(1) Direct treatment staff who are currently recognized by the department as a trainee, staff, or supervisor at a certified program under chapter 388-60 WAC will be granted the same designation by the department with the adoption of chapter 388-60A WAC.

(2) Each treatment program certified for assessments or any level of domestic violence intervention treatment must ensure that all staff with direct treatment contact with participants be:

(a) Currently licensed or registered as counselors as required under chapter 18.19 RCW;

(b) Free of criminal convictions involving domestic violence or moral turpitude;

(i) Direct service staff who have convictions involving crimes of domestic violence or moral turpitude may submit a written explanation of their convictions and a request for an exception to this requirement;

(ii) The department will review the explanation and request for an exception on a case-by-case basis, and the decision to grant or deny such a request will be at the department's discretion; and

(iii) This discretionary decision is not subject to an administrative hearing appeal as outlined under chapter 388-02 WAC; and

(c) In good standing with DSHS:

(i) A direct treatment staff person whose actions have been the subject of a DSHS investigation and have resulted in the denial, suspension, or revocation of a program's certification status is subject to a review by DSHS to determine if the direct treatment staff person is considered to be in good standing;

(ii) The department will review the status of a direct service staff on a case-by-case basis and decisions for designation and recognition of the direct service staff person as a trainee, staff, or supervisor will be at the discretion of the department; and

(iii) This discretionary decision is not subject to an administrative hearing appeal as outlined under chapter 388-02 WAC.

(3) Each direct treatment staff person must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited university in counseling, psychology, social work, or similar social services field.

(a) The department may grant an exception or waiver from compliance with this requirement if the exception would not violate an existing local, state, federal, or tribal law;

(b) In order to qualify for an exception, the employee must possess year-for-year professional level experience equivalent to a related bachelor's degree in counseling, psychology, social work, or similar social service field and the department determines this equivalency at the discretion of the DSHS program manager responsible for monitoring domestic violence intervention treatment programs;

(c) To request an exception to a rule in this chapter, the program must:

(i) Submit the request in writing to the department;

(ii) Assure that the exception would not jeopardize the safety, health, or treatment of an individual; and

(iii) Assure that the exception would not impede fair competition of another service agency;

(d) The department approves or denies an exception request in writing and requires the program to keep a copy of the decision; and

(e) The department's decision to deny an exception request is not subject to administrative review under chapter 388-02 WAC.

(4) Prior to providing any direct treatment services to program participants, each direct treatment staff person must have completed:

(a) A minimum of thirty hours of domestic violence training from an established domestic violence victim or survivor services program, as defined in this chapter;

(b) A portion, but not all of the victim training hours may be accrued through training from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and those trainings may be attended in person or online;

(c) A minimum of thirty hours of training on the provision of domestic violence intervention assessment and services, provided by an established and certified domestic violence intervention treatment services program or other organization that has been approved by the department to provide the training and must include:

(i) An orientation to the treatment program if the training is through a certified program;

(ii) An overview of all applicable policies and procedures;

(iii) Instructions on how to conduct behavioral assessments;

(iv) Instructions on how to facilitate groups; and

(v) Instructions regarding the implementation, administration, interpretation, and utilization of domestic violence offender risk assessment tools;

(A) If located within Washington state, the domestic violence intervention treatment program must be certified and meet the standards as outlined in this chapter; and

(B) If located out-of-state the domestic violence intervention treatment program must meet the standards outlined in this chapter and in chapter 26.50 RCW; and

(d) Direct service staff must complete all sixty hours of required training before the employee may apply for trainee status and begin to provide any direct services to participants and any work experience accrued prior to completion of the sixty hours of training will not count toward any requirement for work experience.