Section 16.02. Educational equivalents for graduate degrees in marriage and family therapy from accredited institutions.

  For purposes of meeting the educational requirements for a certificate as a marriage and family therapist, the following are substantially equivalent to a master's or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy from an accredited institution:

(1)  A course of study that includes at least 9 separate courses in the general topic areas of marital and family studies, marital and family therapy, and human development during the completion of a master's or doctoral degree at a regionally accredited college or university, as follows:

(a) Marital and family studies; a minimum of 2 separate courses and 6 semester hours or 8 quarter hours of academic credit. The courses shall relate directly to family development and family interactional patterns across the life cycle of the family as well as the family. Course work shall include one or more of the following areas: the study of family life cycle; theories of family development; marriage and the family; sociology of the family; families under stress; the contemporary family; the family in a social context; the cross-cultural family; youth, adult, aging and the family; family subsystems; and individual, interpersonal relationships involving marital, parental, and sibling relations.

(b) Marital and family therapy; a minimum of 2 separate courses and 6 semester hours or 8 quarter hours of academic credit. The course work shall include one or more of the following areas: the study of family therapy methodology; family assessment; treatment and intervention methods in family or marital therapy; overview of major clinical theories of marital and family therapy such as: communications, contextual, experiential, object relations, strategic, structural, systemic, transgenerational.

(c) Human development; a minimum of 2 separate courses and 6 semester hours or 8 quarter hours of academic credit. The course work shall include one or more of the following areas: the study of human development; personality theory; human sexuality; psychopathology; and behavior-pathology.

(d) Professional studies; a minimum of 1 course and 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours of academic credit. The course work shall include one or more of the following areas: the study of professional socialization and the role of the professional organization; legal responsibilities and liabilities; independent practice and interprofessional cooperation; ethics; and family law.

(e) Research; a minimum of 1 course and 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours of academic credit. The course work shall include one or more of the following areas: research design; methods and statistics; and research in marital and family studies and therapy.

(f) Clinical practicum; clinical practice as part of an academic program in marriage and family therapy or a substantially equivalent field, including at least 300 hours in face-to-face contact with individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, accumulated under supervision in not less than 8 calendar months and not more than 24 calendar months.

(2)  Proof that the applicant has, after obtaining a master's or doctoral degree in a field substantially equivalent to marriage and family therapy, successfully completed and received academic credit for course work at an accredited institution or a regionally accredited college or university, which, when combined with course work supporting the master's or doctoral degree in the substantially equivalent field, meets the criteria stated in sub. (1) .

(3)  Proof that the applicant has been admitted to clinical membership in the American association for marriage and family therapy after review of appropriate training and experience may be considered as the equivalent of a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy from an accredited institution on the marriage and family therapists section's review of documentation of the applicant's clinical membership in the American association for marriage and family therapy. The applicant shall request the American association for marriage and family therapy to send documentation of the applicant's clinical membership in the American association for marriage and family therapy and the date the membership was granted directly to the marriage and family therapists section from the American association of marriage and family therapy.

History: Cr. Register, November, 1993, No. 455 , eff. 12-1-93; r. (4), Register, November, 1999, No. 527 , eff. 12-1-99.

Note

There is a depth requirement in the educational equivalency evaluation. Each applicant is required to have a minimum of 2 courses in each of the general topic areas of marital and family studies, marital and family therapy, and human development. Each applicant is also required to have a minimum of 3 additional courses chosen from one or more of those topic areas, for a total of 9 separate courses in the topic areas of marital and family studies, marital and family therapy, and human development. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 The clinical practice required in an academic program in order to meet the educational equivalency of a master's or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy shall not be considered to fulfill any part of the postgraduate supervised practice requirement for licensure eligibility. A person who is working towards the equivalent of a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy shall complete the 300 hours of supervised practice as part of the academic equivalency, and shall also complete the 3,000 hours of postgraduate supervised practice required of all applicants for a license as a marriage and family therapist. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1