Marriage and Family Therapy

The 49-semester unit Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program provides education and training consistent with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences' (BBS) educational requirements for Marriage and Family Therapy licensing and the National Board for Certified Counselors' (NBCC) educational requirements for general certification. The program is also consistent with the broad standard of training within the field of Marital and Family Therapy.

Students can complete the program in San Francisco or at one of our regional campuses in Cupertino, Sacramento and Santa Rosa.

Program Description | The Marriage and Family Therapy program is a unique, innovative educational program for preparing marriage and family therapists to address the current and emerging mental health needs of children, adults, and families. It emphasizes a lifespan developmental perspective, a problem-solving, goal-oriented perspective, a family systems perspective, and a multicultural perspective.

Students learn theories and effective practices for working with individuals (children, adolescents, young adults, mid-life adults, and older adults) and their families in a variety of community mental health, school, and work settings.

The curriculum is designed sequentially (See Course Sequence). The first year focuses on counseling theory and practice, legal and ethical issues in family counseling, multicultural counseling, assessment, psychopathology, and pragmatic theories and techniques.

A partnership of fieldwork and classroom learning forms the core of the second year. Pragmatic, family systems, multicultural, and life transitions counseling interventions are emphasized. Students take specialized coursework and apply their learning to individuals and families in supervised community social service settings.

After graduation and completion of licensing requirements, graduates may be employed in private practice or managed care, community/public agencies, and other institutional environments (e.g., schools, higher education, health-care facilities, business). They may also choose to pursue a doctoral degree.