Empowerment and Advocacy in Mental Health: A Conversation About Getting Licensed

57% of Masters-level therapists never get licensed. In this course we’ll discuss this staggering statistic, explore the reasons why this happens, and discuss what we can do during the course of clinical supervision to change this trajectory and remove the barriers between graduation and the exam.

You will be able to:

• Identify four reasons why pre-licensed therapists struggle to reach licensure.

• Discuss how important it is to equip associate-level therapists with the knowledge of their state’s licensure rules and regulations as they work toward their licenses.

• Explore how the supervision process can empower supervisees toward clinical licensure.

Panelists HerMaya Onunwor, Compliance Specialist for Motivo, and Kellie Branch-Dircks, LCSW, identify the difficulties that new graduates face as they enter the workforce and begin their paths toward licensure.

A serious mental health crisis accompanied by an equally serious mental health worker shortage is a recipe for expanding waitlists and potential disaster for those who are in need of care.

48,000 new therapists graduate from Master’s level programs every year, but struggle to find work, understand regulations, and find clinical supervision… just to name a few barriers — with little assistance from their schools or licensing boards. 57% will go a different direction before they can sit for the exam.

Clinical supervisors are the one common element in those two years after graduation. They have the task of helping the supervisee develop their counseling skills and ethical discernment. Could they also be equipped to point supervisees to the resources that could help them overcome the barriers they’re facing?