California Cultures and Socioeconomic Position: 15-Hour Course for Out-of-State Applicants (LCSW, LPCC, LMFT)

Price

$49

Enroll for $49

Pay securely on Payhip. CE credit is awarded after you complete the reading, pass the post-test at 70% or higher, and complete the evaluation.

About this course

If you are licensed or trained outside California and applying for a California LCSW, LPCC, or LMFT license, the California BBS requires at least one semester unit, or 15 hours, of instruction that includes an understanding of various California cultures and the social and psychological implications of socioeconomic position (BPC 4980.72, 4996.17.1, 4999.60). The coursework may come from an acceptable continuing education provider, and a CAMFT-approved provider is one. This course covers who lives in California and how the state got here, frameworks for cultural work, specific communities and identities, poverty and financial stress, work, housing, homelessness, children and schools, regions and telehealth, language access, gender and family, assessment, and treatment, with California cases throughout.

This course is one requirement, not all of them. Path A applicants also need California 12-Hour Law and Ethics Course for Out-of-State Applicants, California Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting (7 hours), California Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention (6 hours), the California Law and Ethics Examination, and fingerprints. Path B applicants have a parallel cultures requirement (BPC 4980.78, 4996.17.2, 4999.62) and other items. Check the California BBS guide for your license before you enroll. All four Path A courses are on our out-of-state applicants page, one by one or as a bundle.

Learning objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. State the California requirement on cultures and socioeconomic position for out-of-state applicants and define culture, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic position as working terms.
2. Apply frameworks for cultural work, including the ADDRESSING model, cultural humility, and broaching, and examine the clinician's own background.
3. Describe events in California history that shape clients' experiences today, including exclusion laws, incarceration, segregation, and labor history.
4. Describe Native California today, including tribal diversity, historical trauma, and practice with Native clients and families.
5. Describe Latino Californians' diversity, strengths, stressors, and culturally responsive engagement.
6. Describe Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Californians' diversity, help seeking, and culturally responsive care.
7. Describe Black Californians' history, the effects of racism and wealth gaps, and culturally responsive practice.
8. Describe the mental health effects of immigration, refugee experience, and mixed-status family life, and appropriate clinical responses.
9. Recognize Middle Eastern, North African, Armenian, and other communities often missed in data, and their clinical needs.
10. Apply knowledge of minority stress, family acceptance, and California protections in work with LGBTQ+ clients.
11. Assess religion and spirituality and integrate them respectfully into care.
12. Describe disability, Deaf culture, older adults, and military families as cultural contexts, and related California systems.
13. Define and measure socioeconomic position, including official and California poverty measures and subjective status.
14. Explain the psychological effects of poverty, debt, and financial stress, including scarcity, shame, and family stress.
15. Describe how work and occupation shape mental health, including job strain, unemployment, and gig work in California.
16. Describe how housing cost, crowding, eviction, and neighborhood affect mental health, and California tenant protections at a referral level.
17. Describe homelessness in California, who experiences it and why, Housing First, and clinical practice with unhoused clients.
18. Describe how class shapes childhood, schooling, and first-generation students, including the ACE research and its limits.
19. Describe regional differences in California, rural mental health, and the cultural and practical issues of telehealth.
20. Apply language access requirements and best practices for working with interpreters and bilingual clients.
21. Describe how gender roles, family structure, caregiving, and economic abuse interact with culture and class, and supports for working families.
22. Use the Cultural Formulation Interview and cultural concepts of distress, and reduce diagnostic bias.
23. Apply culturally adapted treatment, fair fee practices, good faith estimates, referral, and advocacy.
24. Integrate culture, socioeconomic position, safety, and practical supports in complex California cases.

Who this course is for

Instructor

John Oliver Ycaro, LPCC (also the course developer and CE provider). About 10 years of clinical experience in community mental health, the VA, and private practice. Expertise relevant to this course: California BBS practice, community mental health with diverse and low-income clients, and private practice clinical work.

Under CAMFT CEPA rules, the named instructor meets instructor qualifications by current related licensure and a related master’s degree (and related practice experience). A current CV is kept in the provider’s CE records.

How it works

1. Enroll through the secure Payhip checkout. You get the course right away.
2. Read the self-study text at your own pace.
3. Take the online post-test (70% to pass; retakes free) and confirm you did the work yourself.
4. Complete a short course evaluation (required for CE credit).
5. Receive your certificate by email within 1 business day after you pass and complete the evaluation.

Completion records are kept for at least 4 years.

CE information

Course meets the qualifications for 15 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

CE hours are based on the length of the required reading, using our documented hours method. Your time may vary with your clinical experience and reading speed.

California Counselor CEUs (John Oliver Ycaro) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs. California Counselor CEUs (John Oliver Ycaro) maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.

Out-of-state applicants: keep your certificate. The California BBS guide for your license explains how to show completed coursework with your application.

Provider mailing address: 200 San Mateo Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030

Questions

Do out-of-state applicants need 15 hours on California cultures?

Yes. Out-of-state LCSW, LPCC, and LMFT applicants need at least one semester unit, or 15 hours, of instruction on various California cultures and the social and psychological implications of socioeconomic position (BPC 4980.72, 4996.17.1, 4999.60). The coursework may come from an acceptable continuing education provider. This course is $49, 15 CE hours.

Is this the only thing I need for a California license?

No. It is one item on a longer list. Path A applicants also need 12 hours of California law and ethics, 7 hours of child abuse assessment and reporting, 6 hours of suicide risk assessment and intervention, the California Law and Ethics Examination, and fingerprints. Path B applicants need more. Check the California BBS guide for your license.

Do I need all four out-of-state courses?

It depends on what the California BBS lists for you. Your California BBS evaluation or deficiency letter names the coursework you still need, so buy only those courses, or get all four in the $69 bundle on our out-of-state applicants page.

Can California licensed clinicians take this course for renewal?

Yes. California LCSWs, LPCCs, and LMFTs can take it for renewal. All 15 hours count as electives toward the 36 hours you need each renewal period (16 CCR 1887.3). They do not count toward the 6 hours of law and ethics.

Is it CAMFT-approved?

Yes. California Counselor CEUs (John Oliver Ycaro) is a CAMFT-approved CE provider, CAMFT CEPA Provider #10072759.

How fast is the certificate?

Your certificate comes by email within 1 business day after you pass the post-test (70% to pass) and complete the evaluation.

Do I need a subscription or an account?

No. Each course or bundle is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Checkout on Payhip asks only for your email and payment. No account, no login.

Is it easy to use?

Yes. You read at your own pace, take the online post-test, and your certificate comes by email. In anonymous course evaluations, an LMFT on Law and Ethics wrote: “It was easy, convenient, and informative.” An AMFT on California Law and Ethics for Associates wrote: “Easy, simple, clear and relevant to my profession.”

Are the post-test questions tricky?

No. Clear questions, no tricks. Scout points out the key concepts for the test in the study guide, one for each question, so you know what to focus on. Retakes are free.

What do clinicians say about these courses?

Here is what clinicians wrote in anonymous reviews. An APCC on Law and Ethics: “Definitely made the renewal process easy.” A clinician on Law and Ethics: “the ability to complete at my own pace”. An LMFT on Telehealth: “The content was easy to understand.” Reviewers often mention working at their own pace.

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