Section 4996.18.

(a) A person who wishes to be credited with experience toward licensure requirements shall register with the board as an associate clinical social worker prior to obtaining that experience. The application shall be made on a form prescribed by the board.

(b) An applicant for registration shall satisfy the following requirements:

(1) Possess a master's degree from an accredited school or department of social work.

(2) Have committed no crimes or acts constituting grounds for denial of licensure under Section 480.

(3) Commencing January 1, 2014, have completed training or coursework, which may be embedded within more than one course, in California law and professional ethics for clinical social workers, including instruction in all of the following areas of study:

(A) Contemporary professional ethics and statutes, regulations, and court decisions that delineate the scope of practice of clinical social work.

(B) The therapeutic, clinical, and practical considerations involved in the legal and ethical practice of clinical social work, including, but not limited to, family law.

(C) The current legal patterns and trends in the mental health professions.

(D) The psychotherapist-patient privilege, confidentiality, dangerous patients, and the treatment of minors with and without parental consent.

(E) A recognition and exploration of the relationship between a practitioner's sense of self and human values, and his or her professional behavior and ethics.

(F) Differences in legal and ethical standards for different types of work settings.

(G) Licensing law and process.

(c) An applicant who possesses a master's degree from a school or department of social work that is a candidate for accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education shall be eligible, and shall be required, to register as an associate clinical social worker in order to gain experience toward licensure if the applicant has not committed any crimes or acts that constitute grounds for denial of licensure under Section 480. That applicant shall not, however, be eligible for examination until the school or department of social work has received accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education.

(d) Any experience obtained under the supervision of a spouse or relative by blood or marriage shall not be credited toward the required hours of supervised experience. Any experience obtained under the supervision of a supervisor with whom the applicant has a personal relationship that undermines the authority or effectiveness of the supervision shall not be credited toward the required hours of supervised experience.

(e) An applicant who possesses a master's degree from an accredited school or department of social work shall be able to apply experience the applicant obtained during the time the accredited school or department was in candidacy status by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education toward the licensure requirements, if the experience meets the requirements of Section 4996.23. This subdivision shall apply retroactively to persons who possess a master's degree from an accredited school or department of social work and who obtained experience during the time the accredited school or department was in candidacy status by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education.

(f) An applicant for registration or licensure trained in an educational institution outside the United States shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that he or she possesses a master's of social work degree that is equivalent to a master's degree issued from a school or department of social work that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education. These applicants shall provide the board with a comprehensive evaluation of the degree and shall provide any other documentation the board deems necessary. The board has the authority to make the final determination as to whether a degree meets all requirements, including, but not limited to, course requirements regardless of evaluation or accreditation.

(g) A registrant shall not provide clinical social work services to the public for a fee, monetary or otherwise, except as an employee.

(h) A registrant shall inform each client or patient prior to performing any professional services that he or she is unlicensed and is under the supervision of a licensed professional.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 800, Sec. 9. Effective January 1, 2013.)