Mental Health Providers Awareness
The Mental Health System Is Broken
Hello, Alyssa Cedillo with Tree of Life Counseling Center here again.
Today I started thinking a lot. I keep hearing the comments that there are not enough mental health providers, and within our field we’re talking about how we’re seeing an increased amount of depression, anxiety, and so much more in our communities. But I want to make it clear: this is not about not having enough providers.
In fact, Texas has seen a significant increase in licensed providers within the last few years. This is about a system that is broken—and it’s far past time to fix it.
What’s Really Going On
I don’t pretend to know all the answers, and I don’t pretend to be all-knowing. By the end of this, you may still be wondering what the answer is. What I can say is that I do know a few things, and I believe it’s time we start talking about them.
Agencies that refuse to pay us a livable wage.
Group practices that use associates, interns, and provisionally licensed individuals like some kind of Ponzi scheme.
Insurance companies deciding what we’re worth and how much care we should provide.
Providers burning out because they can’t afford to stay in the field, often working two or three jobs just to survive.
Therapists learning how to run a business while holding space for others, all while being directly affected by the chaos in the world.
As we all know, the world is on fire right now. We cannot keep pretending like this is sustainable. We didn’t get into this work to be rich, but we also can’t keep doing it for scraps—while also pushing back against oppressive systems and doing the intentional work of dismantling internalized oppression.
If we want to keep showing up for our communities, we need support too.
What Needs to Change
1. Supervision
Supervision is necessary, labor-intensive, and it should be compensated as such. It’s not just oversight; it’s an investment in the next generation of providers and, by extension, in our communities.
2. The Counseling Compact
Texas, please get on board with something—anything—that is not rooted in bigotry. We need to be able to serve our communities across state lines without unnecessary barriers. Maintaining multiple licenses is labor-intensive, time-intensive, and financially unsustainable.
Why are states continually raising the price of licensure after we’ve already gone through years of rigorous training? Since 2020, when many of us became nomadic—moving across states for family, quarantine, or survival—this need has only become clearer. Flexibility matters, and state lines should not prevent us from caring for our communities.
3. Student Loan Forgiveness
The cost of becoming a therapist should not keep us in financial survival mode. We need policies that help us thrive, not just scrape by. None of us should have to struggle to put food on the table while holding space for others.
A Call to Action
For those of you with access, for those of you who love your providers, and for those of you who rely on the spaces we hold for you—we must acknowledge that change is needed. And we must advocate for that change together. Providers and non-providers alike, standing in solidarity with mental health.
How do we do that? Honestly, speaking as one tired therapist to the community: I don’t know the full answer. It would be presumptuous of me to claim otherwise. But I do know this—we can figure it out together. We always have, and we always will, if we’re willing to put the effort behind it.
For we rise together.
