Code of Colorado Regulations
700 - Department of Regulatory Agencies
736 - Division of Professions and Occupations - Board of Marriage and Family Therapist Examiners
4 CCR 736-1 - MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST EXAMINERS RULES AND REGULATIONS
Section 4 CCR 736-1.14 - LICENSURE BY EXAMINATION (C.R.S. section 12-245-504)

Universal Citation: 4 CO Code Regs 736-1 § 14

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 17, September 10, 2024

A. Criteria for application.

1. The applicant must submit to the Board a completed application for licensure, all fees, official transcript(s), and all supporting documentation required by the Board in order for the Board to review the application for licensure.

2. Applicants must meet the experience requirements in effect at the time of the initial application.

3. Applications for licensure remain active for one (1) year. If the applicant fails to become licensed within this time period, s/he must submit a new application and fee and must meet the educational, experience, and examination requirements in effect at the time of the date of the new application. The Board, in its sole discretion, may extend an application upon written request accompanied by a showing of good cause..

3. An applicant for licensure must pass the required examination no more than five (5) years prior to the date of the application for licensure. Experience and supervision requirements that predate the application by more than five (5) years will not be accepted by the Board absent a showing of good cause, as determined by the Board. However, this may not apply in those exceptions allowable under statutes concerning marriage and family therapist candidates.

4. All applicants for licensure have a continuing obligation to update their application with information changes from the original application at any time prior to licensure.

B. Education and Training Requirements. Many graduate programs in marriage and family therapy go under other names. Some programs labeled as marriage and family programs are not primarily focused on marriage and family therapy. The Board has therefore established the following factors to determine whether or not a particular program from which an applicant for licensure received the master's or doctoral degree qualifies as a master's or doctoral program with a major in marriage and family therapy in compliance with sections 12-245-504(1)(c) and 12-245-503, C.R.S. To meet the statutory requirements, the master's or doctoral program must meet (1) below:

1. Accredited program. The applicant obtained a master's or doctoral degree from a program that was approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education; or

2. Equivalent program. If the application is received by the Board prior to June 30, 2012, the following requirements shall apply to be considered for equivalency: The applicant received a master's or doctoral degree from a graduate training program that, at the time s/he was enrolled and received her/his degree, fulfilled the equivalency degree requirements used to define a marriage and family therapy graduate training program. An applicant asserting a program is equivalent to an accredited program in marriage and family therapy must furnish to the Board evidence in support of the asserted equivalency and has the burden of establishing equivalency. Evidence may include institutional documents published contemporaneously with the applicant's enrollment, appropriate certifications or affidavits from university officials, dissertation abstracts, and any other evidence the applicant deems useful. The Board may request additional information from the applicant.

All of the following requirements shall be considered in order to establish equivalency:

a. The required master's or doctoral level study and master's or doctoral degree were obtained from a regionally-accredited institution of higher learning;

b. The program stood as a coherent and recognizable entity within the institution, offering an integrated and organized sequence of study planned to provide appropriate training for the practice of marriage and family therapy;

c. There was an identifiable full-time faculty, with an individual responsible for the program who was a full-time faculty member and who met the requirements for approval as a supervisor or a person who presents proof satisfactory to the Board, that at the time of serving as the faculty member, s/he possessed essentially the same education, experience, and training as that necessary to qualify for licensure under the Act.

d. The program had an identifiable body of students who were matriculated in that program for a degree;

e. The master's or doctoral program included examination and grading procedures designed to evaluate the degree of mastery of the subject matter by the students;

3. Foreign-trained applicants. Foreign-trained applicants must submit educational credentials to a credentialing agency utilized by the Board for evaluation of equivalency. After course equivalency is established, the Board will evaluate the educational credentials to determine whether or not the program is equivalent to an accredited MFT program of marriage and family therapy.

C. Post-Graduate Experience Requirements. The Board will approve post-master's or post-doctoral supervised practice as meeting the requirements for licensure set out in section 12-245-504(1)(d), C.R.S., when that practice satisfies the requirements of this subsection.

1. Definitions. As used in sections, 12-245-501 (2.5), 12-245-504(1)(d), C.R.S., and this Rule unless the context indicates otherwise:

a. "Individual supervision" means supervision rendered to one individual at a time.

b. "Group supervision" means supervision rendered to not more than ten individuals at one time.

c. "Post-master's experience" or "post-doctoral experience" means experience under approved clinical supervision acquired subsequent to the date certified by the degree-granting institution as that on which all requirements for the master's or doctoral degree (whichever is applicable) have been completed.

d. "Practice in individual and marriage and family therapy" means all services included within the definition of psychotherapy in section 12-245-202(14), C.R.S., and particularly those services and practices included within the definition of marriage and family therapy in section 12-245-503, C.R.S.

e. "Supervision" means personal direction and responsible direction provided by a supervisor approved by the Board, that may be in-person or telesupervision.

(1) "Personal direction" means direction actually rendered by the approved supervisor.

(2) "Responsible direction" or "direction" means the approved supervisor has sufficient knowledge of all clients for whom supervision is provided, including face-to-face contact with the client when necessary, to develop and to monitor effective service delivery procedures and the supervisee's treatment plan. Further, all decisions requiring the special skill, knowledge, and/or training of a marriage and family therapist are made in collaboration with, and with the approval of, the approved supervisor. Such decisions include, but are not limited to: type, duration, effectiveness, and method of psychotherapy services provided; fees and billing procedures; approval of cases; and personal observation, evaluation, oversight, review, and correction of services provided by the supervisee.

(3) "Clinical Supervision" means the evaluation and modification or approval by a supervisor or the clinical practice of the person being supervised and a source of knowledge, expertise and more advanced skills made available to the person being supervised.

f. "Consultation" describes a voluntary relationship between professionals of relative equal expertise or status wherein the consultant offers her/his best advice or information on an individual case or problem for use by the consultee as s/he deems appropriate in her/his professional judgment. Consultation is not supervision. Experience under contract for consultation will not be credited toward fulfillment of supervision requirements.

2. Certification of Completion. Each applicant shall file with the Board, upon forms supplied by the Board, a verified statement signed under penalty of law by their approved supervisor(s) attesting to the applicant's satisfactory completion of the required postmaster's or post-doctoral practice in individual and marriage and family therapy/psychotherapy under supervision and attesting to the applicant's having met the generally accepted standards of practice during the supervised practice.

3. Supervision.

a. The Board may approve any of the following as a supervisor.

(1) A marriage and family therapist or any other licensed mental health professional who, at the time of the supervision, possessed a license in good standing in the jurisdiction in which the applicant's services were rendered, and who, at the time of the supervision, had education, clinical experience, and clinical supervisory experience in the field of marriage and family therapy.

(2) A marriage and family therapist who, at the time of the supervision, was an approved supervisor under the auspices of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

(3) A person who presents proof satisfactory to the Board that, at the time of the supervision, s/he was licensed in good standing as a marriage and family therapist, a professional counselor, a psychologist, or a clinical social worker under the Act and who, at the time of the supervision, had education, clinical experience, and clinical supervisory experience in the field of marriage and family therapy substantially equivalent to a licensed marriage and family therapist.

(4) A marriage and family therapist may be approved as a supervisor, who, at the time of the supervision, was licensed at the highest possible level in another jurisdiction in which the applicant's services were performed. The Board will consider post-degree supervised experience obtained in another jurisdiction by an individual who is not certified or licensed as a marriage and family therapist in the other jurisdiction, if the jurisdiction in which such person was practicing did not provide for such certification, licensure, listing or registration. The applicant's supervisor shall document to the satisfaction of the Board her/his competence in the same field of marriage and family therapy as that in which the applicant is seeking licensure

b. The approved supervisor shall keep records that will enable her/him effectively to train, evaluate, and credit the applicant for licensure with the exact number of hours of acceptable post-master's or post-doctoral practice of marriage and family therapy and the exact number of hours of supervision completed in compliance with this Rule.

4. Number of hours of post-master's practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision.

a. The post-master's experience and practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision cannot be completed in fewer than twenty-four months and may involve supervision by more than one supervisor as defined in these Rules.

b. The two years of post-master's practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision required by section 12-245-504(1)(d), C.R.S., must include at least 2,000 hours of practice, including at least 1,500 hours of face-to-face direct client contact, 1,000 of which shall be with couples and families for the purpose of diagnosis, assessment and intervention obtained in such a manner that they are reasonably uniformly distributed over a minimum of twenty-four months.

c. The teaching of the practice of individual and marriage and family therapy may count up to 300 hours of post-master's practice in marriage and family therapy under supervision and up to thirty hours of supervision, provided this teaching experience was supervised by a supervisor as defined in these Rules.

d. "Face-to-face direct client contact with couples and families" includes contact with individual members of the couples and families so long as the contact is done as part of and in furtherance of on-going work with the couples and families.

5. Number of hours of post-doctoral experience practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision.

a. The post-doctoral experience practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision cannot be completed in fewer than twelve months and may involve supervision by more than one supervisor as defined in these Rules.

b. The one year of post-doctoral experience practice in individual and marriage and family therapy under supervision required by section 12-245-504(1)(d), C.R.S., must include at least 1,500 hours of face-to-face direct client contact, including at least 1,000 hours of face-to-face direct client contact with couples and families for the purpose of diagnosis, assessment and intervention obtained in such a manner that they are reasonably uniformly distributed over a minimum of twelve months.

c. The teaching of the practice of individual and marriage and family therapy may count up to 300 hours of post-doctoral practice in marriage and family therapy under supervision and up to fifteen hours of supervision, provided this teaching experience was supervised by a supervisor as defined in these Rules.

6. Number of hours of post-master's or post-doctoral supervision.

a. For each 1,000 hours of supervised practice in individual and marriage and family therapy, applicants must receive a minimum of fifty hours of supervision. A minimum of twenty-five of the fifty hours must be face-to-face individual supervision, which may be in-person or telesupervision. The remaining hours up to the fifty hours may be by group supervision, which may be in-person or telesupervision. No other modes of supervision will be accepted.

b. The post-master's or post-doctoral supervision hours must be reasonably distributed over each 1,000 hours of supervised practice in individual and marriage and family therapy in a manner consistent with the accrual of the hours of supervised post-master's or post-doctoral practice.

c. With respect to supervision of the teaching of marriage and family therapy, the supervision hours must be reasonably distributed over the teaching experience in a manner consistent with the accrual of the hours of teaching experience.

d. Examination. In accordance with sections 12-245-204(4)(b), 12-245-504(1)(e), and 12-245-504(3), C.R.S., the Board establishes these requirements for the licensing examination to demonstrate professional competence in individual and marriage and family therapy, including special knowledge and skill in marriage and family therapy.

1. Jurisprudence Examination. Applicants shall also be required to pass a Board developed jurisprudence examination.

2. National Examination. The examination in marriage and family therapy shall be the marriage and family therapy examination administered under contract with the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB).

a. Reexamination. In the event an applicant fails to receive a passing grade on the examination, s/he may apply to the AMFTRB for reexamination and is subject to the requirements of AMFTRB.

3. Application. An applicant for licensure shall apply directly to the AMFTRB, or any other testing service the Board may contract with at the time, to sit for the appropriate examination.

a. A student in their last semester or quarter of either a Commission On Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) approved or non-COAMFTE approved graduate degree program may apply directly to the AMFTRB to sit for the marriage and family therapist examination.

4. Exam Results. Examination results on the AMFTRB examination will be valid for up to five years after the date of the examination.

5. Exam Scores. Passing scores on the AMFTRB examination will be valid for up to five years after the date of the examination.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Colorado may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

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