(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 4996.23, an applicant shall have an active registration with the board as an associate clinical social worker in order to gain hours of supervised 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) Not be subject to denial of licensure pursuant to Section 480.

(3) Have completed training or coursework, which may be embedded within more than one course, in California law and professional ethics for clinical social workers. The coursework shall be taken from an accredited school or department of social work, a school, college, or university accredited by a regional or national institutional accrediting agency that is recognized by the United States Department of Education, a school, college, or university that is approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, or from a continuing education provider that is acceptable to the board, as defined in Section 4996.22. Undergraduate coursework shall not satisfy this requirement. The coursework shall include 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 the practitioner’s professional behavior and ethics.

(F) The application of legal and ethical standards in 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, except as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 4996.23, shall be required to register as an associate clinical social worker in order to gain experience toward licensure if the applicant is not subject to denial of licensure pursuant to Section 480. That applicant shall not, however, be eligible to take the clinical 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) 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.

(e) An applicant for registration or licensure trained in an educational institution outside the United States shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that the applicant 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.

(f) All applicants for licensure and registrants shall be at all times under the supervision of a supervisor who shall be responsible for ensuring that the extent, kind, and quality of counseling performed is consistent with the training and experience of the person being supervised and who shall be responsible to the board for compliance with all laws governing the practice of clinical social work.

(g) All applicants and registrants shall inform each client or patient before performing any professional services that the applicant or registrant is unlicensed and is under the supervision of a licensed professional.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 647, Sec. 53. (SB 801) Effective January 1, 2022.)