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Counselors Get Backing In Lansing

Mental health counselors who feared the state was about to put them out of business are getting support in the state legislature.

The State House has unanimously passed a bill which would allow licensed professional counselors to continue to counsel and treat patients with mental health concerns. Changes in state licensing procedures threatened to take that authority away from about 10-thousand counselors, which have about 150-thousand clients in Michigan. The state senate  Ways and Means committee has also approved the bill.
The Licensing and Regulatory Affairs department is trying to update regulations on mental health counselors. Counselors can evaluate and treat mental health problems through counseling and psychotherapy, but they cannot prescribe drugs.