BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 363|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 363
Author: Emmerson (R)
Amended: 4/25/11
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON DEV. COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/11/11
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Negrete McLeod,
Vargas, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Marriage and family therapists
SOURCE : Board of Behavioral Sciences
DIGEST : This bill allows marriage and family therapist
trainees to continue counseling clients while not enrolled
in a practicum if the lapse in enrollment is less than 90
days, and if that period is immediately preceded and
immediately followed by enrollment in a practicum course;
limits the number of client-centered advocacy hours for a
marriage and family therapist intern to 500 hours; and
allows professional clinical counselors to supervise
marriage and family therapist interns if they meet
additional training and education requirements to treat
couples and families.
ANALYSIS :
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Existing law:
1. Licenses and regulates the practice of marriage and
family therapists (MFTs), licensed educational
psychologists (LEPs), and licensed clinical social
workers (LCSWs) by the Board of Behavioral Sciences
(BBS) within the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Beginning January 1, 2012, the BBS will additionally
license professional clinical counselors (LPCCs).
2. Establishes education requirements for MFT licensure,
including a requirement for a practicum completed by an
MFT intern that involves certain types and hours of
experience, and specifies that not more than a combined
total of 1,250 of experience may be gained in the
following:
A. Direct supervisor contact.
B. Professional enrichment activities, including
workshops, seminars, training sessions, conferences,
or personal psychotherapy, as specified.
C. Client centered advocacy, generally defined as
activities, related to obtaining or providing
services and supports for clients.
3. Authorizes MFT interns and trainees to perform
counseling activities and services in certain work
settings; and requires that a trainee or intern shall at
all times be under the supervision of a supervisor.
A. Requires the supervisor to be responsible for
ensuring that the counseling performed is consistent
with the training and experience of the person being
supervised, requires the supervisor to be responsible
to the BBS for compliance with all laws, rules, and
regulations governing the practice of marriage and
family therapy.
B. Defines "supervisor" to include an MFT, LCSW,
licensed psychologist, or licensed physician
certified in psychiatry.
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4. Authorizes trainees to gain hours of experience outside
the required practicum under certain conditions, but
requires trainees who gain experience outside the
required practicum to be enrolled in a practicum in
order to counsel clients.
5. Prohibits a LPCC from engaging in the assessment or
treatment of couples or families unless the LPCC meets
additional training and education requirements beyond
that required for licensure, including:
A. Six semester units or nine quarter units in
marriage and family therapy or a specialization in
marriage and family therapy, as specified.
B. No less than 500 hours of documented supervised
experience working directly with couples, families or
children.
C. A minimum of six hours of continuing education
specific to marriage and family therapy in each
license renewal cycle.
This bill:
1. Provides that an MFT trainee may also counsel clients
while not enrolled in a practicum if the period of
lapsed enrollment is less than 90 calendar days, and if
that period is immediately preceded and immediately
followed by enrollment in a practicum course.
2. Recasts the provisions of Existing Law #2, above, to
instead provide that an MFT intern practicum must
involve certain types and hours of experience, and
specifies that not more than a combined total of 1,000
hours of experience may be gained in the following:
A. Direct supervisor contact.
B. Professional enrichment activities, including
workshops, seminars, training sessions, conferences,
or personal psychotherapy, as specified.
C. Limits to 500 hours, the number of experience
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hours that may be gained from client-centered
advocacy, administering and evaluating psychological
tests, and writing clinical reports and notes.
3. Authorizes an LPCC to act as a supervisor of a MFT
intern or trainee if he/she meets the additional
training and education requirements required for a LPCC
to counsel couples or families.
4. Makes technical cleanup, and conforming changes.
Background
Revisions made in the MFT law by SB 33 (Correa), Chapter
26, Statutes of 2009, require MFT trainees to be enrolled
in a practicum course while counseling clients. According
to BBS, a number of schools have voiced concern on how the
practicum course requirement would operate during
intersession and summer break when students may not be able
to enroll in a practicum course. This could create
continuity of care issues when the trainee goes on summer
break leaving the client with another practitioner or even
without care. Additionally, there are barriers to
licensure if the trainee is not able to gain direct client
hours due to not being enrolled in practicum. Therefore,
allowing a trainee to continue counseling clients while not
enrolled in a practicum if that lapse in enrollment is less
than 45 days will help address these concerns, according to
the BBS.
BBS further indicates that under current law, the number of
client-centered advocacy hours that a marriage and family
therapist intern can obtain is only limited by the amount
of direct supervisor contact hours acquired by the intern.
For example, if an intern received the minimum number of
direct supervisor contact hours for 104 weeks, that
individual could potentially receive credit for 1,146 hours
for client-centered advocacy. The BBS believes that the
majority of the MFT intern's experience hours should be
gained through a variety of training activities other than
client-centered advocacy, therefore, the bill proposes to
limit the client centered advocacy allowed for an MFT
intern to 500 hours.
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Currently, BBS states, licensed professional clinical
counselors are not allowed to supervise marriage and family
therapist interns. However, the law authorizes all other
licensees of the BBS to supervise these interns.
Therefore, the bill authorizes LPCCs to supervise marriage
and family therapist interns if they meet additional
training and education requirements to treat couples and
families.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/2/11)
Board of Behavioral Sciences (source)
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/2/11)
California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical
Counselors
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The American Association for
Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT-CA) argues the bill
ensures proper university supervision for graduate MFT
students who are seeking clients and expands the pool of
eligible supervisors for MFT interns and trainees to
include LPCCs who meet state requirements to assist and
treat couples and families.
AAMFT-CA further argues that the Board worked with graduate
programs over two years to revise the MFT curriculum.
Those changes, made in SB 33 in 2009, did not increase the
academic unit requirement for practicum, but instead
included a requirement that students must be enrolled in a
practicum course while seeing clients. This allowed
practicum hours to be expanded without adding mandatory
units to the curriculum, and at the same time meeting the
public- protection need for trainees to receive adequate
university oversight of their work. AAMFT-CA suggests that
the bill's 45-day allowance for academic breaks, ensures
that client care is not unduly impacted by breaks between
academic terms, while maintaining appropriate school
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oversight for trainees.
AFMFT-CA argues that it is fully appropriate to require
LPCCs to complete specific coursework and supervised
experience in order to supervise MFT interns and trainees
since MFT interns and trainees under supervision are likely
to be working with couples and families. To remove this
requirement would allow LPCCs to supervise an activity
(assessing or treating couples or families) that the
supervisor is legally prohibited from conducting, which
makes no sense according to AAMFT-CA. Proponents further
suggest that adding a previously-unrecognized category of
supervisors, would expand the opportunities for MFT interns
to receive supervision, while ensuring that the supervisors
are appropriately qualified.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Association of
Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) opposes the
limitations which would allow a LPCC to supervise an MFT
intern only if the supervisor meets additional education
and training requirements. CAMFT opposes the limitations,
especially for persons who will be "grand-parented" into
the LPCC profession. CAMFT indicates it would be willing
to accept those limitations if they are applicable to those
persons who begin graduate study on or after January 1,
2012.
CTW:mw 5/2/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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