(a) An applicant who is applying for licensure under this subchapter shall complete a Board approved application, submit the application fee, and supply evidence verified by oath and satisfactory to the Board that the applicant: (1) Has received a master's degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education with a minimum of 60 graduate semester hours in clinical mental health counseling or received a graduate degree equivalent to clinical mental health counseling from a recognized institution as determined by the Board. (2) Has acquired the equivalent of 2 years of experience in supervised professional mental health counseling acceptable to the Board. The professional mental health counseling experience must consist of not less than 3,200 hours obtained over a period of not less than 2 years and not more than 4 years, at least 1,600 hours of which shall be supervised clinical experience acceptable to the Board. (3) Has passed the National Counselor Examination (NCE) or other examination acceptable to the Board. (4) Has not received any administrative penalties regarding the applicant's actions as a licensed, registered or certified mental health provider, including but not limited to fines, formal reprimands, license suspensions or revocation (except for license revocations for nonpayment of license renewal fees), probationary limitations, and/or has not entered into any "consent agreement" which contains conditions placed by a Board on the applicant's professional conduct, including any voluntary surrender of a license. The Board, after a hearing, may determine whether such administrative penalty is grounds to deny licensure. (5) Does not have any impairment related to drugs or alcohol or a finding of mental incompetence by a physician that would limit the applicant's ability to act as a professional counselor of mental health or associate counselor of mental health in a manner consistent with the safety of the public. (6) Does not have a criminal conviction nor pending criminal charge relating to an offense that is substantially related to the practice of mental health counseling. Applicants who have a criminal conviction or pending criminal charge shall request appropriate authorities to provide information about the conviction or charge directly to the Board. However, if after consideration of the factors set forth under § 8735(x)(3) of Title 29 through a hearing or review of documentation the Board determines that the granting of a waiver would not create an unreasonable risk to public safety, the Board, by an affirmative vote of a majority of the quorum, shall waive this paragraph (a)(6). No waiver may be granted for a conviction of a felony sexual offense. a.-e. [Repealed.] (7) Has not been penalized for any wilful violation of the code of ethics adopted by the Board or the code of ethics of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) or its successor or other similar professional mental health counseling standard. (8) Notwithstanding the time limitation set forth in § 8735(x)(4) of Title 29, has not been convicted of a felony sexual offense. (9) Has submitted, at the applicant's expense, fingerprints and other necessary information in order to obtain the following: a. A report of the applicant's entire criminal history record from the State Bureau of Identification or a statement from the State Bureau of Identification that the State Central Repository contains no such information relating to that person. b. A report of the applicant's entire federal criminal history record pursuant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation appropriation of Title II of Public Law 92-544 (28 U.S.C. § 534). The State Bureau of Identification shall be the intermediary for purposes of this section and the Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals shall be the screening point for the receipt of said federal criminal history records. An applicant may not be licensed as a licensed professional counselor of mental health until the applicant's criminal history reports have been produced. An applicant whose record shows a prior criminal conviction for an offense that is substantially related to the practice of mental health counseling may not be certified by the Board unless a waiver is granted pursuant to paragraph (a)(6) of this section. The State Bureau of Identification may release any subsequent criminal history to the Board. (b) If the Board finds that an applicant has been intentionally fraudulent or has intentionally supplied false information, the Board shall report its findings to the Attorney General for further action. (c) Where an application is refused or rejected and the applicant feels the Board has acted without justification, has imposed higher or different standards for the applicant than for other applicants or licensees or has in some other manner contributed to or caused the failure of such application, the applicant may appeal to the Superior Court. (d) [Repealed.]
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