11/26/2025
Supporting Our Healthcare Partners: Nursing, Counseling and Social Work Belong in Professional Degree Status
As mental health providers, we know that the work of nurses, social workers, counselors, and therapists is absolutely essential to the health and wellbeing of our communities. Yet the Department of Education is proposing to exclude nursing, social work, counseling and therapy, public health, and occupational health degrees from its definition of "professional degrees"—a change that would significantly limit the federal loans available to students pursuing advanced training in these critical fields.
This matters to mental health. These professionals are our colleagues in psychiatric hospitals, community mental health centers, crisis services, and integrated care teams. They are leaders in our field. Limiting access to education for these professions threatens the entire mental health workforce pipeline at a time when we're already facing critical shortages.
Two petitions are actively working to reverse this decision:
🔗 American Nurses Association petition: https://www.apna.org/news/nursing-as-a-professional-degree/
🔗 Broader coalition petition (includes social workers, counselors, educators, and allied health professionals): https://www.change.org/p/preserve-professional-status-of-nurses-social-workers-counselors-educators-and-others
Our strength as a mental health community depends on strong partnerships across disciplines. If you support nursing, social work, counseling, public health, and occupational health as vital professional fields, we encourage you to sign and share. Let's stand together for the professionals who stand with us.
Preserve professional status of nurses, social workers, counselors, educators and others