No CEUs for Gay Hours

LMFT was a title that a friend of mine had been looking at for a career change. It stands for Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I used to listen to his daily stories about the training, internships, and long hours that he needed to clock in to get the degree.

"California law currently requires 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience, including 104 supervised weeks, in order to qualify for LMFT licensure.

"The supervised work experience categories break down into just two overall types:
• Direct counseling experience (Minimum 1,750 hours)
o A minimum of 500 of the above hours must be gained diagnosing and treating couples, families and
children.
• Non-clinical experience (Maximum 1,250 hours)
o May consist of direct supervisor contact, administering and evaluating psychological tests, writing
clinical reports, writing progress or process notes, client centered advocacy, and workshops,
seminars, training sessions, or conferences directly related to marriage, family, and child counseling."

He talked about how the hours were qualified to have married couples, single-parent families, children of different ages, adults struggling with addiction, and a seemingly endless list of categories. I remember once asking him if the curriculum included gay hours.

"Gay hours? WTF is that?" he asked."

"WTF do you think it is? It's hours spent doing counselling with gay people."

The thought had never crossed him and that gave me pause. Mind you, this was a person who had (and does) identified/identify as gay. I think that some of the thoughts that pop into my own gay mind during the course of the day are issues and concerns that are gay themed. Granted not everything that crosses my imagination is homosexual in nature; I ponder body image, my hair, my ability to compete against people who are younger than I, the amount of enthusiasm I am supposed to express when someone shares baby pictures and baby stories with me...

Strangely enough, the man did finish the program but never actually used the credential and license professionally. He has since left California and now lives in Oregon. The licensure does not share an interstate compact agreement (unlike being able to drive a car in OR with a CA drivers license).

I do, however, hold onto the notion that there is some validity to having to consider gay hours as a reality.