Becoming a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist in Florida

A marriage family therapist in Florida may work in a variety of settings. Many individuals working in this field choose to work in a private practice where they will see clients on their own. The marriage family therapist will work with individuals as well as couples and families. The goal of the family therapist is to help their clients overcome any issues that they may have in order to lead a more productive life.

In the state of Florida a person must meet certain standards in order to become licensed as a marriage family therapist in the state. These requirements have been outlined below.

Educational Requirements for Marriage Family Therapists in Florida

In order to become licensed to practice marriage family therapy in the state of Florida a person must obtain a master’s degree in marriage family therapy or a field that is closely related with an emphasis in marriage family therapy. The individual must complete a minimum of 36 semester hours of graduate coursework. The following courses/credits must be included to meet the educational requirements for licensure:

Three semester hours in:

• Dynamics of marriage family systems
• Marriage therapy and counseling techniques and theories
• Family therapy and counseling techniques
• Individual human development theories
• Personality theory and techniques or general counseling theory and techniques
• Psychopathology
• Human sexuality theory
• Psychosocial theory
• Substance abuse theory and counseling theory techniques

Minimum of 3 semester hours or one graduate level course in:

• Professional, legal, and ethical standards in marriage family therapy
• Diagnosis, assessment, appraisal and testing for interpersonal or individual disorder or dysfunction
• Behavioral research

In addition, the student must complete a supervised clinical practicum or internship or other type of field experience in a marriage family therapy setting. The student must have at least 180 direct client contact hours during this practicum/internship.

Read about Florida MFT degrees.

Experience Requirements for Family Therapy License in Florida

A person that is seeking licensure in the state of Florida for marriage family therapy must complete at least two years of post-graduate experience that is supervised by an individual that has a license in marriage family therapy in the state. The supervisor must have at least five years of experience working in the field.

The experience must consist of at least 1500 hours of providing psychotherapy to clients in a face to face setting. These 1500 hours of psychotherapy experience must be completed within a minimum of 100 weeks.

At least 100 of the hours of supervision for every 1500 hours of face to face psychotherapy with clients is delivered by the intern; and at least an hour of supervision is provided every other week. If the applicant received group supervision for every hour of group supervision there must also be an hour for individual supervision, which is defined as a supervisor meeting with at the most two interns at a time.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Career Outlook In Florida

Overall, the job outlook for marriage family therapist is very good for the next few years. Employment for mental health counselors in general is expected to go up by 22% from 2021 through 2031, while the increase in the number of marriage family therapist careers is expected to go up by 14%. This is a much higher increase than the average job growth for all occupations. In May of 2022 the state of Florida employed 3,090 individuals as licensed marriage family therapists.

The national median wage for those working as marriage family therapist is $56,570. This is a bit more than the national median wage for mental health counselors in general which is $49,710. The average salary for marriage family therapists in the state of Florida was $45,380 in May of 2022.

Research Additional Psychology Professional Licenses Granted by Florida:

• Florida Psychologist Licensing
• Florida Counselor Licensing
• Florida Social Work Licensing
• Florida Learn More About The Career of an LMFT

2022 US Bureau of Labor Statistics job market trends and salary figures for marriage and family therapists and substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors are based on national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2023.

Schools with MFT Degree Programs Accepting Students from Florida