Recent data shows that clinical counselors are almost twice as likely to be delinquent in renewing their California registrations compared to clinical social workers. Associate Professional Clinical Counselors (APCCs) are almost three times as likely to be delinquent as MFTs. As of September 2024, more than a quarter of California APCCs hold delinquent APCC registrations.
California
ASPPB gives up on requiring Psychology licensing boards to use the EPPP Part 2
Last week, the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) announced that they are pausing plans to require member boards to use the EPPP Part 2 as a condition of Psychologist licensure. They had faced fierce resistance to the mandate, including a recent Federal Trade Commission complaint and a coalition of states looking at developing an alternative exam.
Why there isn’t an interstate compact for MFTs
Telehealth-based mental health care is now the norm. Many clinicians have sought to expand their telehealth practices by getting licensed in multiple states. Psychology, counseling, and social work have all pursued interstate compacts to expand telehealth opportunities for professionals in participating states. This has led many marriage and family therapists to wonder: Why isnāt there an interstate compact for MFTs?
California AB1758 signed, making video supervision legal across work settings through 2025
The bill was tagged as urgency legislation, meaning it took effect immediately upon the Governor’s signature. In addition to making video supervision legal across all work settings, it also newly requires supervisors (in all work settings, not just private practice) to assess a supervisee’s appropriateness for video supervision. I’ve created a form for that, modeled after the specific requirements in the bill. It’s available on my Resources page at the Ben Caldwell Labs site.
Kaiser to therapists on strike: We’re not abandoning patients, you are
On Tuesday, mental health clinicians for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California went on strike. While Kaiser and the union representing the therapists appear to have reached agreement on wages, the sides remain in dispute on issues related to staffing, working conditions, and client access to care. Kaiser reps have responded by calling the strike itself āunethical.ā They have said that union leaders were asking therapists to āwalk away from people who need help.ā Suggesting that your own employees are unethical when they are striking to force Kaiser to improve patient access to mental health care is, as they say, a choice. Itās one that would seem destined to only worsen Kaiserās ability to recruit and retain therapists in the future.