Marriage and Family Therapist - Initial Licensure

To obtain the Marriage and Family Therapist license, applicants must meet the education requirements, supervised practice requirements, and pass the AMFTRB exam.

Create or log into your LicensE account.

Select Apply for a License.

Category: Health

License Type: Marriage and Family Therapist

Select Initial Application, then Next

Enter your Personal Information

Please note: Your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address are available to the public as a licensed professional. You may request to withhold street address/PO Box, phone number, and e-mail address from lists of 10 or more credential holders during the application process.

Enter your School Information

Enter your request for a Veteran’s Fee Waiver, if applicable

Submit your License History

Enter your Degree Information (labeled Review Criteria)

Enter your AMFTRB Examination Information

Respond to the Declarations

Upload your Supporting Documents. You are not required to provide all documents before initial application submission.

Required Documents:

Form 2574 Marriage and Family Therapist Supervised Practice Experience (must be submitted directly by the supervisor)

Form 1972 Marriage and Family Therapist Certificate of Professional Education (required directly from school if enrollment in a COAMFTE accredited program was verified for your training license)

Official Transcript (only required if your degree was non-COAMFTE and in-progress when you obtained the training license, or not previously approved)

Form 2238 Marriage and Family Therapist Curriculum Requirements (only required for non-COAMFTE degrees which were not previously approved)

Course Descriptions (only when also submitting form 2238)

AMFTRB exam score (must be sent directly from AMFTRB to DSPS)

Required if Applicable:

Form 2829 Malpractice Suits or Claims Form

Form 2966 Veteran Request Application Addendum

Copy of marriage certificate or other state issued name change document (only applicable if other required documents are under a different name, such as the official transcript)

Respond to the Attestations

Provide Payment Information. Fees may be found at [input link to fee page]

Submit your application.

Next steps may be found below, see What Happens Next? [input link to section

The education requirement may be met in one of the following ways:

• Completion of a COAMFTE accredited program, verified by submission of form 1972 directly by the school to DSPS.

• The Department preapproved program through UW-Whitewater.  The school must submit the official transcript to DSPS.

• If the applicant's degree does not fit into either category above and was not previously approved, then an official transcript directly from the school to DSPS, form 2238, and course descriptions must be submitted.  The degree will require Section approval.

Each supervisor must submit form 2571 to verify the hours of marriage and family therapy practice they supervised the applicant.  Applicants must complete at least 3,000 hours of marriage and family therapy practice, including at least 1,000 hours of face-to-face client contact. 

Supervised hours may only be accrued while holding an active Marriage and Family Therapist Training License and:

• After receiving the required master's or doctoral degree, or

• Upon completion of a graduate degree in a mental health field approved by the marriage and family therapist section, and enrollment in a COAMFTE accredited program.

Supervised practice completed outside of Wisconsin is considered on a case-by-case basis and requires Section approval.  Each supervisor must submit form 2571 with a copy of their resume for review.

Supervision of the supervised practice of marriage and family therapy may be exercised by any of the following:

• An individual licensed as a marriage and family therapist who has received a doctorate degree in marriage and family therapy.

• An individual licensed as a marriage and family therapist who has engaged in the equivalent of 5 years of full-time marriage and family therapy practice.

• A psychiatrist.

• A psychologist licensed under ch. 455, Stats.

• A person who is an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy approved supervisor or supervisor candidate.

• An individual, other than an individual specified above, who the marriage and family therapy section approves in advance based upon:

  • Evidence of 5 years of experience in full-time systemic therapy, and

  • Completion of 30 hours of clinical supervision training through coursework and continuing education that meets the criteria established in ch. MPSW 19 or is otherwise approved by the board.

An AMFTRB exam approval code is provided on the Due Diligence page as part of the initial review of the application by an associate.

Marriage and Family Therapist Training License holders who are not ready yet to apply for full licensure, but are interested in registering for the AMFTRB exam, may submit a support ticket through their LicensE account to request an approval code.

Please note that a new approval code is needed each time an applicant needs to register for the exam.

After you upload all required documents, submit your application, and pay the required fee(s):

1. Preliminary Application Reference Number (PAR)

   1. Your application will be assigned a Preliminary Application Reference number or PAR number. This number allows you and trusted parties to look up the status of your application without logging in. You can also reference this number in any support tickets you submit in regard to your application.

      • A trusted 3^rd party can look up your credential status by visiting LicensE, clicking “Application Status Lookup” and entering the PAR number you have provided to them.

2. Review Timeline

   1. Your materials will be reviewed within approximately 10 days by a member of the credentialing team.

      • Note: Some licenses do take longer to process due to complexity. You can see the performance data on our LicensE Dashboard to see what date we are reviewing for certain application types under "Application Review Times by Profession."

3. Pending Applicant Input Status

   1. After this review, if anything is missing or the credentialing team has any questions on your application, your application will go back into a status called “Pending Applicant Input.”  You will receive an email letting you know your application was moved into this status. You should then log into LicensE and check your application “Due Diligence.”

4. To check your "Due Diligence" 

   1. Your Due Diligence is a checklist of items required for your credential.

   2. The Due Diligence section is how DSPS staff will communicate with you regarding your credential requirements.

   3. Log in to your LicensE account

   4. Click on "Check Application Status" 

   5. Your credential application should be shown on this page. Under “Action” select the button that looks like an upside-down triangle. If you are on mobile, you will need to turn your phone into landscape view. Note: LicensE is best viewed on a desktop or laptop.

   6. After clicking the upside-down triangle, select “View Due Diligences.”

   7. The Due Diligence column lets you know what the requirement is.

   8. The “STATUS” column will you know if the item is “Met”, “Not Met”, or “Not Applicable.”

      • Items listed as “Not Met” are items that are needed by the Department.  

   9. The “NOTES” column of your Due Diligence will provide further written details or instructions about what is still needed.

5. To upload documents

   1. Some applications require additional document uploads.

   2. Log into your LicensE account

   3. Click on "Check Application Status"

   4. Your credential application should be shown on this page. Under "Action" select the button that looks like an upside-down triangle. If you are on mobile, you will need to turn your phone into landscape view. Note: LicensE is best viewed on a desktop or laptop. 

   5. After clicking the upside-down triangle, select "Upload Document."

   6. The document must be an allowable document type. 

   7. After uploading the document, click "submit." If you do not, it will not be sent to a reviewer. 

6. If you have any questions, you can submit a support ticket on LicensE by logging in and clicking "request support" at the top of the page.

LicensE statuses that require action from applicant:

LicensE statuses that indicate the application is with Department staff:

Support Ticket
Submit a support ticket on LicensE and click "request support." Please provide as much detail as possible regarding your concern so we can work to answer your question with a one touch resolution. 

Call
608-266-2112

Email
dsps@wisconsin.gov

Office Hours
7:45am-4:30pm
Department of Safety and Professional Services
4822 Madison Yards Way
Madison, WI, 53705

Note: The in-person office does not process same day.