Section 4757.01. Counselor, social worker, and marriage and family therapist definitions

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Practice of professional counseling" means rendering or offering to render to individuals, groups, organizations, or the general public a counseling service involving the application of clinical counseling principles, methods, or procedures to assist individuals in achieving more effective personal, social, educational, or career development and adjustment, including the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

(B) "Clinical counseling principles, methods, or procedures" means an approach to counseling that emphasizes the counselor's role in systematically assisting clients through all of the following: assessing and analyzing background and current information, diagnosing mental and emotional disorders, exploring possible solutions, and developing and providing a treatment plan for mental and emotional adjustment or development. "Clinical counseling principles, methods, or procedures" includes at least counseling, appraisal, consulting, and referral.

(C) "Practice of social work" means the application of social work theory and specialized knowledge of human development and behavior and social, economic, and cultural systems in directly assisting individuals, families, and groups in a clinical setting to improve or restore their capacity for social functioning, including counseling, the use of psychosocial interventions, and the use of social psychotherapy, which includes the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

(D) "Accredited educational institution" means an institution accredited by a national or regional accrediting agency accepted by the board of regents.

(E) "Scope of practice" means the services, methods, and techniques in which and the areas for which a person licensed or registered under this chapter is trained and qualified.

(F) "Mental and emotional disorders" means those disorders that are classified in accepted nosologies such as the international classification of diseases and the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders and in future editions of those nosologies.

(G) "Marriage and family therapy" means the diagnosis, evaluation, assessment, counseling, management and treatment of mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems, through the professional application of marriage and family therapies and techniques.

(H) "Practice of marriage and family therapy" means the diagnosis, treatment, evaluation, assessment, counseling, and management, of mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems, to individuals, couples, and families, singly or in groups, whether those services are offered directly to the general public or through public or private organizations, for a fee, salary or other consideration through the professional application of marriage and family theories, therapies, and techniques, including, but not limited to psychotherapeutic theories, therapies and techniques that marriage and family therapists are educated and trained to perform.

(I) "Social functioning" means living up to the expectations that are made of an individual by the individual's own self, the immediate social environment, and by society at large. "Social functioning" includes meeting basic needs of the individual and the individual's dependents, including physical aspects, personal fulfillment, emotional needs, and an adequate self-concept.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 232, §1, eff. 7/10/2014.

Effective Date: 2002 HB374 04-07-2003; 2008 HB427 04-07-2009