Mental Health Professionals Technical Changes

Statutory Revision Committee. Section 1 of the bill adds mental health professional to the list of individuals and entities that are not held liable for dispensing an opiate antagonist in accordance with the law. Section 1 also updates the definition of "mental health professional" by adding "unlicensed" before "psychotherapist".Section 2 adds, in the legislative declaration of the mental health practice act, clinical social worker candidates and addiction counselor candidates to the list of mental health licensee candidates who are subject to disciplinary actions and injunctions by their respective regulatory boards.Section 3 updates the definition of "registrant" by adding a cross reference for clinical social worker candidates and by adding addiction counselor candidates to the definition.Section 4 adds unlicensed psychotherapists to the section of law that clarifies that mental health professionals cannot administer or prescribe drugs or practice medicine.

Current law prohibits a person who practices religious ministry from publicly claiming to be a licensed, certified, or registered mental health professional unless the person possesses the proper credentials. Section 5 adds certified addiction specialists and certified addiction technicians to the list of mental health professionals and makes a technical change to that same section of law.Sections 6, 7, 9, and 10 delete obsolete language from the social worker practice act, the marriage and family therapist practice act, the licensed professional counselor practice act, and the addiction counselor practice act concerning the initial appointment of members to their respective regulatory boards.Section 8 replaces the term "psychotherapists" with the proper term "mental health professionals" in the definition of "marriage and family therapy practice".
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)