Bill Text: CA SB243 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Professional clinical counselors.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-01 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 465, Statutes of 2013. [SB243 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB243-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 243	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  465
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 1, 2013
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 1, 2013
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 30, 2013
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 26, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 22, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 7, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 29, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wyland

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2013

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


	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.


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.