Reference · B&P §728, §337 and §729 · read 12 September 2026
A disclosure about a previous therapist triggers a duty, and most people have not heard of it.
When a client tells you that a previous psychotherapist behaved sexually toward them, California requires you to give that client a specific state brochure and to discuss it with them. The duty is one sentence long, it reaches trainees and associates and employers as well as licensees, and failing it is unprofessional conduct on its own terms — separately from anything the previous therapist did.
The duty →The duty
Provide the brochure, and discuss it.
The operative sentence is §728(a): a psychotherapist or employer “who becomes aware through a client that the client had alleged sexual intercourse or alleged sexual behavior or sexual contact with a previous psychotherapist during the course of a prior treatment shall provide to the client a brochure developed pursuant to Section 337 that delineates the rights of, and remedies for, clients who have been involved sexually with their psychotherapists. Further, the psychotherapist or employer shall discuss the brochure with the client.”
The trigger is the client’s own account, and the section speaks of what the client “alleged”. Nothing in it asks the receiving therapist to assess whether the allegation is true, and nothing in it makes the duty depend on that.
§337(a): the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the Board of Psychology, the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California prepare and disseminate it. §337(b) sets out what it contains, beginning with a legal and an informal definition, a brief description of common personal reactions, and a client’s bill of rights. It is published as Professional Therapy Never Includes Sex.
§728(a) requires the psychotherapist or employer to “discuss the brochure with the client”. A brochure left in a waiting room, emailed without comment, or mentioned in passing is not what the section describes.
§728(b): “Failure to comply with this section constitutes unprofessional conduct.” It is a freestanding ground, not an aggravating factor attached to something else.
§728(c)(2): “‘Sexual behavior’ means inappropriate contact or communication of a sexual nature. ‘Sexual behavior’ does not include the provision of appropriate therapeutic interventions relating to sexual issues.” The exclusion is in the statute itself.
§728(c)(5): from when the client first commences treatment for services the psychotherapist is authorized to provide, or represents to the client as being within their scope, until the relationship is terminated.
Who it reaches
Fourteen categories, including people who are not yet licensed.
| Who is bound by §728 | Where in the section |
|---|---|
| Licensed marriage and family therapist | §728(c)(1)(F) |
| Associate marriage and family therapist | §728(c)(1)(G) |
| Marriage and family therapist trainee | §728(c)(1)(H) |
| Licensed clinical social worker | §728(c)(1)(J) |
| Associate clinical social worker | §728(c)(1)(K) |
| Licensed professional clinical counselor | §728(c)(1)(L) |
| Associate professional clinical counselor | §728(c)(1)(M) |
| Clinical counselor trainee | §728(c)(1)(N) |
| Licensed educational psychologist | §728(c)(1)(I) |
| Licensed psychologist, psychological assistant, registered psychologist, or a trainee under a licensed psychologist | §728(c)(1)(B)–(E) |
| A physician and surgeon specializing in psychiatry or practicing psychotherapy | §728(c)(1)(A) |
| An employer of a psychotherapist | §728(a), in the same sentence as the clinician |
The section’s own definition of “psychotherapist” runs to fourteen categories, and the duty in §728(a) attaches to the employer of a psychotherapist as well. A practice that takes intakes needs one person who knows this exists.
The statutes around it
Three sections, doing three different things.
Give the brochure, discuss it, and note that the duty falls on an employer as well. This is the section this page is about, and the only one of the three that most clinicians will ever have to act on.
Four boards prepare it; the section lists what it must include. A practice that keeps a copy at intake is keeping a document the Legislature specified.
§729 makes sexual contact with a client — or with a former client where the relationship was terminated primarily for that purpose — sexual exploitation, sets five penalty tiers in subdivision (b), and states plainly: “For purposes of subdivision (a), in no instance shall consent of the patient or client be a defense.”
For marriage and family therapists, unprofessional conduct includes “Engaging in sexual relations with a client, or a former client within two years following termination of therapy”; the clinical social work and professional clinical counseling chapters carry their own equivalents. The criminal statute and the licensing rule are separate tracks with separate tests.
What this page is not
It is a compliance page for the clinician who receives a disclosure. It does not describe misconduct, does not advise a client about their options — the brochure does that, which is the point of the section — and does not address what to do clinically with what a client has told you. Where a therapist is unsure what a particular disclosure triggers, that is a question for a lawyer or for the Board, and the discipline case library is where the consequences are read one decision at a time.
Then what
The pages around this one.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The sections
The brochure, and the Board
Quotations are the sections’ own words, read on 12 September 2026 and linked. This page states a compliance duty and the statutes around it; it does not advise any client, does not assess any allegation, and is not legal advice. A therapist who is unsure what a particular disclosure requires should take that question to their own attorney.
