California Business And Professions Code Section 4980.40

To qualify for a license, an applicant shall have all the following qualifications: (a) Applicants shall possess a doctor`s or master`s degree in marriage, family, and child counseling, marital and family therapy, psychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, or counseling with an emphasis in either marriage, family, and child counseling or marriage and family therapy, obtained from a school, college, or university accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. The board has the authority to make the final determination as to whether a degree meets all requirements, including, but not limited to, course requirements, regardless of accreditation or approval. In order to qualify for licensure pursuant to this subdivision, a doctor`s or master`s degree program shall be a single, integrated program primarily designed to train marriage and family therapists and shall contain no less than 48 semester or 72 quarter units of instruction. The instruction shall include no less than 12 semester units or 18 quarter units of coursework in the areas of marriage, family, and child counseling, and marital and family systems approaches to treatment. The coursework shall include all of the following areas: (1) The salient theories of a variety of psychotherapeutic orientations directly related to marriage and family therapy, and marital and family systems approaches to treatment. (2) Theories of marriage and family therapy and how they can be utilized in order to intervene therapeutically with couples, families, adults, children, and groups. (3) Developmental issues and life events from infancy to old age and their effect upon individuals, couples, and family relationships. This may include coursework that focuses on specific family life events and the psychological, psychotherapeutic, and health implications that arise within couples and families, including, but not limited to, childbirth, child rearing, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, marriage, divorce, blended families, stepparenting, and geropsychology. (4) A variety of approaches to the treatment of children. The board shall, by regulation, set forth the subjects of instruction required in this subdivision. (b) (1) In addition to the 12 semester or 18 quarter units of coursework specified above, the doctor`s or master`s degree program shall contain not less than six semester or nine quarter units of supervised practicum in applied psychotherapeutic techniques, assessment, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of premarital, couple, family, and child relationships, including dysfunctions, healthy functioning, health promotion, and illness prevention, in a supervised clinical placement that provides supervised fieldwork experience within the scope of practice of a marriage and family therapist. (2) For applicants who enrolled in a degree program on or after January 1, 1995, the practicum shall include a minimum of 150 hours of face-to-face experience counseling individuals, couples, families, or groups. (3) The practicum hours shall be considered as part of the 48 semester or 72 quarter unit requirement. (c) As an alternative to meeting the qualifications specified in subdivision (a), the board shall accept as equivalent degrees, those master`s or doctor`s degrees granted by educational institutions whose degree program is approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education. (d) All applicants shall, in addition, complete the coursework or training specified in Section 4980.41. (e) All applicants shall be at least 18 years of age. (f) All applicants shall have at least two years of experience that meet the requirements of Section 4980.43. (g) The applicant shall pass a board administered written or oral examination or both types of examinations, except that an applicant who passed a written examination and who has not taken and passed an oral examination shall instead be required to take and pass a clinical vignette written examination. (h) The applicant shall not have committed acts or crimes constituting grounds for denial of licensure under Section 480. The board shall not issue a registration or license to any person who has been convicted of a crime in this or another state or in a territory of the United States that involves sexual abuse of children or who is required to register pursuant to Section 290 of the Penal Code or the equivalent in another state or territory. (i) An applicant for licensure trained in an educational institution outside the United States shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that he or she possesses a qualifying degree that is equivalent to a degree earned from a school, college, or university accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or approved by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. These applicants shall provide the board with a comprehensive evaluation of the degree performed by a foreign credential evaluation service that is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), and shall provide any other documentation the board deems necessary.