(1) Certificate holders shall affirm their understanding of and compliance with the continuing education requirements with the signing of the renewal form.

(2) The renewal application form must be completed and submitted, together with the renewal fee, as verification of continuing education hours earned during the renewal period.

(3) Certificate holders are required to keep a record of continuing education they have completed. These records shall be made available to the department if the certificate holder is chosen as a part of the random audit review.

(4) Documentation verifying attendance must be attached for all workshops listed on the continuing education submission form. Certificate of attendance must be signed by the sponsoring agency or workshop presenter, and must include the name of the workshop, name of counselor and the date and number of hours attended.

(5) Certificates of completion for training will not be returned. Copies of certificates of attendance are accepted for verification. Documentation will be recorded in counselors computer file and the copy of certificate discarded.

(6) Documentation as required below shall be accepted for each of the following continuing education formats:

(a) counselors attending workshops that have been preapproved by the department will submit a copy of the certificate of completion. Counselors who attend training that has not been preapproved must submit, in addition to the certificate of completion, an agenda with the specific breakdown to training hours (specific time of registration, breaks, lunch, etc.) , a description of the training and names of the trainers.

(b) A maximum of 20 contact hours may be earned over the two-year certification period by workshop presenters and/or preparation by the author or authors of a recognized professional publication.

(i) workshop presenters may earn up to one-half of the actual contact hours presented for preparation time;

(ii) credit for preparing presentations may be earned only one time for a training event;

(iii) ten hours may be earned by the author for publication of each professional article or book, up to the maximum of 20 hours per renewal cycle.

(c) Training that is less than six continuous hours is considered in-service training. In-service hours do not require prior approval but individual in-service records must be maintained by the counselors. Each in-service training record must include the date of the in-service, the subject or title, the name of the trainer, the length of the in-service (i.e., 1 hour, 1.5 hours) and must be signed by the trainer or the counselor's supervisor.

(d) Training films may be used for in-service training provided the films are observed as part of a structured workshop or in-service training that include a discussion period. Films observed outside a work setting in-service may be counted if the film includes a test instrument to verify training.

(e) Counselors may earn all or part of the required continuing education from academic courses. Course work must be completed after the date of certification or certificate renewal. Courses must be taken for credit. Audited courses will not receive continuing education credit. Ten hours will be given for each academic quarter hour, or 15 hours for each semester credit hour, in the fields of chemical dependency, psychology, social work, counseling and sociology.

(f) Home study courses that have been approved by the department will require a certificate of completion that includes the course name, number of hours earned, date of completion and signature of the provider.