(a) All educational requirements for licensure shall be met through the completion of a masters 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.
(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 masters or doctoral program or subsequent graduate level course work.
- (v) The applicant has completed a minimum of seventy-two (72) quarter hours or forty-eight (48) semester hours of graduate level course work.
- (vi) Course work 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 individuals 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) Three (3) semester credits is equivalent to four (4) quarter credits.
078-10 Wyo. Code R. § 10-3