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.