One Signature from Mental Health Counselor Licensure in California, the Fiftieth State
The mental health counseling profession has come one signature away from achieving licensure in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. On September 10, 2009, the California Senate passed SB 788, a bill allowing for the licensure of mental health counselors in California. SB 788 now awaits signature by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, so it may be enacted into law.
9/11/2009
Alexandria, VA - September 11, 2009 - The mental health counseling profession has come one signature away from achieving licensure in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. On September 10, 2009, the California Senate passed SB 788, a bill allowing for the licensure of mental health counselors in California, with a 26-1 vote. This follows a 70-5 vote in the California Assembly, two days earlier, on September 8, 2009. The California Coalition for Counseling Licensure (CCCL) has actively worked for licensure of mental health counselors, to be known in California as licensed professional clinical counselors (LPCCs). The fruits of the Coalitionís work are being borne. SB 788 now awaits signature by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, so it may be enacted into law. AMHCA has assisted the CCCL in its lobbying efforts, producing letters in support of SB 788 to Assembly and Senate Business and Professions Committee chairs and members. AMHCA is grateful for the work CCCL has done, and continues to do, to accomplish mental health counselor licensure in California.
SB 788 as passed would authorize the Board of Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Consumer Affairs to begin accepting applications for licensure examination eligibility on January 1, 2012 and to issue licenses to individuals meeting certain criteria who apply between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011. SB 788 adds two LPCCs, to be appointed by Californiaís Governor, to the Board of Behavioral Sciences, which is already comprised of two licensed clinical social workers, a licensed educational psychologist, and two licensed marriage and family therapists. Following compromises with other mental health professionals, SB 788 now defines "professional clinical counseling" as being focused exclusively on the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques for the purposes of improving mental health. Under SB 788, the LPCC profession does not include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the LPCC has completed additional training and education beyond the minimum education and training required for LPCC licensure.