The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have
the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise.
(1)Accredited institutions or programs--An institution
of higher education accredited by a regionally accrediting agency
recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or the United States Department
of Education.
(2)Act--Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 502, the Licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist Act.
(3)Board--The Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage
and Family Therapists.
(4)Client--An individual, family, couple, group, or
organization who receives or has received services from a person identified
as a marriage and family therapist who is either licensed by the council
or unlicensed.
(5)Council--The Texas Behavioral Health Executive
Council.
(6)Council Act--Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 507,
concerning the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.
(7)Council rules--22 Texas Administrative Code, Chapters
801 and 881 to 885.
(8)Endorsement--The process whereby the council reviews
licensing requirements that a license applicant completed while under
the jurisdiction of an out-of-state marriage and family therapy regulatory
board. The council may accept, deny or grant partial credit for requirements
completed in a different jurisdiction.
(9)Executive director--the executive director for
the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council.
(10)Family system--An open, on-going, goal-seeking,
self-regulating, social system which shares features of all such systems.
Certain features such as its unique structuring of gender, race, nationality
and generation set it apart from other social systems. Each individual
family system is shaped by its own particular structural features
(size, complexity, composition, and life stage), the psychobiological
characteristics of its individual members (age, race, nationality,
gender, fertility, health and temperament) and its socio-cultural
and historic position in its larger environment.
(11)Group supervision--Supervision that involves a
minimum of three and no more than six marriage and family therapy
supervisees or LMFT Associates in a clinical setting during the supervision
hour.
(12)Individual supervision--Supervision of no more
than two marriage and family therapy supervisees or LMFT Associates
in a clinical setting during the supervision hour.
(13)Jurisprudence exam--An online learning experience
based on the Act, the Council Act, and council rules, and other state
laws and rules relating to the practice of marriage and family therapy.
(14)License--A marriage and family therapist license,
a marriage and family therapist associate license, a provisional marriage
and family therapist license, or a provisional marriage and family
therapist associate license.
(15)Licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT)--As
defined in §502.002 of the Occupations Code, a person who offers
marriage and family therapy for compensation.
(16)Licensed marriage and family therapist associate
(LMFT Associate)--As defined in §502.002 of the Occupations Code,
an individual who offers to provide marriage and family therapy for
compensation under the supervision of a supervisor approved by the
executive council. The appropriate council-approved terms to refer
to an LMFT Associate are: "Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Associate" or "LMFT Associate." Other terminology or abbreviations
like "LMFT A" are not council-approved and may not be used.
(17)Licensee--Any person licensed by the council.
(18)Licensure examination--The national licensure
examination administered by the Association of Marital and Family
Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB) or the State of California marriage
and family therapy licensure examination.
(19)Marriage and family therapy--The rendering of
professional therapeutic services to clients, singly or in groups,
and involves the professional application of family systems theories
and techniques in the delivery of therapeutic services to those persons.
The term includes the evaluation and remediation of cognitive, affective,
behavioral, or relational dysfunction or processes.
(20)Month--A calendar month.
(21)Person--An individual, corporation, partnership,
or other legal entity.
(22)Recognized religious practitioner--A rabbi, clergyman,
or person of similar status who is a member in good standing of and
accountable to a legally recognized denomination or legally recognizable
religious denomination or legally recognizable religious organization
and other individuals participating with them in pastoral counseling
if:
(A)the therapy activities are within the scope of
the performance of regular or specialized ministerial duties and are
performed under the auspices of sponsorship of an established and
legally recognized church, denomination or sect, or an integrated
auxiliary of a church as defined in 26 CFR §1.6033-2(h) (relating
to Returns by exempt organizations (taxable years beginning after
December 31, 1969) and returns by certain nonexempt organizations
(taxable years beginning after December 31, 1980));
(B)the individual providing the service remains accountable
to the established authority of that church, denomination, sect, or
integrated auxiliary; and
(C)the person does not use the title of or hold himself
or herself out as a licensed marriage and family therapist.
(23)Supervision--
(A)Supervision for licensure--The guidance or management
in the provision of clinical services by a marriage and family therapy
supervisee or LMFT Associate, which must be conducted for at least
one supervision hour each week, except for good cause shown.
(B)Supervision, Council-ordered--For the oversight
and rehabilitation in the provision of clinical services by a licensee
under a Council Order, defined by the Order and the Council-Ordered
Supervision Plan, and must be conducted as specified in the Council
Order and Supervision Plan (generally in face-to-face, one-on-one
sessions).
(24)Supervision hour--50 minutes.
(25)Supervisor--An LMFT with supervisor status meeting
the requirements set out in §801.143 of this title (relating
to Supervisor Requirements). The appropriate council-approved terminology
to use in reference to a Supervisor is: "Supervisor," "Licensed Marriage
and Family Therapist Supervisor," "LMFT-S" or "LMFT Supervisor." Other
terminology or abbreviations may not be used.
(26)Technology-assisted services--Providing therapy
or supervision with technologies and devices for electronic communication
and information exchange between a licensee in one location and a
client or supervisee in another location.
(27)Therapist--A person who holds a license issued
by the council.
(28)Waiver--The suspension of educational, professional,
or examination requirements for an applicant who meets licensing requirements
under special conditions.
The agency certifies that legal counsel
has
reviewed the adoption and found it to be a valid exercise of the agency's
legal authority.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on February 7, 2022
TRD-202200404 Darrel D. Spinks
Executive Director
Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists
Effective date: February 27, 2022
Proposal publication date: October 1, 2021
For further information, please call: (512) 305-7706
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