Nearly three hundred mental health counselors filled a hearing room in Lansing Friday.
Hundreds more rallied outside to oppose a proposed change in the state rules that govern their profession.
This has become a major controversy as the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs decides whether to change how licensed mental health counselors have operated in Michigan for the past three decades. The counselors say the new rules would put thousands of them out of business.
Joanne Foster works at a clinic in Bad Axe. She says patients in rural areas who struggle with issues such as addiction or suicidal thoughts would have nowhere to go without licensed counselors.
“They need us and we would be abandoning them if we stopped practicing.”
The counselors say there aren’t enough psychiatrists and psychologists to fill the need.