As the current Director and former Clinical Training Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy doctoral program at Virginia Tech, which is the only Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE)-accredited doctoral program in Virginia, I am in full support of this petition and any related efforts to allow clinical and supervision hours accumulated in a COAMFTE-accredited doctoral practicum and internship to count toward Virginia LMFT residency requirements.  Our doctoral students, all of whom are post-master's clinicians, receive significant amounts of close supervision from qualified and credentialed supervisors during their doctoral practicum and internship.  Allowing these clinical and supervision hours to count toward residency will facilitate the licensure process for our students, many of whom go on to become licensed marraige and family therapists, state and American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Approved Supervisors, and trainers in COAMFTE master's programs.  

I am aware of a similar petition (Petition 254; http://register.dls.virginia.gov/details.aspx?id=7007) related to counting up to 900 hours direct or indirect hours and up to 100 supervision hours accumulated in a CACREP-accredited doctoral program toward licensure/residency requirements.  I suggest that the Board consider using this petition as a model for those seeking licensure as an LMFT from a COAMFTE-accredited doctoral program.