SD17 - Feasibility and Desirability of Establishing a Program of Certifying Persons Who Provide Mental Health Treatment to Sexual Assault Victims and Offenders

  • Published: 1993
  • Author: Department of Health Professions
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 41 (Regular Session, 1992)

Executive Summary:
House Joint Resolution No. 41 of the 1992 Session of the Virginia General Assembly requested the Department of Health Professions to study the need for special certification or other credentialing of providers of mental health services to sexual assault victims and sex offenders. The request resulted in part from 1992 recommendations of the Lieutenant Governor's Task Force on Prevention and Early Intervention to Reduce the Incidence of Sexual Assault.

That task force found that there are a number of persons who offer mental health services to sexual assault victims and offenders, and that there is a wide variation in their education, training and experience. The Resolution noted that those who are not qualified to provide services to sexual assault victims and offenders -- regardless of their motivations or intentions -- may injure or impede the recovery of victims.

Related observations and recommendations were made by the Governor's Task Force on Substance Abuse and Sexual Assault on College Campuses. Recommendation 40 of that 1992 report requested the Board of Health Professions to "ascertain whether further continuing educational programs are needed to equip counselors to advise students in cases of sexual assault and to consider whether certification in this area is needed." Similar observations and recommendations were also made in the Report of the State Council of Higher Education and Task Force on Campus Rape to the 1992 General Assembly (Senate Document No. 17).

The Department and the Board of Health Professions determined to combine the requested reviews into a single comprehensive effort in the belief that the findings and recommendations of this effort will be relevant to the several concerns expressed in earlier reviews of sexual assault in the Commonwealth.

Currently regulated providers of mental health and counseling services in Virginia include psychiatrists and clinical psychologists licensed by the Board of Medicine, counseling and other psychologists licensed by the Board of Psychology, professional counselors and others licensed or certified by the Board of Professional Counselors, clinical social workers licensed by the Board of Social Work, and psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialists regulated by the Board of Nursing.

Regulatory boards within the Department of Health Professions are authorized to promulgate regulations specifying additional training or conditions for individuals seeking certification or licensure, or for the renewal of license or certificates (Code of Virginia § 54.1-103). In addition, the Boards of Professional Counselors, Psychology and Social Work are explicitly authorized to designate specialties within the professions of counseling, psychology and social work, and to cooperate and maintain liaison with other professional boards and the community "to ensure that regulatory systems stay abreast of community and professional needs." (Code §§ 54.1-3505.1, 54.1-3605.1, and 54.1-3705.1). No board in the Department has designated providers of mental health and counseling services to sexual assault victims or offenders as a specialty.