A state bill signed into law this week in Greeley will remove requirements lawmakers said posed roadblocks to diversity in the mental health workforce.
Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 24-115 Wednesday morning at North Range Behavioral Health, 1300 N. 17th Ave.
“This bipartisan bill helps break down barriers that are in place for mental health professionals to be able to practice in Colorado,” Polis said. “Filling in-demand jobs. Helping meet people where they are and helping them through difficult times.”
The new law removes the requirement for mental health professionals to pass the Board of Social Work Examiners’ masters examination to obtain a social worker license.
“This was an exam that was biased against older adults, those with disabilities, those with test anxiety and those from our diverse ethnicities in my district,” said state Rep. Mary Young, D-Greeley.
Instead, all psychologist candidates, clinical social worker candidates, marriage and family therapist candidates, licensed professional counselor candidates and addiction counselor candidates are now required to pass the Colorado jurisprudence exam.
Those workers will also be able to renew their candidate registrations if they are unable to complete all the post-degree licensure requirements within the four-year time frame that a registration is valid. Candidates whose registrations have expired will also be allowed to reapply.
Mental health professionals will no longer be required to explain to clients the levels of registration and differences between licensure, registration and certification of mental health professionals.
Young and Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, were the bill’s prime sponsors in the House, with prime sponsorship in the Senate came from Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, and Sen. Jim Smallwood, R-Sedalia.
Michaelson Jenet said the law “opens up a pathway for social workers that was not open before,” while also allowing current counselors to work unencumbered.
Concerns with the social worker licensing exam have existed for at least a decade, when an Oxford study showed the test evaluated test-taking abilities more than knowledge of the material.
In 2022, the Association of Social Work Boards published a study that their own exam showed disparities on the rate at which people pass based on race, age and native language. It showed that 84% of white test takers passed the exam on the first try, compared to just 45% of Black test takers.
“We removed a very biased exam that was making it so that if you were white and middle-aged, you would do very well,” Michaelson Jenet said. “If you were anything else, you would tank the exam. So it was really making our workforce monochromatic.”
The State Board of Psychologist Examiners, the State Board of Social Work Examiners, the State Board of Marriage and Family Therapist Examiners, the State Board of Licensed Professional Counselor Examiners and the State Board of Addiction Counselor Examiners all must begin the rule-making process to “align their respective rules with their respective practice acts” on or before Dec. 31.
