Questions About Supervision for Grandparenting
Please note that this section has been updated as of August 18, 2010 to include recent clarifications from the Board of Behavioral Sciences.
1. What about counselors who have already received post-degree supervision?
These counselors will submit documentation of their supervision with their application to the BBS.
2. What if I am unable to provide documentation of my supervision?
If your former supervisor cannot be located or is deceased, you may have another person who is or was employed by the same agency provide verification of your hours.
3. If I have not already received post-degree supervision, can I do it now?
Counselors who have not received post-degree supervision may earn the 1,700 hours between now and application for grandparenting, and then complete any additional hours needed in the 12 months allowed for completion of deficiencies. The BBS will not oversee supervision for grandparenting except as described in question 4 below.
4. Do I need to register with the BBS as an LPCC Intern in order to earn supervised hours?
The answer to this question depends on the work setting and the type of counseling that is being delivered. Licensure or registration as an intern is necessary to provide psychotherapy, unless the setting is “exempt.”
Exempt setting: An “exempt” setting is defined by law as a school, college, university, governmental entity, or an entity that is both nonprofit AND charitable.
- Clinical services (psychotherapy) may be provided and supervised hours earned in exempt settings without intern registration.
Non-exempt setting: Examples of “non-exempt” settings are private practices, for-profit hospitals, businesses, organizations or entities that are nonprofit but NOT charitable.
Because psychotherapy is regulated by the BBS, the practice of psychotherapy by an unlicensed or unregistered person in a non-exempt setting is considered unprofessional conduct and is subject to citation, fine, possible criminal prosecution and denial of future applications to the Board.
- Clinical services (psychotherapy) may not be provided in a “non-exempt” setting until registration as an intern has been issued by the Board, nor will hours be counted toward the supervision requirement.
- Non-clinical services, such as career counseling, may be provided without registration as an intern, and supervised hours may be earned in a non-exempt setting.
5. Are there specifications for the 1,700 hours of supervised practice?
If counselors are not required to register as an intern, as specified in question 4 above, counselors and supervisors can be guided by the LPCC bill’s grandparenting language:
Section 4999.54. (a)(1)(C) Has at least two years, full-time or the equivalent, of post-degree counseling experience, that includes at least 1,700 hours of experience in a clinical setting supervised by a licensed marriage and family therapist, a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed psychologist, a licensed physician and surgeon specializing in psychiatry, or a master’s level counselor or therapist who is certified by a national certifying or registering organization, including, but not limited to, the National Board for Certified Counselors or the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.
6. What is considered to be a clinical setting?
Examples of a clinical setting might be a government or non-profit agency, a school or a private practice that provides mental health counseling or psychotherapy.
7. How is it that I can receive supervised hours for providing non-clinical counseling services, but I must deliver them in a clinical setting?
The bill language for grandparenting does not specify the type of supervised counseling services, but it does specify that such hours must be gained in a clinical setting.
8. Who can be a supervisor for the hours required for grandparenting?
A supervisor is a mental health professional who will consult with the counselor on his or her client cases on a weekly basis. This is not necessarily the person to whom the counselor reports in the organization. This person does not necessarily work at the counselor’s site or even within the same organization. The mental health license or certification that a supervisor must hold in named in question 5 above. After grandparenting the requirements for supervision and for supervisors will become more stringent.
9. How do counselors record their hours to meet the grandparenting requirement?
A form for the supervisor to sign will be included in the LPCC application packet, which will be available from the BBS no sooner than December 2010.
10. What are the requirements to register as an intern?
Before an intern registration will be issued, applicants must have completed all the coursework required for intern registration found in Section 4999.32 of the LPCC bill (refer to “Before 2012” or “Full Text of the Bill” on the home page of this website). The “Before 2012” requirements do not allow some of the flexibility found in the grandparenting language of the bill.
11. What employment and practice requirements are LPCC interns required to follow?
Sections 4999.44, 4999.45 and 4999.47 of the LPCC bill mandate the following for interns:
- A person shall not be employed or volunteer in a private practice to perform clinical work until registered as an intern.
- Experience may be gained by the intern solely as part of the position for which the intern volunteers or is employed.
- An intern shall inform each client prior to performing any professional services that he or she is unlicensed and under supervision.
- Interns shall not perform services as an independent contractor; shall not receive direct payments from patients or clients, and shall have no proprietary interest in the employer's business.
- Interns shall only perform services at the place where their employer regularly conducts business and services, which may include other locations, as long as the services are performed under the direction and control of the employer and supervisor in compliance with the laws and regulations pertaining to supervision.
- A non-exempt setting in which an intern is gaining hours must lawfully and regularly provide mental health counseling or psychotherapy services and provide oversight to ensure that the intern’s work meets the experience and supervision requirements and is within the profession’s scope of practice.
12. When can I register as an intern?
The Board will begin accepting applications for LPCC Intern registration after January 1, 2011. Please be advised that due to budget and staffing constraints, an approximate four-month application processing time is anticipated, although this will depend on the number of applications received.
