Kathleen’s Public Comments LPC Board Meeting
On June 7 of 2024, The Austin BBQ Club from the AMHP organization, made the trek to Austin in the wee hours of the morning to make our public comments in person. The post below is the message delivered by Kathleen Mills LPC-S and may be viewed in its entirety in this video. The public comments begin at approximately the 1 hour and 54 minute mark. Phillip's comments are also in the same video and may be read in this post.
Kathleen's Public Comments LPC Board Meeting
My name is Kathleen Mills, LPC-S. I am also a co-founder of the Association For Mental Health Professionals.
On BHEC's Positive Improvement
Things have dramatically improved since the inception of BHEC almost 4 years ago. The good news is...
- ...that the board is no longer in control of administrative duties including the complaint process and licensing approval issues.
- ...that the 3 year backlog of complaint cases has been completely addressed.
- ...that 95% of all new complaints are dismissed as having no basis to pursue.
- ...and that we now have a penalty matrix to objectively mete out punishment vs the subjective, good-ol-boy days of the past.
Pudding and the Proof Therein
But the FACT that pleases me the MOST is this.
- In the last 12 months 110 complaints survived the initial BHEC Staff review and went on to some form of disciplinary action. That means that of 70,000 licensees less than point-one-six of ONE PERCENT of all counselors received an official reprimand of some sort.
What Does This Mean?
So, "How well are licensees doing at policing their own activities"? The answer is "less than one-sixth of one percent of all counselors had to go to "time out" in the last 12 months".
That means TWO things:
- That WE'RE doing a pretty DAMN good job of self-policing, wouldn't you agree?
- And it means that going forward NO additional ethics or regulations are required related to issues that see complaints being filed. There ARE no problems left to fix!!
Licensing Board Over-Reach
I'm suggesting that we're over-regulated IN ANOTHER AREA which I'll call "counselor improvement". I want the board to stay out of my career plans, where I get my continuing education and how I spend my money.
"Protecting Joe Citizen" can't be used as justification for "counselor improvement" regulations because our clients are NOT filing legitimate complaints against us for...
- ...not being diverse or woke enough, or for being "too white", or improper pronoun usage
- ...or for not taking our continuing education from academia's preferred sources
- ...or for not knowing enough about proper telehealth procedures
- ...or for not having "PhD" on our license
Summary
I DON'T take my marching orders from academia or their bed-fellows including their accrediting institutions, professional organizations that promote their twisted social agendas, or self-appointed think-tanks like WPATH looking to systemically alter the General Standards of Care in our profession which are currently going to hell in a handbasket.
I want my licensing board to restrict themselves to "ethics", defined as what's in my rulebook and the codes outlined on Pg 40. YOUR state mandate is to protect Joe Citizen, not make ME conform to a moral, ethical and practice standard developed by governing bodies I've already mentioned.
I want to challenge you to reduce the number of pages in my rulebook by at least 10 during the Quadrennial Review. Repeal what's not needed in the area of "counselor improvement" and let ME determine what's best for ME and how I spend my money.
Thank you.
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About the Author
Kathleen Mills is a fire-breathing, 33+ year veteran of the counseling world. People react in one of two ways when evil touches their lives: some retreat in fear, and some advance without pause to engage it. Kathleen falls firmly in the latter group. She owns and operates Life Tree Counseling in Frisco, TX, possesses a tireless work-ethic, and eagerly awaits your arrival into her growing army of warriors.
