Required Education

• To be licensed as a marriage and family therapist in North Carolina, the North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Board requires that you complete a minimum of a master's degree. The degree can be in the field of marriage and family therapy or one that is closely related so long as you meet the minimum coursework requirements. This required coursework should be in the areas of general family studies, marriage and family therapy theory, psychopathology and abnormal behavior, personality theories and at least nine hours of a clinical practicum.
  
  

Application

• Submit your application to the North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Board. The board reviews your qualifications to determine your eligibility to sit for a national licensing examination. You pay a $200 application fee, as of 2011, and send all required documentation to the licensing board to verify education and experience needed to qualify.
  
  

Experience

• Experience is also necessary to obtain certification through the North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Board. The board requires that you have a minimum of 1,500 hours of supervised experience in marriage and family therapy practice. No more than 500 of those hours can be completed while you are in the process of completing a degree program. Of the 1,000 hours of post-degree experience, 200 must be completed under the supervision of a licensed supervisor.
  
  

Exam

• The North Carolina Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Board requires that you pass the National Marriage and Family Therapy Examination. The examination is administered by the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards. The purpose of the exam, according to the association, is to provide states like North Carolina with a standard examination to help determine licensing and certification standards. The exam is a computer-based examination consisting of 200 multiple-choice questions. The exam covers five major areas: marriage and family therapy practice, assessment and diagnosis, conducting and designing treatment, evaluation and termination of treatment and ethical and legal standards.