I think all mental health providers should be mandated to undergo their own contuining psychotherapy, or participate in a peer consultation group as a licensing requirement, much the same as most are required to complete ceu’s. A certain nunmber of hours would have to be logged each year and signed off when the mental health provider renews their State License.
There are just too many Mental Health providers that are currently in practice that have never received a single hour of therapy themselves, and are capable of doing a great deal of harm due to their counter tranference issues. While a mental health provider continuously attending therapy sessions or participating in an ongoing peer consultation group ( as did my last therapist ), is not a guarantee of ethical and competant practice , it would create at least a small factor of assurance for clients that a mental health provider continues to work on their “own stuff”. There are very few Therapists out there chose to become a Mental Health Provider without having a considerable number of significant life issues to work through themselves.
It seems many mental healh providers agree ,at least on the pre licensure end, according to a poll taken by goodtherapy .org that asked “Are you in favor of state licensing boards requiring pre-licensed interns to undergo psychotherapy as part of licensure requirements, assuming all potential issues are addressed and adequately resolved prior to implementing such a requirement?”
Here’s a link to the results: http://www.goodtherapy.org/201103-poll-results.html#
I’d like to see a poll of how those currently in practice who responded to the poll feel about receiving mandated therapy or peer consultation themselves ! Consumers interested in persuing this line of regulation can contact their State Representative and ask them to work on making positive change for the mental health consumer by revising the requirements for Mental Healh Provider regulation to include mandated continuing psychotherapy or peer consultation hours.
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