Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 078 - Mental Health Professions Board › Sub-Agency 0001 - Mental Health Professions Board › Chapter 10 - Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist › Section 10-3 - Education Requirement for Licensure

Current through July 13, 2024
(a) All educational requirements
				for licensure shall be met through the completion of a master's degree program
				in marriage and family therapy from a Commission on Accreditation for Marriage
				and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) or Council for Accreditation of
				Counseling and Related Educational Programs- Marriage and Family Counseling
				(CACREP-MCFC) accredited program. The Board will only accept the education from
				a CACREP-MCFC program if the applicant was enrolled in the program prior to
				January 1, 2020.
(b) Applicants who
				have completed couple, marriage and family therapy programs not accredited by
				COAMFTE or CACREP-MCFC may be deemed to have met the educational requirement
				provided they meet the following criteria:
(i)
				The graduate degree program, and any applicable additional graduate level
				course work, was completed at an educational institution accredited by one of
				the regional or national institutional accrediting bodies recognized by the
				Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
(ii) The program was substantially similar in
				content as required by COAMFTE or CACREP-MCFC including instructor
				qualifications, clinical supervision, practicum and internship requirements and
				course work.
(iii) The official
				transcripts, course prefixes, and course descriptions clearly identify the
				educational program as preparing persons to be couples, marriage and family
				therapists.
(iv) Course work shall
				be completed in a master's or doctoral program or subsequent graduate level
				coursework.
(v) The applicant has
				completed a minimum of seventy-two (72) quarter hours or forty-eight (48)
				semester hours of graduate level coursework.
(vi) Course work for those graduating from
				programs prior to January 1, 2020 was completed in each of the core areas
				defined herein:
(A) Individual and Family
				Development (9 semester credits)- Courses in this area include content on
				individual and family development across the lifespan. Content should provide
				knowledge of individual personality development and its normal and abnormal
				manifestations. The applicant should have relevant coursework in human
				development across the life span which includes special issues that affect an
				individual's development. This material should be integrated with systems
				concepts. Topic areas may include human development, child/adolescent
				development, psychopathology, personality theory, human sexuality, and other
				psychosocial development including career development, or other courses related
				directly to human development. Test and measurement courses are not acceptable
				in this area.
(B) Theoretical
				Knowledge of Couples, Marital and Family Therapy (9 semester credits)- Courses
				in this area address the historical development, theoretical and empirical
				foundations, and contemporary conceptual directions of the field of couples,
				marriage and family therapy. Content enables students to conceptualize and
				distinguish the critical epistemological issues in the profession of couples,
				marriage and family therapy and provide a comprehensive survey and substantive
				understanding of the major models of marriage, couples, and family therapy. All
				courses in this area must have a major focus from a systems theory orientation.
				Topic areas may include systems theory, family subsystems, blended family,
				gender issues in families, cultural issues in families, or other courses
				directly related to couples, marital and family theory. Survey or overview
				courses in which systems is one of several theories covered are not
				appropriate. Courses in which systems theory is the major focus and other
				theories are studied in relation to systems theory are appropriate.
(C) Clinical Knowledge of Couples, Marital
				and Family Therapy (9 semester credits)- Courses in this area address, from a
				relational/systemic perspective, psychopharmacology, physical health and
				illness, traditional psychodiagnostic categories, and the assessment, diagnosis
				and treatment of major mental health issues. Content addresses contemporary
				issues, which include but are not limited to gender, sexual functioning, sexual
				orientation, sex therapy, violence, addictions, and abuse, in the treatment of
				individuals, couples, and families from a relational/systemic perspective.
				Material addresses a wide variety of presenting clinical problems. Courses in
				this area should have a major focus on advanced family systems theories 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 may include strategic, structural, object relations family therapy,
				behavioral family therapy, communications family therapy, intergenerational
				family therapy, systemic sex therapy, or other courses directly related to
				couples, marital and family therapy. Survey or overview courses in which family
				therapy is one of several types of theories covered is not
				acceptable.
(D) Research (3
				semester credits)- Courses in this area include significant material on
				research in couple and family therapy. Content focuses on research methodology,
				data analysis and the evaluation of research including quantitative and
				qualitative research and its methods. Individual personality, test and
				measurement, and library research courses are not acceptable toward this
				area.
(E) Professional Identify
				& Ethics (3 semester credits)- Courses in this area are intended to
				contribute to the professional development of the therapist. Content includes
				professional identity, including professional socialization, scope of practice,
				professional organizations, licensure, and certification. Coursework focuses on
				ethical issues related to the profession of individual, couples, marriage and
				family therapy. Other areas that need to be addressed include the AAMFT Code of
				Ethics, confidentiality issues, the legal responsibilities and liabilities of
				clinical practice and research, family law, record keeping, reimbursement, the
				business aspects of practice, and familiarity with regional and federal laws as
				they relate to the practice of individual, couple and family therapy. Religious
				ethics courses and moral theology are not accepted towards this area.
(F) Clinical Practicum/Internship (9 semester
				credits)- Applicants shall complete a supervised clinical practicum/internship
				with individuals, couples, and families.
(vii) Course work for those graduating from
				programs after January 1, 2020 was completed in each of the core areas defined
				herein:
(A) Foundations of Relational/Systemic
				Practice, Theories & Models (Minimum of 6 semester credits/8 quarter
				credits/90 clock hours) This area facilitates students developing competencies
				in the foundations and critical epistemological issues of MFTs. It includes the
				historical development of the relational/systemic perspective and contemporary
				conceptual foundations of MFTs, and early and contemporary models of MFT,
				including evidence-based practice and the biopsychosocial
				perspective.
(B) Clinical Treatment
				with Individuals, Couples and Families (Minimum of 6 Credits/8 quarter
				credits/90 clock hours) This area facilitates students developing competencies
				in treatment approaches specifically designed for use with a wide range of
				diverse individuals, couples, and families, including sex therapy, same-sex
				couples, working with young children, adolescents and elderly, interfaith
				couples, and includes a focus on evidence-based practice. Programs must include
				content on crisis intervention.
(C)
				Diverse, Multicultural and/or Underserved Communities (Minimum of 3 Credits/4
				quarter credits/45 clock hours). This area facilitates students developing
				competencies in understanding and applying knowledge of diversity, power,
				privilege and oppression as these relate to race, age, gender, ethnicity,
				sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, disability, health
				status, religious, spiritual and/or beliefs, nation of origin or other relevant
				social categories throughout the curriculum. It includes practice with diverse,
				international, multicultural, marginalized, and/or underserved communities,
				including developing competencies in working with sexual and gender minorities
				and their families as well as anti-racist practices.
(D) Research & Evaluation (Minimum of 3
				Credits/4 quarter credits/45 clock hours). This area facilitates students
				developing competencies in MFT research and evaluation methods, and in
				evidence-based practice, including becoming an informed consumer of couple,
				marriage, and family therapy research. If the program's mission, goals, and
				outcomes include preparing students for doctoral degree programs, the program
				must include an increased emphasis on research.
(E) Professional Identity, Law, Ethics &
				Social Responsibility (Minimum of 3 Credits/4 quarter credits/45 clock hours).
				This area addresses the development of a MFT Identity and socialization, and
				facilitates students developing competencies in ethics in MFT practice,
				including understanding and applying the AAMFT Code of Ethics and understanding
				legal responsibilities.
(F)
				Biopsychosocial Health & Development Across the Life Span (Minimum of 3
				Credits/4 quarter credits/45 clock hours). This area addresses individual and
				family development, human sexuality, and biopsychosocial health across the
				lifespan.
(G) Systemic/Relational
				Assessment & Mental Health Diagnosis and Treatment (Minimum of 3 Credits/4
				quarter credits/45 clock hours). This area facilitates students developing
				competencies in traditional psycho-diagnostic categories, psychopharmacology,
				the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of major mental health issues as well
				as a wide variety of common presenting problems including addiction, suicide,
				trauma, abuse, intra-familial violence, and therapy for individuals, couples,
				and families managing acute chronic medical conditions, utilizing a
				relational/systemic philosophy.
(H)
				The following areas must be covered in the curriculum in some way, though there
				are no minimum credit requirements:
(I)
				Contemporary Issues. This area facilitates students developing competencies in
				emerging and evolving contemporary challenges, problems, and/or recent
				developments at the interface of Couple or Marriage and Family Therapy
				knowledge and practice, and the broader local, regional, and global context.
				This includes such issues as immigration, technology, same-sex marriage,
				violence in schools, etc. These issues are to reflect the context of the
				program and the program's mission, goals, and outcomes.
(II) Community Intersections &
				Collaboration. This area facilitates students developing competencies in
				practice within defined contexts (e.g., healthcare settings, schools, military
				settings, private practice) or nontraditional MFT professional practice using
				therapeutic competencies congruent with the program's mission, goals, and
				outcomes (e.g., community advocacy, psycho-educational groups). It also
				addresses developing competency in multidisciplinary collaboration.
(III) Preparation for Teletherapy Practice
				This area facilitates the development of competencies in teletherapy. This may
				include such issues as emerging legal and ethical requirements, documentation,
				response to crises, awareness of the therapeutic space, joining, appropriate
				individual and systemic interventions (e.g., couples, play therapy), or other
				topics of importance to the context of the program and with diverse
				populations.
(I)
				Practicum or internship. Includes a minimum of 300 clinical contact hours with
				individuals, couples, families and other systems physically present, at least
				100 of which must be relational. The 300 hours must occur over a minimum of
				twelve months of clinical practice. Students must receive at least 100 hours of
				supervision. Supervision can be individual or group and must include a minimum
				of 50 hours of supervision utilizing observable data. Supervision may utilize
				digital technology in which participants are not in the same location as long
				as the majority of supervision is with supervisor and supervisee physically
				present in the same location and appropriate mechanisms/precautions are in
				place to ensure the confidentiality and security of the means of technology
				delivery.
(viii) Three
				(3) semester credits is equivalent to four (4) quarter credits.