Teletherapy has been a lifeline during the pandemic, but as mental health professionals shift our work online, we have run into licensing laws that impede us in meeting the growing demand for mental health services. In fact, these outdated laws are actively undermining our ability to help.

In over a decade of working as a mental health therapist in Northern Virginia, I have worked with clients who live or work throughout the Washington metropolitan area. It is not uncommon for clients to travel around the Beltway to seek the services of a professional who either has a specialty they are seeking, takes their insurance, has an opening, or is conveniently located near their work. In “normal” times, this is not a problem: As long as clients come to me in Virginia, where I am licensed, I may work with them. But during the pandemic, I am only seeing clients online, and Washington, D.C., severely restricts my ability to talk online with its residents at their homes without a D.C. license.