Mental Health Practitioners

Appendix A
Requirements for Supervised Experience - Marriage and Family Therapist

The experience requirement for licensure as a marriage and family therapist requires completion of a supervised clinical experience of at least 1,500 client contact hours providing marriage and family therapy in a setting acceptable to the Department. Applicants who meet the education requirement for licensure by completing a master's or doctoral program registered by the Department as licensure qualifying or a program that the Department determines is equivalent may use client contact clock hours completed as part of the program and/or after to meet this requirement. Applicants who meet the education requirement for licensure by completing a graduate degree program in an allied mental health field and additional graduate level coursework, if needed, must obtain the supervised experience after completion of the graduate degree program in the allied mental health field. All experience must be documented on Form 4B.

The supervised experience and practice under a limited permit must meet the following supervision and setting requirements.

Supervision of Experience

The supervisor must:

• have completed a master's or higher degree program in marriage and family therapy, or in the subject of the field in which the supervisor is licensed (see below), or another field related to the field of marriage and family therapy as determined by the Department; and
• be licensed and registered in New York State to practice marriage and family therapy, medicine, as a physician assistant, psychology, licensed clinical social work, or as a registered professional nurse or nurse practitioner, or must have the equivalent qualifications as determined by the Department*; and
• have at least three years of practice on a full-time basis, or the part-time equivalent, in marriage and family therapy. Practice on a full-time basis means 960 clock hours in the practice of marriage and family therapy earned over a 52-week period.

There must be contact between the applicant and the supervisor during which:

• the applicant apprises the supervisor of the assessment and treatment of each client;
• the applicant's cases are discussed with the supervisor;
• the supervisor provides the applicant with oversight and guidance in the application of marriage and family therapy theories, techniques and supervisory processes to assist the applicant in developing skills necessary to practice marriage and family therapy, which emphasizes the treatment or relational, systemic dynamics in therapy and focuses on special training and techniques required for treating more than one person in therapy; and
• the supervisor provides an average of one hour per week or two hours every other week of in-person individual or group supervision.

Setting for Experience

The setting in which the experience is obtained must be a location at which legally authorized individuals provide services that constitute the practice of marriage and family therapy, as defined in Education Law, and must be responsible for the services provided by individuals gaining experience for licensure. The setting cannot be a private practice owned or operated by the applicant.

The practice of marriage and family therapy is defined in Education Law as:

• the assessment and treatment of nervous and mental disorders, whether affective, cognitive or behavioral, which results in dysfunctional interpersonal family relationships including, but not limited to familial relationships, marital/couple relationships, parent-child relationships, pre-marital and other personal relationships;
• the use of mental health counseling, psychotherapy and therapeutic techniques to evaluate and treat marital, relational, and family systems, and individuals in relationship to these systems;
• the use of mental health counseling and psychotherapeutic techniques to treat mental, emotional and behavioral disorders and ailments within the context of marital, relational and family systems to prevent and ameliorate dysfunction; and
• the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and psychotherapy to identify and evaluate dysfunctions and disorders for purposes of providing appropriate marriage and family therapy services.