Virginia Code 54.1-3521: Scope of practice, supervision, and qualifications of qualified mental health professional-trainees.
A. A qualified mental health professional-trainee shall be qualified to perform, under Board-approved supervision, collaborative behavioral health services, including the supportive functions of (i) screening; (ii) intake; (iii) orientation; (iv) care coordination; (v) client education; (vi) referral activities; (vii) initiating crisis de-escalation; (viii) gathering histories of mental and physical health conditions, alcohol and drug use, past mental health treatment, and interactions with the criminal justice system; (ix) providing psychosocial skills development; (x) implementing interventions as assigned on individual plans of care and documenting the interventions for the purposes of recordkeeping; and (xi) prevention of mental health and substance use disorders. A registered qualified mental health professional-trainee shall not engage in independent or autonomous practice and shall only perform collaborative behavioral health services.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 54.1-3521
- Board: means the Board of Counseling. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Collaborative behavioral health services: means those supportive services that are provided by a registered behavioral health technician, registered behavioral health technician assistant, registered qualified mental health professional, or registered qualified mental health professional-trainee under the direction of and in collaboration with either a mental health professional licensed in the Commonwealth or a person under supervision as a prerequisite for licensure who has been approved by the Board of Counseling, Board of Psychology, or Board of Social Work. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Counseling: means the application of principles, standards, and methods of the counseling profession in (i) conducting assessments and diagnoses for the purpose of establishing treatment goals and objectives and (ii) planning, implementing, and evaluating treatment plans using treatment interventions to facilitate human development and to identify and remediate mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders and associated distresses that interfere with mental health. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- qualified mental health professional: includes a qualified mental health professional-adult and qualified mental health professional-child. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Qualified mental health professional-trainee: means a person who is receiving supervised training to qualify as a qualified mental health professional in accordance with the provisions of § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Referral activities: means the evaluation of data to identify problems and to determine advisability of referral to other specialists. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
- Supervision: means the ongoing process, performed by a supervisor, of monitoring the performance of the person supervised and providing regular, documented individual or group consultation, guidance, and instruction with respect to the clinical skills and competencies of the person supervised. See Virginia Code 54.1-3500
B. Such registered qualified mental health professional-trainees shall be supervised by a mental health professional licensed by the Department of Health Professions who has completed the required supervisor training, a person under supervision that has been approved by the Board of Counseling, Board of Psychology, or Board of Social Work as a prerequisite for licensure and who has completed the required supervisor training, or a registered qualified mental health professional who has practiced for three years and completed the required supervisor training.
C. Pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board, an applicant for registration as a qualified mental health professional-trainee shall submit evidence satisfactory to the Board that the applicant has (i) completed a specified number of hours of didactic education in a program or programs recognized or approved by the Board and (ii) received, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Board or is actively enrolled and in good standing in a bachelor’s degree program from an institution of higher education accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Board.
2024, c. 595.