MA in Marriage & Family Therapy and Professional Clinical Counseling

Professional Clinical Counseling (PCC) focuses on clinical mental health counseling for individuals and groups across a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues. Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) centers more on relationships, family systems, and how interpersonal dynamics affect mental health. PCC training emphasizes assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning that considers cultural, environmental, and systemic factors for diverse clients. MFT training emphasizes systems thinking, helping couples and families navigate communication, conflict, and life transitions.

As a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), you can help couples and families identify the conflicts and issues affecting their relationships and then develop strategies to enable them to work through and overcome those problems.

A Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) is the graduate degree required before a person can move on to earn licensure and become an LMFT. Prior to earning an MFT degree, the student would first need to earn a bachelor’s degree. Two logical choices that would suit a future career in marriage and family therapy would be a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology or a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work.

Of course, the most common career for a person with a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy is to become a therapist. That role is discussed on the program page above.

But an MFT degree can open doors to a variety of career options beyond being a marriage and family therapist. Here are a few different options:

• School counselor — Counselors work with students on classroom behavior, academic performance, and other areas such as anxiety. They can also provide career guidance. The span of the role can vary depending on the size of the school and the school district.
• Residential counselor — Residential counselors provide counseling to adult residents with mental health issues within healthcare facilities or community-based institutions.
• Case manager — Case managers are the facilitators between patients and health care providers, coordinating mental, physical, or emotional support and healthcare for patients. Assessing patient needs is an important component of this job.
• Health educator — The role of a health educator is to help clients understand how to live healthier, happier lives. Health educators may work on their own or they can work within school systems, healthcare facilities, or rehabilitation facilities. In government positions, health educators can create educational campaigns intended to boost public health.
• Clinical director — This role is a supervisory one tasked with leading a particular department in settings such as hospitals. In smaller facilities, clinical directors may coordinate and manage the entire facility.

The path is not set in stone, but becoming a marriage and family therapist typically involves these four steps:

1. Education — Most states require a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy. But there is some leeway here, as some programs in mental health fields that focus on family therapy may also satisfy the educational component.
2. Supervised clinical experience — After earning a master’s degree, a person must complete a specified number of supervised clinical hours working with clients. These hours, typically under the supervision of a licensed therapist, are in addition to the practicum hours earned with the master’s degree.
3. Licensing exam — To demonstrate knowledge appropriate for a marriage and family therapist, states require you to pass a state-administered licensing exam. This exam covers topics such as assessment, diagnosing, systemic therapy, and hypothesizing. For instance, the California MFT Clinical Exam involves 150 questions and has a four-hour time limit. These exams are not uniform across every state.
4. Continuing education — Once a person has gained licensure, most states require continuing education to stay up to date with the latest treatment/therapy approaches. To maintain your license as a marriage and family therapist, you must provide verification of completion of your required continuing education.

There are two aspects to in-person practice involved when a person wants to become a marriage and family therapist. First, there is the practicum requirement, which is part of the master’s degree curriculum. At UMass Global, MFT students must complete 400 hours of hands-on experience in their six practicum courses. Of these 400 hours, 300 will be spent in direct client contact and the remaining 100 hours are spent in supervision of others providing therapy. The direct client contact hours require 100 hours spent with couples and family client units. The remaining 200 hours may be individual or relational hours.

Once you earn your MFT degree, prior to sitting for your licensing exam, you now need to accumulate a certain amount of supervised clinical experience. For most states, (including California) this number is 3,000 hours. This takes two years in most cases. In these sessions, you work with clients while receiving supervision from a licensed therapist.

Many communities face shortages of licensed mental health professionals, and demand for counseling services continues to grow nationwide. The program positions graduates to help address these needs by training them to provide high-quality, culturally responsive care.