Seeking Licensure

The Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs at Northcentral University are designed to help you train to become an effective, knowledgeable clinician who is prepared to seek licensure. In many states, graduating from a COAMFTE-accredited program like the Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy degree program at NCU will greatly facilitate the licensure process. However, Northcentral cannot guarantee that program graduates will be eligible for licensure, pass licensure exams, or become licensed as marriage and family therapists. You have sole responsibility for ensuring that you take the required coursework and fulfill the requirements to prepare for and meet licensure requirements in your own state. Nonetheless, we anticipate that our program graduates will seek licensure, and therefore, we believe the following information may be helpful to you.

Most states have specific requirements that must be met in order to be licensed as a marriage and family therapist. Typically these requirements are patterned after AAMFT Educational Guidelines, but variance in specific requirements exists from state to state. For example, some states require a specific course in addictions, while others do not. Similarly, some states require more hours of direct or indirect clinical services than others. In view of the requirements for state licensure and the variation from state to state, common requirements and the potential for meeting such requirements at Northcentral are discussed below. 

Click here to view the full version of Education Requirements and full degree program information.

State Profiles

Each state has rules and regulations outlining the requirements for licensure, including specific educational components, post-graduation clinical experience and supervision, examination requirements, and so forth. These requirements can be unclear, confusing and sometimes contradictory. With the goal of assisting you in the licensure process, the MFT program at NCU has developed a profile for each of the states where most of our students reside. These profiles include summaries of that state's education requirements and post graduate requirements for licensure (e.g., required client contact hours, required experience hours, supervision hours requirements, supervisor qualifications, and state board contact information). 

Click on a state to view that state's profile:

As of October 2012, these are states that do not or may not accept the NCU MFT degree as meeting their requirements:

Please review your local MFT licensure requirements to make sure you will meet local requirements for licensure/professional practice. Click here for information that will help you compose a MFT Licensure Plan. 

The Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards

The Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB) not only contains important information about the Marriage and Family Therapy National Examination, they also have an interactive map of the United States that contains all the contact information for each state (and the District of Columbia) MFT licensure board. The link to the AMFTRB website is: http://www.amftrb.org/.

State Supervision Requirements

Each state has rules and regulations outlining the requirements regarding the supervision experience, how many supervision hours are required, and the requirements for someone to be accepted as a supervisor in their state. In addition, some states specifically count client contact hours and supervision hours completed during the practicum experience at a COAMFTE-accredited program as applicable to post graduate requirements. This information is included in each of the state profiles where most of our students reside. We will continue to add more state profiles to the website as they are developed. 

Ask a Licensure Question

While each state board is the ultimate authority on their own rules and regulations governing the practice of marriage and family therapy in their state, sometimes it is difficult to know where to start or what to ask. If you are an applicant, student, or alumni and you have a question about licensure in your state; send your question to Dr. Chuck West at mftlicensure@ncu.edu. Dr. West is the current Past President of the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB), having served as a state board regulator for 9 years, and he has conducted research in the area of licensure and regulation. In addition, Dr. West is first author of a review of national MFT licensure requirements published in the January 2013 edition of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.