Bill Text: NY A04188 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Clarifies the authorization to practice for mental health practitioners; includes the term "diagnosis" within the definition of the practice of mental health practitioners.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-6)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to higher education [A04188 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A04188-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4188 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 1, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DenDEKKER, CUSICK, RODRIGUEZ, THIELE, McDONOUGH, DiPIETRO, ABBATE, SANTABARBARA, COLTON, HEVESI, ORTIZ, BLANKENBUSH, RAIA, SIMON, PHEFFER AMATO, DICKENS -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARCLAY, BUCHWALD, GALEF, HAWLEY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to clarifying the author- ization to practice for mental health practitioners The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 8402 of the education law, as 2 added by chapter 676 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 3 1. Definition of the practice of mental health counseling. The prac- 4 tice of the profession of mental health counseling is defined as: 5 (a) the evaluation, assessment, diagnosis, amelioration, treatment, 6 modification, or adjustment to a disability, problem, or disorder of 7 behavior, character, development, emotion, personality or relationships 8 by the use of verbal or behavioral methods with individuals, couples, 9 families or groups in private practice, group, or organized settings; 10 [and] 11 (b) the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and 12 psychotherapy to identify, evaluate, diagnose and treat dysfunctions and 13 disorders for purposes of providing appropriate mental health counseling 14 services; and 15 (c) diagnosis in the context of licensed mental health counseling 16 practice is the process of distinguishing between similar mental, 17 emotional, behavioral, developmental, and addictive disorders, impair- 18 ments and disabilities within a psychosocial framework on the basis of 19 their similar and unique characteristics consistent with accepted clas- 20 sification systems. 21 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 8403 of the education law, as added by 22 chapter 676 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07796-01-9A. 4188 2 1 1. Definition of the practice of marriage and family therapy. The 2 practice of the profession of marriage and family therapy is defined as: 3 (a) the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of nervous and mental 4 disorders, whether affective, cognitive or behavioral, which results in 5 dysfunctional interpersonal family relationships including, but not 6 limited to familial relationships, marital/couple relationships, 7 parent-child relationships, pre-marital and other personal relation- 8 ships; 9 (b) the use of mental health counseling, psychotherapy and therapeutic 10 techniques to evaluate and treat marital, relational, and family 11 systems, and individuals in relationship to these systems; 12 (c) the use of mental health counseling and psychotherapeutic tech- 13 niques to treat mental, emotional and behavioral disorders and ailments 14 within the context of marital, relational and family systems to prevent 15 and ameliorate dysfunction; [and] 16 (d) the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and 17 psychotherapy to identify [and], evaluate, diagnose and treat dysfunc- 18 tions and disorders for purposes of providing appropriate marriage and 19 family therapy services; and 20 (e) diagnosis in the context of licensed marriage and family therapy 21 practice is the process of distinguishing between similar mental, 22 emotional, behavioral, developmental, and addictive disorders, impair- 23 ments and disabilities within a psychosocial framework on the basis of 24 their similar and unique characteristics consistent with accepted clas- 25 sification systems. 26 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 8404 of the education law, as added by 27 chapter 676 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 28 1. Definition of the practice of creative arts therapy. The practice 29 of the profession of creative arts therapy is defined as: 30 (a) the assessment, evaluation, diagnosis and the therapeutic inter- 31 vention and treatment, which may be either primary, parallel or adjunc- 32 tive, of mental, emotional, developmental and behavioral disorders 33 through the use of the arts as approved by the department; [and] 34 (b) the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and 35 psychotherapy to identify, evaluate, diagnose and treat dysfunctions and 36 disorders for purposes of providing appropriate creative arts therapy 37 services; and 38 (c) diagnosis in the context of licensed creative arts therapy prac- 39 tice is the process of distinguishing between similar mental, emotional, 40 behavioral, developmental, and addictive disorders, impairments and 41 disabilities within a psychosocial framework on the basis of their simi- 42 lar and unique characteristics consistent with accepted classification 43 systems. 44 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 8405 of the education law, as added by 45 chapter 676 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 46 1. Definition of the practice of psychoanalysis. The practice of the 47 profession of psychoanalysis is defined as: 48 (a) the observation, description, evaluation, [and] interpretation, 49 diagnosis and treatment of dynamic unconscious mental processes that 50 contribute to the formation of personality and behavior in order to 51 identify and resolve unconscious psychic problems which affect interper- 52 sonal relationships and emotional development, to facilitate changes in 53 personality and behavior through the use of verbal and nonverbal cogni- 54 tive and emotional communication, and to develop adaptive functioning; 55 [and]A. 4188 3 1 (b) the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and 2 psychotherapy to identify, evaluate, diagnose and treat dysfunctions and 3 disorders for purposes of providing appropriate psychoanalytic services; 4 and 5 (c) diagnosis in the context of licensed psychoanalysis practice is 6 the process of distinguishing between similar mental, emotional, behav- 7 ioral, developmental, and addictive disorders, impairments and disabili- 8 ties within a psychosocial framework on the basis of their similar and 9 unique characteristics consistent with accepted classification systems. 10 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.