What Do We Do About Professional Competency?

Can We Save Professional Competency? Anyone who has been around since before the year 2000 knows that the bar of practice competency in the mental health field is arguably much lower than it was just two decades ago. It’s been slowly and subtly redefined to operate not from a base of replicable, peer-reviewed science to…

On the Use of Facilitation Tactics

By Phillip Crum

Can therapists still legally use facilitation tactics like a minor patient’s preferred pronouns, cross-gender new name, promote cross-dressing and the use of chest binders now that physical transitioning of minors is illegal in TX? Looking for Loopholes for Facilitation Tactics I’ve seen that question posed in online groups by counselors looking for loopholes to continue…

Paxton Opinion KP-0401 Reviewed (Child Abuse)

By Phillip Crum

Just finished studying the Paxton Opinion KP-0401 from 2022 (again) which clarified the relationship of GAC to child abuse in TX. Here’s a summary of the key takeaway points for mental health counselors. Two Primary Questions Matt Krause, Chair of the House Committee on General Investigating posed two key questions of Paxton’s office: 1. Does…

Board Members Serving Two Masters

By Kathleen Mills LPC-S

In a separate post we cleared up the misinformation about the licensing boards having anything to do with the genesis of SB14, but that brings up two questions we need to address. Where do the loyalties of each professional board member live, and what is their duty towards encouraging TX licensees when it comes to…

Splitting the Hairs of Facilitation

By Phillip Crum

If the letter writing, blockers, hormones and surgeries are outlawed by TX SB14 then the question becomes, “are the GAC tactics utilized prior to the letter-writing, the social transitioning phase, still allowed since not specifically enumerated in the bill, or are they also illegal? Do they qualify as facilitation?” Are MHCP Licensees Covered? TX AG…