A Guidance letter (GL 20-5003 ) issued January 2021 requires the following Behavioral Healthcare Professionals to “successfully complete a training course” on Human Trafficking:
House Bill (HB) 2059, 86th Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, requires Health and Human Services (HHS) to approve training courses on human trafficking for health care practitioners. This is a list of practitioners required to complete an HHS-approved human trafficking course for licensure renewal. This list may be incomplete; check your licensing board’s regulations to verify your requirements.
Health and Human Services/Behavioral Health Executive Council
- Social Workers
- Licensed Professional Counselors
- Chemical Dependency Counselors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
Many other types of Healthcare professionals were also affected, please check the guidance letter to see other occupations affected.
Where did this come from?
Background/History
HB (House Bill) 2059 amended the Occupations Code to require certain health care practitioners who provide direct patient care to complete a training course on identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking as a condition of registration permit or license renewal. The purpose of this bill was to equip health care practitioners, who are often the first professionals to have contact with victims of human trafficking, with the training needed to detect potential victims of human trafficking, provide them with adequate care, and refer them to additional support services. (Cited from GL 20-5003 text).
TXHHSC – PLCU also was responsible for identifying approved training and approved training providers. You can find a link to approved courses here:
Click here to view the HHSC Health Care Practitioner Human Trafficking Training web page.
LCDC Licensees who are due to renew in 2022 received mail notices about submitting this course information to HHSC by 10/1/2021. Why you ask? Because the Bill (HB 2059) was passed in 2019. However, information was not disseminated until the end of 2020. In the wake of COVID-19 during 2020, this information was not communicated as quickly as it would have been otherwise. Regardless, we have not reached the two-year mark for all licensed individuals to come into compliance. We have it on good authority that anyone submitting proof of the Human Trafficking training with their renewals that are due in 2021 past the 10/1/21 date will be counted as in compliance.
How to submit:
If you’re completing your renewal online or by mail in 2021, you will need to either send proof of training with your paper application; or if submitting an electronic application will need to submit it separately to this email address:
Be sure to include your name, phone, email, and License number in this email so it can be tracked, and ask for a verification of receipt email (reply email) to ensure your documentation has been received!
Will this be an Annual or Cycle renewal required training?
It appears by language in the Bill that this will be a Cycle Renewal required Training Course for LCDC’s, LPC’s, Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists; but not for all Healthcare Providers.
Here’s a link to HB 2059:
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB02059S.htm
The Professional Licensing and Certification Unit of HHSC can be contacted for further questions or clarifications. Their email is listed above, and their phone is 512-834-6605.
