Your Tax Dollars Are Funding Bigoted Counseling Programs—Here’s How to Stop It
Your Tax Dollars Are Funding Bigoted Counseling Programs—Here’s How to Stop It
Your therapist might be trained to push activism, not healing—take action now.
Taking Action: Restoring Evidence-Based Counseling Programs in the Face of Social Justice Ideology
For those who have watched the transformation of psychology from a field rooted in empirical, evidence-based practices into one driven by Social Justice advocacy, the question is clear: What can I do to move the conversation back toward evidence and away from ideology?
While legal action can challenge this shift, lawsuits face significant hurdles—particularly when accreditation bodies like CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) are shielded from direct legal accountability. Legislative advocacy, however, presents a more immediate path for change, one that allows us to focus on funding and oversight of these programs.
Why Lawsuits Are Challenging
Lawsuits, while potentially impactful, are not an easy solution. Accreditation bodies often operate under legal protections, making it difficult to hold them accountable through the courts. Even if a lawsuit were successful, the timeline for change is long, and outcomes are uncertain. Every year that goes by another indoctrinated counseling cohort graduates and joins the workforce. That’s why legislative action is a faster, more accessible option—especially when state funding is at stake.
Legislative Advocacy: A Path Forward
By engaging with your state's legislative process, you can put pressure on elected officials to reevaluate public funding for CACREP-accredited counseling programs. Over half of all states have some requirements regarding CACREP accreditation for licensure, and increasingly more counseling programs are CACREP accredited. Even when states don’t require it, many federal agencies, like the Army or Veterans Affairs do.
In states where CACREP accreditation is required to practice (like North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and Florida starting in 2025), there’s no time to waste.
A Plan of Action: Start in Your Home State
Your ability to influence change starts locally. While the legal details may vary from state to state, the general strategy is the same. In Tennessee, where I live, the process is straightforward: Get involved in higher education funding decisions.
Here’s how to begin:
Identify key players: Find out which state legislators oversee the higher education budget in your area. This is typically managed by a committee or subcommittee. Use resources like LegiScan to track relevant bills and committees in your state’s House of Representatives and Senate.
Craft a respectful message: Once you’ve identified the right officials, reach out with a clear, well-organized message. Explain how Social Justice ideology in accreditation harms the effectiveness of mental health treatment, and make it clear that you don’t want your tax dollars funding programs that prioritize indoctrination over care.
Pro tip: Reaching out can be as simple as sending an email, making a phone call, or even sending a postcard. Consistent, respectful communication can make a real difference. Scroll down for a sample letter you can use as a template.
Supporting Your Case with Evidence
When you contact your elected officials, it’s important to provide concrete evidence that supports your concerns. Legislators deal with a wide array of issues, so your case needs to stand out. Having materials ready—such as documents from CACREP’s 2024 accreditation standards—will show that you’re organized, informed, and serious.
Documents to Be Familiar With:
CACREP 2024 Standards: These standards mandate a focus on Social Justice, diversity, and multiculturalism in counselor training, often to the detriment of evidence-based mental health practices. Key sections of concern include requirements that programs recruit diverse faculty and students, promote multicultural counseling, and focus on serving "marginalized populations." These may sound positive on the surface, but in practice, they translate to ideological indoctrination.
Textbook Excerpts: For example, books like Counseling the Culturally Diverse contain passages promoting the idea that “Whiteness” and “White privilege” are inherently harmful, suggesting that counselors should incorporate these ideals in their interactions with clients. These ideas can distort treatment and undermine the therapeutic process by introducing racial politics into counseling.
Here’s a quote you can share with legislators from Counseling the Culturally Diverse:
"Research on Whiteness and White privilege points to an important barrier to racial understanding for White Americans: the invisibility of their Whiteness to them... White supremacy is global."
Making it Easy for Legislators to Act
Legislators are busy people, and the easier you make it for them to understand your concerns, the more likely they are to act. When reaching out, include the following:
Key quotes from standards or textbooks that clearly demonstrate the issue.
A request for action—in this case, cutting state funding to CACREP-accredited programs in favor of evidence-based approaches.
Here’s a sample letter that you can modify for your own use.
Sample Letter to Your State Legislators
Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State, ZIP Code
Your Email Address
Your Phone Number
The Honorable _________________________
[Name of State Senate or House Representative]
[Address of your state’s legislative office]
Dear Senator/Representative ___________,
I am a [insert personal description: parent, community leader, etc.] writing to you with deep concerns about the state funding of CACREP-accredited counseling programs. I’ve discovered that CACREP's 2024 accreditation standards prioritize Social Justice ideology over evidence-based mental health treatment, and I believe our state should not be funding programs that promote division and bigotry.
For example, the CACREP standards require that:
"Counselor education programs reflect counseling practice in a diverse, multicultural, and global society, with a focus on marginalized populations..."
This might sound reasonable at first glance, but in practice, it leads to an overemphasis on race, identity politics, and a push for counselors to engage in advocacy instead of focusing on effective mental health care.
Even more concerning are the textbooks used in these programs. Counseling the Culturally Diverse, for instance, states:
"White supremacy is global," and that "Whiteness" is an invisible barrier to understanding for all White Americans.
My family member struggles with depression, and the idea that her therapist might focus on her race rather than her mental health is deeply concerning. This is already causing division in our family, and I don’t want more young people to be harmed by this ideology.
Please take action to ensure that our state’s higher education funds are not used to promote divisive, ideological standards in mental health care. I would be happy to provide additional information or discuss this further at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Your Name
The Road Ahead: Persistence is Key
Change doesn’t happen overnight, but persistence pays off. Continue to reach out, organize with others in your community, and share your concerns with legislators. Join forces with groups like FAIR, Free Black Thought, Moms for Liberty, or Braver Angels,—or even start your own local movement.
Together, we can restore integrity to the mental health field, ensuring that counseling programs focus on what truly matters: effective, evidence-based care that respects all individuals.
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About
Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. What I encountered, however, was a program deeply entrenched in Critical Theories ideology. During my time there, I experienced significant resistance, particularly for my Buddhist practice, which was labeled as invalidating to other identities. After careful reflection, I chose to leave the program, believing the curriculum being taught would ultimately harm clients and lead to unethical practices in the field.
Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to investigating, writing, and speaking out about the troubling direction of psychology, higher education, and other institutions that seem to have lost their way. When I’m not working on these issues, you’ll find me in the garden, creating art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.
You can also find my work at Minding the Campus