(a) Every licensee under this chapter shall complete continuing education courses as provided in this section.
(b) A licensee shall fulfill continuing education requirements during one-year periods beginning on the first day of a license renewal year and ending on the last day of the renewal year.
(c) A licensee shall complete a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 clock hours of continuing education, acceptable to the Board, each year. For purposes of this section, a clock-hour means 60 minutes in an acceptable continuing education course.
(d) A licensee shall successfully complete a three-clock hour course in ethics during every license period, regulated under this chapter every third year.
(e) The licensee shall submit proof of continuing education credits as prescribed by the Board.
(f) Continuing education undertaken by a licensee under this chapter is acceptable if the course is given by an approved provider and falls into one of the following categories:
(1) participation in national conferences, such as the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Academy, the American Counseling Association, the American Orthopsychiatry Association, the American Pastoral Association, and the National Association of Social Workers;
(2) participation in conferences in counseling, pastoral work, and psychology or social work which offer training in mental health;
(3) participation in local seminars presented by mental health groups, local hospitals, universities and local agencies;
(4) completing a graduate or institute course in the licensee’s respective mental health discipline; and
(5) by teaching a graduate or undergraduate course in the licensee’s respective discipline at a college or university; except that, graduate work instruction may count for no more than 50 percent of annual continuing education.
(g) The Board is not responsible for approving individual continuing education programs.
(h) Any university, professional organization, or sole provider who meets the criteria established in this section may advertise continuing education in the mental health disciplines governed by this chapter.
(i) The Board shall evaluate each continuing education experience submitted by a licensee on the basis of the following criteria:
(1) Relevance of the subject matter to increase or support the development of skill and competence in the mental health disciplines under this chapter;
(2) Objectives of specific information and skill to be learned;
(3) Subject matter, educational methods, materials, and facilities utilized, including the frequency and duration of the sessions and the adequacy to implement learner objectives; and
(4) Sponsorship and leadership of programs including the name of the sponsoring individual’s organization; program leaders, if different from sponsor.
(j) Teaching in approved programs must be in accordance with subsection (f) of this section. Documentation from a sponsor including an evaluative statement is required.
(k) Completion of academic work must be in accordance with subsection (f) of this section. Official graduate transcripts from an accredited school showing completion of graduate hours in appropriate areas for which the license received a grade of at least “B” or “pass” is required.
(l) The Board shall calculate continuing education credits as follows:
(1) Parts of the program that meet the criteria in subsection (f) are credited on a one-for-one basis with one clock-hour credit for each clock hour spent in continuing education activity.
(2) A graduate course with a total of 45 clock hours or 3 credit hours, or an institute’s post-graduate course with a total of 45 clock hours is accepted as two years or 40 clock hours of continuing education.
(m) Licensees shall submit other types of continuing education annually.
(n) A licensee shall report education units of no fewer than 20 hours annually at the time of license renewal.