Curious What the Proposal Document Looks Like?
Thought we'd share the actual CE rules change proposal document with you so you can see what's about to happen to you if you don't step up to the plate and take action. Our current CE Rules takes up 1 page in our rulebook. This proposal would expand it to over 4 pages and in no universe I've ever lived in does that mean they're simplifying anything.
What the Proposal Document Looks Like
We're contending, first and foremost, that the boards have not compiled the empirical proof required before submitting any rule change request, and that this rule change request is not necessary. It's a solution seeking a problem. The Council has also failed, so far, to hold any of the boards' accountable on this point and has illegally passed this measure for the MFT and SW Boards.
We're giving you the original proposal text and a diagram Phillip put together to make it easier to wrap our heads around this beast. So download the file, take 10 minutes to review it then you tell me if this proposal fixes any known ce problem we're currently having, or if it appears to be serving someone's agenda for control of your ce course selection process.
Then we'll tell you what you can do about it.
What Can I Do About This?
Here are your options and I'm going to be blunt.
- Do nothing and forfeit your right to complain about it after your Board and The Council ram this thing through and dump it in your lap.
- Write your own original thoughts and submit them.
- Copy/Paste all or any part of Kathleen or Phillip's written submissions to the next LPC Board meeting and submit it with your name attached, to the email address provided below.
- Copy/Paste something from our submissions linked to in #3 and edit them as you see fit. Permission granted. Just make sure you attach your name to it when you submit it.
Email your written submissions to: general@bhec.texas.gov
Make sure you put this in the Subject line: "Written Submission for LPC Board Meeting Sept 9th, 2022" so it gets routed properly.
Do this today so BHEC staff has time to get all submissions to each board member well in advance of the meeting. They need time to study this stuff (some of them have no idea what they're voting on) and the taller the stack of submissions before them, the more likely they are to realize the groundswell of objection to this unnecessary layer of regulation.
Don't be shy. You got this.
And let us know you spoke up, in the Comment section below.
Plan Smart. Be Safe. Serve Others.
Kathleen Mills, LPC-S, CEAP
Got An Opinion?
These posts are my beliefs based on my a) 32 years of practice as a mental health provider and b) my own research. Whether you agree or disagree, please feel free to leave your civil, constructive comments below. I try very hard to back up my liberty-based statements with my own experience and/or verifiable facts and I would ask you to do the same. You do not need to be logged in to leave a comment.
The Counseling Landscape Workshop Series
The Counseling Landscape Workshop Series Everything we teach is based around The Counseling Landscape. That’s the body of information you need to know in order to run a successful practice, a lot of which is required by BHEC. Completing this series of workshops will put you in the top 5% of all mental health counselors trying to run a practice today and it will put you on a firm, safe foundation. Oh, and each…
Hi Kathleen,
I appreciate your staying on top of these rule changes and being the erudite and thoughtful spoke person for those of us who aren’t’ so good at such things. I’ve sent in my concerns to these rule changes and am appalled by the lack of oversight for counselors needs at the source.
Again thank you for all you do.
Tracey McCullick LPC-S
Wow, Tracey…you just made my day. I’ve been called a lot of things in this journey but never “erudite”. Woo-hoo! Thanks for submitting your thoughts to the Board, we need all the help we can get. See you on the front line!
When will the new rules take effect? My renewal is in December and I already have my required CEU’s. However, they do not meet the 50% rule.
Yep, that’s a darn good question and I don’t know the answer to that because it hasn’t been stated or discussed anywhere that I’m aware of. The Board would have to first do whatever they’re going to do Sept 9th, then give this back to BHEC for consideration at their next Council meeting which is scheduled for Oct 25th. If they were to pass it on that date I don’t know when its effective date would be.
I would highly suggest that you submit your concern to the email address provided in the post, not as your personal issue seeking an answer (cause you probably won’t get one!), but as your thoughts on how the lack of a honeymoon period after final approval might mess up a lot of folk in your same situation. Can’t hurt!
I appreciate the copies you shared with me.
I am now counseling part-time, since my “retirement”. (I have been an MA LPC/LCDC for over 30 years.) But now, I do Zoom counseling at my office at home. I go to yearly Christian Counseling World Conferences in Nashville every 2 years and get all my CE’s. I am going the the AACC National Conference at the Anatole in Dallas in September. I will get all the CE’s there that has been required by the LPC BOARD in the past.
I read the shocking new requirements and while they were overwhelming, they were (also) confusing. Are they trying to get rid of some counselors who can’t or won’t fulfill all those unreasonable requirements?? I have had 2 surgeries recently and have not been feeling like going to seminars. I do take some of the virtual ones when I can. But after reading the new requirements, I am very frustrated and don’t see how I could or would meet the new requirements.
Sandi Black
Hi, Sandy. Thanks for your feedback. Hope your retirement is going as planned and that you’re doing well after your recent surgeries. I know they can take a lot out of you. Let me address your questions in the order you asked them.
1. Attending annual conferences has worked for many and despite the high costs involved will continue to work for you because the powers that crafted this thing saw fit to make sure they included themselves (associations) in the Approved Providers list, guaranteeing that 100% of the ce hours you acquire from them will count. So as long as you continue to participate in annual association conferences, that acquisition route would still get the job done.
2. I don’t think they’re trying to actively get rid of any counselors. That may be an unintended consequence to some degree but, no, I don’t believe that’s a goal.
3. Whether you attend virtually or in-person isn’t the rub, it’s who you take them from. So you could get 100% of your hours virtually, from the associations or academic institutions on the A/P list if you chose to do so. BUT, if you wanted to avail yourself of a ce provider’s offerings and they’re not on the Approved Providers list then you can only take a maximum of 50% of your hours from them. THAT is one of the main issues we have a real problem with. And if you choose to stick with association produced materials including the proposed requirement to take 3 hours of Cultural Diversity training from now on, well, I’ll just leave it at that.