Amidst an ongoing and worsening mental health crisis in New York State, Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken action that will deeply impact the availability of affordable mental health services for constituents across the state.  

Bill A1171A passed the State Legislature in 2022 with widespread support. The bill “requires blanket  health insurance policies to provide coverage for outpatient treatment by mental health practitioners.” 

Mental health practitioners in New York State encompass four types of practitioners, all licensed under Article 163 of the Education law to provide psychotherapy services.  These professions are licensed creative arts therapists (LCAT), licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists and licensed psychoanalysts. The requirements for education, supervised post-graduate practice and continuing education are consistent across the board.  

Despite LCATs representing 14 percent of licensed mental health practitioners included in this bill, they were eliminated from the bill by the governor at the very last moment.  

The expansion of coverage for LCATs to all blanket insurance plans is critical for New Yorkers who are now at risk of losing their mental health provider when they change jobs or get new insurance. 

Psychotherapy sessions provided by LCATs are currently covered by several large insurance  companies, including Cigna, United Health Care, and Aetna. In addition, LCATs are covered by Healthfirst NY—an Affordable Care Act plan. (One of the governor’s arguments for the removal of  LCATs was fear of an increased cost to the state, which is inaccurate).  

Licensed creative arts therapists are masters-level licensed mental health practitioners who are  “trained in psychotherapy and in specific arts disciplines, which may include dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, poetry therapy and art therapy. They have training in areas that include clinical practice and human development as well as the use of the creative arts to provide appropriate [psychotherapy] services” (from NYS Office of Professions website).  

Creative arts therapies are particularly effective for trauma treatment and for use with people  struggling to benefit from talk therapy interventions—including children, teenagers and those with severe psychiatric needs.  

This last-minute decision will have a significant and highly detrimental impact on the  availability of affordable mental health services across New York State. 

The above was contributed by the New York Art Therapy Association (NYATA) and the LCAT Advocacy Coalition. 

NYATA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional and educational organization dedicated to the growth and development of the art therapy profession. The LCAT Advocacy Coalition was started last November after LCATs were excluded from previous bills. See next week’s River Reporter for more on the issue.

Learn more about the art therapy profession at www.nyarttherapy.org/.