As a practicing mental health counselor and counselor educator , I readShelton rightfully observed that there is a “mental health crisis” in Utah. Indeed, Utah has the highest rate of mental illness in the nation, according toWhat should we do? Shelton correctly observes that there is a critical shortage of licensed mental health professionals . The reasons for this shortage are many, and include low pay and difficult work.
Shelton proposes a number of measures to reduce the requirements to be a licensed mental health professional. These include reducing educational requirements and the number of supervised hours required for full licensure. This is unwise. Had Shelton written about the shortage of primary care physicians or surgeons, there would probably be an unfavorable response to any proposal to reduce training requirements for these medical professionals. I know I don’t want a poorly-trained surgeon to perform my appendectomy.
Mental health professionals are responsible for treating a wide range of extremely complex mental health conditions. It’s not unusual for us to make difficult decisions about suicidality, homicidality, and various mandatory reporting requirements. These are weighty responsibilities. Flooding the market with poorly-trained mental health professionals will only exacerbate our mental health crisis.