Marriage and family therapy in North Carolina is a professional practice that affects the public safety and welfare and requires appropriate licensure and control in the public interest.
It is the purpose of this Article to establish a licensure agency, a structure, and procedures that will (i) ensure that the public has a means of protecting itself from the practice of marriage and family therapy by unprofessional, unauthorized, and unqualified individuals, and (ii) protect the public from unprofessional, improper, unauthorized and unqualified use of certain titles by persons who practice marriage and family therapy. This Article shall be liberally construed to carry out these policies and purposes.