Departmental and Faculty Strengths and Honors
The primary objective of the Marriage and Family Therapy program is to provide professional training for persons intending to occupy positions in areas such as:
- Community mental health agencies
- Child and family service agencies
- Church ministries
- Institutional settings
- Private practice
- Advanced academic degree programs
The MFT program at ACU combines theoretical, experiential, and spiritual aspects of marriage and family therapy. The program was originally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) in 1983 and has held continuous accreditation since then. The curriculum is intended to prepare graduates for membership in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and state licensure in marriage and family therapy. Specific departmental and faculty strengths and honors include the following:
- Dr. Jackie L. Halstead is the President-Elect of the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (TAMFT).
- Dr. Jaime D. Goff is the co-chair of the Marriage and Family Therapy Education Committee of TAMFT and the secretary of the Abilene chapter of TAMFT.
- Two alumni of the MFT program's class of 2006, Sara E. Blakeslee (new to the ACU faculty in the fall of 2009) and Maria Williams, were awarded the highly competitive Minority Fellowship from AAMFT.
- Dr. Tom Milholland is a past president of TAMFT and serves as a COAMFTE Accreditation Site Visitor.
- The MFT program houses the Marriage and Family Institute (MFI), a fully operational, professional clinical setting in which students complete the majority of their 500-hour internship. Through MFI, student interns provide approximately 7000 hours of therapy to the Abilene community each year.
- Dr. Jaime D. Goff is the co-editor of Our Common Body of Knowledge, an LMFT national exam preparation manual published by TAMFT. She and Sara E. Blakeslee co-teach several exam preparation courses in Texas each year.
- Faculty and students regularly present research at state, national, and international conferences.
