California Marriage and Family Therapist CE Requirements and Courses

California MFTs are required to complete 36 hours of approved continuing education every 2 years.

Yes! There are no restrictions on the number of hours California MFT’s can complete through CE4Less – all 36 hours maybe earned through CE4Less.

Click here for California Pre-Licensure information.

Click here for more California Continuing Education information.

CE4Less.com is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the American Psychological Association (APA), and National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) all of which are recognized by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences as approval agencies for continuing education.

California MFT licenses must be renewed by their licensure date.

Each renewal, California MFTs must complete 36 hours of continuing education that must include 6 hours in Law and Ethics which counts towards their total required hours. The CE4Less course that meets this requirement is California Law & Ethics.

One-time requirements include:

• Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention (6 hours) – This course must be taken before your first renewal after January 1, 2021. The CE4Less course that meets the requirement is: Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention (6 hours)
• Provision of Mental Health Services via Telehealth – Effective July 1, 2023, the Board requires licensees to complete a minimum of three hours which must include law and ethics related to telehealth. This is a one-time requirement. The CE4Less course that meets this requirement is: Ethics and Telemental Health for California Mental Health Providers.
• HIV/AIDS – All new licensees first renewal includes a requirement to complete 7 hours on HIV/AIDS. The CE4Less course that meets this requirement is: HIV/AIDS: A Comprehensive Review

Supervision Requirements

To provide supervision to Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) Interns and Trainees…

You must complete a 6-hour supervision training within the two-year period immediately preceding supervision and every renewal period when supervising, NOTE: If the supervisor has never taken this course, it must be taken within 60 days of commencement of supervision

This 6 hour No Book to Buy course meets the CA BBS requirements to supervise MFT Interns and Trainees:
Supervision: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals

To provide supervision to Associate Clinical Social Workers (ASW)…

You must complete a minimum of 15 contact hours in supervision training prior to commencement of supervision. Once completed, you do not need to complete it again before supervising future ASWs.

These courses meet the CA BBS requirements to supervise Associate Clinical Social Workers (ASWs)

Supervision: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals (6 hours)
Clinical Supervision and Professional Development of the Substance Abuse Counselor E081C (6 hours)

For more information, please contact the California State Board of Behavioral Sciences at (916) 574-7830, see their website (available here)

LMFT in-state applicants

Full details for the requirements for California In-State LMFT applicants pre-licensure education can be found at here.

In-state applicants can take their required additional pre-licensure course work through CE4Less.

• 6 hours in Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention (This course will meet your requirement if not already satisficed per the sub-bullets below)
  • If this content was included already within your supervised experience, and you can obtain a written certification from the program’s director of training, or from your primary supervisor stating that the training was included within your supervised experience, it may be accepted in lieu of a course.
  • If this content was included within your qualifying degree program, you will need to obtain a written certification from the registrar or training director of your school or program stating that this coursework was included within the curriculum required for graduation, or within the coursework that was completed by you.

• 3 hours in Provision of Mental Health Services via Telehealth
  • If this content was included within your qualifying degree program, submit a written certification from the registrar or training director of your school or program stating that this coursework was included within the curriculum required for graduation, or within the coursework that was completed by you.

LMFT out-of-state applicants

CE4Less courses cannot be used to remediate overall degree unit deficiencies. If overall degree units are already sufficient CE4Less may be used to meet additional course work requirements.

LMFT out of state applicants full details for the requirements for California Out-of-State LMFT applicants pre-licensure education can be found:
Path A – https://bbs.ca.gov/pdf/forms/mft/mftapp_oos_01012016.pdf
Path B – https://bbs.ca.gov/pdf/forms/mft/mftapp_oos_path_b.pdf

Path A applicants can take the following courses through CE4Less.com for their prelicensure coursework requirements.

• 6 hours in Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention
• 7 hours in Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting in California
• 12 hours of CA Law and Ethics
• 15 hours of CA Cultures and Social/Psychological Implications
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 1 (5 hours)
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 2 (5 hours)
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 3 (5 hours)

Path B applicants – CE4Less courses cannot be used to remediate overall degree unit deficiencies. If overall degree units are already sufficient the following CE4Less courses may be used to meet additional course work requirements. This is not a complete list of the additional course requirements which may be found here.

• 12 hours of CA Law and Ethics NOTE: You must have already taken 2 semester unit course on Law and Ethics to have this course count, if you did not complete a 2 semester unit course on Law and Ethics you need to take an in-state course from an accredited school.
• 6 hours in Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention
• 15 hours of CA Cultures and Social/Psychological Implications
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 1 (5 hours)
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 2 (5 hours)
  • CA Cultures and Psychosocial Implications of Socioeconomic Position Part 3 (5 hours)
• 7 hours in Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting in California
• 10 hours in Human Sexuality
  • Human Sexuality Across the Lifespan (3 hours)
  • Fertility and Sexual Health Interviews (3 hours)
  • Sexuality in Context and Sexually Transmitted Infections (3 hours)
  • Sexual Disorders and Sex Therapy (1 hour)
• 10 hours in Aging, Long Term Care and Elder/Dependent Adult Abuse
• 15 hours in Spousal/Partner Abuse Assessment, Detection, and Intervention