Opinion ID: 2074514
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Board's Interpretation of Section 13858

Text: [¶ 14] The first issue is whether 32 M.R.S. § 13858 is ambiguous regarding the authority of LPCs to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. The Board interpreted section 13858 to mean that LPCs are not authorized to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. Section 13858 describes which licensees have clinical status and states that [c]linical status grants the ability to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. The salient question is whether the statute unambiguously reflects a legislative intention that licensees who do not have clinical status are without the authorization to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. [¶ 15] The plain language of section 13858 grants clinical status to three of the four categories of licensed counselors, and it provides that licensees with clinical status have the authority to diagnose and treat mental health disorders: The license categories `licensed clinical professional counselor,' `licensed pastoral counselor' and `licensed marriage and family therapist' are of equivalent clinical status. Clinical status grants the ability to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. 32 M.R.S. § 13858. [¶ 16] Section 13858 plainly does not give clinical status to the category of LPC. Nowhere do the licensing statutes grant LPCs clinical status or otherwise give LPCs the authority to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. The statute plainly and unambiguously denies clinical status to LPCs, and because it only authorizes licensees with clinical status to diagnose and treat mental health disorders, LPCs do not have the authority to do so. [¶ 17] The text of the statutory scheme reinforces this interpretation. The definitional statute gives LPCs the authority to render services to assist their clients in achieving more effective personal, emotional, social, educational and vocational development and adjustment. 32 M.R.S. § 13851(9). This is in contrast to LCPCs, who have the authority to assess and treat intrapersonal and interpersonal problems and other dysfunctional behaviors. 32 M.R.S. § 13851(2). LPCs, LCPCs, and pastoral counselors apply the principles and procedures of counseling, 32 M.R.S. § 13851(2), (7-A), (9), which procedures are defined in 32 M.R.S. § 13851(8): 8. Procedures of counseling. Procedures of counseling means methods and techniques that include, but are not limited to, the following. A. Assessment means selecting, administering and interpreting instruments designed to assess personal, interpersonal and group characteristics. B. Consulting means the application of scientific principles and procedures in counseling to provide assistance in understanding and solving a current or potential problem that the client may have in relation to a 3rd party, be it an individual, a family, a group or an organization. C. Counseling means assisting individuals, families or groups through the counseling relationship to develop understanding of intrapersonal and interpersonal problems, to define goals, to make decisions, to plan a course of action reflecting their needs, and to use information and community resources, as these procedures are related to personal, social, educational and vocational development. D. Referral means the evaluation of information to identify needs or problems of the counselee and to determine the advisability of referral to other specialists, informing the counselee of that judgment, and communicating as requested or deemed appropriate with referral sources. [¶ 18] These procedures involve assessment, which in turn is defined to mean selecting, administering and interpreting instruments designed to assess personal, interpersonal and group characteristics. 32 M.R.S. § 13851(8)(A). Although application of the procedures of counseling give LPCs, such as Cobb, the authority to perform assessments, LPCs are not granted the same authority to assess and treat intrapersonal and interpersonal problems and other dysfunctional behavior that LCPCs and pastoral counselors are given. Compare 32 M.R.S. § 13851(2), (7-A), with 32 M.R.S. § 13851(8)(A), (9). [¶ 19] The requirements for licensure differ for the four categories of licenses. Among the many requirements, three of the license categories are required to have clinical training. LCPCs are required to have a minimum of 3000 hours of supervised clinical experience, 32 M.R.S. § 13858(2)(B); marriage and family therapists are required to have a one-year clinical practicum as well as 1000 hours of direct clinical contact, 32 M.R.S. § 13858(3); and pastoral counselors are required to have 400 hours of clinical pastoral education, 32 M.R.S. § 13858(3-A)(B). These are the three license categories that are granted clinical status in section 13858. In contrast, LPCs are not required to have any clinical training. See 32 M.R.S. § 13858(1). [¶ 20] Looking at this statutory scheme as a whole, it is apparent that the Legislature intended to limit the authority to diagnose and treat mental health disorders to those licensees with clinical status. Furthermore, it is only the licensees with clinical training that are granted clinical status. If the Legislature had intended that all licensees have the authority to diagnose and treat mental health disorders, it would not have enacted, in 1999, the language of section 13858 which states that [c]linical status grants the ability to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. If the Legislature had intended that all licensees have diagnostic and treatment authority, this language would be mere surplusage, intended to have no effect. However, because no language is to be treated as surplusage if it can be reasonably construed, we must give meaning to this language. The reasonable construction of this language, within the context of the statutory scheme, is that only those licensees who hold clinical status have the authority under their license to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. Under the statutes, LPCs do not have clinical status. Instead, they have the authority to assist clients in achieving more effective personal, emotional, social, educational and vocational development and adjustment. 32 M.R.S. § 13851(9). [¶ 21] Section 13858 does not give authority to all licensees to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. It is unambiguous in limiting such authority to licensees with clinical status. Because the statute is unambiguous and the legislative intention is clear, we do not defer to the Board's interpretation. [3] The Board, however, reached the correct interpretation, and, therefore, its interpretation must be affirmed.