of us are wired differently, whether it came from nature or nurture or environment or experience. Not all capable people can express their brilliance through examination.”
