Bill to create bachelor-level behavioral health practitioners, internships and scholarships wins broad backing at committee hearing

Senate Bill 165, sponsored by Sen. Rochelle Winn, would create a new “behavioral health and wellness practitioner” bachelor’s degree and associated licensing, establish a state-supported internship pipeline for child psychologists and authorize scholarships to grow Nevada’s children's behavioral-health workforce. Proponents told the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor the changes are designed to increase prevention-oriented services in schools and communities and to retain homegrown clinicians.

“This bill will change the landscape for how we address the challenges we face as a state around children's mental health,” Sen. Winn told the committee, outlining a “bidirectional” strategy that pairs a prevention-focused bachelor’s workforce with investments to grow specialist doctoral training and in-state internships.

What the bill would create: Proponents described three linked elements. First, a four-year bachelor’s program and a new license for behavioral health and wellness practitioners who would deliver promotion, prevention and brief interventions (but not diagnoses or high-intensity therapy). Second, an in-state accredited internship program for doctoral psychologists to prevent the current outflow of trainees who must leave Nevada to complete APA-accredited internships. Third, scholarship supports and supervised-practice pathways intended to encourage graduates to remain and practice in Nevada.

Support and examples: The measure drew wide support from higher-education institutions (UNLV, UNR, Great Basin College and NSHE), hospital systems (Sunrise Children’s Hospital, Intermountain Health, Dignity Health Saint Rose Dominican), school districts (Clark County School District), county officials and advocacy groups (Children’s Advocacy Alliance, NAMI Nevada, Boys Town). The Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health described an Oregon model that already places bachelor’s-level specialists in schools and community settings; Courtney Westling of Ballmer said Oregon students in the program are already doing supervised practicum in schools and crisis lines.

Students and workforce data: Testimony included quantitative details proponents said informed the design. Michelle Paul of UNLV said Nevada currently has no APA-accredited child psychology internships and that existing doctoral programs graduate roughly 20 psychologists per year, many of whom leave the state for training. Proponents estimated a potential yield of hundreds of bachelor’s-level practitioners if even a portion of undergraduate psychology majors shift into the authorized pathway — for example, UNLV alone has about 2,000 undergraduate psychology majors and proponents said a 25% conversion could yield roughly 500 graduates over time. Proponents said supervision capacity and internship slots would be phased up in parallel (they cited a supervisory pipeline target and an initial internship target in the low double-digits).

Opposition and neutral concerns: The Nevada Association of Health Plans said it supports the goal of more behavioral-health resources but asked for clarity on how the new license would intersect with existing services (peer support, case management, community health workers) and warned of possible duplication and increased utilization if services overlap. The Nevada Division of Insurance and the Social Work Board testified neutral and said they would work with sponsors on federal funding/defrayal questions and technical rule-making; the Division of Insurance provided fiscal estimates that the sponsor and stakeholders said they would review.

Why proponents say it matters: Speakers from school districts and nonprofits said a prevention-oriented bachelor’s workforce and more in-state internship capacity could reduce emergency-room visits, juvenile-justice involvement and long waits for assessment by allowing earlier identification and brief interventions. Students and doctoral candidates told the committee that without accredited, in-state internship slots many will leave Nevada for training and not return.

Next steps: Sponsors said they expect to refine technical language, discuss funding mechanisms (scholarships, grant and philanthropic support, and potential federal matching issues) and work with insurers and licensing boards to finalize scopes of practice and supervision requirements.

Ending: Committee members expressed general support and asked technical questions about scope, fees, advisory-group sunset, and federal defrayal. Proponents and university partners pledged to continue stakeholder discussions on funding, program structure and regulatory details.