With New York state lawmakers trying to finalize a budget, advocates are making last-minute pitches. One topic being debated is the unlicensed mental health practitioner exemption.
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed spending plan renews the licensed mental health practitioner exemption. It allows practitioners, such as mental health counselors and family therapists, to treat patients without in-person oversight from a licensed clinical social worker. Executive Director of the New York State Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health Andrea Smyth says two licensed professionals have to sign off on any treatment plan developed by unlicensed practitioners.
“Teams of professionals and paraprofessionals and peers that implement treatment plans 24/7 in regulated settings such as places where people live. So, all day long everyone who’s touching them is working to implement a treatment plan that was developed by a professional,” says Smyth
In 2002, state lawmakers made social work a state licensed profession requiring minimum standards of education, experience, and exam scores. State agencies, including prisons and Juvenile justice setting such as the Department of Children and Families said it would be too costly to meet the licensing requirement. In response, then-Governor George Pataki enacted the mental health practitioner exemption. In January 2018, representatives from social worker organizations rallied in Albany to urge state officials to uphold the 2002 law and remove the exemption, which is slated to expire July 1st. Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers – New York Chapter Samantha Howell says the system needs to change.
“Individuals who are employed by the state to provide mental health diagnosis and treatment are not required to have the same type of licensure and training that a private practitioner does. We encouraged the governor and the legislature to get rid of that exemption, to ensure that all New Yorkers have the same access to the qualified care,” says Howell.
Smyth, of the Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health, disagrees.
“Especially in these troubled times where we are struggling with school child anxiety related to gun violence, the opioid epidemic. It didn’t seem like the time when a narrowing of who could do work in our setting was appropriate,” says Smyth
Smyth says if the exemption is not in the final budget, it will cost the state’s mental health community $350 million.
“State operated facilities and in non-profit organizations, if the scope of practice as it pertains to the licensure bill were to have gone into effect, we would have had to replace thousands of workers with people who met this highest credential,” says Smyth
She says salaries for licensed workers would increase, some mental health facilities would lay off other workers and pay thousands to recruit and hire qualified individuals. But, Howell claims licensed workers could absorb the patients.
“There’s over 56,000 licensed social work practitioners in the state and the important thing here is really that individuals who are providing diagnosis and treatment of mental health and their doing so in the scope of their practice,” says Howell.
Governor Cuomo’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for broadcast. The state budget is due April 1st.
