Tennessee Licensed Professional Counselors Association Demonstrates Advocacy in Action
The Tennessee Licensed Professional Counselors Association (TLPCA) has a straightforward motto: “Unite. Train. Advocate.” TLPCA demonstrated these words in action during the current session of the Tennessee legislature, when a bill threatened to dissolve the state’s Board for Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Pastoral Therapists.
In the 2025–2026 legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly, legislators introduced companion bills S.B. 2227 and H.B. 2539. These bills would dissolve a number of licensing boards and move their responsibilities to the state’s commissioner of health. Thanks to the efforts of TLPCA and Counselors across the state and beyond, legislators amended the final bill to exclude the Counseling board. H.B. 2539 passed the legislature in early May 2026, and will affect other licensing boards, but leaves the Counseling profession untouched.
TLPCA was founded in 2007 and was not affiliated with any national organization. The association’s mission is to represent licensed Counselors in Tennessee, uniting them under the Professional Counselor identity, says Robin Lee, PhD, NCC, ACS, LPC/MHSP. Dr. Lee is a founding member of TLPCA and became its first executive director in 2020.
“Uniting, of course, is the idea that we are focused around the LPC designation, regardless of whether or not it’s a professional or a student,” says Dr. Lee. “There’s not anything beyond that, no other concentration area or license or anything.”
Training has always been the second priority, says Dr. Lee: “We wanted to make that a significant focus of the organization, and I feel like we've been able to do that. We offer regional trainings throughout Tennessee. It’s become a way that we have grown our membership and meet the needs of our constituents.”
In 2020, TLPCA had 333 members. That number has since swelled to almost 1,500. Dr. Lee attributes much of this growth to the benefits the association offers. As well as membership discounts on training offerings, TLPCA offers licensure consultations for free to members (and to non-members for a fee). In the consultation process, TLPCA staff work with a Counselor to interpret board rules and submit a successful application. TLPCA also hosts an annual conference for all Counselors, although members receive a registration discount. This year’s Counseling and Therapy Summit is Friday, May 29, through Saturday, May 30, 2026, at Trevecca Nazarene University.
Advocacy has always been the third pillar of TLPCA, and it depends on the first two pillars. The association’s growth and the popularity of its training offerings across the state have provided the revenue necessary to employ a lobbyist. This has been a tremendous boon for TLPCA’s advocacy work on behalf of the profession in Tennessee.
In addition to a professional lobbyist, TLPCA regularly calls upon its members to make their voices heard at the state legislature and provides the support to do so in person.
“We had our third day on the hill at the beginning of March,” says Dr. Lee. “We had about 15 to 20 folks up there. . . . That’s another thing that we can offer, is support to be able to come. We’ll pay for parking. We’ll provide food. We provide a hotel for people who are coming from across the state. So that [revenue] allows us to be able to do those types of things, which in turn certainly helps the membership.”
Advocacy efforts have not always been successful, but TLPCA has learned from each experience. In 2016, the legislature passed a conscientious objection law declaring that Counselors are not required to provide services “as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with the sincerely held principles of the counselor or therapist”—an exclusion that contravenes the ACA Code of Ethics.
“So, we got pulled into that, but had no idea what we were doing,” says Dr. Lee. “And that’s kind of how our advocacy began . . . because we recognized just how ill-equipped we were. . . . So, we worked really hard to change that [but] that legislation was successful.”
This incident led TLPCA to begin working with their lobbyist. After this early advocacy, TLPCA leaders realized that part of the struggle was simply educating and informing legislators.
“We had legislators, even the next year, when we were talking to them, say, ‘Where were you?’" says Dr. Lee. “They just didn’t know we existed. . . . And even this past time, there were legislators that our folks sat down with that they were like, ‘I don’t know who you are.’ Like, you don't know about therapy? But it happened. . . . Our people were really surprised that there was a legislator that just had no idea what we did.”
TLPCA’s first real advocacy success was to adjust the details of a suicide prevention training requirement. Legislation called for 2 hours of training every 5 years. This did not coincide with the 2-year renewal cycle for LPCs in Tennessee, creating “an administrative nightmare.”
“So we went to the legislature, changed it to 4 years,” says Dr. Lee. “It was really simple, right? But we were very proud of the fact that it had two sponsors, in the House and Senate, and we kind of fixed the problem. So, from there, we spent some time just doing some technical corrections to the statutes.”
Another great success was TLPCA’s advocacy for Tennessee to join the Counseling Compact, which it did in May 2022.
Dr. Lee and the TLPCA expected more technical corrections and improvements in the 2025–2026 legislative session, but something much larger required their concentrated effort. The state Department of Health brought forward the language that would become S.B. 2227/H.B. 2539. Proponents argued the bill would create more efficient licensing by removing dysfunctional boards and reducing bureaucratic red tape, but TLPCA leaders anticipated the harm it could mean for the profession.
“We went to the Department of Health and got some, I would say, conflicting information as to what they were targeting,” says Dr. Lee. “They said that they worked hard targeting boards that had quorum issues. We did not have quorum issues. . . . And so, what we realized is that we didn’t meet any of the criteria. . . . I think our board works really well and has a good review system of files and things like that and works really closely with the administration.”
TLPCA leaders saw that dissolving the board made up of Counselors and handing licensure regulation to the commissioner of health would remove the direct participation and voice of Professional Counselors. They also feared that doing away with a dedicated licensure board may undermine public perception of the profession and its legitimacy.
“We didn't even have to ask the question of our members,” says Dr. Lee. “They know the significance of the board. Even from a professionalism aspect of it, we wanted people that knew the field to be representing our interests, right? . . . I think we’ve worked so hard to be a recognized mental health profession . . . so it just seemed like another thing that would harm that progress we’ve made.”
TLPCA had to move fast to educate legislators and mobilize members.
“These bills just come out of nowhere, right?” says Dr. Lee. “They move so fast. So, we tried to catch it in Senate. We tried to catch it there, and we couldn't do it, but we started the process of the call to action . . . and made people aware.”
The bill passed out of Senate subcommittee and committee, but legislators acknowledged there were concerns to be dealt with in the House. This told TLPCA that advocacy was working, and they continued to inform members as well as coordinate with national Counseling organizations.
“NBCC was an incredible partner with us, because you all put it out there,” says Dr. Lee. “I think it was ACES, NBCC, CACREP, I think eventually CSI might have. That made the difference: the national attention. Because even if we have 1,400 members, you all have folks that are not a member of TLPCA that have the credential, and they heard it. And we knew in the Senate that people were calling and that it was working, because I actually testified at that committee meeting.”
As the bill affected other professions as well, TLPCA found allies in the mental health field.
“We have a very strong partner with the Tennessee Marriage and Family Therapy Association,” says Dr. Lee. “They have the same lobbyist. So, we are able to work conjointly with them and so their advocacy helped as well. They had their members calling.”
TLPCA communicated with members throughout the process, and Counselors in Tennessee made their voices heard. TLPCA’s lobbyist devoted many hours talking with legislators, but Dr. Lee credits the grassroots swell with the ultimate success.
“We started working on it in the House, and the sponsor heard us and was cooperative and agreed to amend us out,” explains Dr. Lee. “They talked about how many calls they were getting and emails, and so advocacy worked for this. I mean, that’s just all I can say is that the voices were heard. We were told initially that this was the governor’s bill and that they were going to support it, period. We were not optimistic about the possibility of getting amended out, and so the voices really did it.”
Dr. Lee sees advocacy as a necessity for the Counseling profession, one with multiple levels.
“I look at advocacy two ways,” says Dr. Lee. “One is you advocate for the profession, but then the other one is that you advocate for the clients that you serve. . . . If voices can work for something like this, then they can work for potentially other bills that are going to negatively affect vulnerable populations.”
She encourages all Counselors to get involved with advocacy, and joining a state association is a great place to begin. If an organization doesn’t seem to be doing enough to justify membership, she says, that’s even more reason to get involved: “If you see a need, then try to address it.”
Ultimately, advocacy for the profession is most effective when individual Counselors make their voices heard. At the local, state, and national levels, legislators must hear from Counselors and understand the profession’s significance.
“When you join [an association], look to see if they have a day on the hill,” says Dr. Lee. “Go and visit. Go to the offices and sit down and talk to them about who you are. Go to your local people if you have the opportunity and tell them who we are. I mean, we are still a growing profession, and we still have work to do. I think it's going to take all of us to really work together to continue the growth and be supportive of both the profession and those that we serve.”
Robin Wilbourn Lee is a Professor in the Professional Counseling Program at Middle Tennessee State University, specializing in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator and the Director of the MTSU Center for Counseling and Psychological Services. She earned a doctoral degree in Counselor Education Supervision from Mississippi State University in 1997, an M.Ed. in Community Counseling, and a B.A. in Psychology from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Dr. Lee is a Licensed Professional Counselor with Mental Health Service Provider (LPC/MHSP) in Tennessee, a National Certified Counselor (NCC), and an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS). She currently serves as the Executive Director for the Tennessee Licensed Professional Counselors Association (TLPCA). Her professional activity has included multiple leadership roles for the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES), and the Tennessee Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (TACES). Dr. Lee served on the Board of Directors for the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP).
Opinions and thoughts expressed in NBCC Visions Newsletter articles belong to the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or practices of NBCC and Affiliates.