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• Counseling Course Descriptions

Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy

(Non-degree)

Purpose

The Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program is designed to provide to practitioners in the helping professions special training and expertise required for working effectively with couples and families.

Helping professionals — e.g., licensed professional counselors, clinical psychologists, and social workers — who want and need to be more effective in their service to individuals, couples, and families can avail themselves of a variety of educational and training opportunities. This certificate program is also designed for master's or doctoral level mental health professionals who desire to be better equipped to work with couples and families.

Clergy who hold a master's degree and can verify training in foundational counseling skills at the graduate level may take an occasional professional studies offering, or may wish to enroll in the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program that includes not only essential seminars and course work but also a supervised clinical experience in marriage and family therapy in one or more community settings. They may not be eligible for licensure or membership in American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

Licensed professional counselors and others who hold at least a master's degree in counseling or another mental health degree may qualify to pursue clinical membership in the AAMFT and Oregon licensure as a marriage and family therapist (LMFT).

Program Objectives

Educational Objectives

To enable students to:

• Understand people as spiritual-psychological-biological-relational beings.
• Think biblically and theologically in a psychologically informed way and think psychologically in a biblically and theologically informed way.
• Understand and articulate the core dynamics of marital and family systems in concert with sound biblical and theological principles.
• Acquire, redefine, and demonstrate appropriate master's level clinical skills used in working with couples, families, and other relationship systems.
• Be aware of and be able to use the various approaches to marital and family systems therapy in a manner that is commensurate with master's level training, while at the same time identifying one's primary theoretical orientation(s) and therapy style.

Professional Objectives

To enable students to:

• Begin the development of a professional identity as a marriage and family therapist.
• Work knowledgeably and with facility in a variety of clinical settings, e.g., private, institutional, community, ecclesiastical, and cross-cultural.
• Individuals who hold at least a masters degree in counseling, social work, or a Ph.D./Psy.D. in psychology, or an M.D. in Psychiatry may qualify to pursue becoming a full clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and an Oregon Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. In addition, courses are available that lead to certification with the Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment and Interpersonal Communication Programs, Inc.

Admission Requirements

Applicants seeking admission to the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program must hold a four-year baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, with a minimum GPA of 3.0. In addition, applicants must complete the following to be considered for admission to the program:

• Graduate Department of Counseling application form and application fee
• One official transcript from all colleges or universities attended
• Two references (forms provided in the application materials)

Transfer Credit

Transfer of up to 12 hours credit is allowed toward the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program from accredited graduate schools (transfer credit is not allowed toward internship requirements). Students must have earned a grade of B or better for a course to be considered for transfer. In addition, only courses taken elsewhere within 10 years of the date of matriculation to the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program will be considered for transfer. Transferability of credits earned at this institution and transferred to another is at the discretion of the receiving institution. Consult the registrar's office for information on eligibility of transfer credit.

Residence Requirements

Of the 36 hours required for the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program, a minimum of 24 hours must be taken in resident study at George Fox University. All work leading to the certificate must be completed within 7 years from the time of matriculation. Extension of this limit requires approval of the Graduate Department of Counseling (GDC) Faculty. However, only one such extension may be considered due to special circumstances, such as ill health. Reinstatement to the program after withdrawal requires Admissions Committee action and may subject the student to additional requirements for the program.

Course Requirements

The Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program is generally 1-2 years in length with 36 semester hours of course work required as a minimum for graduation. Of those hours, 9 are in prescribed counseling courses, 21 in prescribed marriage and family therapy courses, and 6 in clinical internship hours.

Other Program Requirements

Each student must complete 20 clock hours of personal counseling/therapy as part of the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy program. Additionally, an ongoing review process serves as a way to assess the student's fit for the program; fit for the profession; emotional, psychological, and intellectual ability; as well as maturity level for functioning safely as a mental health professional. GDC faculty will review students each fall and spring semester. During spring term prior to internship, students must pass a national exam before they can start their internship: the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE). Only students who pass the national exam may start their internship after having completed all prerequisites. For more specific information, please refer to the student handbook.

Graduation Requirements

In order to graduate with the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy students must:

• Satisfactorily complete a minimum of 36 semester hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above.
• Achieve no grade lower than a B in all core courses. If a grade of a B- or lower is received in a designated course, that course must be retaken (for more specific information, please refer to the student handbook).
• Complete a minimum of 20 one-hour sessions of therapy from a family systems perspective with a licensed marriage and family therapist.
• Complete a 700-hour supervised clinical internship in marriage and family therapy that meets the currently articulated criteria for such training, with at least 270 hours of direct client contact (135 hours required with couples and families; 135 with individuals, couples, or families).
• Successfully complete the graduate clinical project (reading fees are assessed during the final semester of clinical internship), in which the student articulates his/her current understanding of marriage and family therapy and applies the same through an analysis of his/her counseling practice, an evaluation of his/her strengths, and a three-year professional development plan.

Curriculum Plan

Counseling Core (9 hours)
COUN 530 Psychopathology and Appraisal	3
COUN 540 Professional Orientation	3
COUN 561 Spirituality and Clinical Praxis I	3
Marriage and Family Therapy Courses (21 hours)
MMFT 500 Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy	3
MMFT 514 Advanced Marriage Therapy I	3
MMFT 524 Advanced Family Therapy I	3
MMFT 534 Human Sexuality	3
MMFT 554 Substance Abuse From a Systemic Perspective	3
MMFT 574 Relationship Assessment	3
MMFT 597 Treatment Planning I	1
MMFT 598 Treatment Planning II	1
MMFT 599 Graduate Clinical Project	1
Clinical Internship (6 hours)
MMFT 592 Clinical Internship	3
MMFT 593 Clinical Internship	3

Notes:

• Students are expected to follow the sequence MMFT 592, MMFT 593 beginning with the fall semester of the final year. Students who begin their internship in the summer will register for MMFT 591 for an additional 2 hours, but will still need to register and attend fall and spring internship.
• All course work, including courses with a COUN prefix, for this certificate program are taught from a systems perspective, to meet LMFT licensure requirements. COUN 540 Professional Orientation focuses on the AAMFT Code of Ethics.

Counseling Course Descriptions