May 22, 2025 • 49 mins
Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are people in Texas that need mental health
treatment that aren't gettingserved.
We are looking for ways thestaff is looking for ways to get
people licensed, so if theydon't meet all the requirements
they will make a recommendation.
They might say something likehey, you don't meet all of our
(00:20):
requirements, but if you do thisthing or if you take this
training, we will count that andthen that'll fill the gap.
They are looking for ways toinclude, not exclude.
Welcome to Badass Therapistsbuilding practices that thrive
(00:41):
where it's all about workingsmarter, not harder.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Now here's your host, Dr Kate Walker, who is really
starting to like vacationing inthe desert.
You're going to love thisconversation with Nicole
Richardson, an LMFT board member, who pulls back the curtain on
how licensing boards actuallywork and what you need to know
if you're a supervisor orbusiness owner.
(01:05):
This is exactly the kind ofclarity we'll be creating inside
the Smart Practice Sprint afour-day experience to help you
get your business in order andyour messaging on point.
The first day is free and Iwill drop more info during the
mid-roll.
Let's get to work.
Let's get to work.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
She's been in private practice since 2012.
Before that, she worked inagencies that served people in
recovery, people recentlyreleased from incarceration and
parents involved with CPS, soshe had all the easy clients.
She is certified in EMDRGottman 3.
She is certified in EMDRGottman 3.
She's a dual supervisor, so sheholds LPC and LMFT credentials
(01:49):
and loves a perfectionist inrecovery.
While she's fully telehealth,she's based in Austin, where she
has lived since 2007.
So, nicole, I'm going to handit over to you.
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Thank you, hi.
So this is kind of I'mnerve-sided, as one of my
clients likes to say.
I'm nervous and excited at thesame time.
One of the reasons that Ibothered Kate about doing this
is because, since the Texaslegislature only meets every
other year and this is alegislative session season, I
wanted to tell as many people asI could about the legislation
(02:24):
that we are supporting, and wewould love for you to support it
with us and why.
And since Kate gave me so muchtime, I also thought it might be
a good time, since a lot of uswho are supervisors got into the
game, so to speak, before BHECwas a thing and before the
Sunset Commission and all thatjazz.
And because in my interview tojoin the board, they asked me
(02:46):
why I wanted to do it and I waslike I have always wanted to
meet the wizard of Oz.
What are you talking about?
Peel back the curtain, show meeverything.
I figured I couldn't be theonly person that was like oh,
you do it like that.
Oh, I had no idea.
So I thought if I kind ofshared some of it with you guys
Some stuff I'm assuming you guyswill already know and some of
it might be new information inaddition to the legislation.
(03:08):
And then maybe, if you guyshave questions, I may or may not
know the answer, but I'll tryto answer them, okay.
So thank you so much, leanne,for introducing me.
I won't just repeat everythingshe just said.
So I'm hoping at the end of mypresentation everybody will be
able to confidently answer likewho is the board, what is the
board, what do they do, what arethe limits?
I'm also hoping that you guyswill be able to easily find out
(03:30):
for yourselves what the board isup to.
Recently, on one of thelistservs that I'm on, somebody
posted like how in the heck arewe supposed to keep up with all
this stuff?
And I feel like a televangelist.
I'm like we can go here and wecan go here and you can email
this or you can read this, andso I'm hoping that by the end of
my presentation you guys willfeel a little bit more
comfortable being able to accessthe information for yourselves
(03:53):
and then for whatever listservsand groups that you're in as
well.
Okay, so first, what is theboard?
I'm gonna assume I'm gonna goon a wild leap here and assume
that most, if not all, of ushave a driver's license.
Well, in order for anybody tohave a driver's license, the
state that you have thatdriver's license in there has to
be a law that makes thatlicense possible.
And that's true for ourprofessional licenses as well.
(04:14):
There is a law for MFTs,there's a law for LPCs, there's
a law for LCSWs that make that athing.
And so when those laws werewritten and we usually, in the
jargon of the board, call it thestatute and that's definitely
what our attorneys like to callit, and so that's never
confusing when you're new thestatute or the law kind of sets
(04:34):
up some of the parameters ofwhat we can and cannot do.
But it also means that there'sa staff, there's money, there's
a budget and then who's going tolead it?
So the board right.
All of that stuff is possiblebecause there's a law, as I kind
of briefly mentioned earlierand I like to call them.
In the dark days when I wasgetting licensed, long before
(04:57):
the Sunset Commission, I oftenheard a lot of chatter about
clinicians feeling like theboard was out to get them.
And the Sunset Commission cameabout not really to support us
as clinicians but really tofigure out why there were some
gaps in what kinds of serviceswere available to people and the
(05:18):
kinds of experiences thatclients were having.
And in that they also foundthat a lot of clinicians didn't
feel like they were beingtreated well.
They also found that a lot ofclinicians didn't feel like they
were being treated well.
They also found that the boardwas being run really inefficient
all of the boards.
And so that's where the TexasBehavioral Health Executive
Council came from,affectionately known, which I
will be referring toaffectionately as BHEC from now
(05:39):
on.
That's how BHEC came to be.
They consolidated all of themental health boards.
So psychologists, lcsws, lpcs,mfts were all kind of under the
umbrella now of BHEC.
So a little bit about BHEC.
Because they were able toconsolidate, it meant that they
were able to streamline a lot ofthings.
(06:00):
So now all of theadministrative staff is all in
one place instead of ondifferent campuses and different
offices.
It also means that they canshare staff so they don't need
four separate people to answerthe phone, for example.
Or well, I'm sure there'sactually more than four people
that answer the phone, but infour separate places running
(06:21):
four different.
It's all kind of filteredthrough one office and there are
specialists.
So there's a team of peoplethat do everything.
There's a team of investigatorsand within the investigators
there are investigators thatkind of specialize.
Usually it's in two boards andthey just know those rules
backwards and forwards With theapplications to either get a
(06:41):
provisional license or toupgrade your license.
There's a team of people andagain, they usually specialize
in one or two, and that is whatthey do all day.
We have a team of attorneys andthey do a host of things,
including attending all of ourmeetings and telling us when
we're not allowed to do thatbecause that's not allowed in
statute.
Also, like helping us refineour language, because sometimes
(07:02):
I just kind of say, well, that'sdumb, and the attorneys will
remind me you can't put that ina rule.
That's dumb, is not a good rule, because we're all under one
umbrella.
It also meant that we could moreeasily streamline the rules.
I don't know if anybody else inhere is duly licensed, but
having so many different,competing and conflicting rules
(07:24):
is exhausting, and so being ableto streamline them make them,
frankly, just more user friendly, right, it also means that we
can kind of better understandwhat the other boards are up to.
We talk to each other, so I'mgoing to talk about this more a
little bit later, but basicallythere's sort of a tier system
right within the boardsthemselves.
(07:45):
There's a board for LPCs, mfts,etc.
And there's two members fromeach of those board that all sit
on the BHEC executive board,and so we all really do have to
work together to be goodpartners with one another.
That does mean, too, thatthere's a lot more communication
than there used to be beforeBHEC.
Okay, so the staff versus theboard.
(08:06):
So the staff is everybody thatworks in the office, from the
you know receptionist to theexecutive director and, like I
mentioned before, they do avariety of different things they
answer phones, they answeremails, they process
applications, they investigateclaims of misconduct and
naughtiness.
That is the paid staff.
(08:27):
And then the board is actuallythe nine people that are a mix
of clinicians and communitymembers, and a lot of times I
get asked why there arenon-clinicians on any of the
boards, and I think that's atotally fair question.
But I think the shortest andsimplest answers is probably a
(08:47):
variety of reasons.
Is we want people from thecommunity to be the everyday
person, the layman's voice onthe board.
So if we propose a rule, rightas a clinician, if I propose a
rule that on Thursdays we wearpink and we have to do that
right.
Ideally, our community membersare kind of in the meeting going
.
Well, how does that help me, asa human right, get better
(09:09):
counseling or how does thatincrease my access or anything
like that?
The idea is, havingnon-clinician voices on all of
these boards helps us think moreglobally.
We typically meet quarterly andI'm going to talk a little bit
about how to find.
They set these dates like 18 to24 months out.
(09:29):
So it's already posted on thewebsite for many, many moons to
come and as it gets closer theywill post things like how to
attend the meeting.
You can attend almost all ofthem in person.
Now that COVID's over and we'veopened things back up, we are
almost exclusively meeting inperson.
Now you can also attend viaZoom and if neither one of those
(09:49):
work because a lot of timesit's on a Friday we also record
all of them and we have aYouTube channel that they get
posted to so you can watch itkind of at your leisure and also
you can fast forward to theboring or parts or only watch
the ports that you're interestedin.
Ok, so I mentioned earlier sortof the difference between
(10:11):
statutes and rules, so again,I'm just going to keep using
this because it feels like aneasy, silly rule.
But the board could.
In theory we wouldn't, but intheory we could make a rule that
says all clinicians, to keeptheir license, must wear purple
pants on Thursdays.
If you're going to see a client, you must be doing it in purple
pants.
We can only make that rule ifthe statute allows us to make
(10:34):
that rule.
So there might be a clause inthat law or that statute that
says that the board may not makerules that have anything to do
with clothing.
It doesn't say anything likethat because that's just a silly
thing, but they sometimes weare pigeonholed by the statute
(10:56):
and a really easy example ofthis for me a lot of people and
I can't see everybody, but a lotof people are annoyed by the
fact that NFT associates have tohave 200 hours of supervision
in order to get their license.
This is a problem.
Well, why haven't we changedthat rule?
I'm so glad you guys asked.
(11:18):
It's because it's in thestatute and we can't, and I'm
going to talk more about thatshortly.
But basically, the way the lawwas written is minimum of 24
months and 200 hours ofsupervision.
So the best we can do is try tocome up with ways to creatively
allow people to not have to bein supervision two hours a week,
over supervision hours fromyour internship and graduate
(11:47):
school.
That's one way.
Being able to have twosupervisors is one way.
Trust me, the board staff isaware that it is not awesome and
it's not really something youcould just do once a week and
get it done in 24 hours.
They are aware of that.
So the other thing I think it'sreally important to know I feel
like sometimes I don't knowabout you guys, but a lot of
times when I'm submitting, Idefinitely felt this way prior
(12:10):
to BHEC I would call and leave amessage and never hear back, or
I'd email somebody and neverhear back, and so sometimes it
can feel like when you'reemailing a website or filling
out a contact form, that you'rekind of speaking into the void
and it stings these crosses Ifanybody gets back to you.
There are times when the staffcan answer your question.
(12:30):
For example, if you emailedthem and said I can't log into
my online portal, that istotally something they can help
you with, right.
There are some things that aregray areas that they're going to
be like, I don't know.
But if you emailed them andsaid, for example, hey, the
board made a rule last year thatyou have to wear purple pants
(12:51):
on Thursdays, I think this is astupid rule.
The staff is not really allowedto comment on that.
They're going to like as ahuman, that person who sees the
email might go I know right, butthey didn't make the rule.
They have no power over therule and so all they can really
do is pass that information onto us.
And when I tell you that everysingle one gets read, it does.
(13:15):
And what happens is we get a bigdocument dump two or three
weeks before our big quarterlymeetings.
And when I say it's a bigdocument dump, I'm not kidding.
It's a huge document dump andthere's usually a spreadsheet in
that document dump.
There's usually a spreadsheetof hey, this is.
You know, we got a call on thisday from this person and they
voiced concerns about this.
(13:35):
We got an email on this dayfrom this person and they
recommended that.
So also, if there's a, ifthere's a rule that you want to
recommend, maybe you don't lookgood in purple and so you don't
think it should be a rule thatsays, on Thursdays we wear
purple.
Maybe you think it should begreen.
Right, that will get to us.
It's not going to get to usright away because we're
volunteers.
(13:56):
I get to do this in my free time, so they don't call me every
day.
I'm grateful for that.
As much as that, like everybodyI've met in the office, is
super nice, but I don't call meevery day.
I'm grateful for that as muchas, like everybody I've met in
the office is super nice, but Idon't have time to deal with it
every day.
So I am grateful that theyconsolidate it into a
spreadsheet that I get once aquarter.
I am happy about that.
So I do understand thefrustration, especially when
(14:18):
you're feeling like, hey, thisis something that feels urgent,
it feels like a big, importantthing.
I completely understand and I'msure if it was a concern that I
had that I'd be feeling theexact same way.
That said, again, the staffcan't do anything about it.
They can't and they'reencouraged to comment as little
as possible and just kind offorward that information on to
(14:40):
us, and we might not get it fora couple of months, depending on
when you contact the board.
So how do you contact the board?
There's a contact form page.
You guys got a PDF with allthis stuff so hopefully you guys
can refer.
If you don't have it, you'regetting it.
You can reference this later.
But there is a contact formpage.
There isn't an email address,but that's just so that it just
doesn't go to one person's email.
(15:01):
It kind of goes to a queuewhere multiple staff members can
handle it.
So if somebody's on maternityleave or on vacation or their
computer blew up, there'ssomebody else that can get to it
.
So that's one way.
Also, anytime we do I don't wantto say anything, but anytime we
do just about anything whenwe're having meetings, there's a
(15:21):
place where you can submitpublic comment.
So maybe we don't have a ruleabout what we wear on Thursdays
yet and you think there shouldbe one.
When we're having a meeting andyou see that it's up, please
submit for public comment.
Hey, we should all have to weargreen on Thursdays.
Great, you can call that's.
I don't know, it's 2025.
(15:42):
I know people don't love usingtheir phones, but that is
totally an option and I've gotthe phone number in here.
As far as the meetings go, likeI said, as it gets closer there
isn't an exact number of days.
Well, there is actually, Ithink it's 30 days.
By law, I think we're requiredto announce and put up our
agenda like what our plan is.
Obviously, it's a workingdocument that can change over
(16:03):
time and it usually does so.
Normally, when I get mydocument done two or three weeks
before the meeting, somebodywill catch something and then
it's either a non-issue or wehave to delay it till the next
meeting or something like that.
That has happened I think everysingle meeting I've ever
attended thus far.
But yeah, if you see somethingon there that you're like I
absolutely want to make publiccomment, you can do it in
(16:25):
advance.
If, for some reason, you can'tattend the meeting.
Or, again, you can attend inreal life.
It's a really pretty building,it's very cold, bring a jacket.
Or you can attend virtuallylike this.
We've been playing around withwhen exactly we have public
comment, but everybody getsthree minutes and what we've
been experimenting with ishaving public comment at the
(16:48):
beginning and at the end, justto try to make sure that if for
some reason, you didn't log inright when it started, but
there's something reallypressing that you want to share
with us, that we give you timeat the end.
Or maybe we said somethingsuper spicy and you're like I
don't look good in purple.
I'm not wearing purple pants.
We get to hear from you ratherat the end.
And then I also put our YouTubechannel on here Texas
(17:10):
Behavioral Health Exec U 505.
I don't know why it's that, butthat's what it is.
It's also very easy to search.
I don't know if you guys areall YouTube users, knowing the
limits continued.
The board can't make rules thatoverride state law, like I said,
and I mentioned the rule that Ifind particularly irksome.
But it also means that, forexample, lpcs are allowed to get
(17:34):
fully licensed within 18 monthsand MFTs it's 24 months, and I
never understood before I was onthe board why it was that way,
and it was explained to me onceI joined the board when I asked
annoying questions oh, that'sjust the way the law was written
, that's the way it is, and theboard can't really do anything
about that.
It is frustrating that thelegislator in Texas really only
(17:56):
meets every other year and sowhen there are sort of things
that we want to fix, repair, add, if we can't do it for some
reason because the statutedoesn't allow us to, then we are
relegated really to the oddnumber year, the first half, and
we have to have a legislatorthat kind of wants to write the
bill, take it up, fight for it.
(18:17):
And I don't know if anybody inhere is interested in the
counseling compact that wasactually put up for vote, or
well, I shouldn't say that itwasn't put up for vote.
There was some legislationwritten for it in 2023, but
other things took precedent.
So it's back up again and I'mgoing to share that here, coming
up soon and legislation thatwe're interested in.
(18:38):
But we're fighting for attention, like all of our bills are
fighting for attention, justlike, you know, a bill about
education or a bill about Idon't know water rights, and
sometimes you know, we justaren't always the sexiest topic
for a lot of legislators.
And also I learned this duringmy training I'm not really
(19:00):
allowed like I can go to as ahuman.
I can go to my representativesand say, hey, this bill or that
bill is really important to me,but I'm not allowed to campaign
for it Because I'm on the board.
It's considered a conflict ofinterest.
So what I am allowed to do istalk to you nice folks and tell
you guys, hey, help me out here,spread the word.
(19:20):
These are the bills that wouldmake everybody's life and day
better.
Okay, so, speaking of currentlegislation, senate Bill 51
would bring the number ofrequired supervision hours down
to 100, which is far morepossible in 24 months, meaning
somebody about once a week forsupervision.
House Bill 1537, which wouldallow Texas to join the
(19:41):
counseling compact, senate Bill2587 and House Bill 1597 would
both correct the statutoryproblems that staff has
encountered when accessingfederal criminal history
databases for LPC associates.
So I'm betting that everybodyin here at this point has had to
go through the fingerprintprocess at this point.
(20:03):
The staff has had some issues.
They can definitely look atwhat's going on in the state,
but they've run into some issuejust for the LPC board about
looking outside of the state,and so this would kind of help
plug that hole again that Imentioned earlier.
Right, the current law is justwritten in such a way that it's
fun.
So I know I brought this upearlier.
(20:24):
These are the bills that we'repretty on one about, if you will
.
I don't know where anybody livesin Texas.
I'm assuming you guys are inTexas, but maybe you're not.
If you are in Texas, there arewebsites where you can just go
in, plug in your address andfind out who your Texas
representatives are, and you cando what I did.
If you want to, you don't haveto.
(20:44):
If you have relationships withthem, by all means text your
buddy.
If you don't, they usually havecontact forms on their pages as
well and say hey, these are thebills that I'm interested in.
This is why I'm interested inthem.
You're my representative, andso I'm asking you to be
interested, invested as well.
Okay, if you guys want to stayin touch with me, I do have a
(21:07):
newsletter, so you can go to mywebsite, nicolemrichardsoncom
and sign up for my newsletterthere.
Also, I created an e-course forparents that don't know where
to start when it comes totalking to their kids about sex,
sexuality and all that jazz, soI built an e-course for it.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Nicole, there's a question here that says I
understand the staff cannotcomment on the rules, but who
has the ability to explain thestatutes and rules?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So I would probably leave the explanation of a
statute I would probably leaveto the attorney because I have a
big mouth the rules, we canexplain them.
They also have been doing a lotof leadership, like lunch and
learns.
They've been trying to do them,I think, once a quarter.
They love for you to bringquestions about rules and
(21:53):
statutes because actually ourexecutive director is there and
he is an attorney and he knowsthose rules backwards and
forwards, upside and down.
But if you have a questionabout how does something apply
for example, my dumb example, wewear green on Wednesdays, or
whatever If you don't understandwhat that means like is it a
certain shade?
What if it's aqua?
(22:13):
That is a great place to ask.
You can also submit anyquestions that you have into any
of those areas that I mentionedearlier.
You can call.
They may not give you an answer.
They might tell you hey, we'regoing to kick this up to the
board and have them answer.
But you could totally call, youcan totally submit an email and
we will answer it as best wecan.
(22:34):
Sometimes it is in the openmeeting so, again, attending, if
you can, is a great way to dothat, or watching the recording
back can be another great way todo that.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Hey, I have a question for you, nicole Hit me.
So I sat in on a lunch andlearn, probably around this time
last year, and they weretalking about the sunset review
and going through and they weretalking about how they're going.
They have to like grandfatherand redo the rollover of
clinical hours from gradprograms for LMFTs not
(23:04):
supervision, but the clinicalhours.
Can you explain Because I'msure somebody in here is going
to have an associate at somepoint that goes why can't I
bring my clinical hours overfrom grad school?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The short answer is the statute.
The longer answer is there aresome they can roll over.
And what I have been toldrepeatedly and this sounds like
a non-answer, but I promise youthis is what I have been told
repeatedly the staff does theirbest.
They, when they're give themeverything right, say like okay,
(23:37):
in my practicum I had this manydirect, this many marriage and
family or, if you're an LPC,this many direct, this many
supervision.
Give them all the data you haveand they will do their best to
find a way to give you as muchcredit as they can.
I again, I talked about this alittle bit earlier but the board
kind of before and after BHEC,the board I felt like the staff
(24:02):
before was kind of I don't wantto say anything too spicy, maybe
a little less friendly, and nowit definitely feels like
they're looking for ways to helpus out.
They're looking for ways.
There's been a big initiativeto especially because of the
findings after this reallyterrible event when we found out
that, like how access to mentalhealth treatment is such a
(24:24):
problem, there really is a bigpush to get as many clinicians
as we can, and so they aren'tlooking for a gotcha moment,
they aren't looking for ways toexclude.
It's the opposite.
They're looking for ways to getyou in.
They're looking for ways togive you an opportunity.
So just submit everything is myI hate to use the word advice,
(24:45):
but that would be myrecommendation Submit it all.
Give them all the data, whichmeans you've got to keep all the
data.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Have all the data.
I can speak to that from theLPC board standpoint that it
used to be that you could carryover 400 hours, standpoint that
it used to be that you couldcarry over 400 hours.
And they took that away.
And I sat in on the meetingwhere the discussion was about
that and they were saying thatpeople were doing just kind of
ridiculous things to get hoursin and that they weren't quality
(25:12):
hours.
They were getting qualitysupervision with it.
And we argued that if you're ina cake rep accredited program,
your program requires you tohave 700 hours and so that's 400
above what you need and withinthose 700 hours you have an hour
(25:33):
of individual supervision andan hour and a half of group
every week.
So you have two and a halfhours or two and a half times
the required supervision.
And they basically just said wecan't make exceptions for
accredited programs.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
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Speaker 3 (26:46):
All right back to the show.
I have a question for you aboutwhen BHEC first was started and
everything was just getting offthe ground, One of the things
that they said that they weregoing to do was look for parity
in the professions.
So, like you, guys have to have100 hours of supervision, or
it's 200 hours of supervision,no less than 24 hours.
(27:08):
Lpcs have to have four hours amonth until you hit your hours
in no less than 18 months, andso if you just do the math on
that, lpc could be licensed with72 hours of supervision and an
LMFT currently requires 200.
But they can carry over somefrom grad school, lpcs can't.
(27:32):
So do you have any informationon where they might be in that
and looking at where is itappropriate to have parity and
where is it not?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Oh, we are looking, but again it kind of goes back
to statute and the way the lawwas written doesn't allow us to
change the supervisionrequirements as much as we'd
love to, which is why we'retrying to find ways to make it
easier.
We're supporting legislationthat creates that parity.
Also, where we can and this isusually part of our document
(28:07):
dump, at least once a quarter,we're looking at ways in which
we are not just with the otherBHEC boards in line, but we're
also looking at how we're inline or not with other states.
So whether that's renewal fees,continuing at the number of
continuing and you have to haveper year, or you know, because
(28:27):
in some states you renewannually and some states you
renew I think there was onestate you renew every 10 years
or something wild like that.
So kind of looking at likewhere, not just where we fit
with the other boards our sisterboards, if you will but also
where we fit with other boardsand other states.
So we are looking to I don'twant to say parity necessarily,
(28:49):
but we're looking to see wherewe fit.
Are we exhausting people withtoo many continuing ed?
Do we have not enoughcontinuing ed?
We look at that regularly aswell.
It's very interesting.
We look at that regularly aswell.
It's very interesting.
In Alaska the NFT renewal ratesare something like fourteen
hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Holy moly.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
The next time you get upset about writing that check.
Well, I guess it's not a checkanymore.
Right, it's something you payonline.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
But next, time you get upset about putting in your
card information, remember atleast I'm not in Alaska.
However, if you do live inAlaska, if you've lived there
for two years, every residentgets a check from the state
every year for oil and gas money.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I lived there for three years.
That's a true statement.
Yes, it varies, but it helpsoffset the cost of living.
Oh wow, yeah, you don't getthat in hawaii, just putting
that out there.
Hawaii is also expensive tolive in.
They don't give you oil moneyyou know they have regular
sunrise and sunset hours, not awinter, a dark winter and the
(29:52):
summer when the sun is down forfour hours yep, well, look, I
mean the summer is weird andwinter is weird, but you, you
know if you like winter sports,which I don't, but if you do,
then it's a great place.
It's a good option.
Very cold.
I know how to build andproperly use an igloo, if
anybody's interested.
Skills you never thought you'dacquire that I do not use here
(30:13):
at all.
And, fun fact, the outdoorsurvival is part of the public
school curriculum there.
It's because it's necessary.
If any of you read Hatchet as akid, yeah, that's real life in
Alaska.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
It's a thing, I do have a question.
You were talking about thatcourse you created.
Is that specifically forparents or is it geared towards
therapists who are helpingparents?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It's geared toward caregivers.
I said parents, but it's gearedtoward primary caregivers and
not for therapists, because Ikind of set it up such that when
I was working with a lot of CPSclients this is where I got the
idea I found that a lot of themhad a lot of as I'm sure you
guys can imagine a lot of sexualtrauma themselves, and nobody
had ever really given them thetalk, and so a lot of them were
(31:00):
just kind of avoiding theconversation with their kids.
And so when I was looking forresources to give these parents,
I found a lot of like condoms,condoms, condoms, the pill and
wait until you're married.
And those are both interestingconversations, but neither one
is complete and neither one isnecessarily reflective of every
(31:20):
single parent or caregiver.
And so in the course, what Ihave the caregiver do is kind of
do a deep dive on what theirown values are and what they
want their kids to know abouttheir body, about relationships,
about sexuality and when forthem.
And this should be somethingthat every parent gets to decide
what they tell their kid as aparent do you want it to be when
(31:41):
they marry, or do you want itto be when they're 18, in a
relationship where they'rerespected and valued and treated
well.
Once you figure out what thosevalues are, then how do you
communicate them in an ageappropriate way?
So it's really not fortherapists Although, yeah, if
you guys want to take it, I'mtotally open to that and getting
feedback from it but it reallyis meant for caregivers.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Awesome.
I imagine it was veryinteresting working with CPS.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That is a good word, interesting is a good word.
I assume that I'm not the onlyperson in here that did.
My experience was that CPS hastwo kinds of caseworkers.
They have really dedicated,loving two kinds of caseworkers.
They have really dedicated,loving, caring people that work
way too much and they're reallyoverwhelmed and they do their
best with not enough.
(32:28):
And then there are these peopleon a power trip who almost find
it entertaining to takefamilies and rip them to shreds,
and that part always broke myheart.
So I don't miss that work.
It was important and I learneda lot and I never, ever, want to
do it again.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
It's a good experience.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Just like building an igloo.
Yes, not all.
Unlike that.
I hate being cold and I hatedthat too.
It's faster to build an igloo,though I'll tell you that I
believe that.
Do all the stupid CPS paperwork.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
So we talk about the counseling compact.
I know from like the LPC side.
Can you explain, Cause I didn'tknow the counseling compact
would also apply to LMFTs?
I didn't either.
It doesn't.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Okay, that's what I thought it doesn't, but just
because it doesn't directlyimpact the MFT, so just as be
heck, we're in support of that.
There was some talk when Iinitially joined the board about
something akin to thecounseling compact that's for
marriage and family therapists,and I was like, why aren't we
doing this?
Like a volunteer's tribute,like yes, let's do that.
(33:37):
And the long and the short ofit is that it costs millions of
dollars.
And so when somebody kind ofexplained it to me step by step
why we're not doing it, we don'thave that kind of money to set
it up, to create a database, tohave a group that comes together
and says, all right, these arethe standards and this is how
(33:57):
we're going to decide a statecan come in or not, this is how
a clinician is or is not incompliance with us.
Like that's a whole deal and itcosts money, not just to set it
up.
There's a lot of initial costsassociated with that, but
there's also costs associatedwith maintaining it.
And I think we were told wecould join if we had a like two
(34:20):
million dollars lying around,which I didn't, so I shut up.
That is a good way to get me tobe quiet, as if you ask me for
a lot of money, I don't have itjust sit down.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
So I know that the lpcs are going to an online
continuing ad database wherewe're going to have to upload.
Is that for everybody in BHEC?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's for everybody in BHEC.
It's called CE Broker.
So we have gotten a lot ofquestions about this and I think
there's going to be morequestions to come.
So we've moved to an onlinesystem where we kind of do
everything now.
Right, you renew online, you doeverything online now.
This obviously wasn't the caseback in my day.
(35:04):
You had to do everything bypaper and you had to have two
copies the original that yousent to the board and the copy
that you're saving for yourselfin case the board said they
didn't get something when youwere like, I know it was in the
packet because I put it in thereand I have a copy of it.
So we're moving to somethingcalled CE Broker.
Other states have done this,including, but not limited to,
florida and, I think, new York,and there's a handful of other
states, and so, basically, myunderstanding and I don't know
(35:30):
exactly how it's going to workon the user side of it, but my
understanding is so please don'tget mad at me if I'm wrong when
you log in to Renew, when itasks you if you have completed
all of your continuing education, you're going to go into this
portal through CE broker.
That's just the company that'srunning it because there's a lot
of infrastructure and memoryand data and all that stuff
costs money and we don't havethe unlimited funds for that.
(35:54):
So you go in through thisbroker and you upload.
You can just scan.
So let's pretend this is thecertificate for today's deal,
right?
You can just scan it into yourcomputer and upload it.
Or, if you have it alreadydownloaded, you can upload it
into the portal and CE brokerand they help you make sure that
you're in compliance.
(36:15):
So I need three hours of this,six hours of that.
I know that's all super fun tokeep track of.
I've got my jurisprudence here.
I've got this, I've got thatFor MFTs, we're supposed to have
three hours of basically how tonot be naughty on the computer.
And there's a we have a betterword for it, but that my brain
is freezing and so CE Brokerwill help you categorize all of
(36:36):
it to make sure you have notjust all your hours but all of
the right hours in the rightbuckets.
So if you're a supervisor,obviously you need those hours,
and if you don't have them forsome reason and this is where CE
Broker is able to offer this tous for free If you don't have
them CE Broker can go.
Hey, by the way, we've got someover here and you can just buy
(36:57):
it here.
You can buy them wherever youwant CE Broker.
You don't have to get themthrough CE Broker.
You can get all of yourcontinuing in through Kate
Walker for the rest of your life.
But you can also get themthrough CE Broker and they're
going to be sort of like levels.
Again, everybody's going to haveaccess to it for free, but
they're going to have like aconcierge level where you
basically just give them a bunchof money and they go.
(37:19):
Here are all the courses thatyou need to take and then you
can just sort of not have tomake another decision.
Not that any of us are tired ofmaking decisions, but yes,
everybody in BHEC will have touse CE Broker.
We're going to roll it out inSeptember and you'll be able to
set up your account in September, so you don't have to wait till
the last minute If you're aplanner and an organizer, right,
(37:40):
and I would honestly recommendgetting in there, playing with
it and then kind of seeing howit works, so that you can tell
your supervisees what to expect.
That's probably what I'm gonnado, did.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I answer your question.
Yes, yes, you did Not this lasttime that I renewed, but the
time before that I have a ton.
Half of my practice issupervision.
I normally have anywhere from12 to 20 supervisees.
Two of my supervisees are hereas a part of their supervision.
Tonight.
We were already scheduled forsupervision when Kate asked me
(38:13):
to do this and I said can I makemy supervisees come for
supervision?
And so a couple of them arehere, but I had gone online.
I got my little card said renew.
I went online, I renewed mylicense and I renewed at the end
of January and it was like thefirst week of February.
I was like I don't remembergetting my license.
(38:34):
I was like I don't remembergetting my license.
And so I went into the systemand checked and it said that I
was delinquent or expired Ican't remember which one comes
first and I was like what theheck?
I don't remember getting mylicense.
What's going on?
So I called them and they saidyou were selected for audit.
And I went oh no, I was not.
(38:56):
You know how am I supposed toknow I was selected for audit?
And they said well, it was onthe card.
And I'm like there's no way.
There's no way.
That was on there.
Luckily, I had saved the littlething I got and I went and not
only was it at the top of it, itwas at the bottom of it as well
.
But because I knew I was goingto renew online, I didn't even
(39:19):
look at it, I just went onlineand renewed.
And so then I was like dude,I've got all these supervisees,
you have to help me.
And so he just said here, getall your stuff together real
quickly.
But my stuff was all overeverywhere.
Before that, I had some stuffthat was electronic.
I had some stuff that was in afile, and so I quickly created a
spreadsheet and started, and Iknew I had some stuff that was
electronic.
I had some stuff that was in afile, and so I quickly created a
spreadsheet and started, and Iknew I had enough.
(39:39):
I always have way more thanwhat I need, and so I hadn't
really paid that much attentionto it because I knew I had what
I needed.
And so the staff member wasgreat.
He said just email all this tome and I'll take care of it.
And so I had to quickly tell mysupervisees my license is
expired, but we're taking careof it.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
So I'm excited about this.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
CE broker thing.
I think it will be great thatyou know you'll have everything
there organized together.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I've gotten much, much better after that
experience.
I am much better about keepingtrack of them half an hour,
scanning, uploading, scanning,uploading.
And it got to the point wherethere was no more memory and I
was afraid.
I said, you know, I remember it, just like you, I had more than
I needed, I had more than theminimum, but I had attested to
like, oh, I had, let's just callit, 80 hours.
I have 80 hours and so Ithought I was going to be in
(40:49):
trouble if I didn't prove 80hours.
But it was only letting mesubmit like 60.
And I'm like, well, whathappened?
So I'm emailing themfrantically, I'm like it won't
let me.
They're like it's fine, we'regood, Like well, I'm now, you're
done.
But that's another reason thatwe're moving to a system like CE
broker.
They can only audit somethinglike five to 10% of our
(41:12):
continuing ed, and that wassomething that not the sunset
commission it was a differentsort of study found that it was
like not cool that we, as theboard, we weren't more aware and
I don't mean me, the board, Imean the staff board weren't
more aware of if people were incompliance with this particular
rule and we didn't have a lot ofgreat ways to figure that out,
(41:35):
other than an audit where you'rehaving to you know frantically
at the last minute to make surethat you don't get in, get a big
naughty submit, submit, submit,submit or email it all in.
And so CE broker is how we'resolving that.
This way no one can renew whenthey're not compliant, at least
with this thing.
Right, it doesn't prevent youfrom doing other naughty things,
(41:55):
but we're hoping.
The idea is that if you'regoing to trainings and you're
doing everything else in earnest, that you're probably not
sending nudes to your clientsand doing other very silly
things.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
I applied for my license in Colorado.
I had an associate that movedto Colorado and you can use your
Colorado hours to get yourTexas license and vice versa.
But she had to have asupervisor who either a
supervisor in both places or asupervisor who was licensed in
both.
I agreed to get my Coloradolicense so that I could keep
(42:28):
supervising her.
I wouldn't do that for justanybody.
And Alex and Colleen, it's notthat I don't love you she was in
a group of students that I hadpromised.
I was a professor at SFA and Ihad promised them that I would
not retire until they graduated.
And things just got to thepoint that I had to go, and so I
left a year before theygraduated, and I mean I would
(42:54):
have sold my first child forthem because I felt so guilty
that I broke a promise.
So when she said you getlicensed in Colorado, it was
like for you, sarah, I will getlicensed in Colorado.
But when I got it, first of allyou only have to have six hours
of supervision training to be asupervisor, and so I was like,
okay, well, yeah, I've got 40plus more.
(43:16):
So then you just attest that,yeah, I have that training.
And so yeah, it was pinkypromise here.
And then I reached out and said, so, will I get a certificate?
I mean, what am I gonna get?
And they were like, oh, no.
The next time I said where do Ihave to upload, where do I have
to prove this?
And she said no.
The next time you were new,just tell us, you took the
(43:38):
training, okay then apply tocolorado in texas.
So this is applying for colorado.
Real quick, I'm going to tellyou, their jurisprudence test
was hard and part of it isbecause their rules are not like
Texas where everything is laidout.
The rules are like three orfour pages long and it'll say
(44:01):
here's the rule about this.
Go look at this law over here.
Here's the rule about this.
So we have to do Texas FamilyCode, but a lot of that is also
spelled out in hours.
I mean, you had to do such adeep dive into different codes
to find out what the rules wereand it's not a no fail test like
Texas.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
OK, I do have one more question before you end.
So there was a new LMFT ruleadopted in March.
It's 801.115.
So it's talking aboutapplicants who are currently
licensed in another jurisdiction.
So it's talking aboutapplicants who are currently
licensed in another jurisdiction.
So it says, like, if they have3000 hours of work experience
and 1500 hours of directclinical services and the 200
(44:43):
all that, what happens if theydon't?
Speaker 1 (44:45):
OK, so I think you're talking about the.
Is it the temporary licenserule?
Speaker 4 (44:49):
says applicants currently licensed as an LMFT in
another jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
And that's all it says.
And then there's three littlepoints and then it moves on to
something else.
So what if you don't?
Again, because we are focusedon shoring up the fact that we
don't have enough.
There are people in Texas thatneed mental health treatment
that aren't getting served.
We are looking for ways thestaff is looking for ways to get
people licensed, so if theydon't meet all the requirements,
they will make a recommendation.
(45:23):
They might say something likehey, you don't meet all of our
requirements, but if you do thisthing or if you take this
training, we will count that andthen that'll fill the gap.
They are looking for ways toinclude, not exclude.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
Make sense.
Yeah, they are looking for waysto include, not exclude.
Makes sense.
Yes, because that's somethingthat people are going to ask,
you know, especially if MFTscan't become part of any sort of
counseling compact.
Well then, people are going towant to apply to Texas, and I
know like Utah requires 4000hours for LPCs and if you come
in from a state that doesn'trequire 4000 hours, they'll
require you to get thoseadditional hours.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
So yeah, there's.
It's a good question.
There was another rule and Ithink it's just worth noting.
There's another rule that werolled out about temporary
licenses.
So let's say you're licensed inUtah and you don't want to be
fully licensed in Texas.
There is a new rule now wherepeople can be temporarily
licensed in Texas and I wannasay it allows someone to
(46:17):
practice one calendar year up to30 sessions and the idea is,
say somebody's moving from Utahto Texas and they've been in
therapy with you for a very longtime and I don't know about you
, but I find moving ratherstressful and that doesn't mean
that I don't need support inthat time and it certainly
(46:38):
doesn't mean I have thebandwidth to make yet another
choice right and find yetanother provider or like it's
super easy to find a provider.
So the idea is that temporarylicense helps that Utah person
not be breaking Texas law bytreating that client while
they're here.
But it is meant to be a bridge,not a permanent solution.
(46:59):
Perfect, Thank you.
This is awesome.
Thank you, it was nice meetingeverybody.
Thank you very much for havingme.
I appreciate your time Awesome.
Thank y'all.
Have a good night, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Thanks for listening.
If today's episode got youfired up to finally build the
private practice you've beendreaming about, don't miss the
Smart Practice Sprint.
It's happening virtually so youcan join from anywhere.
Starting June 2nd, we'll spendfour days getting your messaging
clear, your HIPAA compliancedialed in and your client
(47:37):
calendar moving from crickets tobooked Head to
katewalkertrainingcom.
Slash bonus to register,remember, night one is
completely free.
And here's the exciting partI'll be taking this sprint on
the road in Texas.
Soon I'm going to be coming toDFW, austin, houston, el Paso.
(47:58):
So wherever you are, I'll becoming to a city near you.
Can't wait to see you insidethe Sprint and maybe shake your
hand in person real soon.
I'm Dr Kate Walker.
Thank you so much for listening.
(48:19):
Thank you to the lovely RidgelyWalker for the interesting
facts about me that we've usedin our introduction and do me a
favor when you get a second,please like, share and subscribe
and write us a review.
That's really how we get pickedup by other RSS feeds and we
get this information out to themental health badasses who need
(48:40):
it.
Thanks again, and keep savingthe world with excellent therapy
.
You.
There are people in Texas that need mental health
treatment that aren't gettingserved.
We are looking for ways thestaff is looking for ways to get
people licensed, so if theydon't meet all the requirements
they will make a recommendation.
They might say something likehey, you don't meet all of our
(00:20):
requirements, but if you do thisthing or if you take this
training, we will count that andthen that'll fill the gap.
They are looking for ways toinclude, not exclude.
Welcome to Badass Therapistsbuilding practices that thrive
(00:41):
where it's all about workingsmarter, not harder.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Now here's your host, Dr Kate Walker, who is really
starting to like vacationing inthe desert.
You're going to love thisconversation with Nicole
Richardson, an LMFT board member, who pulls back the curtain on
how licensing boards actuallywork and what you need to know
if you're a supervisor orbusiness owner.
(01:05):
This is exactly the kind ofclarity we'll be creating inside
the Smart Practice Sprint afour-day experience to help you
get your business in order andyour messaging on point.
The first day is free and Iwill drop more info during the
mid-roll.
Let's get to work.
Let's get to work.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
She's been in private practice since 2012.
Before that, she worked inagencies that served people in
recovery, people recentlyreleased from incarceration and
parents involved with CPS, soshe had all the easy clients.
She is certified in EMDRGottman 3.
She is certified in EMDRGottman 3.
She's a dual supervisor, so sheholds LPC and LMFT credentials
(01:49):
and loves a perfectionist inrecovery.
While she's fully telehealth,she's based in Austin, where she
has lived since 2007.
So, nicole, I'm going to handit over to you.
Welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Thank you, hi.
So this is kind of I'mnerve-sided, as one of my
clients likes to say.
I'm nervous and excited at thesame time.
One of the reasons that Ibothered Kate about doing this
is because, since the Texaslegislature only meets every
other year and this is alegislative session season, I
wanted to tell as many people asI could about the legislation
(02:24):
that we are supporting, and wewould love for you to support it
with us and why.
And since Kate gave me so muchtime, I also thought it might be
a good time, since a lot of uswho are supervisors got into the
game, so to speak, before BHECwas a thing and before the
Sunset Commission and all thatjazz.
And because in my interview tojoin the board, they asked me
(02:46):
why I wanted to do it and I waslike I have always wanted to
meet the wizard of Oz.
What are you talking about?
Peel back the curtain, show meeverything.
I figured I couldn't be theonly person that was like oh,
you do it like that.
Oh, I had no idea.
So I thought if I kind ofshared some of it with you guys
Some stuff I'm assuming you guyswill already know and some of
it might be new information inaddition to the legislation.
(03:08):
And then maybe, if you guyshave questions, I may or may not
know the answer, but I'll tryto answer them, okay.
So thank you so much, leanne,for introducing me.
I won't just repeat everythingshe just said.
So I'm hoping at the end of mypresentation everybody will be
able to confidently answer likewho is the board, what is the
board, what do they do, what arethe limits?
I'm also hoping that you guyswill be able to easily find out
(03:30):
for yourselves what the board isup to.
Recently, on one of thelistservs that I'm on, somebody
posted like how in the heck arewe supposed to keep up with all
this stuff?
And I feel like a televangelist.
I'm like we can go here and wecan go here and you can email
this or you can read this, andso I'm hoping that by the end of
my presentation you guys willfeel a little bit more
comfortable being able to accessthe information for yourselves
(03:53):
and then for whatever listservsand groups that you're in as
well.
Okay, so first, what is theboard?
I'm gonna assume I'm gonna goon a wild leap here and assume
that most, if not all, of ushave a driver's license.
Well, in order for anybody tohave a driver's license, the
state that you have thatdriver's license in there has to
be a law that makes thatlicense possible.
And that's true for ourprofessional licenses as well.
(04:14):
There is a law for MFTs,there's a law for LPCs, there's
a law for LCSWs that make that athing.
And so when those laws werewritten and we usually, in the
jargon of the board, call it thestatute and that's definitely
what our attorneys like to callit, and so that's never
confusing when you're new thestatute or the law kind of sets
(04:34):
up some of the parameters ofwhat we can and cannot do.
But it also means that there'sa staff, there's money, there's
a budget and then who's going tolead it?
So the board right.
All of that stuff is possiblebecause there's a law, as I kind
of briefly mentioned earlierand I like to call them.
In the dark days when I wasgetting licensed, long before
(04:57):
the Sunset Commission, I oftenheard a lot of chatter about
clinicians feeling like theboard was out to get them.
And the Sunset Commission cameabout not really to support us
as clinicians but really tofigure out why there were some
gaps in what kinds of serviceswere available to people and the
(05:18):
kinds of experiences thatclients were having.
And in that they also foundthat a lot of clinicians didn't
feel like they were beingtreated well.
They also found that a lot ofclinicians didn't feel like they
were being treated well.
They also found that the boardwas being run really inefficient
all of the boards.
And so that's where the TexasBehavioral Health Executive
Council came from,affectionately known, which I
will be referring toaffectionately as BHEC from now
(05:39):
on.
That's how BHEC came to be.
They consolidated all of themental health boards.
So psychologists, lcsws, lpcs,mfts were all kind of under the
umbrella now of BHEC.
So a little bit about BHEC.
Because they were able toconsolidate, it meant that they
were able to streamline a lot ofthings.
(06:00):
So now all of theadministrative staff is all in
one place instead of ondifferent campuses and different
offices.
It also means that they canshare staff so they don't need
four separate people to answerthe phone, for example.
Or well, I'm sure there'sactually more than four people
that answer the phone, but infour separate places running
(06:21):
four different.
It's all kind of filteredthrough one office and there are
specialists.
So there's a team of peoplethat do everything.
There's a team of investigatorsand within the investigators
there are investigators thatkind of specialize.
Usually it's in two boards andthey just know those rules
backwards and forwards With theapplications to either get a
(06:41):
provisional license or toupgrade your license.
There's a team of people andagain, they usually specialize
in one or two, and that is whatthey do all day.
We have a team of attorneys andthey do a host of things,
including attending all of ourmeetings and telling us when
we're not allowed to do thatbecause that's not allowed in
statute.
Also, like helping us refineour language, because sometimes
(07:02):
I just kind of say, well, that'sdumb, and the attorneys will
remind me you can't put that ina rule.
That's dumb, is not a good rule, because we're all under one
umbrella.
It also meant that we could moreeasily streamline the rules.
I don't know if anybody else inhere is duly licensed, but
having so many different,competing and conflicting rules
(07:24):
is exhausting, and so being ableto streamline them make them,
frankly, just more user friendly, right, it also means that we
can kind of better understandwhat the other boards are up to.
We talk to each other, so I'mgoing to talk about this more a
little bit later, but basicallythere's sort of a tier system
right within the boardsthemselves.
(07:45):
There's a board for LPCs, mfts,etc.
And there's two members fromeach of those board that all sit
on the BHEC executive board,and so we all really do have to
work together to be goodpartners with one another.
That does mean, too, thatthere's a lot more communication
than there used to be beforeBHEC.
Okay, so the staff versus theboard.
(08:06):
So the staff is everybody thatworks in the office, from the
you know receptionist to theexecutive director and, like I
mentioned before, they do avariety of different things they
answer phones, they answeremails, they process
applications, they investigateclaims of misconduct and
naughtiness.
That is the paid staff.
(08:27):
And then the board is actuallythe nine people that are a mix
of clinicians and communitymembers, and a lot of times I
get asked why there arenon-clinicians on any of the
boards, and I think that's atotally fair question.
But I think the shortest andsimplest answers is probably a
(08:47):
variety of reasons.
Is we want people from thecommunity to be the everyday
person, the layman's voice onthe board.
So if we propose a rule, rightas a clinician, if I propose a
rule that on Thursdays we wearpink and we have to do that
right.
Ideally, our community membersare kind of in the meeting going
.
Well, how does that help me, asa human right, get better
(09:09):
counseling or how does thatincrease my access or anything
like that?
The idea is, havingnon-clinician voices on all of
these boards helps us think moreglobally.
We typically meet quarterly andI'm going to talk a little bit
about how to find.
They set these dates like 18 to24 months out.
(09:29):
So it's already posted on thewebsite for many, many moons to
come and as it gets closer theywill post things like how to
attend the meeting.
You can attend almost all ofthem in person.
Now that COVID's over and we'veopened things back up, we are
almost exclusively meeting inperson.
Now you can also attend viaZoom and if neither one of those
(09:49):
work because a lot of timesit's on a Friday we also record
all of them and we have aYouTube channel that they get
posted to so you can watch itkind of at your leisure and also
you can fast forward to theboring or parts or only watch
the ports that you're interestedin.
Ok, so I mentioned earlier sortof the difference between
(10:11):
statutes and rules, so again,I'm just going to keep using
this because it feels like aneasy, silly rule.
But the board could.
In theory we wouldn't, but intheory we could make a rule that
says all clinicians, to keeptheir license, must wear purple
pants on Thursdays.
If you're going to see a client, you must be doing it in purple
pants.
We can only make that rule ifthe statute allows us to make
(10:34):
that rule.
So there might be a clause inthat law or that statute that
says that the board may not makerules that have anything to do
with clothing.
It doesn't say anything likethat because that's just a silly
thing, but they sometimes weare pigeonholed by the statute
(10:56):
and a really easy example ofthis for me a lot of people and
I can't see everybody, but a lotof people are annoyed by the
fact that NFT associates have tohave 200 hours of supervision
in order to get their license.
This is a problem.
Well, why haven't we changedthat rule?
I'm so glad you guys asked.
(11:18):
It's because it's in thestatute and we can't, and I'm
going to talk more about thatshortly.
But basically, the way the lawwas written is minimum of 24
months and 200 hours ofsupervision.
So the best we can do is try tocome up with ways to creatively
allow people to not have to bein supervision two hours a week,
over supervision hours fromyour internship and graduate
(11:47):
school.
That's one way.
Being able to have twosupervisors is one way.
Trust me, the board staff isaware that it is not awesome and
it's not really something youcould just do once a week and
get it done in 24 hours.
They are aware of that.
So the other thing I think it'sreally important to know I feel
like sometimes I don't knowabout you guys, but a lot of
times when I'm submitting, Idefinitely felt this way prior
(12:10):
to BHEC I would call and leave amessage and never hear back, or
I'd email somebody and neverhear back, and so sometimes it
can feel like when you'reemailing a website or filling
out a contact form, that you'rekind of speaking into the void
and it stings these crosses Ifanybody gets back to you.
There are times when the staffcan answer your question.
(12:30):
For example, if you emailedthem and said I can't log into
my online portal, that istotally something they can help
you with, right.
There are some things that aregray areas that they're going to
be like, I don't know.
But if you emailed them andsaid, for example, hey, the
board made a rule last year thatyou have to wear purple pants
(12:51):
on Thursdays, I think this is astupid rule.
The staff is not really allowedto comment on that.
They're going to like as ahuman, that person who sees the
email might go I know right, butthey didn't make the rule.
They have no power over therule and so all they can really
do is pass that information onto us.
And when I tell you that everysingle one gets read, it does.
(13:15):
And what happens is we get a bigdocument dump two or three
weeks before our big quarterlymeetings.
And when I say it's a bigdocument dump, I'm not kidding.
It's a huge document dump andthere's usually a spreadsheet in
that document dump.
There's usually a spreadsheetof hey, this is.
You know, we got a call on thisday from this person and they
voiced concerns about this.
(13:35):
We got an email on this dayfrom this person and they
recommended that.
So also, if there's a, ifthere's a rule that you want to
recommend, maybe you don't lookgood in purple and so you don't
think it should be a rule thatsays, on Thursdays we wear
purple.
Maybe you think it should begreen.
Right, that will get to us.
It's not going to get to usright away because we're
volunteers.
(13:56):
I get to do this in my free time, so they don't call me every
day.
I'm grateful for that.
As much as that, like everybodyI've met in the office, is
super nice, but I don't call meevery day.
I'm grateful for that as muchas, like everybody I've met in
the office is super nice, but Idon't have time to deal with it
every day.
So I am grateful that theyconsolidate it into a
spreadsheet that I get once aquarter.
I am happy about that.
So I do understand thefrustration, especially when
(14:18):
you're feeling like, hey, thisis something that feels urgent,
it feels like a big, importantthing.
I completely understand and I'msure if it was a concern that I
had that I'd be feeling theexact same way.
That said, again, the staffcan't do anything about it.
They can't and they'reencouraged to comment as little
as possible and just kind offorward that information on to
(14:40):
us, and we might not get it fora couple of months, depending on
when you contact the board.
So how do you contact the board?
There's a contact form page.
You guys got a PDF with allthis stuff so hopefully you guys
can refer.
If you don't have it, you'regetting it.
You can reference this later.
But there is a contact formpage.
There isn't an email address,but that's just so that it just
doesn't go to one person's email.
(15:01):
It kind of goes to a queuewhere multiple staff members can
handle it.
So if somebody's on maternityleave or on vacation or their
computer blew up, there'ssomebody else that can get to it
.
So that's one way.
Also, anytime we do I don't wantto say anything, but anytime we
do just about anything whenwe're having meetings, there's a
(15:21):
place where you can submitpublic comment.
So maybe we don't have a ruleabout what we wear on Thursdays
yet and you think there shouldbe one.
When we're having a meeting andyou see that it's up, please
submit for public comment.
Hey, we should all have to weargreen on Thursdays.
Great, you can call that's.
I don't know, it's 2025.
(15:42):
I know people don't love usingtheir phones, but that is
totally an option and I've gotthe phone number in here.
As far as the meetings go, likeI said, as it gets closer there
isn't an exact number of days.
Well, there is actually, Ithink it's 30 days.
By law, I think we're requiredto announce and put up our
agenda like what our plan is.
Obviously, it's a workingdocument that can change over
(16:03):
time and it usually does so.
Normally, when I get mydocument done two or three weeks
before the meeting, somebodywill catch something and then
it's either a non-issue or wehave to delay it till the next
meeting or something like that.
That has happened I think everysingle meeting I've ever
attended thus far.
But yeah, if you see somethingon there that you're like I
absolutely want to make publiccomment, you can do it in
(16:25):
advance.
If, for some reason, you can'tattend the meeting.
Or, again, you can attend inreal life.
It's a really pretty building,it's very cold, bring a jacket.
Or you can attend virtuallylike this.
We've been playing around withwhen exactly we have public
comment, but everybody getsthree minutes and what we've
been experimenting with ishaving public comment at the
(16:48):
beginning and at the end, justto try to make sure that if for
some reason, you didn't log inright when it started, but
there's something reallypressing that you want to share
with us, that we give you timeat the end.
Or maybe we said somethingsuper spicy and you're like I
don't look good in purple.
I'm not wearing purple pants.
We get to hear from you ratherat the end.
And then I also put our YouTubechannel on here Texas
(17:10):
Behavioral Health Exec U 505.
I don't know why it's that, butthat's what it is.
It's also very easy to search.
I don't know if you guys areall YouTube users, knowing the
limits continued.
The board can't make rules thatoverride state law, like I said,
and I mentioned the rule that Ifind particularly irksome.
But it also means that, forexample, lpcs are allowed to get
(17:34):
fully licensed within 18 monthsand MFTs it's 24 months, and I
never understood before I was onthe board why it was that way,
and it was explained to me onceI joined the board when I asked
annoying questions oh, that'sjust the way the law was written
, that's the way it is, and theboard can't really do anything
about that.
It is frustrating that thelegislator in Texas really only
(17:56):
meets every other year and sowhen there are sort of things
that we want to fix, repair, add, if we can't do it for some
reason because the statutedoesn't allow us to, then we are
relegated really to the oddnumber year, the first half, and
we have to have a legislatorthat kind of wants to write the
bill, take it up, fight for it.
(18:17):
And I don't know if anybody inhere is interested in the
counseling compact that wasactually put up for vote, or
well, I shouldn't say that itwasn't put up for vote.
There was some legislationwritten for it in 2023, but
other things took precedent.
So it's back up again and I'mgoing to share that here, coming
up soon and legislation thatwe're interested in.
(18:38):
But we're fighting for attention, like all of our bills are
fighting for attention, justlike, you know, a bill about
education or a bill about Idon't know water rights, and
sometimes you know, we justaren't always the sexiest topic
for a lot of legislators.
And also I learned this duringmy training I'm not really
(19:00):
allowed like I can go to as ahuman.
I can go to my representativesand say, hey, this bill or that
bill is really important to me,but I'm not allowed to campaign
for it Because I'm on the board.
It's considered a conflict ofinterest.
So what I am allowed to do istalk to you nice folks and tell
you guys, hey, help me out here,spread the word.
(19:20):
These are the bills that wouldmake everybody's life and day
better.
Okay, so, speaking of currentlegislation, senate Bill 51
would bring the number ofrequired supervision hours down
to 100, which is far morepossible in 24 months, meaning
somebody about once a week forsupervision.
House Bill 1537, which wouldallow Texas to join the
(19:41):
counseling compact, senate Bill2587 and House Bill 1597 would
both correct the statutoryproblems that staff has
encountered when accessingfederal criminal history
databases for LPC associates.
So I'm betting that everybodyin here at this point has had to
go through the fingerprintprocess at this point.
(20:03):
The staff has had some issues.
They can definitely look atwhat's going on in the state,
but they've run into some issuejust for the LPC board about
looking outside of the state,and so this would kind of help
plug that hole again that Imentioned earlier.
Right, the current law is justwritten in such a way that it's
fun.
So I know I brought this upearlier.
(20:24):
These are the bills that we'repretty on one about, if you will
.
I don't know where anybody livesin Texas.
I'm assuming you guys are inTexas, but maybe you're not.
If you are in Texas, there arewebsites where you can just go
in, plug in your address andfind out who your Texas
representatives are, and you cando what I did.
If you want to, you don't haveto.
(20:44):
If you have relationships withthem, by all means text your
buddy.
If you don't, they usually havecontact forms on their pages as
well and say hey, these are thebills that I'm interested in.
This is why I'm interested inthem.
You're my representative, andso I'm asking you to be
interested, invested as well.
Okay, if you guys want to stayin touch with me, I do have a
(21:07):
newsletter, so you can go to mywebsite, nicolemrichardsoncom
and sign up for my newsletterthere.
Also, I created an e-course forparents that don't know where
to start when it comes totalking to their kids about sex,
sexuality and all that jazz, soI built an e-course for it.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Nicole, there's a question here that says I
understand the staff cannotcomment on the rules, but who
has the ability to explain thestatutes and rules?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So I would probably leave the explanation of a
statute I would probably leaveto the attorney because I have a
big mouth the rules, we canexplain them.
They also have been doing a lotof leadership, like lunch and
learns.
They've been trying to do them,I think, once a quarter.
They love for you to bringquestions about rules and
(21:53):
statutes because actually ourexecutive director is there and
he is an attorney and he knowsthose rules backwards and
forwards, upside and down.
But if you have a questionabout how does something apply
for example, my dumb example, wewear green on Wednesdays, or
whatever If you don't understandwhat that means like is it a
certain shade?
What if it's aqua?
(22:13):
That is a great place to ask.
You can also submit anyquestions that you have into any
of those areas that I mentionedearlier.
You can call.
They may not give you an answer.
They might tell you hey, we'regoing to kick this up to the
board and have them answer.
But you could totally call, youcan totally submit an email and
we will answer it as best wecan.
(22:34):
Sometimes it is in the openmeeting so, again, attending, if
you can, is a great way to dothat, or watching the recording
back can be another great way todo that.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Hey, I have a question for you, nicole Hit me.
So I sat in on a lunch andlearn, probably around this time
last year, and they weretalking about the sunset review
and going through and they weretalking about how they're going.
They have to like grandfatherand redo the rollover of
clinical hours from gradprograms for LMFTs not
(23:04):
supervision, but the clinicalhours.
Can you explain Because I'msure somebody in here is going
to have an associate at somepoint that goes why can't I
bring my clinical hours overfrom grad school?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The short answer is the statute.
The longer answer is there aresome they can roll over.
And what I have been toldrepeatedly and this sounds like
a non-answer, but I promise youthis is what I have been told
repeatedly the staff does theirbest.
They, when they're give themeverything right, say like okay,
(23:37):
in my practicum I had this manydirect, this many marriage and
family or, if you're an LPC,this many direct, this many
supervision.
Give them all the data you haveand they will do their best to
find a way to give you as muchcredit as they can.
I again, I talked about this alittle bit earlier but the board
kind of before and after BHEC,the board I felt like the staff
(24:02):
before was kind of I don't wantto say anything too spicy, maybe
a little less friendly, and nowit definitely feels like
they're looking for ways to helpus out.
They're looking for ways.
There's been a big initiativeto especially because of the
findings after this reallyterrible event when we found out
that, like how access to mentalhealth treatment is such a
(24:24):
problem, there really is a bigpush to get as many clinicians
as we can, and so they aren'tlooking for a gotcha moment,
they aren't looking for ways toexclude.
It's the opposite.
They're looking for ways to getyou in.
They're looking for ways togive you an opportunity.
So just submit everything is myI hate to use the word advice,
(24:45):
but that would be myrecommendation Submit it all.
Give them all the data, whichmeans you've got to keep all the
data.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Have all the data.
I can speak to that from theLPC board standpoint that it
used to be that you could carryover 400 hours, standpoint that
it used to be that you couldcarry over 400 hours.
And they took that away.
And I sat in on the meetingwhere the discussion was about
that and they were saying thatpeople were doing just kind of
ridiculous things to get hoursin and that they weren't quality
(25:12):
hours.
They were getting qualitysupervision with it.
And we argued that if you're ina cake rep accredited program,
your program requires you tohave 700 hours and so that's 400
above what you need and withinthose 700 hours you have an hour
(25:33):
of individual supervision andan hour and a half of group
every week.
So you have two and a halfhours or two and a half times
the required supervision.
And they basically just said wecan't make exceptions for
accredited programs.
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Speaker 3 (26:46):
All right back to the show.
I have a question for you aboutwhen BHEC first was started and
everything was just getting offthe ground, One of the things
that they said that they weregoing to do was look for parity
in the professions.
So, like you, guys have to have100 hours of supervision, or
it's 200 hours of supervision,no less than 24 hours.
(27:08):
Lpcs have to have four hours amonth until you hit your hours
in no less than 18 months, andso if you just do the math on
that, lpc could be licensed with72 hours of supervision and an
LMFT currently requires 200.
But they can carry over somefrom grad school, lpcs can't.
(27:32):
So do you have any informationon where they might be in that
and looking at where is itappropriate to have parity and
where is it not?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Oh, we are looking, but again it kind of goes back
to statute and the way the lawwas written doesn't allow us to
change the supervisionrequirements as much as we'd
love to, which is why we'retrying to find ways to make it
easier.
We're supporting legislationthat creates that parity.
Also, where we can and this isusually part of our document
(28:07):
dump, at least once a quarter,we're looking at ways in which
we are not just with the otherBHEC boards in line, but we're
also looking at how we're inline or not with other states.
So whether that's renewal fees,continuing at the number of
continuing and you have to haveper year, or you know, because
(28:27):
in some states you renewannually and some states you
renew I think there was onestate you renew every 10 years
or something wild like that.
So kind of looking at likewhere, not just where we fit
with the other boards our sisterboards, if you will but also
where we fit with other boardsand other states.
So we are looking to I don'twant to say parity necessarily,
(28:49):
but we're looking to see wherewe fit.
Are we exhausting people withtoo many continuing ed?
Do we have not enoughcontinuing ed?
We look at that regularly aswell.
It's very interesting.
We look at that regularly aswell.
It's very interesting.
In Alaska the NFT renewal ratesare something like fourteen
hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Holy moly.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
The next time you get upset about writing that check.
Well, I guess it's not a checkanymore.
Right, it's something you payonline.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
But next, time you get upset about putting in your
card information, remember atleast I'm not in Alaska.
However, if you do live inAlaska, if you've lived there
for two years, every residentgets a check from the state
every year for oil and gas money.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I lived there for three years.
That's a true statement.
Yes, it varies, but it helpsoffset the cost of living.
Oh wow, yeah, you don't getthat in hawaii, just putting
that out there.
Hawaii is also expensive tolive in.
They don't give you oil moneyyou know they have regular
sunrise and sunset hours, not awinter, a dark winter and the
(29:52):
summer when the sun is down forfour hours yep, well, look, I
mean the summer is weird andwinter is weird, but you, you
know if you like winter sports,which I don't, but if you do,
then it's a great place.
It's a good option.
Very cold.
I know how to build andproperly use an igloo, if
anybody's interested.
Skills you never thought you'dacquire that I do not use here
(30:13):
at all.
And, fun fact, the outdoorsurvival is part of the public
school curriculum there.
It's because it's necessary.
If any of you read Hatchet as akid, yeah, that's real life in
Alaska.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
It's a thing, I do have a question.
You were talking about thatcourse you created.
Is that specifically forparents or is it geared towards
therapists who are helpingparents?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It's geared toward caregivers.
I said parents, but it's gearedtoward primary caregivers and
not for therapists, because Ikind of set it up such that when
I was working with a lot of CPSclients this is where I got the
idea I found that a lot of themhad a lot of as I'm sure you
guys can imagine a lot of sexualtrauma themselves, and nobody
had ever really given them thetalk, and so a lot of them were
(31:00):
just kind of avoiding theconversation with their kids.
And so when I was looking forresources to give these parents,
I found a lot of like condoms,condoms, condoms, the pill and
wait until you're married.
And those are both interestingconversations, but neither one
is complete and neither one isnecessarily reflective of every
(31:20):
single parent or caregiver.
And so in the course, what Ihave the caregiver do is kind of
do a deep dive on what theirown values are and what they
want their kids to know abouttheir body, about relationships,
about sexuality and when forthem.
And this should be somethingthat every parent gets to decide
what they tell their kid as aparent do you want it to be when
(31:41):
they marry, or do you want itto be when they're 18, in a
relationship where they'rerespected and valued and treated
well.
Once you figure out what thosevalues are, then how do you
communicate them in an ageappropriate way?
So it's really not fortherapists Although, yeah, if
you guys want to take it, I'mtotally open to that and getting
feedback from it but it reallyis meant for caregivers.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Awesome.
I imagine it was veryinteresting working with CPS.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That is a good word, interesting is a good word.
I assume that I'm not the onlyperson in here that did.
My experience was that CPS hastwo kinds of caseworkers.
They have really dedicated,loving two kinds of caseworkers.
They have really dedicated,loving, caring people that work
way too much and they're reallyoverwhelmed and they do their
best with not enough.
(32:28):
And then there are these peopleon a power trip who almost find
it entertaining to takefamilies and rip them to shreds,
and that part always broke myheart.
So I don't miss that work.
It was important and I learneda lot and I never, ever, want to
do it again.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
It's a good experience.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Just like building an igloo.
Yes, not all.
Unlike that.
I hate being cold and I hatedthat too.
It's faster to build an igloo,though I'll tell you that I
believe that.
Do all the stupid CPS paperwork.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
So we talk about the counseling compact.
I know from like the LPC side.
Can you explain, Cause I didn'tknow the counseling compact
would also apply to LMFTs?
I didn't either.
It doesn't.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Okay, that's what I thought it doesn't, but just
because it doesn't directlyimpact the MFT, so just as be
heck, we're in support of that.
There was some talk when Iinitially joined the board about
something akin to thecounseling compact that's for
marriage and family therapists,and I was like, why aren't we
doing this?
Like a volunteer's tribute,like yes, let's do that.
(33:37):
And the long and the short ofit is that it costs millions of
dollars.
And so when somebody kind ofexplained it to me step by step
why we're not doing it, we don'thave that kind of money to set
it up, to create a database, tohave a group that comes together
and says, all right, these arethe standards and this is how
(33:57):
we're going to decide a statecan come in or not, this is how
a clinician is or is not incompliance with us.
Like that's a whole deal and itcosts money, not just to set it
up.
There's a lot of initial costsassociated with that, but
there's also costs associatedwith maintaining it.
And I think we were told wecould join if we had a like two
(34:20):
million dollars lying around,which I didn't, so I shut up.
That is a good way to get me tobe quiet, as if you ask me for
a lot of money, I don't have itjust sit down.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
So I know that the lpcs are going to an online
continuing ad database wherewe're going to have to upload.
Is that for everybody in BHEC?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's for everybody in BHEC.
It's called CE Broker.
So we have gotten a lot ofquestions about this and I think
there's going to be morequestions to come.
So we've moved to an onlinesystem where we kind of do
everything now.
Right, you renew online, you doeverything online now.
This obviously wasn't the caseback in my day.
(35:04):
You had to do everything bypaper and you had to have two
copies the original that yousent to the board and the copy
that you're saving for yourselfin case the board said they
didn't get something when youwere like, I know it was in the
packet because I put it in thereand I have a copy of it.
So we're moving to somethingcalled CE Broker.
Other states have done this,including, but not limited to,
florida and, I think, new York,and there's a handful of other
states, and so, basically, myunderstanding and I don't know
(35:30):
exactly how it's going to workon the user side of it, but my
understanding is so please don'tget mad at me if I'm wrong when
you log in to Renew, when itasks you if you have completed
all of your continuing education, you're going to go into this
portal through CE broker.
That's just the company that'srunning it because there's a lot
of infrastructure and memoryand data and all that stuff
costs money and we don't havethe unlimited funds for that.
(35:54):
So you go in through thisbroker and you upload.
You can just scan.
So let's pretend this is thecertificate for today's deal,
right?
You can just scan it into yourcomputer and upload it.
Or, if you have it alreadydownloaded, you can upload it
into the portal and CE brokerand they help you make sure that
you're in compliance.
(36:15):
So I need three hours of this,six hours of that.
I know that's all super fun tokeep track of.
I've got my jurisprudence here.
I've got this, I've got thatFor MFTs, we're supposed to have
three hours of basically how tonot be naughty on the computer.
And there's a we have a betterword for it, but that my brain
is freezing and so CE Brokerwill help you categorize all of
(36:36):
it to make sure you have notjust all your hours but all of
the right hours in the rightbuckets.
So if you're a supervisor,obviously you need those hours,
and if you don't have them forsome reason and this is where CE
Broker is able to offer this tous for free If you don't have
them CE Broker can go.
Hey, by the way, we've got someover here and you can just buy
(36:57):
it here.
You can buy them wherever youwant CE Broker.
You don't have to get themthrough CE Broker.
You can get all of yourcontinuing in through Kate
Walker for the rest of your life.
But you can also get themthrough CE Broker and they're
going to be sort of like levels.
Again, everybody's going to haveaccess to it for free, but
they're going to have like aconcierge level where you
basically just give them a bunchof money and they go.
(37:19):
Here are all the courses thatyou need to take and then you
can just sort of not have tomake another decision.
Not that any of us are tired ofmaking decisions, but yes,
everybody in BHEC will have touse CE Broker.
We're going to roll it out inSeptember and you'll be able to
set up your account in September, so you don't have to wait till
the last minute If you're aplanner and an organizer, right,
(37:40):
and I would honestly recommendgetting in there, playing with
it and then kind of seeing howit works, so that you can tell
your supervisees what to expect.
That's probably what I'm gonnado, did.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I answer your question.
Yes, yes, you did Not this lasttime that I renewed, but the
time before that I have a ton.
Half of my practice issupervision.
I normally have anywhere from12 to 20 supervisees.
Two of my supervisees are hereas a part of their supervision.
Tonight.
We were already scheduled forsupervision when Kate asked me
(38:13):
to do this and I said can I makemy supervisees come for
supervision?
And so a couple of them arehere, but I had gone online.
I got my little card said renew.
I went online, I renewed mylicense and I renewed at the end
of January and it was like thefirst week of February.
I was like I don't remembergetting my license.
(38:34):
I was like I don't remembergetting my license.
And so I went into the systemand checked and it said that I
was delinquent or expired Ican't remember which one comes
first and I was like what theheck?
I don't remember getting mylicense.
What's going on?
So I called them and they saidyou were selected for audit.
And I went oh no, I was not.
(38:56):
You know how am I supposed toknow I was selected for audit?
And they said well, it was onthe card.
And I'm like there's no way.
There's no way.
That was on there.
Luckily, I had saved the littlething I got and I went and not
only was it at the top of it, itwas at the bottom of it as well
.
But because I knew I was goingto renew online, I didn't even
(39:19):
look at it, I just went onlineand renewed.
And so then I was like dude,I've got all these supervisees,
you have to help me.
And so he just said here, getall your stuff together real
quickly.
But my stuff was all overeverywhere.
Before that, I had some stuffthat was electronic.
I had some stuff that was in afile, and so I quickly created a
spreadsheet and started, and Iknew I had some stuff that was
electronic.
I had some stuff that was in afile, and so I quickly created a
spreadsheet and started, and Iknew I had enough.
(39:39):
I always have way more thanwhat I need, and so I hadn't
really paid that much attentionto it because I knew I had what
I needed.
And so the staff member wasgreat.
He said just email all this tome and I'll take care of it.
And so I had to quickly tell mysupervisees my license is
expired, but we're taking careof it.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
So I'm excited about this.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
CE broker thing.
I think it will be great thatyou know you'll have everything
there organized together.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I've gotten much, much better after that
experience.
I am much better about keepingtrack of them half an hour,
scanning, uploading, scanning,uploading.
And it got to the point wherethere was no more memory and I
was afraid.
I said, you know, I remember it, just like you, I had more than
I needed, I had more than theminimum, but I had attested to
like, oh, I had, let's just callit, 80 hours.
I have 80 hours and so Ithought I was going to be in
(40:49):
trouble if I didn't prove 80hours.
But it was only letting mesubmit like 60.
And I'm like, well, whathappened?
So I'm emailing themfrantically, I'm like it won't
let me.
They're like it's fine, we'regood, Like well, I'm now, you're
done.
But that's another reason thatwe're moving to a system like CE
broker.
They can only audit somethinglike five to 10% of our
(41:12):
continuing ed, and that wassomething that not the sunset
commission it was a differentsort of study found that it was
like not cool that we, as theboard, we weren't more aware and
I don't mean me, the board, Imean the staff board weren't
more aware of if people were incompliance with this particular
rule and we didn't have a lot ofgreat ways to figure that out,
(41:35):
other than an audit where you'rehaving to you know frantically
at the last minute to make surethat you don't get in, get a big
naughty submit, submit, submit,submit or email it all in.
And so CE broker is how we'resolving that.
This way no one can renew whenthey're not compliant, at least
with this thing.
Right, it doesn't prevent youfrom doing other naughty things,
(41:55):
but we're hoping.
The idea is that if you'regoing to trainings and you're
doing everything else in earnest, that you're probably not
sending nudes to your clientsand doing other very silly
things.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
I applied for my license in Colorado.
I had an associate that movedto Colorado and you can use your
Colorado hours to get yourTexas license and vice versa.
But she had to have asupervisor who either a
supervisor in both places or asupervisor who was licensed in
both.
I agreed to get my Coloradolicense so that I could keep
(42:28):
supervising her.
I wouldn't do that for justanybody.
And Alex and Colleen, it's notthat I don't love you she was in
a group of students that I hadpromised.
I was a professor at SFA and Ihad promised them that I would
not retire until they graduated.
And things just got to thepoint that I had to go, and so I
left a year before theygraduated, and I mean I would
(42:54):
have sold my first child forthem because I felt so guilty
that I broke a promise.
So when she said you getlicensed in Colorado, it was
like for you, sarah, I will getlicensed in Colorado.
But when I got it, first of allyou only have to have six hours
of supervision training to be asupervisor, and so I was like,
okay, well, yeah, I've got 40plus more.
(43:16):
So then you just attest that,yeah, I have that training.
And so yeah, it was pinkypromise here.
And then I reached out and said, so, will I get a certificate?
I mean, what am I gonna get?
And they were like, oh, no.
The next time I said where do Ihave to upload, where do I have
to prove this?
And she said no.
The next time you were new,just tell us, you took the
(43:38):
training, okay then apply tocolorado in texas.
So this is applying for colorado.
Real quick, I'm going to tellyou, their jurisprudence test
was hard and part of it isbecause their rules are not like
Texas where everything is laidout.
The rules are like three orfour pages long and it'll say
(44:01):
here's the rule about this.
Go look at this law over here.
Here's the rule about this.
So we have to do Texas FamilyCode, but a lot of that is also
spelled out in hours.
I mean, you had to do such adeep dive into different codes
to find out what the rules wereand it's not a no fail test like
Texas.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
OK, I do have one more question before you end.
So there was a new LMFT ruleadopted in March.
It's 801.115.
So it's talking aboutapplicants who are currently
licensed in another jurisdiction.
So it's talking aboutapplicants who are currently
licensed in another jurisdiction.
So it says, like, if they have3000 hours of work experience
and 1500 hours of directclinical services and the 200
(44:43):
all that, what happens if theydon't?
Speaker 1 (44:45):
OK, so I think you're talking about the.
Is it the temporary licenserule?
Speaker 4 (44:49):
says applicants currently licensed as an LMFT in
another jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
And that's all it says.
And then there's three littlepoints and then it moves on to
something else.
So what if you don't?
Again, because we are focusedon shoring up the fact that we
don't have enough.
There are people in Texas thatneed mental health treatment
that aren't getting served.
We are looking for ways thestaff is looking for ways to get
people licensed, so if theydon't meet all the requirements,
they will make a recommendation.
(45:23):
They might say something likehey, you don't meet all of our
requirements, but if you do thisthing or if you take this
training, we will count that andthen that'll fill the gap.
They are looking for ways toinclude, not exclude.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
Make sense.
Yeah, they are looking for waysto include, not exclude.
Makes sense.
Yes, because that's somethingthat people are going to ask,
you know, especially if MFTscan't become part of any sort of
counseling compact.
Well then, people are going towant to apply to Texas, and I
know like Utah requires 4000hours for LPCs and if you come
in from a state that doesn'trequire 4000 hours, they'll
require you to get thoseadditional hours.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
So yeah, there's.
It's a good question.
There was another rule and Ithink it's just worth noting.
There's another rule that werolled out about temporary
licenses.
So let's say you're licensed inUtah and you don't want to be
fully licensed in Texas.
There is a new rule now wherepeople can be temporarily
licensed in Texas and I wannasay it allows someone to
(46:17):
practice one calendar year up to30 sessions and the idea is,
say somebody's moving from Utahto Texas and they've been in
therapy with you for a very longtime and I don't know about you
, but I find moving ratherstressful and that doesn't mean
that I don't need support inthat time and it certainly
(46:38):
doesn't mean I have thebandwidth to make yet another
choice right and find yetanother provider or like it's
super easy to find a provider.
So the idea is that temporarylicense helps that Utah person
not be breaking Texas law bytreating that client while
they're here.
But it is meant to be a bridge,not a permanent solution.
(46:59):
Perfect, Thank you.
This is awesome.
Thank you, it was nice meetingeverybody.
Thank you very much for havingme.
I appreciate your time Awesome.
Thank y'all.
Have a good night, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Thanks for listening.
If today's episode got youfired up to finally build the
private practice you've beendreaming about, don't miss the
Smart Practice Sprint.
It's happening virtually so youcan join from anywhere.
Starting June 2nd, we'll spendfour days getting your messaging
clear, your HIPAA compliancedialed in and your client
(47:37):
calendar moving from crickets tobooked Head to
katewalkertrainingcom.
Slash bonus to register,remember, night one is
completely free.
And here's the exciting partI'll be taking this sprint on
the road in Texas.
Soon I'm going to be coming toDFW, austin, houston, el Paso.
(47:58):
So wherever you are, I'll becoming to a city near you.
Can't wait to see you insidethe Sprint and maybe shake your
hand in person real soon.
I'm Dr Kate Walker.
Thank you so much for listening.
(48:19):
Thank you to the lovely RidgelyWalker for the interesting
facts about me that we've usedin our introduction and do me a
favor when you get a second,please like, share and subscribe
and write us a review.
That's really how we get pickedup by other RSS feeds and we
get this information out to themental health badasses who need
(48:40):
it.
Thanks again, and keep savingthe world with excellent therapy
.
You.
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