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SB-243 Professional clinical counselors.(2013-2014)

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Senate Bill No. 243
CHAPTER 465

An act to amend Section 4999.20 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to healing arts.

[ Approved by Governor  October 01, 2013. Filed with Secretary of State  October 01, 2013. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 243, 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. Existing law defines professional clinical counseling, in part, as the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques to identify and remediate specified problems. Existing law also 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.
This bill would instead 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. The bill would expand the definition of professional clinical counseling to include the use, application, and integration of specified coursework and training.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

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

4999.20.
 (a) (1) “Professional clinical counseling” means the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques to identify and remediate cognitive, mental, and emotional issues, including personal growth, adjustment to disability, crisis intervention, and psychosocial and environmental problems, and the use, application, and integration of the coursework and training required by Sections 4999.32 and 4999.33. “Professional clinical counseling” includes conducting assessments for the purpose of establishing counseling goals and objectives to empower individuals to deal adequately with life situations, reduce stress, experience growth, change behavior, and make well-informed, rational decisions.
(2) “Professional clinical counseling” is focused exclusively on the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques for the purposes of improving mental health, and is not intended to capture other, nonclinical forms of counseling for the purposes of licensure. For purposes of this paragraph, “nonclinical” means nonmental health.
(3) “Professional clinical counseling” does not include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the professional clinical counselor has completed all of the following training and education:
(A) One of the following:
(i) Six semester units or nine quarter units specifically focused on the theory and application of marriage and family therapy.
(ii) A named specialization or emphasis area on the qualifying degree in marriage and family therapy; marital and family therapy; marriage, family, and child counseling; or couple and family therapy.
(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, completed in each license renewal cycle.
(4) “Professional clinical counseling” does not include the provision of clinical social work services.
(b) “Counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques” means the application of cognitive, affective, verbal or nonverbal, systemic or holistic counseling strategies that include principles of development, wellness, and maladjustment that reflect a pluralistic society. These interventions and techniques are specifically implemented in the context of a professional clinical counseling relationship and use a variety of counseling theories and approaches.
(c) “Assessment” means selecting, administering, scoring, and interpreting tests, instruments, and other tools and methods designed to measure an individual’s attitudes, abilities, aptitudes, achievements, interests, personal characteristics, disabilities, and mental, emotional, and behavioral concerns and development and the use of methods and techniques for understanding human behavior in relation to coping with, adapting to, or ameliorating changing life situations, as part of the counseling process. “Assessment” shall not include the use of projective techniques in the assessment of personality, individually administered intelligence tests, neuropsychological testing, or utilization of a battery of three or more tests to determine the presence of psychosis, dementia, amnesia, cognitive impairment, or criminal behavior.
(d) Professional clinical counselors shall refer clients to other licensed health care professionals when they identify issues beyond their own scope of education, training, and experience.