An applicant for LMFT must complete supervised clinical experience acceptable to the council.
  (1) The LMFT Associate must have completed a minimum of two years of work experience in marriage and family therapy, which includes a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice. The required 3,000 must include:
    (A) at least 1,500 hours providing direct clinical services, of which:
      (i) no more than 750 hours may be provided via technology-assisted services (as approved by the supervisor); and
      (ii) at least 500 hours must be providing direct clinical services to couples or families.
    (B) of the 200 hours of council-approved supervision, as defined in §801.2 of this title (relating to Definitions), of which:
      (i) at least 100 hours must be individual supervision; and
      (ii) no more than 50 hours may be provided by telephonic services, but there is no limit for hours by live video.
  (2) The remaining required hours, not covered by subsection (1) above, may come from related experiences, including workshops, public relations, writing case notes, consulting with referral sources, etc.
  (3) An LMFT Associate, when providing services, must receive a minimum of one hour of supervision every week, except for good cause shown.
  (4) Staff may count graduate internship hours exceeding the requirements set in §801.114(b)(8) of this title (relating to Academic Course Content) toward the minimum requirement of at least 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice under the following conditions.
    (A) No more than 500 excess graduate internship hours, of which no more than 250 hours may be direct clinical services to couples or families, completed under a Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) accredited graduate program may be counted toward the minimum requirement of at least 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice.
    (B) No more than 400 excess graduate internship hours, of which no more than 200 hours may be direct clinical services to couples or families, completed under a non-COAMFTE-accredited graduate program may be counted toward the minimum requirement of at least 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice.
    (C) No more than 100 excess graduate internship supervision hours may be counted toward the minimum requirement of at least 200 hours of council-approved supervision.
  (5) An LMFT Associate may practice marriage and family therapy in any setting under supervision, such as a private practice, public or private agencies, hospitals, etc.
  (6) During the post-graduate, supervised clinical experience, both the supervisor and the LMFT Associate may have disciplinary actions taken against their licenses for violations of the Act, the Council Act, or council rules.
  (7) Within 30 days of the initiation of supervision, an LMFT Associate must submit to the council a Supervisory Agreement Form for each council approved supervisor.
  (8) An LMFT Associate may have no more than two council-approved supervisors at a time, unless given prior approval by the council or its designee.
  (9) Except as specified in paragraph (4) of this section, hours of supervision and supervised clinical experience accrued toward an out-of-state LMFT license may be accepted only by endorsement.
    (A) The applicant must ensure supervision and supervised experience accrued in another jurisdiction is verified by the jurisdiction in which it occurred and that the other jurisdiction provides verification of supervision to the council.
    (B) If an applicant has been licensed as an LMFT in another United States jurisdiction for the two years immediately preceding the date the application is received, the supervised clinical experience requirements are considered met. If licensed for any other two-year period, the application will be reviewed to determine whether clinical experience requirements have been met in accordance with council rules, 22 Texas Administrative Code, §882.1 (relating to Application Process).
  (10) Applicants with a master's degree that qualifies under §§801.112 and 801.113 may count any supervision and experience (e.g., practicum, internship, externship) completed after conferral of the master's degree and as part of a doctoral program, toward the supervision and experience requirements set out in §801.142. A doctoral program must lead to a degree that qualifies under §§801.112 and 801.113 before the Council will award credit for supervision and experience under this provision.

Source Note: The provisions of this §801.142 adopted to be effective October 5, 2020, 45 TexReg 7028; amended to be effective March 7, 2023, 48 TexReg 1310; amended to be effective March 27, 2024, 49 TexReg 1941