LMFT Licensure in Pennsylvania: Requirements, Hours and Exams

Pennsylvania issues one MFT credential, the licensed marriage and family therapist, and Chapter 48 creates no associate or provisional license below it.

A graduate counting hours is a supervisee, and §48.13(b)(3) requires the supervisee to disclose that status to each patient and obtain written permission to discuss the patient's case with the supervisor — so your first clients sign off on your supervision arrangement.

Supervisors qualify by meeting §48.3, not by holding a separate supervisor credential, which matters when you pick one.

The Act behind the chapter, the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act (63 P.S. §§ 1901-1922), was not among the sources read, so the boundaries of practice for an unlicensed graduate outside supervised experience are not stated in the sources read; confirm with the board.

For master's-level applicants the rule offers two shapes.

Degrees granted on or before June 30, 2009 qualify inside a planned program of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours closely related to MFT (§48.13(a)(3)(i)).

Degrees granted after that date need the same 60/90-hour planned program to include a 48 semester hour or 72 quarter hour master's degree in marriage and family therapy, or in a closely related field with graduate MFT coursework (§48.13(a)(3)(ii)).

The doctoral routes accept a doctoral degree in MFT, or in a closely related field with MFT coursework (§48.13(a)(3)(iii)-(iv)).

What counts as an MFT master's is defined two ways — COAMFTE accreditation, or coursework meeting §48.2 — so COAMFTE is one route, not a condition. §48.2 details that coursework: three courses each in human development, marriage and family studies and MFT, plus professional studies, research, and a practicum of at least 1 year with 300 hours of supervised direct client contact with individuals, couples and families.

The clock starts before the degree ends.

Master's-route applicants need at least 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience obtained after completing 48 semester hours or 72 quarter hours of graduate coursework (§48.13(a)(4)(i)) — hours can begin before the diploma.

Doctoral-route applicants need at least 2,400 hours, 1,200 of them obtained after the doctorate was granted (§48.13(a)(4)(ii)).

At least one-half of the experience must consist of providing services in assessment, couples therapy, family therapy, other systems interventions, consultation, individual therapy or group therapy (§48.13(b)(1)).

The whole experience must be completed in no less than 2 and no more than 6 years, with no fewer than 500 and no more than 1,800 hours credited in any 12-month period (§48.13(b)(9)), and work counts only in a single setting at 30-50 hours per week for at least 3 months, or at least 15 hours per week for at least 6 months (§48.13(b)(8)).

The totals sit in §48.13(a)(4), the licensure condition, last amended effective October 11, 2014; the 3,600 in §48.14(6) is un-amended 2002 supervisor-standards wording — see the supervision section.

Chapter 48 names one examination.

The applicant applies to the testing organization for admission, pays the fee at its direction, and is responsible for directing that results be sent to the Board (§48.11(b)-(c)); the exam is given annually and at other times the Board deems appropriate, and the Board sets the passing grade (§48.11(a), (d)).

The chapter names no additional Pennsylvania law or ethics examination.

The separate exemption from the licensure examination in §48.15 required an application by February 19, 2002, a deadline the act of February 13, 2002 extended by 1 year, so it is a closed window, not a route; movers today go through §48.17 or §48.16.

Your supervisor must meet with you a minimum of 2 hours for every 40 hours of experience; at least 1 of the 2 is individual and in person, and the other may be group, also in person (§48.13(b)(5)) — the chapter has no telesupervision provision, so confirm any remote arrangement with the board.

At least half your hours must be supervised by someone meeting §48.3(1) or (3) (§48.13(b)(2)): an MFT licensee certified by AAMFT as an approved supervisor or supervisor-in-training, since §48.3(3) expired January 1, 2010.

A supervisor carries no more than 6 supervisees at once (§48.13(b)(6)), may not be a relative by blood or marriage or treat the supervisee, and must observe sessions or review recordings, give written evaluations discussed quarterly, and keep notes for the Board (§48.14). §48.14 shows no amendment since the chapter's 2002 adoption, so this 3,600 is original supervisor-standards wording, not the licensure condition in §48.13(a)(4) — confirm with the board.

Endorsement without examination (§48.17) asks five things: the §48.12 general qualifications; the education in §48.13(a)(3); a marriage and family therapy license in good standing from another state, evidenced by a letter from that state's authority certifying licensure and reporting disciplinary history; a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience that conforms to the licensure requirements of the state where you are currently licensed; and active engagement in MFT practice for 5 of the last 7 years before filing.

Reciprocity (§48.16) instead requires qualifications at least equal to Pennsylvania's and a home jurisdiction that grants reciprocity to Pennsylvania licensees; the Board accepts an out-of-state examination grade at least equal to its own passing grade.

There is no MFT compact, so every interstate move runs through one of these two routes or the standard application.

Renewal is biennial, and the biennium runs from March 1 of an odd-numbered year to February 28 of the next odd-numbered year; a clock hour is 50 to 60 minutes (§48.31).

Each renewal requires 30 clock hours of continuing education from approved providers, at least 3 on ethical issues and at least 2 in child abuse recognition and reporting; up to 20 clock hours may be home study, and excess hours may not be carried over (§48.32).

A licensee applying for licensure for the first time is exempt for the biennial renewal period following initial licensure (§48.40(a)).

Keep completion documentation for 4 years — the Board randomly audits renewals, and a deficiency must be made up within 6 months of notice (§48.38-48.39).

The one 2023-2026 addition the research found is §48.5, a statement of policy on conversion therapy, sexual orientation change efforts and reparative therapy, added June 7, 2024, effective June 8, 2024 (54 Pa.B.

3169), incorporating §47.5 into this chapter.

No change to the hour, supervision or examination rules was found in the window: §48.13 was last amended effective October 11, 2014, and the continuing education rule §48.32 on March 19, 2022.

On portability, Pennsylvania has enacted the Counseling Compact (Act 23 of 2026) — a compact that covers licensed professional counselors, not marriage and family therapists — and no MFT compact exists as of the September 2026 research, so an MFT license moves only through §48.17, §48.16 or the standard application.

Applicants must be of good moral character, and a felony conviction under The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act is disqualifying unless at least 10 years have elapsed and the applicant demonstrates significant rehabilitation to the Board's satisfaction (§48.12(2)).

The application goes to the Board on its forms with the fee, two certificates of recommendation and a signed affirmation, plus at least 3 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting training that the Bureau must verify electronically before the license issues (§48.12(3)-(7); §48.58(a)).

In practice the chapter leans on the profession's own ethics: the Board subscribes to the AAMFT Code of Ethics and uses it to resolve ambiguities, except that the chapter prevails wherever the two conflict (§48.71).