Amended in Senate May 7, 2013

Amended in Senate April 29, 2013

Senate BillNo. 243


Introduced by Senator Wyland

February 12, 2013


An act to amendbegin delete Sectionend deletebegin insert Sectionsend insert 4999.20begin insert and 4999.46end insertof the Business and Professions Code, relating to healing arts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 243, as amended, Wyland. Professional clinical counselors.

Existing law, the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of professional clinical counselors by the Board of Behavioral Sciences.begin insert Existing law requires an applicant for licensure as a professional clinical counselor, in order to qualify to take the licensure examination, to obtain supervised clinical mental health experience, including not less than 1,750 hours of direct counseling, as specified, with individuals or groups.end insert Existing lawbegin insert alsoend insert provides that professional clinical counseling does not include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the clinical counselor has completed specified training and education in addition to the minimum training and education required for licensure.

Thisbegin insert bill would permit an applicant for licensure as a professional clinical counselor, in order to qualify to take the licensure examination, to obtain his or her direct counseling experience by providing direct counseling, as specified, to individuals, groups, couples, or families. Theend insert bill wouldbegin delete insteadend deletebegin insert alsoend insert provide that professional clinical counseling does not include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the clinical counselor has completed specified training and education.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 4999.20 of the Business and Professions
2Code
is amended to read:

3

4999.20.  

(a) (1) “Professional clinical counseling” means the
4application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic
5techniques to identify and remediate cognitive, mental, and
6emotional issues, including personal growth, adjustment to
7disability, crisis intervention, and psychosocial and environmental
8problems. “Professional clinical counseling” includes conducting
9assessments for the purpose of establishing counseling goals and
10objectives to empower individuals to deal adequately with life
11situations, reduce stress, experience growth, change behavior, and
12make well-informed, rational decisions.

13(2) “Professional clinical counseling” is focused exclusively on
14the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic
15techniques for the purposes of improving mental health, and is not
16intended to capture other, nonclinical forms of counseling for the
17purposes of licensure. For purposes of this paragraph, “nonclinical”
18means nonmental health.

19(3) “Professional clinical counseling” does not include the
20assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the
21professional clinical counselor has completed all of the following
22training and education:

23(A) One of the following:

24(i) Six semester units or nine quarter units specifically focused
25on the theory and application of marriage and family therapy.

26(ii) A named specialization or emphasis area on the qualifying
27degree in marriage and family therapy; marital and family therapy;
28marriage, family, and child counseling; or couple and family
29therapy.

30(B) No less than 500 hours of documented supervised experience
31working directly with couples, families, or children.

32(C) A minimum of six hours of continuing education specific
33to marriage and family therapy, completed in each license renewal
34cycle.

P3    1(4) “Professional clinical counseling” does not include the
2provision of clinical social work services.

3(b) “Counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques”
4means the application of cognitive, affective, verbal or nonverbal,
5systemic or holistic counseling strategies that include principles
6of development, wellness, and maladjustment that reflect a
7pluralistic society. These interventions and techniques are
8specifically implemented in the context of a professional clinical
9counseling relationship and use a variety of counseling theories
10and approaches.

11(c) “Assessment” means selecting, administering, scoring, and
12interpreting tests, instruments, and other tools and methods
13designed to measure an individual’s attitudes, abilities, aptitudes,
14achievements, interests, personal characteristics, disabilities, and
15mental, emotional, and behavioral concerns and development and
16the use of methods and techniques for understanding human
17behavior in relation to coping with, adapting to, or ameliorating
18changing life situations, as part of the counseling process.
19“Assessment” shall not include the use of projective techniques
20in the assessment of personality, individually administered
21intelligence tests, neuropsychological testing, or utilization of a
22battery of three or more tests to determine the presence of
23psychosis, dementia, amnesia, cognitive impairment, or criminal
24behavior.

25(d) Professional clinical counselors shall refer clients to other
26licensed health care professionals when they identify issues beyond
27their own scope of education, training, and experience.

28begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 4999.46 of the end insertbegin insertBusiness and Professions Codeend insertbegin insert,
29as amended by Section 65 of Chapter 799 of the Statutes of 2012,
30is amended to read:end insert

31

4999.46.  

(a) To qualify for the licensure examination specified
32by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 4999.53, applicants
33shall complete clinical mental health experience under the general
34supervision of an approved supervisor as defined in Section
354999.12.

36(b) The experience shall include a minimum of 3,000 postdegree
37hours of supervised clinical mental health experience related to
38the practice of professional clinical counseling, performed over a
39period of not less than two years (104 weeks), which shall include:

40(1) Not more than 40 hours in any seven consecutive days.

P4    1(2) Not less than 1,750 hours of direct counseling with
2begin delete individuals or groupsend deletebegin insert individuals, groups, couples, or familiesend insert in
3a setting described in Section 4999.44 using a variety of
4psychotherapeutic techniques and recognized counseling
5interventions within the scope of practice of licensed professional
6clinical counselors.

7(3) Not more than 500 hours of experience providing group
8therapy or group counseling.

9(4) Not more than 250 hours of experience providing counseling
10or crisis counseling on the telephone.

11(5) Not less than 150 hours of clinical experience in a hospital
12or community mental health setting, as defined in Section 1820 of
13Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations.

14(6) Not more than a combined total of 1,250 hours of experience
15in the following related activities:

16(A) Direct supervisor contact.

17(B) Client centered advocacy.

18(C) Not more than 250 hours of experience administering tests
19and evaluating psychological tests of clients, writing clinical
20reports, writing progress notes, or writing process notes.

21(D) Not more than 250 hours of verified attendance at
22workshops, training sessions, or conferences directly related to
23professional clinical counseling that are approved by the applicant’s
24supervisor.

25(c) No hours of clinical mental health experience may be gained
26more than six years prior to the date the application for examination
27eligibility was filed.

28(d) An applicant shall register with the board as an intern in
29order to be credited for postdegree hours of experience toward
30licensure. Postdegree hours of experience shall be credited toward
31licensure, provided that the applicant applies for intern registration
32within 90 days of the granting of the qualifying degree and is
33registered as an intern by the board.

34(e) All applicants and interns shall be at all times under the
35supervision of a supervisor who shall be responsible for ensuring
36that the extent, kind, and quality of counseling performed is
37consistent with the training and experience of the person being
38supervised, and who shall be responsible to the board for
39compliance with all laws, rules, and regulations governing the
40practice of professional clinical counseling.

P5    1(f) Experience obtained under the supervision of a spouse or
2relative by blood or marriage shall not be credited toward the
3required hours of supervised experience. Experience obtained
4under the supervision of a supervisor with whom the applicant has
5had or currently has a personal, professional, or business
6relationship that undermines the authority or effectiveness of the
7supervision shall not be credited toward the required hours of
8supervised experience.

9(g) Supervision shall include at least one hour of direct
10supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited
11in each work setting.

12(1) No more than five hours of supervision, whether individual
13or group, shall be credited during any single week.

14(2) An intern shall receive at least one additional hour of direct
15supervisor contact for every week in which more than 10 hours of
16face-to-face psychotherapy is performed in each setting in which
17experience is gained.

18(3) For purposes of this section, “one hour of direct supervisor
19contact” means one hour of face-to-face contact on an individual
20basis or two hours of face-to-face contact in a group of not more
21than eight persons in segments lasting no less than one continuous
22hour.

23(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3), an intern working in a
24governmental entity, a school, a college, or a university, or an
25institution that is both nonprofit and charitable, may obtain the
26required weekly direct supervisor contact via two-way, real-time
27videoconferencing. The supervisor shall be responsible for ensuring
28that client confidentiality is upheld.

29(h) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2014.



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