Laura Pritchard-Compton was 34 and had already been working in nonprofit management and consulting for just over a decade when she enrolled in graduate school to become a therapist. It was a second career, and pursuing it meant balancing her education with the financial responsibilities of supporting her family.
Rather than completing the traditional two-year program, Pritchard-Compton took four years to earn her degree. But graduation didn’t mean she could immediately begin practicing independently. She still had to complete thousands of hours of supervised clinical experience before she could become fully licensed.
In Virginia, therapists pursuing licensure must log about 3,000 hours of supervised work experience under a fully licensed professional.
Depending on their chosen specialty and licensing path, therapists in training may have to pay out of pocket for supervision. Because they aren’t fully licensed, they also earn less than independently licensed therapists, making those additional costs difficult to manage.
Pritchard-Compton, who is originally from the Southwest Virginia town of St. Paul, and her husband lived in Atlanta before moving to Abingdon. They wanted to raise their children in the region while Pritchard-Compton pursued her goal of becoming a licensed couples and sex therapist. But finding a supervisor who could oversee her required hours proved difficult. Her only option was a supervisor based in Northern Virginia, and she would have to pay for the supervision herself.
Then a friend told her about a program that could help cover those expenses. Pritchard-Compton applied for Boost, a Virginia Health Care Foundation program funded by the General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and private donors. The program helps eligible therapists pay for supervision as they work toward licensure.
Boost saved Pritchard-Compton $12,000 over two years, she said — about $500 a month, or roughly the cost of a car payment. Adding that expense to the costs of raising two young children would have caused additional financial strain, she said.
“It would have been a burden on my family. My kids would have gone without certain things,” Pritchard-Compton said. “It just allowed us to breathe easily.”
The Virginia Health Care Foundation recently received additional funding from the Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia to expand Boost to participants in Grayson, Russell, Smyth and Washington counties, according to Rachel Rees, the foundation’s CEO.
Based in Abingdon, the Wellspring Foundation is a philanthropic organization that works to improve health and well-being, education and workforce development in Southwest Virginia. It committed $150,000 to help build the region’s behavioral health workforce through Virginia Health Care Foundation programs.
[Disclosure: Wellspring is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Applicants earn about $50,000, carry more than twice that in student loans
Boost started as a pilot initiative under the Youngkin administration in 2022, Rees said. Then in 2023 the General Assembly expanded it to allow licensed marriage and family therapists to receive payment for supervisory hours, joining licensed clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors.
More than 545 Virginians have used Boost to help pay for supervision. In Southwest and Southside Virginia, 64 people have enrolled in the program, and 25 have earned their licenses. The program receives about 85 to 90 new applications each quarter.
“It’s a life-changing program,” Rees said. “It helps them realize their dream of becoming licensed, which they’re working really hard towards and providing care in their community.”
Applicants earn an average salary of about $50,000 to $55,000 and carry an average debt load of about $119,000, Rees said.
Trinette Randolph, Boost’s program manager, works with applicants who struggle to pay for supervision when unexpected expenses, such as car repairs, take priority. Some pause their training until they can afford to resume again, Randolph said.
Many applicants are parents like Pritchard-Compton. Some plan to work part time while completing their supervision hours, but Boost has helped participants complete their training with fewer breaks and disruptions, Randolph said.
Randolph reviews Boost applications, which include a personal statement. Many applicants grew up in Virginia and want to return to the communities where they were raised, she said.
“They’re highly motivated to pursue licensure,” Randolph said.
A path to a career in behavioral health
Before enrolling in graduate school, Pritchard-Compton worked as a consultant for several different nonprofit organizations. She began considering a career in the behavioral health field after attending therapy with her husband and on her own. Through that experience, she noticed that her “moments of joy had a pattern,” she said.
“What made me really come alive was meaningful, deep discussion with people one-on-one or in small groups, sometimes intersecting with religion, sex, relationships,” Pritchard-Compton said, adding that her undergraduate degree was in religious studies from the University of Virginia.
Pritchard-Compton said she has loved becoming a therapist and encourages others pursuing licensure to apply for Boost.
The application process required her to provide financial information, details about her supervisor and a personal essay. She found the process easy to navigate, she said.
Boost is open to master’s-level social workers, counselors and marriage and family therapists who have applied to the Virginia Department of Health Professions to begin supervised practice. The program also accepts certain professionals who already hold licenses from the department and are completing additional supervised hours, according to its guidelines.
The program gives preference to people just beginning the licensure process but also considers applicants who have completed no more than 60% of their required supervision hours, according to the Boost participant guidelines.
People interested in applying can find more information on the Virginia Health Care Foundation’s website.
