LMFT Licensure in Nevada: Requirements, Hours and Exams

Nevada's pre-licensure rung is a license issued by the Board, and it gates the experience: a person who wants the supervised experience required for licensure must obtain the intern license before beginning it, and the supervised experience must be completed under that license, apart from limited prior-experience credit the Board may approve under NAC 641A.146(6)-(7).

Intern applicants need a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy, psychology or social work, or training the Board deems equivalent, must be at least 21 and of good moral character, and must have a supervision agreement with an approved supervisor.

The license is valid for 3 years and may be renewed not more than once; it also expires if the supervision agreement terminates or the full license issues.

An intern may practice only to obtain the supervised experience required for licensure, and never independently.

The full license adds one requirement the intern stage does not carry: an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution.

The statute offers three routes: residency training in psychiatry, a graduate degree in marriage and family therapy, psychology or social work from an accredited institution the Board approves, or other education and training the Board deems equivalent.

The rule adds that the institution must be accredited by a recognized regional accrediting organization, that the degree must require at least 60 semester hours or 72 quarter hours, and that only graduate-level courses count.

NAC 641A.085(1) names the coursework: at least two courses each in human development and marital and family systems; three in marital and family therapy; three in supervised practice, equivalent to 40 weeks and including clinical experience with individuals, couples and families; and one each in ethics and law, diagnosis and the DSM, social and cultural foundations, research, substance use disorders, crisis or trauma, grief or loss, group counseling, and individual counseling theories, 19 courses in all.

A degree accredited by CACREP or COAMFTE at conferral is treated as fulfilling the educational requirements for the intern license.

The text read sets no COAMFTE requirement.

Licensure requires at least 2 years of postgraduate experience in marriage and family therapy and at least 3,000 hours of supervised experience, of which at least 1,500 must be direct contact with clients.

The rule then splits the 3,000: at least 1,500 hours of direct client contact; at least 300 hours of supervised marriage and family therapy, including at least 160 by the primary approved supervisor and at least 40 by the secondary; and at least 1,200 hours of work related to the practice, capped by category at 500 graduate-program client-contact hours, 600 leading group psychotherapy or process groups, 200 teaching, 150 of personal therapy received, and 200 of training.

The text read sets no separate couples-and-families quota.

The internship must be completed within 3 years of board approval, with one 3-year renewal, and hour reports are due every September 15 and March 15.

Before the intern license, the Board may credit up to 750 prior direct-contact hours and 150 prior supervised hours, plus any number of prior hours for armed-forces members and spouses (NAC 641A.146(6)-(7)).

NRS 641A.230 requires each qualified applicant to pass a written examination given by the Board on knowledge of marriage and family therapy, but the Board shall accept a passing grade on the AMFTRB national examination in its place, and it may additionally require an oral examination in whatever applied or theoretical fields it deems appropriate.

NAC 641A.156(1)(d) lists passing the exam among the intern-license requirements, but its timing sentence says an applicant must take the exam for the first time at any point during the final semester or quarter of graduate study and before the intern license expires; the sources read do not resolve how those two windows line up in practice.

The sources read name no exam vendor or passing score; confirm current administration details with the Board.

Every intern must have at least two Board-approved supervisors before the internship begins.

The primary must meet with the intern for at least 160 hours, including at least 1 hour per week; the secondary approved supervisor or supervisors must meet the intern for a combined total of at least 40 hours.

Tape review, co-therapy, unseen observation and case presentation count as supervision time; no more than 10 interns to one supervisor.

An approved supervisor must hold an active license, have been licensed for at least 3 years, and not be related to the intern by closer than the fourth degree of consanguinity.

A primary supervisor must show a graduate supervision course of at least 45 clock hours plus 25 hours of mentored supervision, AAMFT or NBCC supervision training plus 25 mentored hours, or an AAMFT Approved Supervisor or NBCC Approved Clinical Supervisor designation.

A psychologist, psychiatrist or clinical social worker is approvable only as a secondary supervisor, in extenuating circumstances.

The text read says nothing about video supervision; clear any remote arrangement with the Board before counting it.

An intern may practice marriage and family therapy only to obtain the supervised experience required for licensure, only under supervision in line with the supervision agreement, and never independently.

Before any counseling or other therapeutic service, the intern must tell the client that they hold an intern license and are practicing under an approved supervisor, and must give the client the supervisor's name; a violation is grounds for discipline or denial of licensure.

Interns must also tell each client they are not licensed to practice independently, and disclose intern status on every form of advertising, including business cards and directory listings.

A private practice is possible only at facilities where a licensed marriage and family therapist, clinical professional counselor, clinical alcohol and drug counselor, psychologist, psychiatrist or clinical social worker is available to consult in person or by telephone during the intern's hours at the site.

The Board shall issue a license by endorsement to an applicant holding a corresponding valid and unrestricted license as a marriage and family therapist in the District of Columbia or any state or territory of the United States, and the text sets no minimum number of years licensed.

The application must show no discipline by the corresponding regulatory authority and no civil or criminal malpractice liability anywhere in the United States, plus fingerprints, an affidavit and fees.

The Board must ask for missing information within 15 business days and must approve and issue the license within 45 days of receiving everything, unless it denies for good cause; it may grant a provisional license while the application is pending.

There is no MFT interstate compact, so endorsement is the route into Nevada, and the Board may also credit up to 750 prior direct-contact hours toward the intern-license experience.

Licenses expire on January 1 of each even-numbered year, and renewal takes an application, the biennial fee and evidence of continuing education within 10 business days after expiration.

The rule requires at least 40 hours of continuing education per licensing period, including at least 6 hours on ethics, at least 4 on evidence-based suicide prevention and awareness, and at least 4 on cultural competency and diversity, equity and inclusion; no more than 20 hours of non-interactive distance education count, and approved supervisors must spend at least 2 of their hours on supervision topics.

The statute now requires at least 6 hours of cultural competency, while the rule text still says 4, so plan on 6 and confirm with the Board.

Failure to pay the renewal fee automatically revokes the license 10 business days after expiration.

The one 2023-2026 amendment the sources isolate is to NRS 641A.242, the endorsement section, amended in 2025 (Stats.

2025, p. 2045); the content of the change was not isolated, so an endorsement applicant should check the section's current text or ask the Board.

The amendment history printed with the statute shows NRS 641A.260, the renewal and continuing-education section, was amended in 2023 and again in 2025, and the visible product of that work is the cultural-competency split: the statute now requires at least 6 hours while rule NAC 641A.131 still says 4.

The rule text has not visibly caught up, so a checklist printed from the rule alone may understate the requirement.

Nothing in the sources read shows a change to the 3,000-hour or intern-license structure in this window.