CURRENT REQUIREMENTS FOR LICENSURE

Please see the rules at www.lpcboard.org for details on the current requirements. There are four different requirement areas: 1) general (§3304), 2) academic (§3311), 3) examination (§3313), and 4) supervision (3315).

Academic Requirements

Persons who have graduated with 1) a master's or doctoral degree from a COAMFTE-accredited marriage and family therapy program or 2) a master's or doctoral degree in mental health counseling with a specialty in marriage and family counseling from a CACREP-accredited marriage and family counseling program meet the academic requirements.

Other persons must document that they have graduate degrees with coursework and supervision substantially equivalent to either a COAMFTE-accredited MFT program or a CACREP-accredited MFC program as specified in the rules and determined by the MFT Advisory Committee and approved by the LPC Board. The academic requirements for equivalency are in Section 3311.

Examination Requirements

The Advisory Committee and Board must approve applicants before they take the national marriage and family therapy examination. The examination rules are in Section 3313.

The examination is computerized and is available three times a year. The Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB) owns the examination. A company called Prometric (formerly Sylvan Learning Centers) conducts the examination in centers throughout the United States. More information on the examination is available at amftrb.org and prometric.org

There are workshops and study guides available to help applicants determine what they need to study to pass the examination. We recommend that if you decide to take such a course that you take it far enough in advance to allow for more study. Now that we have licensure in Louisiana workshops on how to take the MFT examination probably will become available in the state.

Supervision Requirements

Applicants must complete a minimum of two years of supervised work experience and 3,000 hours of clinical services in MFT as specified in Section 3315. Of these 3,000 hours, 2,000 must be direct work with clients and 1,000 may come from such things as writing case notes, workshops, public relations, consulting with referral sources, etc. The required hours of supervision are at least 200 hours, of which at least 100 must be individual supervision. Up to 100 hours of supervision received during a graduate program that can be documented as systemic may be counted toward the 200 hours. For details, see Section 3315.

REQUIREMENTS FOR LMFT APPROVED SUPERVISOR

AND

LMFT APPROVED SUPERVISOR CANDIDATE

Please note that during grandfathering supervision was approved on a case-by-case basis. The supervision, not the supervisor, was approved.

Now that the grandfathering period has ended the rules for supervision and requirements for supervisors have changed. The Advisory Committee will continue to approve supervision on a case-by-case basis and also begin a list of LMFT approved supervisors and supervisor candidates as the LPC Board approves them

The rules for becoming an LMFT approved supervisor or LMFT approved supervisor candidate are posted on the website.

There is no fee to become an LMFT approved supervisor or supervisor candidate. Qualifications include a one-semester course in marriage and family therapy supervision or its equivalent and 36 hours of supervision of supervision by a qualified supervisor as determined by the Advisory Committee. Approved MFT supervision courses and workshops are available in the state. AAMFT also offers the course of study at each annual conference and during its institutes.

An LMFT approved supervisor candidate is a person who has taken the required coursework or its equivalent and has registered with the board to receive his/her supervision of supervision with MFT interns. MFT interns may be supervised by either LMFT approved supervisors or registered supervisor candidates.

Please note that applicants will not need LMFT approved supervisors until after a second grandfathering period if LAMFT is successful in this legislative session in retroactively extending the grandfathering period from January 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004. The supervision requirement under grandfathering is for a person qualified to supervise toward licensure in your discipline.

ADDRESS CHANGES FOR: LPC/COUNSELOR INTERNS/LMFT/MFT INTERNS

NCE INFORMATION FOR 2003

BOARD ACTION

As of March 31, 2003 there were:

LPC's                    1593

Counselor Interns    478

January - March

65 Applications Reviewed

13 Approved for Licensure

39 Counselor Interns registered for Supervision

DISCIPLINE REPORT

Damon McCann - violation of RS 37:1110(A)(1), probation for a period of one year beginning March 14, 2003.

Georgiana Harpel - violation of RS 37:1110(A)(3), suspension of license for one year beginning March 14, 2003.

Eighteen complaints were filed in FY 01/02. Twelve have been resolved. Six remain under investigation.

Nine complaints were filed in FY 02/03. One has been resolved. Eight remain under investigation.

As of March 31, 2003 there are:

LMFT's                461

MFT Interns        134

January - March

267 Applications Reviewed

128 Approved for Licensure

79 MFT Interns registered for Supervision