Colorado and Washington Pioneered ‘Open Practice’
It’s a toss-up whether Washington state pioneered the open-practice movement with its Registered Counselor Act, or whether Colorado did with its “psychotherapy/counseling” act.
Both were passed in 1987. Both require non-licensed counselors of all ilk to offer disclosures about their training and qualifications and philosophy of practice and to maintain records and to register with the state.
Most health freedom acts seek to lighten the governmental oversight burden by eliminating the registration requirement.
Here’s a link to an article that discusses the Colorado counseling act’s origins. The article notes that an extensive study the Colorado legislature commissioned provided justification for permitting non-licensable counselors to practice. The study found little to no relationship between a therapist’s ability to serve clients effectively and the therapist’s level of education and curriculum studied and licenses held.
Maine and Vermont have provisions similiar to Washington’s and Colorado’s that permit non-licensed counselors and therapists to practice.
On its face, “psychotherapy” may seem quite unrelated to “alternative health.” But indeed, in states where unlicensed psychotherapy is permitted under freedom-to-practice acts a wide-range of alternative health practitioners operate under the acts by describing and marketing their practices and therapies in “counseling”-specific terms, as do many alternative health practitioners world-wide.
Interestingly, Colorado’s legislature currently is considering a Health Freedom act that would specifically prohibit alternative health practitioners from claiming to be “registered counselors” under the state’s 1987 counseling act.
Some similar posts:
- Colorado’s house passes a health freedom act
- How Health-Freedom Acts Work
- Here’s what six states’ Health Freedom Acts look like
- ‘Health Freedom’ language now officially part of New Mexico Complementary and Alternative Medicine Project’s right-to-practice campaign
- New Mexico moves closer to health freedom open-practice for holistic and alternative practitioners
