\u201c \u2026Whereas unlicensed alternative therapy practitioners\nworking in Oregon provide valuable services to Oregonians and are an essential\npart of the mental health workforce in this state;\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n HB2493 makes it clear that the non-licensed alternative\ntherapies are an essential part of the mental health workforce, acknowledged\nand supported by the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n HB2493 takes that support further by defining consumer protections for Oregonians who seek non-licensed alternative therapies. HB2493 starts by defining a voluntary registry for alternative therapists that they can choose to join. Joining is voluntary<\/u> \u2013 alternative practitioners aren\u2019t required to join in order to continue their practice. Members who join the registry contribute to consumer protection by informing consumers about their alternative modalities and about their level of training and experience. This \u201cprofessional disclosure\u201d information is meant to help clients make well-informed decisions when seeking alternative therapies and helps toward informing the public about their options for well-being and therapy services. Like other professions, registry members have a defined code of ethics and professional conduct to adhere to. And like other professions, a complaint, investigation, and discipline process is defined for those rare cases where that code might be violated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to accommodate the wide range of alternative therapies, the registry doesn\u2019t define coursework or certifications for alternative practitioners \u2013 those processes are left up to the alternative therapies, each of which is unique in their training and certification requirements. A small exception to this is regarding mandatory reporting in Oregon, which is one of the few unifying requirements for all of the alternative therapies. The registry office will provide a tutorial and exam on Oregon\u2019s mandatory reporting laws for those who join the registry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It could be argued that most (if not all) alternative\ntherapists practicing in Oregon already meet the spirit of the consumer\nprotection requirements defined in the alternative practitioner registry. The practitioners who do this work are drawn\nto it by a spirit of goodwill and a wish to do something good in the world \u2013\nwhich includes practicing ethically. \nHB2493 builds on that goodwill by clearly defining a process for ethical\npractice, consumer education, and consumer protection; it codifies and defines\nthat goodwill. Those alternative\ntherapists who voluntarily join the registry will have the benefit of\naffiliation with the registry \u2013 something to reference and point to that defines\ntheir place in Oregon\u2019s well-being services industry. There\u2019s been confusion in the past about what\nan alternative therapist is and isn\u2019t, and the registry will go a long way\ntoward clearing up confusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I see a lot to like about HB2493 for the consumer public and for alternative well-being practitioners. I was a member of the 2020 workgroup that created the proposal that became HB2493 and had the opportunity to examine the issues from different perspectives. Our workgroup brought together stakeholders from a range of backgrounds: alternative practitioners, state licensed therapists, non-profit agencies, legislators, investigators, government agencies,\u2026 it was a diverse team with diverse opinions. We examined and debated the issues and developed a proposal that I believe will serve the consumer public and alternative well-being practitioners well. As an alternative therapist, I\u2019ve been involved since 2008 in matters related to alternative practice in Oregon and I\u2019m excited to finally see this proposal in the legislature. <\/p>\n\n\n If you\u2019re interested in this matter, I encourage you to read\nHB2493. It\u2019s not very complex and I\nfound the introductory intent clauses heartwarming and encouraging. You can find the Oregon Legislature web page\nfor HB2493 here – https:\/\/olis.oregonlegislature.gov\/liz\/2021R1\/Downloads\/MeasureDocument\/HB2493<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People in Oregon are lucky \u2013 we have a plethora of different kinds of mental health care to turn to when we want help managing our well-being. Prefer a PsyD? LCSW? LPC\/LMFT? No worries, got lots of those. Prefer a Life Coach? Got that. Prefer Hakomi? Lots of those in Oregon! Core Energetics? Internal Family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-counseling","category-therapy","tag-hb2493"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stephenshostek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Oregon-Capital-Bldg-2.jpg\")
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