36-33-9 Application for license--Requirements--Fee.
36-33-9.
Application for license--Requirements--Fee.
An applicant for a license as a licensed
marriage and family therapist shall file an application with the board on a form, in the manner, and
along with an application fee, not to exceed one hundred dollars, established by the board in rules
promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26. The board shall issue a license as a marriage and family
therapist to an applicant who pays the license fee and furnishes the board with satisfactory evidence
that:
(1)
The applicant is at least twenty-one years of age;
(2)
The applicant is of good moral character;
(3)
The applicant has received a master's or doctoral degree which consists of at least forty-eight semester credit hours in marriage and family therapy from a program accredited by
the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education, or a
program with specialty training in marriage and family counseling or therapy which is
accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational
Programs, or a graduate degree from a regionally accredited educational institution and
an equivalent course of study as approved by the board which meets the standards of the
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. The course of study shall
include:
(a)
Marriage and family studies (3 course, 9 semester credit minimum): Introductory
systems theory, family development, family systems (marital, sibling, individual
subsystems), special family issues, gender and cultural issues, all with major focus
from a systems theory orientation;
(b)
Marriage and family therapy (3 course, 9 semester credit minimum): Advanced
systems theory and interventions, major systemic marriage and family treatment
approaches, (structural, strategic, neoanalytic (object relations), behavioral
marriage and family therapy, communications, sex therapy, etc.);
(c)
Human development (3 course, 9 semester credit minimum): At least one course
in psychopathology-abnormal behavior is required and at least one course in
assessment is required. The third course may be selected from human development
(normal and abnormal), personality theory, or human sexuality;
(d)
Professional studies (1 course, 3 semester credit minimum): Professional ethics as
a therapist including legal and ethical responsibilities and liabilities, family law,
etc;
(e)
Research (1 course, 3 semester credit minimum): Research course in marriage and
family studies and therapy including research design, methodology, statistics;
(f)
Practicum (supervised clinical practice), one year minimum during graduate work:
Fifteen hours per week, approximately 8 to 10 hours in direct clinical contact with
individuals, couples, and families. Minimum of three hundred client contact hours
required;
(4)
The applicant has successfully completed (a) at least two years of supervised professional
work experience in marriage and family therapy following receipt of the first qualifying
graduate degree and the practicum required as part of the course of study, and (b) at least
two hundred hours of supervision of one thousand seven hundred hours of marriage and
family therapy conducted in face-to-face contact with individuals, couples, and families
including supervision in the diagnosis of individual pathology. Only supervised clinical
contact may be credited for this requirement. At least one hundred of the two hundred
hours of supervision must be individual supervision. The supervisor shall be a licensed
marriage and family therapist or the equivalent as determined by the board pursuant to
chapter 1-26; and
(5)
The applicant passes a written or oral examination, or both, as the board may prescribe
by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26.
Source: SL 1995, ch 227, § 9; SL 1998, ch 241, § 1; SL 2008, ch 191, § 75.