I oppose the movement to make Virginia licensure requirements come from a CACREP only program. I am a graduate from Radford University’s Clinical Psychology program. After graduation in 2012, I was able to get a job working at the local community service board, New River Valley Community Service Board (NRVCS), with no issues as a clinician. After working for NRVCS for 3 years, my job became limited because of the regulation changes for clinician’s that were not licensed eligible. For example, I was no longer able to complete assessments needed at the crisis stabilization unit I worked at and still work at as a clinician. I felt forced to go back to school for either another mater’s program or a doctorate. I did not have the finances to quit work and pursue a doctorate, so I attended another master’s program at Radford University, the Counselor Education: Clinical Program. I felt there was a huge amount of overlap of material and education from my Clinical Psychology degree and the Counselor Education program. I felt it was more of a 2 year review than new education. I worked full time at NRVCS and went to school full time for 2 years, so I could keep working in a field I love. I spent more money and time on the second master’s degree that I felt was not needed to be able to work as a mental health professional. I now have 2 master’s degrees from the same university, worked in the mental health field for 5 years, and now I can try to apply for licensure supervision, which will take at least another 2 years before I can take the LCP exam. I could have already been licensed after my first master’s program (Clinical Psychology) and provided the needed services for my community.  These regulation changes are not helping my community. The regulation changes have and will continue to limit the services needed in rural Virginia. We need more mental health professionals, not less.