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Our profession and license is relatively new compared to the other professions and licenses that comparatively exist. In this short amount of time, we have accomplished so much to improve not only our profession, but the lives of those we encounter on a daily basis. My wish is to keep this momentum going by trying to provide a focus for our efforts and a means of getting there.

Below is a list of accomplishments I'd hope we can obtain within the next 10 (hopefully much less) years that, in my opinion, would do wonders to help solidify our profession and identity moving forward.

1. Every state needs clinical mental health counselors to be able to diagnose (dx) and treat (tx) in their legal scope of practice. This should be done by lobbying your state at the local level. Aligning and working with state legislators who feel the same as you. It would help to show them how successful these practices are in other states of similar demographics and needs. Other state chapters as well as AMHCA itself should be able to give data on success rates and provide letters of support to ensure that when you lobby in your state you are armed with the facts, so you feel confident going into your state house.
2. As a secondary note, use the pursuit of getting dx and tx as an opportunity to get your base excited and increase your membership. This is something tangible for potential members to see the importance of your organization and with the increase in membership you can increase your chapters funding.
3. Every state needs clinical mental health counselors to be able to hospitalize their clients, involuntarily, within their scope, to ensure safety when appropriate. This issue should be lobbied and go hand in hand with dx and tx issues.
4. Reimbursement in every state for psychological/neurological assessments and testing. This is more of a lobbying effort designated for regulation changes at insurance companies. Something that we can do and is dependent on your ability to get an appointment, develop a relationship and work on these regulation changes.
5. Medicare Inclusion: There are going to be varying ways to get this accomplished.
   1. First, we support the effort of AMHCA's current bills for our inclusion that have been submitted to Congress. That is going to have the largest impact on our being accepted as Medicare providers because the only realistic way to get it accomplished is to have the current law changed.
   2. We need to have all of our AMHCA and state chapter members submit letters of support for this bill to pass. Lawmakers listen to their constituents, so we need to let them know this is not only important to us, but to our clients as well.
   3. However, that is not all we must do. We need to continue to push to get all states to have dx and tx in their scope. It specifically states in the Medicare provider packet that in order to be able to be a Medicare provider you must have a full scope of practice. So even if you were to get Medicare passed tomorrow it would still be a long road for those states that don't have a full scope to still become providers. Just because LMHCs/LPCs get Medicare inclusion does not mean it automatically grants dx and tx into your scope. We must do both at the same time. I also believe that if every state were to get diagnose and treat then it would be more compelling federally to be included in Medicare. If either way works, what is the downside?
6. Data bases and demographic data that helps us organize which

states have what (dx, tx, hospitalization, # of LMHCs/LPCs in each state, # of charters in a state, etc) should be readily available for download or viewing on the AMHCA website for states to use.

This would help in education or lobbying efforts for each state. It would also benefit considering states could use this information to assist other states when helping to lobby, develop their own state chapter or answer any number of questions that one might have.

7)  Share/Develop How-To videos or paperwork as well as template forms readily available for state chapters to use at their discretion.

There are many questions that come up regarding how to develop and maintain a state chapter. There are also many questions that one might have on how to actually execute some of the great ideas members might have. It would be good to be able to see some of the ways to get these things done from leadership standpoint – e.g. developing a Job Fair, a Home Study Book Program, Webinars, Supervision or other Training Program, etc.  In previous blogs, I've tried to illustrate this, but unless you'd know to look for one of my specific blogs, you'd never know it was out there. A hub page that has all of this information would be useful. Starting and running a state chapter is difficult and intimidating. Having answers available at the push of a few keys would be fantastic in being able to relieve some of the stress of trying to get these tasks done.

8) Portability - Portability sounds great and would definitely help to facilitate the process for anyone who wanted to move from state to state or make the potential for telemedicine less confusing. However, we have to do it in a way that displays the highest levels of standards for licensing and consumer protection that AMHCA advocates for while also limiting the cost and potential burden to the professional trying to take advantage of this ability. No other profession, (with the possible exception of nursing) has the ability for portability, so this is a unique and new ability that would be specific to our profession. The dialogue has already been started. It will be interesting to see how not only this pans out, but how the discussion will evolve as more members express their opinions.