Both applicant and supervisor(s) should carefully read these instructions before completing and submitting the application.  Failing to follow instructions may delay licensure.

Important Information for Applicants and Supervisors:  Written Plan for Professional Counseling Experience and Supervision

The purpose of the experience questions on the application is to document and verify how much acceptable post-Masters experience in actual marriage and family counseling the applicant has already completed.  Once you document how much experience the applicant has completed and how much direct supervision he or she has received, you will know how much more experience and supervision the applicant needs to complete while an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist so that he or she will later meet the requirements for Delaware licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist.  Post-Masters Marriage and Family Counseling Experience Requirements explains the required hours of experience.

The hours of experience and supervision that the applicant has not yet completed are documented on the Written Plan for Marriage and Family Therapy Experience and Supervision.  To ensure that both the applicant and the supervisor understand the plan, both must sign off on it.

When answering the experience questions on the application, it is important for both applicant and supervisor(s) to understand the following:

• The hours of direct supervision that the applicant has already completed plus the planned hours of direct supervision (as documented in the Written Plan) must total at least the mandatory 1,600 hours of professional direct supervision.  In addition…
  • The applicant’s completed hours of couple and family therapy plus the planned hours of couple and family therapy sessions must total at least 500 hours.
  • The applicant’s completed hours of individual therapy plus the planned hours of couple and family therapy sessions must total at least 500 hours.
  • The applicant’s completed hours of any combination of couple and family or individual therapy plus the planned hours of couple and family or individual therapy must total at least 500 hours.
  • The applicant’s completed hours of face-to-face clinical supervision with your approved supervisor(s) plus the planned hours of face-to-face supervision must total at least 100 hours.

• The hours of experience the applicant has already completed—whether or not under professional direct supervision—added to the hours of experience in the Written Plan must total the required hours for licensure.

• All of the required hours—whether or not supervised—must span a period of not less than two but no more than four years.

• When asked to enter hours of experience or supervision, you must calculate and enter an actual number of hours.  Answers such as “40 hours/week” will not be accepted.

• Unless the supervisor is an AAMFT “approved supervisor,” the Delaware Board must approve the supervisor.

Requirements for All Applications

• Submit completed, signed and notarized Application for Licensure as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist.

• Enclose the non-refundable processing fee by check or money order made payable to the “State of Delaware.”

• Complete the Criminal History Record Check Authorization form to request State of Delaware and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal background checks.  Follow the instructions on the authorization form to arrange to be fingerprinted.

• Arrange for the Board office to receive a verification of licensure from each jurisdiction (state, U.S. territory, District of Columbia) where you now hold, or have ever held, a license to practice as a mental health professional.  You may use the Verification of Licensure form enclosed with this packet to request the verification.

• Arrange for the Board office to receive an official transcript from each college/university where you earned a Masters or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy or any allied field, sent directly from the school to the Board office.

• Complete and submit the COAMFTE Course Comparison Form if either of these situations applies to you:
  • Your graduate program of studies is not accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), or
  • Your degree from a nationally accredited college or university is not in marriage and family therapy but in a related discipline such as counseling, social work, psychology, or psychiatry

• If you have passed the AMFTRB examination, arrange for the Board office to receive an official score transfer sent directly to the Board office from the Interstate Reporting Service, www.amftrb.org.

• If any of your supervisors is a marriage and family therapist who is not licensed in Delaware, arrange for the Board to receive proof that the supervisor has passed the AMFTRB exam and has five years experience as a marriage and family therapist.

• If you have never been issued a U.S. Social Security Number (SSN), submit a Request for Exemption from Social Security Number Requirement.

Requirements Related to Completed Experience

The following requirements document and verify how many hours of acceptable post-Masters experience in marriage and family therapy you have already accrued.

• Arrange for your supervisor(s) to complete and sign the page entitled COMPLETED SUPERVISED EXPERIENCE HOURS.
  • The total number of post-Master’s hours of marriage and family therapy that you have provided under professional direct supervision must be clearly stated.  Providing only the dates of your employment is not sufficient.
  • If you had more than one period under different supervisors, have the approved supervisor for each period complete a box for the period during which he or she supervised you.

• You complete and sign the page entitled COMPLETED UNSUPERVISED EXPERIENCE HOURS.

Requirements Related to Written Plan for Marriage and Family Therapy Experience and Supervision

The following requirements document how many hours of post-Masters of marriage and family therapy experience—both under professional direct supervision and unsupervised—you still need to complete to meet the requirements for Delaware licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Remember to add the planned hours to the completed hours to make sure that the totals meet the requirements for eventual licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist.

• Arrange for the box entitled Planned Supervised Hours to be completed and signed by the supervisor(s) under whose supervision you will complete the hours.

• Complete the box entitled Planned Unsupervised Hours to document the experience that you plan to finish while not under the professional direct supervision. No verification of these planned unsupervised hours is required.