LMFT Licensure in Illinois: Requirements, Hours and Exams

Illinois issues two licenses through IDFPR, and the pre-licensure one is a license, not a registration.

The Associate Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (ALMFT) application verifies the education requirement and the fee, plus certifications from any jurisdiction that has already licensed you, and the application section lists no exam or experience condition for the associate tier.

The five-year term is the part to plan around: an ALMFT who has not reached the LMFT requirements within five years has no renewal to fall back on.

The sections read also do not say whether the ALMFT must be held before your experience hours start accruing, so confirm that with IDFPR before counting on either reading.

The Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) is the independent license the rest of this page builds toward.

There are two degree routes.

The first is a master's or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy from a program accredited by COAMFTE or CACREP.

The second is a master's or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution in marriage and family therapy or a related field — behavioral science or mental health — with an equivalent course of study.

Either way, the rule requires a minimum of 48 semester hours of graduate coursework.

Equivalence is judged by course content rather than course title: student-designed courses, independent study and workshops cannot satisfy the core courses, and course descriptions and syllabi are required where a title does not reflect the content.

The core areas named in the rule include clinical interviewing or individual therapy, two family therapy courses, couples therapy covering at least two models, and psychopathology or diagnostic systems.

The rule anchors the clock to the degree: the 3,000 hours of professional work experience and the 1,000 face-to-face client-contact hours must both follow receipt of the first qualifying education degree, so pre-degree work does not bank here.

The 3,000 mixes clinical activities with non-clinical work related to MFT practice, obtained in not less than 2 years and no more than 5.

Inside the 3,000 sit the 1,000 face-to-face hours with individuals, couples and families — and this is Illinois' distinctive split: 350 of the 1,000 must be sessions where only one client is present yet the therapy is to a couple or family, and 350 must be conjoint sessions with two or more clients in a significant relationship with each other.

Sessions with a single, unrelated client count toward the 1,000 but not toward either 350.

The 200 supervision hours are the seam: up to 100 may come from graduate training under Section 1283.25, and the rule text does not explain how those pre-degree supervision hours fit inside the post-degree 3,000.

The rule names one examination for the license: the AMFTRB Examination in Marital and Family Therapy, the national MFT licensing exam.

The passing score is the testing entity's own passing score.

No Illinois jurisprudence or state-law exam for MFT applicants appears in the sections read.

AMFTRB itself does not determine candidate eligibility — the association is explicit that this is each board's call — so confirm registration steps and timing with IDFPR rather than with the exam vendor's materials.

Of the 200 required supervision hours, at least 100 must occur after the first qualifying degree, up to 100 can come from graduate training, and 100 must be individual supervision.

At least 100 of the 200 must come from a supervisor who, at the time, was an AAMFT Approved Supervisor or supervisor in training; an LMFT with five years of clinical MFT experience; an AAMFT clinical member for at least 5 years; or a licensed clinical psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, licensed clinical professional counselor or licensed psychiatrist with five years of MFT clinical experience, at least 1,000 hours of conjoint therapy, and either two years supervising MFT or a one-semester-hour graduate course in MFT supervision with at least 15 contact hours.

An agency supervisor without an MFT license may still qualify under that allied route — check their conjoint hours and supervision history before you sign on.

Individual supervision means a maximum of two supervisees; group supervision a maximum of six.

Video supervision counts when it meets the live, synchronous standard quoted here.

Section 1283.20 is titled Clinical Experience, and its treatment definitions exist to sort which hours count toward the 1,000 — they are not a scope-of-practice definition, and the statute that defines the license's scope, 225 ILCS 55, was not among the sources read.

For the experience count, the rule defines MFT treatment to include the evaluation and treatment of mental, emotional, behavioral and interpersonal disorders and psychopathology: making clinical assessments, certifying diagnoses, prescribing treatment and signing off on treatment plans.

The acceptable-experience list runs from individual and conjoint therapy through behavior modification, sex therapy, crisis intervention, testing and evaluation, group and multi-family therapy, psychoeducation and therapy with children and adolescents.

The rule also restricts specific methods, techniques and modalities to licensed marriage and family therapists appropriately trained in their use.

There is no MFT interstate compact, so Illinois licenses incoming therapists by endorsement, one application at a time.

Three routes appear in Section 1283.60.

The standard route documents everything: education, 3,000 hours of work experience, 200 supervision hours, 1,000 hours of clinical experience, the exam, and certification from your licensing jurisdiction — and if you are self-employed, three affidavits from peers, clients or colleagues can substitute for the employer verification of your hours.

The second route accepts certification of AAMFT clinical membership in lieu of the education, work-experience, supervision and clinical-experience records — subsections (a)(1) through (a)(4).

The third is the five-year route quoted here, added effective August 9, 2024: even on it you still submit certified verification of licensure, meet every other requirement and pay the fees.

Whichever route you take, the application must be completed within three years or it is denied and the fee is forfeited.

Every MFT license expires on February 28 of odd-numbered years, and you renew during the preceding month by paying the fee.

Each 24-month pre-renewal period requires 30 hours of continuing education relevant to the practice of marriage and family therapy, one CE hour equals 50 minutes, and the first renewal of an Illinois license is exempt from CE.

The rule folds additional required topics in by reference to 68 Ill.

Adm.

Code 1130 Subpart E, whose topic list was not among the sources read — confirm the current topic requirements with IDFPR when you plan a cycle.

The CE rules also credit distance-learning courses that include an examination, university coursework at 15 CE hours per semester credit, teaching at 1.5 hours per hour taught, and authorship at 5 hours per paper, chapter or presentation.

Part 1283 was amended at 48 Ill.

Reg.

12727, effective August 9, 2024, and Sections 1283.15, 1283.20, 1283.45, 1283.60 and 1283.70 carry that history note.

The change readers most need to know is the five-year independent-license endorsement route now in Section 1283.60(c) — the portability move AAMFT credits Illinois with in 2024, though the association's account is a secondary source and the rule text is the evidence.

The saved rule text also carries a later history note on Section 1283.25, the supervision section, amended at 49 Ill.

Reg.

8340 effective June 5, 2025; the sources read do not isolate what that amendment changed, so confirm the current supervision text with IDFPR if your plan turns on one of its details.

Much of what associates assume counts as supervision, the rule rejects.

Section 1283.25(g) expressly excludes peer supervision by a person of equivalent rather than superior qualifications, supervision by current or former family members or anyone whose personal relationship prevents a professional supervisory relationship, administrative supervision aimed at job performance or case management, didactic classroom or workshop teaching, staff development, orientation, and role-playing as a substitute for current clinical work.

The clinical director who signs your timesheet may therefore not be your supervisor of record.

The remaining 100 supervision hours can come from a practicum or internship, and from supervisors holding an LMFT, clinical psychologist, LCSW, LCPC or psychiatrist license with at least five years in the discipline.

Two application facts round this out: the board can require an interview when documentation is questioned, and an incomplete endorsement application is denied at three years, with the fee forfeited.