Sec. 16909.

(1) The board shall grant a license as a marriage and family therapist to an individual who meets all of the following requirements:

(a) Provides satisfactory evidence to the board of meeting either of the following educational qualifications:

(i) Has a master's or higher graduate degree from an accredited training program in marriage and family therapy approved by the board.

(ii) Has a master's or higher graduate degree from an accredited college or university approved by the board and has completed all of the following graduate-level courses at an accredited college or university approved by the board:

(A) Three courses in family studies that total at least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours.

(B) Three courses in family therapy methodology that total at least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours.

(C) Three courses in human development, personality theory, or psychopathology that total at least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours.

(D) At least 2 semester or 3 quarter hours in ethics, law, and standards of professional practice.

(E) At least 2 semester or 3 quarter hours in research.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2), provides satisfactory evidence to the board of having completed supervised clinical marriage and family therapy experience in conjunction with the applicant's educational program. The clinical marriage and family therapy experience described in this subdivision shall meet all of the following requirements:

(i) Be obtained either in a clinical practicum during graduate education or in a postgraduate marriage and family institute training program acceptable to the board.

(ii) Be obtained over not less than 8 consecutive months.

(iii) Be verified by a supervisor who has a master's or higher graduate degree from an accredited college or university approved by the board and meets 1 of the following:

(A) Is a marriage and family therapist.

(B) Is a certified social worker or a social worker registered under article 16 of the occupational code, 1980 PA 299, MCL 339.1601 to 339.1610.

(C) Is a licensed professional counselor as defined in section 18101.

(D) Is a physician as defined in section 17001 or 17501 and practicing in a mental health setting.

(E) Is a fully licensed psychologist as defined in section 18201.

(F) Is an approved supervisor or supervisor-in-training through a program conducted by the American association for marriage and family therapy and approved by the board.

(iv) Include not less than 300 direct client contact hours in supervised clinical marriage and family therapy experience, at least 1/2 of which were completed in a setting in which families, couples, or subsystems of families were physically present in the therapy room.

(v) Be supervised in a ratio of at least 1 hour of supervision for each 5 hours of direct client contact, for a total of not less than 60 hours of supervision concurrent with the 300 hours of supervised direct client contact.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2), provides satisfactory evidence to the board of having completed a minimum of 1,000 direct client contact hours in supervised marriage and family therapy experience, at least 1/2 of which was completed with families, couples, or subsystems of families physically present in the therapy room, that meets all of the following conditions:

(i) Is verified by the supervising licensed marriage and family therapist.

(ii) Is obtained following the completion of the degree required by subdivision (a)(i), is obtained following the completion of the degree required by subdivision (a)(ii) and concurrent with or following the course work specified in subdivision (a)(ii)(A), (B), (C), (D), and (E), or is obtained as part of a doctoral program in marriage and family therapy from an accredited college or university approved by the board, which experience may include experience obtained under subdivision (b)(i).

(iii) Is supervised in a ratio of at least 1 hour of supervision for each 5 hours of experience, for a total of not less than 200 hours of supervision concurrent with the 1,000 hours of supervised experience. Not less than 100 hours of supervision under this subparagraph shall be individual supervision with no more than 1 other supervisee present. The remaining supervision under this subparagraph may be group supervision involving no more than 6 supervisees with 1 supervisor. The supervision shall be given in face-to-face contact with the individual obtaining marriage and family therapy experience.

(2) The board shall waive the requirements of subsection (1)(b) and (c) for an applicant who provides satisfactory evidence to the board of having obtained a doctoral degree from an accredited doctoral training program in marriage and family therapy approved by the board.

History: Add. 1995, Act 126, Eff. Jan. 1, 1996 ;-- Am. 1996, Act 536, Imd. Eff. Jan. 13, 1997 ;-- Am. 1997, Act 188, Imd. Eff. Dec. 30, 1997 Popular Name: Act 368