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Ohio Laws and Rules
The requirements for licensure are generally set forth in section 4757.30 of the Revised Code.
(A) Pertaining to the educational requirements, the board further describes: A “graduate degree in marriage and family therapy” is defined as a degree that meets all of the following criteria:
(1) The program or concentration must clearly be identified as marriage and family therapy. Such a program must specify in pertinent institutional catalogues and brochures its intent to educate and train marriage and family therapists.
(2) The marriage and family therapy curriculum must stand as a recognized entity within the institution and have a marriage and family therapy faculty.
(3) The marriage and family therapy coursework completed must be an organized course of study that includes at least one graduate course in each of these seven areas of marriage and family therapy:
(a) Marriage and family studies: Courses in this area should present a fundamental introduction to marriage and family studies. The student should learn to think across a wide variety of family structures and a diverse range of issues (i.e. gender, culture, and substance abuse). Topic areas may include but not limited to: family development, subsystems, blended families, gender issues in families, cultural issues in families.
(b) Systems theory: Courses in this area should address the historical development, theoretical and empirical foundations, and contemporary conceptual directions of the field of marriage and family therapy.
(c) Research: Courses in this area should assist the student in understanding and performing research. Topic areas may include: research methodology, qualitative and quantitative methods, and statistics.
(d) Professional ethics: Courses in this area must include the “American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy” (AAMFT) code of ethics, confidentiality and liabilities of clinical practice and research, professional ethics as a marriage and family therapist, professional socialization, and the role of the professional organization, licensure or certification legislation, independent practice and inter professional cooperation. Religious ethics courses and moral theology courses do not meet this requirement.
(e) Human development: Courses in this area should provide knowledge of personality development and its normal and abnormal manifestations. The student should have relevant coursework in human development across the lifespan, which includes special issues that should be integrated with systems concepts. Topic areas may include but are not limited to: human development, psychopathology, personality theory, human sexuality. Test and measurement courses do not meet this requirement.
(f) Appraisal of individuals and families: Courses in this area shall include the framework for understanding the individual, couple and family group, psychological and educational testing, and the study of ethnic, cultural and gender factors. Course content will address from a relational/systemic perspective, psychopharmacology, physical health and illness, traditional psycho diagnostic categories, and the assessment and treatment of major mental and emotional disorders.
(g) Practicum: Includes a supervised training experience taken during the completion of a degree program consisting of the provision of marriage and family therapy to clients and is acceptable to the board.
(i) Minimum twelve months, supervised clinical practicum with three hundred hours of direct contact with individuals, couples, and families.
(ii) Fifty percent of the three hundred hours must be with couples and families present. .
(iii) Prior to the beginning of the acceptable practicum student must have completed a course in marriage and family therapy and marriage and family studies.
(4) The marriage and family therapy coursework completed must include four courses in marriage and family therapy. Courses in this area should have a major focus on advanced marital or family systems and systemic therapeutic interventions. This area is intended to provide a substantive understanding of the major theories of systems change and the applied practices evolving from each theoretical orientation. Major theoretical approaches include but are not limited to: strategic, structural, object relations, behavioral, intergenerational, and systemic sex therapy.
(5) Programs that are accredited by the “Commission On Accreditation Of Marriage And Family Therapy Education” (COAMFTE) will have met all of the conditions specified in paragraphs (A)(1) to (A)(4) of this rule are recognized as meeting the requirements for a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy.
(6) Programs not accredited by the “Commission On Accreditation Of Marriage And Family Therapy Education” (COAMFTE) listed in paragraph (A)(5) of this rule must be approved by this board as meeting the educational requirements for admission to the examination for the marriage and family therapy license. Program approval may be obtained by submitting to the board written evidence that the degree meets the requirements set forth in paragraphs (A)(1) to (A)(4) of this rule.
(B) Applicants with other graduate degrees in a mental health field that contain sixty semester hours or ninety quarter hours must submit written evidence that the degree program and any additional coursework meet standards that are equivalent to a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy set forth in paragraphs (A)(3) and (A)(4) of this rule.
(C) Applicants who are denied admission to the examination will be afforded an opportunity for a hearing pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.
Replaces: 4757-25-01
Effective: 01/10/2008
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 09/20/2012
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4757.10
Rule Amplifies: 4757.30
Prior Effective Dates: 4-10-04
(A) The examination required for licensure as a marriage and family therapist or an independent marriage and family therapist is the “Examination In Marital and Family Therapy” offered by the “Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards”(AMFTRB).
(B) The examination shall be offered at least twice each year.
(C) Only applicants who are approved by the board may sit for the examination. Approval to sit for the examination will be granted if a review of the applicant’s educational records establishes that the educational requirements for licensure are met.
(D) An applicant who is approved for the examination shall be sent an admission letter from the board.
(1) The letter must be presented at the testing site for admission to the examination.
(2) The letter is effective only for the next examination given after the date of issuance.
(3) An applicant who fails to take the examination during the effectiveness of the letter must request another admission letter.
(E) The minimum score for passage of the examination is the passing score as determined by the “Professional Examination Services” (PES).
HISTORY: Eff 4-10-04
Rule promulgated under: RC 119.03
Rule authorized by: RC 4757.10
Rule amplifies: RC 4757.30
RC 119.032 review date: 4/10/09
The requirements for licensure as a licensed marriage and family therapist are generally set forth in paragraph (C) of section 4757.30 of the Revised Code.
(A) The applicant shall complete an application as prescribed in rule 4757-1-04 of the Administrative Code and submit the required fee established in rule 4757-1-05 of the Administrative Code.
(B) The applicant shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Has a degree which meets the requirements set forth in paragraph (A) of rule 4757-25-01 of the Administrative Code.
(2) Passed the marriage and family therapy examination approved by the board.
Effective: 09/20/2007
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 04/10/2009
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4757.10
Rule Amplifies: 4757.30
Prior Effective Dates: 4-10-04
The requirements for licensure as a licensed independent marriage and family therapist are generally set forth in division (C) of section 4757.30 of the Revised Code.
(A) The applicant shall complete an application as prescribed in rule 4757-1-04 of the Administrative Code and submit the required fee established in rule 4757-1-05 of the Administrative Code.
(B) The applicant shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Has a degree which meets the requirements set forth in rule 4757-25-01 of the Administrative Code.
(2) Passed the marriage and family therapy examination approved by the board.
(3) After completion of the required education in paragraph (A) of rule 4757-25-01 of the Administrative Code, has completed at least two calendar years of work experience in marriage and family therapy that meets all of the following requirements:
(a) The experience shall include a minimum of one thousand hours of documented client contact in marriage and family therapy.
(b) During the thousand hours of client contact, the applicant shall receive a minimum of two hundred hours face-to-face supervision by a supervisor whose training and experience meet the standards established in paragraph (C) of rule 4757-29-01 of the Administrative Code.
(c) Of the required two hundred hours of face-to-face supervision a minimum of one hundred hours shall be individual supervision.
Effective: 09/20/2007
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 04/10/2009
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4757.10
Rule Amplifies: 4757.30
Prior Effective Dates: 4-10-04
(A) The temporary license allows the holder to practice as a marriage and family therapist or an independent marriage and family therapist, while awaiting the next opportunity to take the examination required by the board for licensure set forth in section 4757.30 of the Revised Code or while awaiting the next board meeting.
(B) A temporary license may only be issued if it is determined that, except for passage of the examination required for the license sought, the applicant qualifies under division (A) of section 4757.30 of the Revised Code for licensure as a marriage and family therapist.
(C) Applicants who wish to obtain a temporary license must submit a properly completed application, as prescribed by the board. The application must include all of the following items:
(1) The license fees established in rule 4757-1-05 of the Administrative Code;
(2) Proof that the applicant has registered for the next examination for licensure required by the board pursuant to section 4757.30 of the Revised Code.
(D) A temporary license is valid from the date of issuance until the earliest of one of the following:
(1) The date the applicant withdraws from taking the examination;
(2) The date the applicant is notified that the applicant failed the examination;
(3) The date the applicant’s license is issued under section 4757.30 of the Revised Code;
(4) The date of the first available examination passes and the applicant does not take the examination.
(E) A temporary license may not be renewed. A second temporary license shall be issued only in the event of documented substantial hardship as determined by the board.
HISTORY: Eff 4-10-04
Rule promulgated under: RC 119.03
Rule authorized by: RC 4757.10
Rule amplifies: RC 4757.30.1
RC 119.032 review date: 4/10/09
(A) An applicant requesting licensure as a marriage and family therapist or independent marriage and family therapist via endorsement shall submit to the board all of the following:
(1) A completed licensure application for the level of licensure for which the applicant is seeking licensure;
(2) The required fee established by the board under paragraph (B) of rule 4757-1-05 of the Administrative Code;
(3) An official statement, which indicates applicant is currently licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized to practice as a marriage and family therapist or independent marriage and family therapist in another jurisdiction;
(4) An official statement from any and all jurisdictions where the applicant is currently or has been previously licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized to practice as a marriage and family therapist or independent marriage and family therapist indicating whether the applicant is in good standing and whether disciplinary action has been taken or is pending against the applicant;
(5) All transcripts of graduate education;
(6) If the applicant has taken another jurisdiction’s marriage and family therapist exam, documentation of whether the applicant passed that exam; and
(7) Any additional documentation requested by the board that would assist the board in making a determination based on paragraphs (B)(1) to (B)(7) of this rule.
(B) The marriage and family therapist professional standards committee may consider the following factors to determine whether to grant the applicant a license via endorsement:
(1) Whether the applicant possesses a master’s and or doctor’s degree in marriage and family therapy awarded by an appropriately accredited institution;
(2) Whether the applicant possesses a master’s and or doctor’s degree in a related mental health field awarded by an appropriately accredited institution and has earned substantially equivalent marriage and family therapy coursework from an appropriately accredited institution subsequent to that degree that meets the requirements of division (A)(3)(b) of 4757.30 of the Revised Code and paragraph (A)(3) of rule 4757-25-01 of the Administrative Code;
(3) Whether the applicant’s coursework is substantially similar to the requirements in paragraph (A)(3) of rule 4757-25-01 of the Administrative Code;
(4) Whether the applicant for independent marriage and family therapist has substantially equivalent supervised experience required by division (C) of 4757.30 of the Revised Code and paragraph (C)(3) of rule 4757-25-04 of the Administrative Code;
(5) Whether the applicant has passed a state marriage and family therapist exam that is substantially similar to Ohio’s examination;
(6) Whether the applicant’s license is currently in good standing in another jurisdiction and whether applicant has been disciplined in another jurisdiction; and
(7) The number of years the applicant has practiced as a marriage and family therapist or independent marriage and family therapist worker in another jurisdiction.
Replaces: 4757-25-06
Effective: 01/10/2008
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 09/20/2012
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4757.10
Rule Amplifies: 4757.18, 4757.30
Prior Effective Dates: 4/10/04