Feb 18 2025 BHEC Council Outcome
The BHEC Council met Tuesday Feb 18th. Before we dive into the "what happened" allow me to provide some oversight for anyone who may need it. If you don't need framework then skip down to "So What Happened?" at the bottom.
The Framework for Understanding Events
BHEC is a TX Agency. It governs the four mental health licensing boards, LPC, MFT, Psych, and SW. The primary function of those boards is to license new therapists not administer social justice.
The BHEC Council is a next-tier board composed of two members from each of the 4 boards just mentioned, one professional and one public member, plus one additional public member appointed by the Governor to run the Council. Their function is to make sure the four boards do their job and don't go rogue in the area of rulemaking.
The Executive Director of BHEC (currently Darrel Spinks) and therefore his entire crew, answers to the Council. The BHEC Agency, Council, and all four boards answer to the TX Legislature. Got it?
The Rulemaking Process
Other than the fact that the same people who propose and approve something at the board level are the same people sitting on the Council (not a perfect system but it'll do until the next Sunset Commission review) the checks and balances system put in place 5 years ago to replace the cluster that was DSHS is working extremely well. Gone are the days when arbitrary rules could be proposed and passed without much oversight, and cross your fingers it didn't run afoul of some existing state code (law).
The current process takes forever (a feature of the American law-making system) but it works. Rules go back and forth between a board and the council several times, making corrections along the way. This allows the cooler heads to prevail, and opponents more time to make their arguments. It works.
Who's Running the Show?
Before I move on I'm going to say that there is a giant wave of entitled misunderstanding running through a certain segment of our licensee base. They seem to think that BHEC takes its' marching orders from its licensees as if it was some sort of politicly driven professional association. That couldn't be more further from the truth.
Holding a license to practice is a privilege and it's the BHEC Agency's job to make sure licenses get issued to seemingly competent individuals, that all of the laws promulgated by the TX Legislature are followed to the letter, and that's it. That is the sum total of their job.
Yes, we have a God-given right as Americans to free speech and anyone may show up and make public comment at these board/council functions, even non-licensees like me. That BHEC listens to their licensee base and the public regarding both code and non-code issues is simply good practice but it is not a democracy; loud voices on either side of an argument cannot override what the TX Legislature and the Governor's office require. We would all do well to understand that. Keep reading, the good stuff's on the other side of this ad!
The Players and Their Positions
The big issue on the table was of course the Council's vote on the new language being proposed for the only real DEI initiative currently in our rulebook, the Cultural Diversity rule.
One side maintains that they don't need a CE renewal requirement at all, to tell them to take ce courses that increase their competence level with their chosen target populations. Competent counselors are already doing this. This side will be quite happy to settle with a re-wording of the current rule that sees them required to take courses that they're already taking! The rule may stand, just re-word it so that we're not required to take courses that normalize sub-cultures still viewed by a majority of licensees as mental illnesses.
The other side maintains that every counselor needs to understand every sub-culture out there through their social justice lens (their words, not mine) in order to be more competent in scenarios that might happen to a practicing counselor. (They are attempting to legislate professional morality and they are free to do that but the proper venue for it is the Legislature, not through an Agency. See "Who's Running the Show?" above.)
The State, in it's original SHCC Committee recommendation that this rule be passed, maintains this will somehow positively impact a state-wide mental-health workforce shortage. (Still working to wrap my head around that logic but I'll get back to ya.)
So What Happened?
Despite much public comment, some urging BHEC to ignore the TX Legislature and Gov Abbott's EO (listen to the YT recording of comments and you'll see that was encouraged many times) the BHEC Council ratified the 4 boards' decisions to change the language.
"Acceptable cultural diversity or competency hours include, but are not limited to continuing education regarding age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, language, national origin, race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status"
...will become...
“hours designed to ensure competency when providing services to a distinct population, defined as a group of people who share a common attribute, trait, or defining characteristic of the licensee’s choice”
So What's Next?
Now it goes back down to the boards to confirm their previous votes then back up to the Council again for a final, final vote. So we're probably looking at mid-late summer before the new language goes into effect.
Summary
I stand by my comments of Feb 18. We cannot run a medical profession including mental health, especially mental health, on an ideological base no matter how badly someone wants something to be true. A return to sanity in our profession includes a return to a science-based, peer-reviewed meritocracy. We have much to fix in this country but we can begin right here.
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About the Author
Phillip's background has blessed him with a variety of interests, skills, and tools to get things done. He spent 25 years in the printing and marketing industry before meeting Kathleen Mills in 2015. They quickly figured out that they made a pretty good business team and, owing to Kathleen's story, embarked upon a mission that would see the creation of PracticeMentors.us and eventually the Association for Mental Health Professionals.
