The Licensing Racket: Therapist Licensing, Discipline, and Access to Care – An Interview with Rebecca Haw Allensworth
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie VernoyShow Notes
The Licensing Racket: Therapist Licensing, Discipline, and Access to Care – An Interview with Rebecca Haw Allensworth
Who does licensing protect - the public or the profession?
Curt and Katie talk with Rebecca Haw Allensworth, law professor and author of The Licensing Racket, about how professional licensing boards actually function, and what that means for therapists, discipline, and access to care.
After attending licensing board meetings across professions and states, Rebecca identified a troubling pattern: entry requirements that continually “ratchet up,” while discipline decisions can lean toward giving professionals the benefit of the doubt. The result? Higher barriers to entry, workforce shortages, and inconsistent public protection.
This episode explores therapist licensing reform, self-regulation, professional turf wars, board funding structures, and the tension between prestige, professional identity, and public safety.
About Our Guest:Rebecca Haw Allensworth is the David Daniels Allen Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School and author of The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work and Why It Goes Wrong. Her research focuses on antitrust and professional licensing and has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Key Takeaways: • Why licensing requirements tend to increase over time • How self-regulation can create blind spots in discipline • The impact of licensing barriers on workforce shortages and access to care • Why complaints about unlicensed practice may be prioritized over client complaints • How professional identity and funding structures shape board decisions
Full show notes and resources: mtsgpodcast.com
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