SECTIONS 4999.20-4999.24 - California Statutes

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE

SECTION 4999.20-4999.24

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.
"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
additional training and education, beyond the minimum training and
education required for licensure:
(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.

4999.22. (a) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent qualified
persons from doing work of a psychosocial nature consistent with the
standards and ethics of their respective professions. However, these
qualified persons shall not hold themselves out to the public by any
title or description of services incorporating the words "licensed
professional clinical counselor" and shall not state that they are
licensed to practice professional clinical counseling, unless they
are otherwise licensed to provide professional clinical counseling
services.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to constrict,
limit, or withdraw provisions of the Medical Practice Act, the
Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, the Nursing Practice Act, the
Psychology Licensing Law, or the Marriage and Family Therapy
licensing laws.
(c) This chapter shall not apply to any priest, rabbi, or minister
of the gospel of any religious denomination who performs counseling
services as part of his or her pastoral or professional duties, or to
any person who is admitted to practice law in this state, or who is
licensed to practice medicine, who provides counseling services as
part of his or her professional practice.
(d) This chapter shall not apply to an employee of a governmental
entity or a school, college, or university, or of an institution both
nonprofit and charitable, if his or her practice is performed solely
under the supervision of the entity, school, college, university, or
institution by which he or she is employed, and if he or she
performs those functions as part of the position for which he or she
is employed.
(e) All persons registered as interns or licensed under this
chapter shall not be exempt from this chapter or the jurisdiction of
the board.

4999.24. Nothing in this chapter shall restrict or prevent
activities of a psychotherapeutic or counseling nature on the part of
persons employed by accredited or state-approved academic
institutions, public schools, government agencies, or nonprofit
institutions engaged in the training of graduate students or clinical
counselor trainees pursuing a course of study leading to a degree
that qualifies for professional clinical counselor licensure at an
accredited or state-approved college or university, or working in a
recognized training program, provided that these activities and
services constitute a part of a supervised course of study and that
those persons are designated by a title such as "clinical counselor
trainee" or other title clearly indicating the training status
appropriate to the level of training.