Rep. Mike Petersen. File photo.
SALT LAKE CITY — Taking time away from ongoing work during the 2023 Utah legislative session, Representative Mike Petersen, who represents the northern part of Cache County was our guest this past week on KVNU’s For the People program.
A bill (HB 228 Unprofessional Conduct Amendment) sponsored by Petersen started out with controversy, but the bill wrapped up with lots of endorsements and signed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox. Petersen talked about the process.
“In a former life I was a counselor, I was a counselor at Logan High School and I spent time at Utah County working as a counselor, and I was aware that in 2019, then-Governor Herbert put into…the Division of Occupational Licensing, put in the rule something they called a ban on conversion therapy,” Petersen explained.
He said, essentially, what it said was that patients who were minors could not get help from their counselors if they were trying to change or reduce behaviors or feelings that have to do with sexual identity or gender confusion.
“And I’ve spoke with many of my former colleagues who have said it’s caused some issues for them. I know many who have stopped practicing, I know those who have moved away because the language was just so stifling, so chilling for them that they don’t know ‘what does that mean, what does my counseling look like then, if I can’t talk about those kinds of things that are weighing on a kids mind.’”
Over the last summer Petersen learned that one of his colleagues, Representative Brady Brammer (R-Pleasant Grove) had been talking about this issue.
So, for the next few months they worked on the bill. He said everyone seemed to coalesce around the idea that counselors could have honest discussions with their clients without fear of losing their license.