License Renewal & Continuing Education for Louisiana MFTs

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Louisiana MFT License Renewal and Continuing Education InformationMarriage & Family Therapists (MFTs) in Louisiana are required to renew their licenses on December 31, every 2 years.

Licensed MFTs who last renewed their license December 31st of 2009 are now up for renewal. Your renewal application and $150 fee are due by December 31st, 2011. If you are audited, please also submit proof of your 40 hours of continuing education. Please remember 3 of these hours must be in ethics related to Marriage and Family Therapy.

Continuing Education Requirements

All Louisiana-licensed MFTs must accrue 40 clock hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license.

  • One continuing education unit (CEU) is equivalent to one clock hour.
  • Accrual of continuing education begins only after the date the license was issued.
  • Continuing education hours accrued beyond the required 40 clock hours may not be applied toward the next renewal period. Renewal periods run from January 1 to December 31.
  • The licensee is responsible for keeping a personal record of his/her continuing education hours until official notification of renewal is received. Do not forward documentation of continuing education hours to the board office as they are accrued.
  • At the time of renewal 10 percent of the licensees will be audited to ensure that the continuing education requirement is being met. Licensees audited will be requested by letter to submit documentation as specified in ยง3503.B of their continuing education hours.
  • Licensees will be asked in the renewal application to note any changes in areas of expertise. The advisory committee, at its discretion, may require the licensee to present satisfactory documentation supporting these changes.

A licensee must accrue three clock hours of training in ethics that specifically addresses ethics for licensed marriage and family therapy every renewal period. A generic ethics class will not be acceptable.

Those licensed marriage and family therapists who hold another license that requires continuing education hours may count the continuing education hours obtained for that license toward their LMFT CEU requirements. Of the 40 CEUs submitted, however, 20 hours must be in the area of marriage and family therapy with an emphasis upon systemic approaches or the theory, research, or practice of systemic psychotherapeutic work with couples or families including three hours of ethics specific to marriage and family therapy.

Types of documentation needed for continuing education audit:

  1. copy of certificate of attendance for workshops, seminars, or conventions;
  2. copy of transcript for coursework taken for credit/audit;
  3. letter from workshop/convention coordinator verifying presentation;
  4. copy of article plus the table of contents of the journal it appears in, copy of chapter plus table of contents for chapter authored for books, title page and table of contents for authoring or editing books, letter from conference coordinator or journal editor for reviewing refereed workshop presentations or journal articles.

Approved Continuing Education for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists

Continuing education requirements are meant to ensure personal and professional development throughout an individual’s career.

An LMFT may obtain the 40 clock hours of continuing education through the options listed. All continuing education hours may be obtained through Subparagraph a or 20 of the 40 hours may be obtained through Subparagraph b:

a) Direct participation in a structured educational format as a learner in continuing education workshops and presentations or in graduate coursework (either for credit or audit).

  • The advisory committee will accept workshops and presentations approved by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and its regional or state divisions including the Louisiana Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (LAMFT). Continuing education taken from organizations, groups, or individuals not holding provider status by one of the associations listed will be subject to approval by the advisory committee at the time of renewal.
  • Licensees may receive one clock hour of continuing education for each hour of direct participation in a structured educational format as a learner. Credit cannot be given to persons who leave early from an approved session or to persons who do not successfully complete graduate coursework.
  • The advisory committee will not pre-approve any type of continuing education.
  • The continuing education must be in one of the seven approved content areas listed below and given by a qualified presenter.
  • A qualified presenter is someone deemed by the advisory committee to be a professional in marriage and family therapy, another mental health profession, or another profession with information, knowledge, and skills relevant to the practice of marriage and family therapy.
  • Credit cannot be granted for business/governance meetings; breaks; and social activities including meal functions, except for the actual time of an educational content speaker.
  • Credit may not be given for marketing the business aspects of one’s practice, time management, supervisory sessions, staff orientation, agency activities that address procedural issues, personal therapy, or other methods not structured on sound educational principles or for content contrary to the LMFT Code of Ethics (Chapter 43).

b) Optional Ways to Obtain Continuing Education (20 Hours Maximum)

  • Licensees may receive one clock hour of continuing education for each hour of direct work in:

i. Teaching a marriage and family therapy course (10 hours maximum) in an area as described in Paragraph C.3 in an institution accredited by a regional accrediting association. Continuing education hours may be earned only for the first time the individual teaches the course, or

ii. Authoring, editing, or reviewing professional manuscripts or presentations (10 hours maximum) in an area of marriage and family therapy as described in Paragraph C.3. Articles must be published in a professional refereed journal.

iii. Presentations at workshops, seminars, symposia, and meetings in an area of marriage and family therapy as described in Paragraph C.3 may count for up to 10 hours maximum at a rate of two clock hours per one-hour presentation. Presenters must meet the qualifications stated in Subparagraph 2.a. The presentation must be to the professional community, not to the lay public or a classroom presentation.

Continuing education hours must be relevant to the practice of marriage and family therapy and generally evolve from the following seven areas:

1) Theoretical Knowledge of Marriage and Family Therapy. Continuing education in this area shall contain such content as the historical development, theoretical and empirical foundations, and contemporary conceptual directions of the field of marriage and family therapy and will be related conceptually to clinical concerns.

2) Clinical Knowledge of Marriage and Family Therapy: Continuing education in this area shall contain such content as:

  • Couple and family therapy practice and be related conceptually to theory;
  • Contemporary issues, which include but are not limited to gender, violence, addictions, and abuse, in the treatment of individuals, couples, and families from a relational/systemic perspective;
  • A wide variety of presenting clinical problems;
  • Issues of gender and sexual functioning, sexual orientation, and sex therapy as they relate to couple, marriage and family therapy theory and practice;
  • Diversity and discrimination as it relates to couple and family therapy theory and practice.

3) Assessment and Treatment in Marriage and Family Therapy. Continuing education in this area shall contain such content from a relational/systemic perspective as psychopharmacology, physical health and illness, traditional psychodiagnostic categories, and the assessment and treatment of major mental health issues.

4) Individual, Couple, and Family Development. Continuing education in this area shall contain such content as individual, couple, and family development across the lifespan.

5) Professional Identity and Ethics in Marriage and Family Therapy. Continuing education in this area shall contain such content as:

  • Professional identity, including professional socialization, scope of practice, professional organizations, licensure and certification;
  • Ethical issues related to the profession of marriage and family therapy and the practice of individual, couple and family therapy. Generic education in ethics does not meet this standard;
  • The AAMFT Code of Ethics, confidentiality issues, the legal responsibilities and liabilities of clinical practice and research, family law, record keeping, reimbursement, and the business aspects of practice;
  • The interface between therapist responsibility and the professional, social, and political context of treatment.

6) Research in Marriage and Family Therapy. Continuing education in this area shall include significant material on research in couple and family therapy; focus on content such as research methodology, data analysis and the evaluation of research, and include quantitative and qualitative research.

7) Supervision in Marriage and Family Therapy: Continuing education in this area include studies in theory and techniques of supervision as well as ethical and legal issues, case management, and topics relative to the specific supervised training.

Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners: http://www.lpcboard.org/

Professional Development Resources is approved as a provider of continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC Provider #5590); by the American Psychological Association (APA); and by the National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC, Provider #000279).