Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 52, December 24, 2024
(a) An
applicant for licensure as a mental health counselor shall meet the experience
requirement for licensure as a mental health counselor by submitting sufficient
documentation of having completed a supervised experience of at least 3,000
clock hours providing mental health counseling in a setting acceptable to the
department, all in accordance with the requirements of this section. Not less
than 1,500 clock hours of such required experience shall consist of direct
contact with clients. The remaining experience may consist of other activities
that do no involve direct client contact, including but not limited to,
recordkeeping, case management, research, supervision and professional
development.
(b) The supervised
experience must be obtained after the applicant completes the program required
for licensure as a mental health counselor, as prescribed in section
79-9.1 of this Subpart, and the
experience must be obtained in accordance with the following paragraphs:
(1) any experience obtained in New York must
be performed by an applicant under a limited permit issued by the department,
except the department may, in limited circumstances, accept experience that was
not obtained under a limited permit where an applicant demonstrates that such
experience was obtained in an authorized setting under a qualified supervisor;
and
(2) any experience completed in
another jurisdiction may be accepted by the department if it was completed in a
setting authorized to provide mental health counseling in that jurisdiction and
the experience was provided under a qualified supervisor, as determined by the
department.
(c)
Supervision of the experience. The experience shall be supervised in accordance
with the requirements of this subdivision.
(1) An applicant shall obtain experience
under this section while under the general supervision of a qualified
supervisor. General supervision shall mean that a qualified supervisor shall be
available for consultation, assessment and evaluation when professional
services are being rendered by an applicant and the supervisor shall exercise
the degree of supervision appropriate to the circumstances. The supervisor
shall provide an average of one hour per week or two hours every other week of
face-to-face individual or group supervision wherein the supervisor of such
experience shall:
(i) review the applicant's
assessment, evaluation and treatment of each client under his or her general
supervision; and
(ii) provide
oversight, guidance and direction to the applicant in developing skills as a
mental health counselor.
(2) Qualifications for supervisors of the
required experience. The supervisor of the experience shall be licensed and
registered in New York State to practice mental health counseling, medicine, as
a physician assistant, psychology, licensed clinical social work, or as a
registered professional nurse or nurse practitioner, pursuant to article 163,
131, 131-b, 139, 153 or 154 of the Education Law, respectively; or be an
individual with equivalent qualifications as determined by the department; or
for applicants who apply for licensure in mental health counseling on or before
December 31, 2007, be an individual with certification or registration by an
acceptable national certifying or registering body for mental health
counselors. To be acceptable to the department, the national certifying or
registering body must be recognized nationwide as an organization that
certifies or registers mental health counselors throughout the United States
based upon a review of their qualifications to practice mental health
counseling and must have adequate standards for the review of the applicant's
qualifications for practicing mental health counseling, as determined by the
department. Such standards must include standards for the review of the
applicant's education and experience for practicing mental health counseling
and may include an examination requirement.
(3) Face-to face supervision may utilize
technology acceptable to the Department, including secure video conferencing to
protect confidentiality.
(d) Setting for the experience. For a setting
for the experience to be acceptable to the Department, it shall meet the
following requirements:
(1) the setting shall
be a location at which legally authorized individuals provide services that
constitute the practice of mental health counseling, as defined in section
8402
(1) of the Education Law. For purposes of
this section, an acceptable setting shall be:
(i) a professional corporation, registered
limited liability partnership, or professional service limited liability
company authorized to provide services that are within the scope of practice of
mental health counseling;
(ii) a
sole proprietorship owned by a licensee who provides services that are within
the scope of his or her profession and services that are within the scope of
practice of mental health counseling;
(iii) a professional partnership owned by
licensees who provide services that are within the scope of practice of mental
health counseling;
(iv) a program
or service operated, regulated, funded, or approved by the department of mental
hygiene, the office of children and family services, the department of
corrections and community supervision, the office of temporary and disability
assistance, the state office for the aging and the department of health or a
local governmental unit as that term is defined in section
41.03 of
the Mental Hygiene Law or a social services district as defined in section
61 of the
Social Services Law;
(v) an entity
holding a waiver issued by the Department pursuant to section
6503-a or
6503-b of the
Education Law to provide services that are within the scope of practice of
mental health counseling;
(vi) a
program or facility authorized under federal law to provide services that are
within the scope of practice of mental health counseling; or
(vii) an entity authorized under New York law
or the laws of the jurisdiction in which the entity is located to provide
services that are within the scope of practice of mental health
counseling;
(2) the
setting in which the experience is gained shall be responsible for the services
provided by individuals gaining experience for licensure. The setting shall
also be responsible for providing adequate supervision to such individuals and
for assigning a qualified supervisor, as defined in this section, to
individuals gaining experience for licensure; and
(3) the setting shall not be a private
practice owned or operated by the applicant.
(e) Verification of the experience. The
licensed supervisor shall submit verification of the supervised experience on
forms acceptable to the department. The supervisor is responsible for
maintaining documentation of the applicant's supervised practice and hours of
supervision, and for submitting a copy of such documentation to the department
upon its request.
