Marriage and Family Therapists – Applying for a license FAQ’s

An applicant must hold a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy or a related field from an accredited program. See academic requirements in board rules 801.112 General Academic Requirements, 801.113 Academic Requirements, and 801.114 Academic Course Content.

The Board does not pre-evaluate coursework or degree types for licensure eligibility. To have your education reviewed, you must submit a complete application along with all required supporting documentation. See academic requirements in board rules 801.112 General Academic Requirements, 801.113 Academic Requirements, and 801.114 Academic Course Content.

Staff may accept an electronic transcript only if emailed directly from the school - to transcripts@bhec.texas.gov. Staff may accept a paper copy of a transcript only in the unopened envelope that was sealed by the school - mailed to BHEC MFT Transcripts, 1801 Congress Ave., Ste. 7.300, Austin, TX 78701.

Applicants must pass the national licensing exam administered by the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB). Applicants must also complete the Texas MFT jurisprudence exam.

AMFTRB requires its examinees to be approved by BHEC before registering to sit for their exam. First, submit an online application and fee to BHEC. See How To Apply for MFT License on our How To User Guides webpage. After you complete the application, the online system will automatically send you an email with the exam registration code. Use this code on AMFTRB’s website at https://amftrb.org/ and register to take the exam. See AMFTRB’s Handbook for Candidates.

Information on study materials can be found on AMFTRB's webpage.

If you used the Texas exam registration code, AMFTRB automatically releases your score to Texas staff. If you took the exam for another state’s licensing authority you will need to contact AMFTRB to have the scores transferred to Texas. For more information, please visit AMFTRB's webpage.

No. National exam scores do not expire.

No. Passing the national exam is only one part of the licensure process. You must first receive a license from the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council before you can begin providing services, even under supervision.

You may attempt the AMFTRB exam no more than three times before additional action is required. Failure to pass the AMFTRB exam within three attempts results in an automatic denial of your license application. You will not be allowed or approved to sit for the AMFTRB exam again until you have submitted a detailed study plan designed to address the known or suspected areas of deficiency. The study plan must be approved by the MFT board (or its designee) AND you must apply again for MFT license before a new exam authorization code will be provided. See the MFT Board’s Forms and Publications webpage for the Rule 882.6 Study Plan form.

All applicants must complete the Texas MFT jurisprudence exam no more than 6 months before submitting an application. The Texas MFT jurisprudence exam is administered online by eStrategy Solutions, a third-party vendor. To register visit our Jurisprudence Exam webpage. Applicants should contact eStrategy to register, schedule or reschedule the exam, request a copy of their certificate, or resolve any payment issues. If you need technical assistance related to the jurisprudence exam, click the “Need help?” link under the “Login” button on the Jurisprudence Examination webpage.

Find a Supervisor.

LMFT Associates must have completed a minimum of two years and at least 3,000 hours of supervised work experience in marriage and family therapy. These hours must include at least 1,500 hours providing direct clinical services, at least 500 hours of which must be providing direct clinical services to couples or families. In addition, while accruing the required experience, the LMFT Associate must participate in at least 200 hours of supervisory sessions from an LMFT-Supervisor, of which at least 100 of these hours must be individual supervision. Individuals holding a full LMFT license in another jurisdiction for two years are presumed to have met some of these requirements. Seeboard rule 801.115. Other details regarding supervised experience requirements are found in board rule §801.142.

Your LMFT Supervisor should complete a Supervised Experience Verification Form, available on our forms webpage.

An Associate can have up to two LMFT supervisors at a time.

When providing services, associates must receive a minimum of one hour of supervision each week. A supervisor and supervisee may, but are not required to, meet beyond the required hours.

Yes, an LMFT Associate can request a copy of their file. Supervisors should maintain accurate records and provide copies when asked.

If the required supervised experience hours are not completed on time, the LMFT Associate must reapply for licensure and meet all the current requirements in effect at the time of reapplication. Any experience hours already completed will carry over and count toward the new license if there is appropriate record submitted to the board. Associates should ensure their supervisor submits a Supervised Experience Documentation Form.

A Texas LMFT Associate may not practice without supervision. Staff may not issue the LMFT Associate license unless or until Supervisory Agreement Form is submitted and approved. If needed, see the Council’s Find a Supervisor webpage to search for an active LMFT Supervisor. The Supervisory Agreement Form is available on the MFT Board’s Forms and Publications webpage. Submit the completed form with a copy of your Texas LMFT Supervisor’s current renewal card. This form is the agreement between you and your Texas council-approved supervisor. It must be completed by you and signed by both you and your supervisor. Both you and your supervisor will need to maintain a copy of this form for the duration of your supervision.

Yes. The Supervised Clinical Practicum and Experience Verification Form (available on the MFT Board’s Forms and Publications webpage) is to document your academic experience and possibly allow staff to award some excess academic experience as post-license supervised experience. Complete Part 1; then, send to your school(s) at which you completed a graduate practicum or graduate internship course. A separate form must be received from each school. Your school’s faculty or administrator will complete this form and return it to you or to the board. NOTE: Different rules apply to academic experience achieved under a master’s degree than experience gained during a doctoral degree. Please have your school(s) complete a form for your master’s experience and a separate form for your doctoral experience.

Maybe. The Supervised Experience Verification Form (SEV Form) is available on the MFT Board’s Forms and Publications webpage and is used to document any licensed, supervised marriage and family therapy work experience gained after qualifying degree was conferred. • If you hold a Texas LMFT Associate license, your Texas LMFT Supervisor will complete the SEV Form before you apply to upgrade to Texas LMFT. • If you hold or have held a non-Texas license, any licensed, supervised marriage and family therapy work experience gained after qualifying degree was conferred may be verified by the non-Texas licensing authority when that authority verifies your non-Texas license OR if the authority is unable or unwilling to verify your experience hours, staff may consider hours accrued outside Texas as documented on Texas SEV Form. Your non-Texas LMFT Supervisor will complete this SEV Form, verifying hours accrued. You must submit this SEV Form with a copy of your non-Texas LMFT Supervisor’s credentials. Staff must receive a separate SEV Form from each supervisor.

No. Texas does not have reciprocity with any other jurisdiction. All applicants must meet all licensure requirements to be eligible for Texas licensure.

Yes. Texas offers a temporary MFT license, which authorizes issuance of a temporary Texas license for marriage and family therapists who are licensed to practice independently in another jurisdiction. Temporary license holders are allowed to use this license for up to thirty (30) days within one year from the date of issuance, and the thirty days are not required to be consecutive. Temporary license holders are required to report the use of this license after utilizing the full thirty days or the expiration of one year from licensure, whichever occurs first. See Checklist for Non-Texas independent MFT license holder, applying for temporary 30-day license on the MFT Board’s Forms and Publications webpage.

No. Applicants must meet all licensure requirements to be eligible for Texas licensure.

Former licensees may apply for reinstatement of a license after meeting all requirements and paying the reinstatement fee. Carefully review Council Rule §882.22 Reinstatement of a License. Gather the items listed in the Reinstatement Required Documentation Checklist.. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions in How to Request Reinstatement of an Expired/Retired/Revoked/etc. License on the Council’s How To User Guides webpage.

Inactive status maintains your license with the Council, but by placing it in “inactive” status you are no longer eligible to practice unless/until you request to return to active status. See How To Request Inactive Status and How To Reactivate Inactive Status on the Council’s How To User Guides webpage.

No. Licensees with inactive status are not required to complete continuing education.

A retired license is no longer considered a current, renewable license. Someone with a retired license wishing to practice again would be required to reinstate their license. See How To Request “Retired” Status on the Council’s How To User Guides webpage.

A fee table is available in Council Rule 885.1.

License applications expire and are automatically denied if incomplete after 180 days. Staff cannot extend the time of an application. Applicants whose application expires will be required to re-submit their application and pay the application fee again.

Yes, if possible it is recommended that you submit all required documents together. Sending materials separately or in multiple parts may delay the processing of your application. To avoid unnecessary delays, please ensure your application is complete before submission.

Visit https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/pract/selfQueryBasics.jsp for instructions on how to obtain a Self-Query Report from the National Practitioner DataBank (NPDB). • The NPDB may email to you a certified self-query report. DO NOT ALTER THIS PDF FILE. You may upload the certified report when you complete your online application for license or you may forward the emailed, certified NPDB self-query report to NPDB@bhec.texas.gov. • If you prefer, NPDB will mail the self-query report to you. You may mail the NPDB self-query report to the Council as long as it is still in the unopened envelope sealed by NPDB. Mail to BHEC NPDB, 1801 Congress Ave., Ste. 7.300, Austin, Texas 78701.

Each board offers a Verification of Licensure form on its Forms and Publications webpage. Complete the portion designated for an applicant, and then send the form to the non-Texas licensing agency that issued your license to complete the remaining information. A separate form must be received for each license you currently hold or have ever held in the past. Some state agencies generate their own form. Council staff may rely on the state-agency-generated form. However, if necessary data is not included on the state-agency-generated form, staff may ask the applicant for additional information/documentation. Some state agencies no longer issue any type of license verification, but rather provide an online primary source verification. If that’s the case for one or more of the licenses you hold, please note that in your online application contact staff after your application has been submitted. If another state’s online license verification does not include all the data needed, staff may ask the applicant for additional information/documentation.

Upon submission of your online application, the online licensing system will send you a confirmation email. Within the confirmation email is a link to instructions for completing the fingerprint process. See more details on our Fingerprint Information webpage.

Yes. There are various waivers and advantages provided for active-duty military, veterans and military spouses. For more information see the Council’s Military Service Members, Veterans, and Military Spouses webpage.