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Continuing
Education for Marital and Family Therapists
The
Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies are
amended by adding sections 20-195c-1 to 20-195c-7,
inclusive, as follows:
Sec.
20-195c-1. Definitions
For
the purposes of sections 20-195c-1 to 20-195c-7,
inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State
Agencies:
(1)
''Active practice'' means the treatment in
Connecticut of one or more patients by a licensee
during any given registration period;
(2)
''Certificate of completion'' means a document
issued to a participant by a provider which
certifies that the participant has successfully
completed a continuing education activity;
(3)
''Contact hour'' means a minimum of fifty minutes
of continuing education activity;
(4)
''Department'' means the Department of Public
Health;
(5)
''Face-to-face instruction'' means in-person, live
instruction which a participant physically
attends, either individually or as a part of a
group of participants;
(6)
''Home study program'' means continuing education
activities clearly related to maintaining skills
necessary for the safe and competent practice of
marital and family therapy that include a
proficiency examination and are sponsored,
endorsed or approved by a regionally accredited
academic institution, or the American Association
for Marriage and Family Therapy or its affiliates;
(7)
''Licensee'' means a marital and family therapist
licensed pursuant to section 20-195c of the
Connecticut General Statutes;
(8)
''License renewal due date'' means the last day of
the month of the licensee's date of birth;
(9)
''Participant'' means a licensee who successfully
completes a continuing education activity;
(10)
''Provider'' means the individual educator or
sponsoring organization conducting a continuing
education activity; and
(11)
''Registration period'' means the one-year period
for which a license has been renewed in accordance
with section 19a-88 of the Connecticut General
Statutes and is current and valid.
Sec.
20-195c-2. Number of contact hours required
(a)
Each licensee applying for license renewal shall
have completed a minimum of fifteen contact hours
of qualifying continuing education during each
registration period.
(b)
Continuing education contact hours completed in
one registration period shall not carry over to a
subsequent registration period.
(c)
Each licensee applying for license renewal shall
sign a statement attesting that the licensee
satisfies the continuing education requirements
specified in sections 20-195c-1 to 20-195c-7,
inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State
Agencies.
Sec.
20-195c-3. Basic requirements for qualifying
continuing education activities
(a)
Qualifying continuing education activities are the
following:
(1)
courses offered or approved by the American
Association for Marriage and Family Therapy or its
affiliates;
(2)
courses accredited, approved or offered by the
Commission on Accreditation for Marital and Family
Therapist Education, National Board of Certified
Counselors, the American Counseling Association,
the National Association of Social Workers, the
American Association of Social Workers, the
American Psychological Association, or their
affiliates, provided the coursework is clearly
related to maintaining skills necessary for the
safe and competent practice of marital and family
therapy;
(3)
courses offered or approved by institutions
accredited by the commission on accreditation for
marital and family therapist education;
(4)
graduate coursework in or
related to the discipline of marital and
family therapy field offered by a regionally
accredited academic institution, either audited or
by credit; or
(5)
programs in or related to the discipline of
marital and family therapy sponsored or approved
by a regionally accredited academic institution,
provided the coursework is clearly related to
maintaining skills necessary for the safe and
competent practice of marital and family therapy.
(b)
Continuing education activities shall meet the
following requirements:
(1)
the activity involves face-to-face instruction or
a home study program;
(2)
the provider implements a mechanism to monitor and
document physical attendance at such instruction
or to verify licensee completion in the case of a
home study program;
(3)
the provider retains written records for a period
of three years from the participant's actual
successful completion of the activity, including
but not limited to: content description;
instructor; date of activity; location of
activity; list of participants; participant's
evaluation of instruction presented and number of
contact hours; and
(4)
the provider issues a certificate of completion
after the participant's successful completion of
the activity. Such certificate shall include the
participant's name, provider's name, title or
subject area of the activity, date and location of
attendance and number of contact hours completed.
(c)
Subject matter for qualifying continuing education
activities shall reflect the scope of practice
authorized under Chapter 383a of the Connecticut
General Statutes.
(d)
Activities which do not qualify for award of
contact hours include: professional organizational
business meetings; reading of books, articles, or
professional journals; correspondence courses and
other mechanisms of self instruction, except when
used as a component of a home study program; and
audio-visual materials, except when the latter is
used as a component of a qualifying continuing
education activity identified in subsections (a)
and (b) of this section.
Sec.
20-195c-4. Award of contact hours
(a)
Continuing education contact hours shall be
awarded as follows:
(1)
Courses, institutes, seminars, programs, clinics,
conferences and teleconferences: one contact hour
for each hour of attendance;
(2)
first presentation by licensee of an original
paper, essay or formal lecture or workshop in
marriage and family therapy to a recognized group
of colleagues at a professional meeting: five
contact hours; and
(3)
original paper published by licensee in a
professional journal that accepts papers or an
invited chapter or book only on the basis of
independent review by experts: six contact hours
for the first publication only of the material.
(b)
Eight contact hours shall be the maximum
continuing education contact hours granted for any
one day's participation in the activities
specified in subsection (a) of this section.
(c)
Graduate level coursework shall be credited at one
contact hour for each hour of attendance. Audited
courses shall have hours of attendance documented.
(d)
Continuing education activities that provide
content related to organizational structure,
marketing and similar topics relating to business
management, shall be limited to not more than six
contact hours in any one registration period.
(e)
The licensee shall successfully complete a
continuing education activity for award of any
continuing education contact hours.
Sec.
20-195c-5. Record retention by licensees
(a)
Each licensee shall obtain a certificate of
completion from the provider of continuing
education activities successfully completed. Each
licensee shall maintain, for continuing education
activities specified in subsection (a) of section
20-195c-3 of the Regulations of Connecticut State
Agencies, written documentation of completion.
Certificates of completion shall be retained by
the licensee for a minimum of three years
following the license renewal due date for which
the activity satisfies license renewal
requirements.
(b)
The department may inspect such licensee records
as it deems necessary. Certificates of completion
shall be submitted by the licensee to the
department only upon the department's request.
Such records shall be submitted to the department
by the licensee within 45 days of the department's
request.
(c)
A licensee who fails to comply with the continuing
education requirements of sections 20-195c-1 to
20-195c-7, inclusive, of the regulations of
Connecticut State Agencies may be subject to
disciplinary action, pursuant to section 20-195d
of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Sec.
20-195c-6. Exemptions from and waiver of the
continuing education requirements
(a)
A waiver of the continuing education requirements
may be extended to a licensee who is not engaged
in active practice during a given registration
period provided the licensee submits, prior to the
expiration of the registration period, a notarized
application on a form provided by the department.
The application shall contain a statement that the
licensee shall not engage in active practice until
the licensee has shown proof of completion of the
requirements specified in sections 20-195c-1 to
20-195c-7, inclusive, of the Regulations of
Connecticut State Agencies.
(b)
The Department may, in individual cases involving
a medical disability or illness, grant waivers of
the minimum continuing education requirements or
extensions of time within which to fulfill the
same. The application for waiver or time extension
shall be accompanied by a verifying document
signed by a licensed physician. Waivers of the
minimum continuing education requirements or
extensions of time may be granted by the
department for a period not to exceed one (1)
calendar year. If the medical disability or
illness, upon which a waiver or time extension has
been granted continues beyond the period of the
waiver or extension, the licensee shall reapply
for the waiver or extension.
(c)
A licensee whose license is due to expire within
twelve months of the effective date of sections
20-195c-1 to 20-195c-7, inclusive, of the
Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, shall
be exempt from continuing education requirements
until such licensee's next registration period.
(d)
A licensee applying for license renewal for the
first time is exempt from continuing education
requirements.
Sec.
20-195c-7. Requirements for return to active
practice following waiver of the continuing
education requirements
(a)
A licensee who has received a waiver pursuant to
subsection (a) of section 20-195c-6 of the
Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies shall
successfully complete seven contact hours of
qualifying continuing education prior to returning
to active practice, which shall be applied to the
continuing education requirements for the current
registration period.
Statement
of purpose: To establish mandatory continuing
education requirements for persons licensed as
marital and family therapists.
Be
it known that the foregoing regulations are
adopted by the aforesaid agency pursuant to Sec.
20-195c of the General Statutes, after publication
in the Connecticut Law Journal on June 26, 2001,
of the notice of the proposal to adopt such
regulations.
Wherefore,
the foregoing regulations are hereby adopted,
effective when filed with the Secretary of the
State.
In
Witness Whereof: August 6, 2003, Norma Gyle, R.N.,
Ph. D., Acting Commissioner.
Approved
by the Attorney General as to legal sufficiency in
accordance with Sec. 4-169, as amended,
Connecticut General Statutes: August 25, 2003.
Approved
by the Legislative Regulation Review Committee in
accordance with Sec. 4-170, as amended, of the
General Statutes: October 23, 2003. |
