Existing law provides for licensing the licensure and regulation of various professions in the healing arts, including physicians and surgeons, licensed psychologists, psychiatric technicians, marriage and family therapists, licensed educational psychologists, clinical social workers, and licensed professional clinical counselors. Existing law prohibits mental health providers, as defined, from performing sexual orientation change efforts, as specified, with a patient under 18 years of age. Existing law provides that any sexual orientation change efforts attempted on a patient under 18 years of age by a mental health provider shall be considered unprofessional conduct and shall subject the provider to discipline by the provider’s licensing entity.

This bill would additionally prohibit a mental health provider from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient, regardless of age, under a conservatorship or a guardianship. The bill would provide that any sexual orientation change efforts attempted on a patient under a conservatorship or a guardianship shall be considered unprofessional conduct and shall subject the provider to discipline by the provider’s licensing entity.