(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, no person may practice professional counseling unless licensed pursuant to § 20-195cc.

(b) No person may use the title “licensed professional counselor”, “licensed professional counselor associate” or “professional counselor” or make use of any title, words, letters or abbreviations that may reasonably be confused with licensure as a professional counselor or professional counselor associate unless licensed pursuant to § 20-195cc.

(c) No license as a professional counselor shall be required of the following: (1) A person who furnishes uncompensated assistance in an emergency; (2) a clergyman, priest, minister, rabbi or practitioner of any religious denomination accredited by the religious body to which the person belongs and settled in the work of the ministry, provided the activities that would otherwise require a license as a professional counselor are within the scope of ministerial duties; (3) a sexual assault counselor, as defined in § 52-146k; (4) a person participating in uncompensated group or individual counseling; (5) a person with a master’s degree in a health-related or human services-related field employed by a hospital, as defined in subsection (b) of § 19a-490, performing services in accordance with § 20-195aa under the supervision of a physician licensed pursuant to chapter 370, who is certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, an advanced practice registered nurse licensed pursuant to chapter 378, who is certified as a psychiatric and mental health clinical nurse specialist or nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a psychologist licensed pursuant to chapter 383, a marital and family therapist licensed pursuant to chapter 383a or a licensed clinical social worker licensed pursuant to chapter 383b; (6) a person licensed or certified by any agency of this state and performing services within the scope of practice for which licensed or certified; (7) a student, intern or trainee pursuing a course of study in counseling in a regionally accredited institution of higher education, provided the activities that would otherwise require a license as a professional counselor are performed under supervision and constitute a part of a supervised course of study; (8) a person employed by an institution of higher education to provide academic counseling in conjunction with the institution’s programs and services; or (9) a vocational rehabilitation counselor, job counselor, credit counselor, consumer counselor or any other counselor or psychoanalyst who does not purport to be a counselor whose primary service is the application of established principles of psycho-social development and behavioral science to the evaluation, assessment, analysis and treatment of emotional, behavioral or interpersonal dysfunction or difficulties that interfere with mental health and human development.