Many Californians Can’t Get Mental Health Help. Is It Too Hard to Become a Therapist?

CalMatters • By Adam Echelman • May 7, 2025

“In the Legislature, [Assembly member Corey], Jackson helps oversee the state’s licensing board for mental health providers, and he is pushing for a law that would make it easier for some out-of-state therapists to get licensed in California. But the workforce shortage requires major investments and has no easy solution, he said.

‘It reminds me of the housing crisis, the homelessness crisis. We have dug such a big hole, especially with so many retirements and people who have left the field.’

A group of social work students across the country is advocating for more graduate students to be compensated during their required internship hours, and the movement, called ‘Payment for Placements,‘ has chapters at seven California universities, including San Diego State, UCLA and UC Berkeley.

While social work master’s students are required to work at least 900 internship hours, San Diego State’s program asks its students to work 1,050 hours. For Jacqueline Guan, a student in the program, these required internships ‘should be compensated labor.’ Like Jackson, she said she quit a full-time job in order to take on an unpaid internship. ”

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