California Coalition for Counselor Licensure

California Passes Counselor Licensure Law

With Gov. Schwarzenegger's signature on SB 788, California became the final state to achieve licensure for mental health counselors.

AMHCA Lauds CCCL's Long Fight for Counselor Licensure 11/03/09

By Julie A. Clements, JD, AMHCA Director of Legislative Affairs

On Oct. 11, with Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signature becoming affixed to SB 788, California became the final state to achieve licensure for mental health counselors, to be known in California as Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCCs). A few days later, Dean Porter, president of the California Coalition for Counselor Licensure (CCCL), talked with me about this extraordinary, and once highly elusive, achievement for the mental health counseling profession.

Though California has more than 30,000 Professional Clinical Counselors, CCCL did not succeed the first time it pursued licensure of Professional Clinical Counselors. Porter says one of CCCL’s greatest obstacles to achieving licensure was making the case that “Professional Clinical Counselors represent a distinct profession, offering services not provided by LMFTs.” Since its inception in 2002, CCCL has returned to the California legislature on three different occasions, bringing the first licensure bill in 2005, a second in 2007, and a third and final bill in 2009.

California Achieves Counselor Licensure

An interview with Dean Porter by Marilyn Maze

The California Coalition for Counselor Licensure (CCCL) joyfully announced passage of licensure legislation in October, making California the 50th state to have counselor licensure. Michelle Beese, chair of NCDA's National Career Development Month, reported that she is thrilled with the passing of Ca Senate Bill 788! "Even though it does not affect my work, I have been involved with making it happen and I believe it is essential for the field of career development. It strengthens our credibility in the field of counseling!"

It seems strange that the state that has always been on the forefront of social phenomenon would be the last state to license professional counselors. According to Dean Porter, President of CCCL, California was first to enact licensure in the 1960's, but it chose then to license Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) in order to protect consumers. For years, Californians did not notice the lack of licensure for other types of counselors because MFT's have filled a variety of roles. The absence of licensure for other types of counselor was highlighted by licensed professional counselors who moved into the state and began to ask why they could not be licensed in California.

Counseling profession reaches the big 5-0