TRENTON, N.J. – Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis’ bill easing the mental health practitioner shortage by entering New Jersey into an interstate counseling compact passed the Assembly on Thursday.
The measure (A5311) provides for licensure reciprocity so that licensed counselors can provide services in any member state via telehealth without the need to obtain multiple licenses. Thirty states are currently members of the compact.
“As the rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety and suicide continue to climb, so does the need for a permanent fix to the practitioner shortages that are creating delays in treatment. The pandemic exacerbated the problem and created a crisis,” Matsikoudis (R-Union) said.
According to a Stockton University poll, 37% of New Jersey residents reported that the pandemic affected their mental health and increased anxiety and depression. Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts also increased, as did alcohol and drug use. The annual number of drug-related deaths increased in 2020 by 5% and 2021 by 3%.
Matsikoudis said the counseling compact would build on the success of New Jersey’s temporary reciprocity licensure program that helped provide mental health services to more than 30,000 New Jersey patients during the first year of the pandemic. The state discontinued the emergency program in August 2022.
“Reciprocity licensure programs decrease a regulatory burden on mental health professionals while allowing established patients to have a continuity of care plan if they move out of state, which is especially helpful to military service members and their spouses. It also opens up access to new patients who otherwise may have been limited in their ability to make an appointment with a counselor because of geography,” Matsikoudis said.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, among the 42% of adults in New Jersey reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression, nearly half were unable to get needed counseling or therapy. Among young people ages 12 to 17 who have depression, 61.4% of them did not receive any care in the last year.
“An interstate counseling compact removes the barriers for professionals and patients to put New Jersey on a path to better mental health,” Matsikoudis said.
New Jersey joins Wisconsin, South Carolina and Rhode Island as other states that currently have legislation pending to join the compact. The Senate companion bill (S3061) is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.