Bill Text: NJ S636 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Reduces amount of supervised counseling experience required for professional counselor licensure.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S636 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S636-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator LATHAM TIVER
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator O'Scanlon
SYNOPSIS
Reduces amount of supervised counseling experience required for professional counselor licensure.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning professional counselor licensure and amending P.L.1993, c.340.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 7 of P.L.1993, c.340 (C.45:8B-40) is amended to read as follows:
7. Each person applying for licensure as a licensed professional counselor shall make application therefor to the board on the form and in the manner the committee prescribes and the board shall immediately refer each application to the committee for appropriate action. Each applicant shall furnish evidence satisfactory to the committee that [he] the applicant:
a. Is at least 18 years of age;
b. Is of good moral character;
c. Has completed a minimum of 60 graduate semester hours in a planned educational program, which includes a master's degree or doctorate in counseling from a regionally accredited institution of higher education, of which 45 graduate semester hours are distributed in at least eight of the following areas:
(1) Counseling theory and practice;
(2) The helping relationship;
(3) Human growth and development and maladaptive behavior;
(4) Lifestyle and career development;
(5) Group dynamics, processes, counseling, and consulting;
(6) Appraisal of individuals;
(7) Social and cultural foundations;
(8) Research and evaluation;
(9) The counseling profession;
d. Has had at least [three] two years or 3000 hours of supervised full-time counseling experience in a professional counseling setting acceptable to the committee, one year or 1500 hours of which may be obtained prior to the granting of the master's degree. The committee shall establish criteria for determining the qualifications and status which may constitute supervised counseling experience. An applicant may eliminate one year or 1500 hours of the required supervised counseling experience by substituting 30 graduate semester hours beyond the master's degree if those graduate semester hours are clearly related to counseling and are acceptable to the committee. In no case, however, may the applicant have less than one year or 1500 hours of supervised professional counseling experience after the granting of the master's degree; and
e. Has passed the National Counselor Examination of the National Board for Certified Counselors.
(cf: P.L.1993, c.340, s.7)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill reduces the amount of supervised full-time counseling experience in a professional counseling setting required for professional counselor licensure.
Current law, under the "Professional Counselor Licensing Act," P.L.1993, c.340 (C.45:8B-34 et seq.), requires that applicants for a professional counseling license complete at least three years of supervised full-time counseling experience in a professional counseling setting acceptable to the Professional Counselor Examiners Committee, one year of which may be obtained prior to the granting of the master's degree. An applicant may eliminate one year of the required supervised counseling experience by substituting 30 graduate semester hours beyond the master's degree if those graduate semester hours are clearly related to counseling and are acceptable to the committee. In no case, however, may the applicant have less than one year of supervised professional counseling experience after the granting of the master's degree.
This bill revises these requirements to provide that an applicant is only required to complete at least two years, instead of three, or 3000 hours of supervised full-time counseling experience in a professional counseling setting, one year or 1500 hours of which may be obtained prior to the granting of the master's degree. The bill also provides that an applicant may eliminate one year or 1500 hours of the required supervised counseling experience by substituting certain graduate semester hours beyond the master's degree; however, an applicant cannot have less than one year or 1500 hours of supervised professional counseling experience after the granting of the master's degree.
