There is something predictable about change. It always happens.
Today, I was in a meeting where the Board of Behavioral Science (BBS), the licensing board for MFT, SW, and PCC for the state of California called to provide updates on the laws and regulations. I thought I would share them with you.
There will be a title change for MFTI and PCCI. Effective January 1, 2018, the intern words has been changes to Associate. This will bring the titles more into line with social workers, and the public is more aware of an associate as being a person post master’s degree.
The new titles should be listed as
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Associate Marriage and Family Therapist or Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist.
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Associate Professional Clinical Counselor or Registered Professional Clinical Counselor
The entire title must be spelled out, and no abbreviations may be used. You can NOT place Associate at the end the title like it is now Marriage and Family Therapist Intern. The board is working on new advertising regulations for an appropriate abbreviation for titles, and they will publish more information once approved.
You will have the entire year to transition all your stationery and business cards over to the new title.
There also is some discussion that they may change the title of trainee in the future, but that wouldn’t be for at least 3 years in order not to confuse the public.
The MFT Clinical exam is undergoing a new review. Thus, no immediate exam results. After this review is completed which should take no more than 8-week (October 1, 2017) results will be mailed. The BBS did mention that all MFTI need to read the Candidate Handbook carefully as it will answer most the questions most MFTI have. By calling the BBS, it slows down the process for everyone as it ties up staff. The biggest problem is that your name on the BBS application and your official ID must match. Too many candidates are showing up to take the exam without proper identification. Additionally,
the board will NOT provide any extra time for those with “Test Anxiety” is not a diagnosable condition that would allow for extra time. Extra time is only allowed for specific disabilities.
Lastly, as of July 1, 2017, the BBS is out of the approval business for CEUs. Thus, when you are licensed make sure the provider of the training is on the approved CEU list from the following organizations. The approved organizations for CEUs now include CAMFT, NASW, NBCC, APA or CPA. Each of these organizations can also approve individual providers. Providers should be able to provide a registration number from the organization that has approved them.
For more information including a downloadable Candidate Handbook, you can visit http://www.bbs.ca.gov/