Becoming a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist in North Dakota

Marriage family therapy is a specialty within the field of mental health counselling. Most areas of mental health therapists will focus on the individual marriage family therapist’s focus on the relationships of their clients with the members of their family. Marriage family therapists will meet with individuals, couples, and families to help work through any issues that they may have in order to better the relationships and create better lives.

In the state of North Dakota there are educational and experience requirements that a person must meet in order to become licensed as a marriage family therapist in the state.

Educational Requirements for Marriage Family Therapists in North Dakota

In the state of North Dakota a person must meet certain educational requirements to become a licensed marriage family therapist. A master’s degree in marriage family therapy or a related field is required.

If the person has a master’s degree in another area they must show that they have completed the following coursework during their program:

• Human Development: 9 credit hours in courses such as human behavior, personality theory, psychopathology, behavior pathology, or human development.
• Marital and Family Studies: 6 credit hours in courses such as sociology of the family, families under stress, lifespan, theories of child development, family forms, family life cycle, etc.
• Marital and Family Therapy: 12 credit hours in courses that cover topics such as family psychology, family communication, family therapy, sex therapy, family assessment, major theories of marriage family therapy, treatment planning, and systemic therapies, etc.
• Research: 3 credit hours in some type of research design, statistics, methodology, and special issues in marriage family studies
• Professional Studies: 3 credit hours in courses that cover topics such as professional socialization, family law, professional organizations, professional ethics, and interprofessional cooperation.

In addition, a clinical practicum is required. This must include at least 500 hours, or nine credit hours, or one year of clinical client conduct with families, couples, and individuals.

Read more about North Dakota MFT degrees.

Experience Requirements for Family Therapy License in North Dakota

Before becoming licensed as a marriage family therapist in North Dakota a person must meet the experience requirements as set by the state. This includes 2000 hours of clinical services to individuals, couples, and families of which at least 1500 hours are in a post-graduate supervised setting. The hours must be in direct clinical services. 500 hours must be provided to married couples, unmarried couples, and/or separating or divorcing couples. The other 500 hundred hours must be in family groups that include children and another 500 hours is to individuals and in related experiences. No more than 500 credit hours can be transferred from a program that is approved by COAMFTE.

A person must have at least 300 hours of supervision of which at least half of the hours are individual supervision both graduate and post graduate supervision can count towards the hours with no more than 100 hours being from the graduate program and the 200 remaining hours in post graduate supervision. At least 50 hours of the post graduate supervision must be in individual supervision.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Career Outlook In North Dakota

Overall, if you are interested in becoming a marriage family therapist you will be happy to know that the expected job growth in the industry from 2021 through 2031 is 14%. This is a high estimated rate of growth when compared to the career growth expected in all other areas. There were 80 licensed marriage family therapists in the state of North Dakota as of May 2022.

On average the marriage family therapists in North Dakota earned $58,050 as of May 2022. The national mean average salary was $63,300.

Research Additional Psychology Professional Licenses Granted by North Dakota:

• North Dakota Psychologist Licensing
• North Dakota Counselor Licensing
• North Dakota Social Work Licensing
• 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 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 North Dakota