Sec. 20-195bb. Practice restricted to licensed persons. Exceptions. Title protection.

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

(b) No person may use the title “licensed professional counselor” or make use of any title, words, letters or abbreviations that may reasonably be confused with licensure as a professional counselor unless licensed pursuant to section 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 section 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 section 19a-490, performing services in accordance with section 20-195aa under the supervision of a person licensed by the state in one of the professions identified in clauses (i) to (vii), inclusive, of subparagraph (C) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 20-195dd; (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; (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; or (10) a person who earned a degree in accordance with the requirements of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 20-195dd, provided (A) the activities performed and services provided by such person constitute part of the supervised experience required for licensure under subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of said section, and (B) not later than two years after completion of such supervised experience, the exemption to the licensure requirement shall cease if the person did not successfully complete the licensing examination, as required under subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of said section.

(P.A. 97-311, S. 2; P.A. 98-43, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-4, S. 30, 58; P.A. 17-146, S. 10; P.A. 18-168, S. 44.)

History: P.A. 98-43 replaced “self-help group counseling or peer” counseling with “group or individual” counseling in Subsec. (c)(4), replaced “hold himself out as” with “purport to be” in Subsec. (c)(8) and made gender-neutral technical changes in Subsecs. (a), (b) and (c); June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-4 added Subsec. (c)(5) re person with master's degree in health-related or human services-related field employed by a hospital, renumbering existing Subdivs. (5) to (8) as Subdivs. (6) to (9), effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 17-146 amended Subsec. (c) by adding Subdiv. (10) re person who earned degree, and making a technical change; P.A. 18-168 amended Subsec. (c) by replacing reference to Sec. 20-195dd(a)(2)(A) to (F) with reference to Sec. 20-195dd(a)(1)(C)(i) to (vii) in Subdiv. (5), adding “not later than two years after completion of such supervised experience,”, replacing “upon notification that” with “if”, and deleting “, or one year after completion of such supervised experience, whichever occurs first” in Subdiv. (10)(B).