Section 801.2 - DefinitionsThe following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise.
(1) Accredited institutions or programs--An institution of higher education accredited by a regionally accrediting agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or the United States Department of Education.(2) Act--Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 502, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act.(3) Board--The Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists.(4) Client--An individual, family, couple, group, or organization who receives or has received services from a person identified as a marriage and family therapist who is either licensed by the council or unlicensed.(5) Council--The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.(6) Council Act--Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 507, concerning the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.(7) Council rules--22 Texas Administrative Code, Chapters 801 and 881 to 885.(8) Direct clinical services to couples or family-- professional services provided to couples or families in which a clinician delivers therapeutic services with two or more individuals simultaneously or two or more individuals from the same family system within the same therapeutic session. Individuals must share an ongoing relationship beyond that which occurs in the therapeutic experience itself. Examples of ongoing relationships include family systems, couple systems, enduring friendship/community support systems, and residential, treatment or situationally connected systems.(9) Endorsement--The process whereby the council reviews licensing requirements that a license applicant completed while under the jurisdiction of an out-of-state marriage and family therapy regulatory board. The council may accept, deny or grant partial credit for requirements completed in a different jurisdiction.(10) Executive director--the executive director for the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.(11) Family system--An open, on-going, goal-seeking, self-regulating, social system which shares features of all such systems. Certain features such as its unique structuring of gender, race, nationality and generation set it apart from other social systems. Each individual family system is shaped by its own particular structural features (size, complexity, composition, and life stage), the psychobiological characteristics of its individual members (age, race, nationality, gender, fertility, health and temperament) and its socio-cultural and historic position in its larger environment.(12) Group supervision--Supervision that involves a minimum of three and no more than six marriage and family therapy supervisees or LMFT Associates in a clinical setting during the supervision hour.(13) Independent Practice--The practice of providing marriage and family therapy services to a client without the supervision of an LMFT-S. (14) Individual supervision--Supervision of no more than two marriage and family therapy supervisees or LMFT Associates in a clinical setting during the supervision hour.(15) Jurisprudence exam--An online learning experience based on the Act, Council Act, and council rules, and other state laws and rules relating to the practice of marriage and family therapy.(16) License--A marriage and family therapist license, a marriage and family therapist associate license, a provisional marriage and family therapist license, or a provisional marriage and family therapist associate license.(17) Licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT)--As defined in §502.002 of the Occupations Code, a person who offers marriage and family therapy for compensation.(18) Licensed marriage and family therapist associate (LMFT Associate)--As defined in § 502.002 of the Occupations Code, an individual who offers to provide marriage and family therapy for compensation under the supervision of a supervisor approved by the executive council. The appropriate council-approved terms to refer to an LMFT Associate are: "Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate" or "LMFT Associate." Other terminology or abbreviations like "LMFT A" are not council-approved and may not be used.(19) Licensee--Any person licensed by the council.(20) Licensure examination--The national licensure examination administered by the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB) or the State of California marriage and family therapy licensure examination.(21) Marriage and family therapy--The rendering of professional therapeutic services to clients, singly or in groups, and involves the professional application of family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of therapeutic services to those persons. The term includes the evaluation and remediation of cognitive, affective, behavioral, or relational dysfunction or processes.(22) Month--A calendar month.(23) Person--An individual, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity.(24) Recognized religious practitioner--A rabbi, clergyman, or person of similar status who is a member in good standing of and accountable to a legally recognized denomination or legally recognizable religious denomination or legally recognizable religious organization and other individuals participating with them in pastoral counseling if: (A) the therapy activities are within the scope of the performance of regular or specialized ministerial duties and are performed under the auspices of sponsorship of an established and legally recognized church, denomination or sect, or an integrated auxiliary of a church as defined in 26 CFR § 1.6033-2(h) (relating to Returns by exempt organizations (taxable years beginning after December 31, 1969) and returns by certain nonexempt organizations (taxable years beginning after December 31, 1980));(B) the individual providing the service remains accountable to the established authority of that church, denomination, sect, or integrated auxiliary; and(C) the person does not use the title of or hold himself or herself out as a licensed marriage and family therapist.(25) Supervision--(A) Supervision for licensure--The guidance or management in the provision of clinical services by a marriage and family therapy supervisee or LMFT Associate, which must be conducted for at least one supervision hour each week, except for good cause shown.(B) Supervision, Council-ordered--For the oversight and rehabilitation in the provision of clinical services by a licensee under a Council Order, defined by the Order and the Council-Ordered Supervision Plan, and must be conducted as specified in the Council Order and Supervision Plan (generally in face-to-face, one-on-one sessions).(26) Supervision hour--50 minutes.(27) Supervisor--An LMFT with supervisor status meeting the requirements set out in § 801.143 of this title (relating to Supervisor Requirements). The appropriate council-approved terminology to use in reference to a Supervisor is: "Supervisor," "Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Supervisor," "LMFT-S" or "LMFT Supervisor." Other terminology or abbreviations may not be used.(28) Technology-assisted services--Providing therapy or supervision with technologies and devices for electronic communication and information exchange between a licensee in one location and a client or supervisee in another location.(29) Therapist--A person who holds a license issued by the council.(30) Waiver--The suspension of educational, professional, or examination requirements for an applicant who meets licensing requirements under special conditions.22 Tex. Admin. Code § 801.2
The provisions of this §801.2 adopted to be effective April 20, 1994, 19 TexReg 2386; amended to be effective November 22, 1996, 21 TexReg 11588; amended to be effective September 20, 1998, 23 TexReg 9343; amended to be effective May 11, 2000, 25 TexReg 3961; amended to be effective April 11, 2001, 26 TexReg 2713; amended to be effective November 27, 2002, 27 TexReg 10924; amended to be effective July 2, 2006, 31 TexReg 5111; amended to be effective May 18, 2008, 33 TexReg 3758; amended to be effective March 31, 2013, 38 TexReg 1982; amended by Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 46, November 14, 2014, TexReg 9014, eff. 11/23/2014; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 11, March 17, 2017, TexReg 1255, eff. 3/26/2017; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 44, Number 09, March 1, 2019, TexReg 1137, eff. 3/7/2019; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 45, Number 40, October 2, 2020, TexReg 7021, eff. 10/5/2020; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 07, February 18, 2022, TexReg 0781, eff. 2/27/2022; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 46, November 18, 2022, TexReg 7692, eff. 11/23/2022; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 49, Number 12, March 22, 2024, TexReg 1939, eff. 3/27/2024