2020 Georgia Code
Title 43 - Professions and Businesses
Chapter 10A - Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists
§ 43-10A-3. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Advertise" means, but is not limited to, the issuing of or causing to be distributed any card, sign, or other device or the causing or permitting any sign or marking on or in any building or structure, or in any newspaper, magazine, or directory, or on radio or television.
2. "Allied profession" means the practice of medicine, psychiatric nursing, psychology, or pastoral counseling.
3. "Board" means the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists established by this chapter.

   (3.1) "Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification" means the national certifying agency for rehabilitation counselors as recognized by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

4. "Counseling" means those techniques used to help persons learn how to solve problems and make decisions related to personal growth, vocation, family, social, and other interpersonal concerns.

   (4.1) "Diagnose" means the use, administration, or application of any criteria contained within standard classification or diagnostic systems for mental disorders and that are related to the scope of practice as provided pursuant to this chapter. Diagnose shall not mean the diagnosis of any neuropsychological functioning or conditions.

5. "Direction" means the ongoing administrative overseeing by an employer or superior of a specialty practitioner's work. The person providing direction shall be responsible for assuring the quality of the services rendered by that practitioner and shall ensure that qualified supervision or intervention occurs in situations which require expertise beyond that of the practitioner. Direction may be provided by any person acceptable to the standards committee for that specialty in which the practitioner is working.
6. "Division director" means the director of the professional licensing boards division. The division director shall serve as secretary to the board.
7. "Fee" means money or anything of value, including but not limited to a salary, offered or received as compensation in return for rendering services in any specialty.
8. "Marriage and family therapy" means that specialty which evaluates, diagnoses, and treats emotional and mental problems and conditions, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, resolves intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts, and changes perception, attitudes, and behavior; all within the context of marital and family systems. Marriage and family therapy includes, without being limited to, individual, group, couple, sexual, family, and divorce therapy. Marriage and family therapy involves an applied understanding of the dynamics of marital and family systems, including individual psychodynamics, the use of assessment instruments that evaluate marital and family functioning, designing and recommending a course of treatment, and the use of psychotherapy and counseling.
9. "Practice a specialty" or "practice" means to offer to render for a fee or to render for a fee any service involving the application of principles, methods, or procedures of professional counseling, social work, or marriage and family therapy.
10. "Professional counseling" means that specialty which utilizes counseling techniques based on principles, methods, and procedures of counseling that assist people in identifying and resolving personal, social, vocational, intrapersonal, and interpersonal concerns; utilizes counseling and psychotherapy to evaluate, diagnose, treat, and recommend a course of treatment for emotional and mental problems and conditions, whether cognitive, behavioral, or affective, provided that the counselor shall have training and experience working with people with mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse; administers and interprets educational and vocational assessment instruments and other tests which the professional counselor is qualified to employ by virtue of education, training, and experience; utilizes information, community resources, and goal setting for personal, social, or vocational development; utilizes individual and group techniques for facilitating problem solving, decision making, and behavior change; utilizes functional assessment and vocational planning and guidance for persons requesting assistance in adjustment to a disability or disabling condition; utilizes referral for persons who request counseling services; performs service planning; and utilizes and interprets counseling research.
11. "Psychotherapeutic techniques" means those specific techniques involving the in-depth exploration and treatment of interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics but shall not include the performance of those activities exclusively reserved to any other business or profession by any other chapter of this title.
12. "Recognized educational institution" means any educational institution which grants a bachelor's, master's, specialist, or doctoral degree and which is recognized by an accrediting body acceptable to the board.
13. "Social work" means that specialty which helps individuals, marriages, families, couples, groups, or communities to enhance or restore their capacity for functioning: by assisting in the obtaining or improving of tangible social and health services; by providing psychosocial evaluations, in-depth analyses and diagnoses of the nature and status of emotional, cognitive, mental, behavioral, and interpersonal problems or conditions; and by counseling and psychotherapeutic techniques, casework, social work advocacy, psychotherapy, and treatment in a variety of settings which include but are not limited to mental and physical health facilities, child and family service agencies, or private practice.
14. "Specialty" means social work, marriage and family therapy, or professional counseling, or any combination thereof.
15. "Supervision" means the direct clinical review, for the purpose of training or teaching, by a supervisor of a specialty practitioner's interaction with a client. It may include, without being limited to, the review of case presentations, audio tapes, video tapes, and direct observation in order to promote the development of the practitioner's clinical skills.
16. "Supervisor" means a person who meets the requirements established by the standards committee for that specialty which is being supervised and who is either licensed under this chapter or is a psychiatrist or a psychologist.
17. "The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education" means the national accrediting agency for marriage and family therapy education as recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
18. "The Council on Social Work Education" means the national accrediting agency for social work education as recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation.

(Code 1981, §43-7A-3, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1406, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 43; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1484, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 330, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 450, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 17; Ga. L. 1997, p. 452, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1706, § 9; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1479, § 1; Ga. L. 2012, p. 347, § 1/HB 434; Ga. L. 2014, p. 352, § 1/SB 128; Ga. L. 2015, p. 385, § 4-18/HB 252; Ga. L. 2016, p. 257, § 2/SB 319.)

The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, inserted ", diagnoses," in paragraph (8); and substituted "Council for Higher Education Accreditation" for "United States Department of Education" at the end of paragraph (17).

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "developmental disability" for "mental retardation" in the middle of paragraph (10).

The 2016 amendment, effective April 26, 2016, added paragraph (4.1); and, in paragraph (10), inserted a comma following "intrapersonal" and inserted "diagnose,".

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2000, the definitions in paragraphs (6) and (7) were arranged in alphabetical order.

- Ga. L. 2015, p. 385, § 1-1/HB 252, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'J. Calvin Hill, Jr., Act.'"

Ga. L. 2016, p. 257, § 1/SB 319, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "The General Assembly finds that the mental health and wellness needs of Georgia's citizens require the availability of trained mental health professionals who can accurately diagnose, treat, prescribe, and appropriately assess the mental and emotional illnesses, disorders, and conditions from which they suffer and the vocational, educational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal needs essential to living and learning how to live productive and useful lives. It is the intent of the General Assembly to assure geographical and financial access for all of Georgia's citizens to excellent mental health services to the extent that Georgia's resources and regulations permit. To these ends, Georgia regulates its licensed psychiatrists, psychologists, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers who provide graduate level professional services to Georgia's private and public mental health services and to its public mental health, educational, and vocational support systems. The General Assembly seeks in such regulatory process to protect the public and assure it receives high quality and appropriate services and to define the scopes of practice and diagnostic authority for each of these professional groups consistent with the graduate level training and supervision, or its equivalent, that the members of each profession have sought and successfully completed. The General Assembly has empowered and authorized the Georgia Composite Medical Board, the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, and the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists to fulfill these responsibilities and expects them to work together to assure a continuum of professional services that ensure appropriate diagnostic and assessment functions for each profession and the psychotherapeutic and counseling treatment services appropriate to each profession. The General Assembly recognizes that advances in medicine, science, education, training, and service delivery occur constantly in our modern history and therefore also expects the regulatory boards for each profession to assure that its licensees seek and successfully complete appropriate continuing education and training for the functions and services authorized to each profession."