Graduate School - Marriage and Family Therapy
Jaime Goff, Graduate Director Phone: 325-674-3778 Email: jaime.goff@acu.edu Faculty
Supervising clinical faculty: Kurt Boyland
Faculty from other departments who teach in this program: Steve Allison, Associate Professor of Psychology Richard Beck, Associate Professor of Psychology Suzanne Macaluso, Assistant Professor of Family Studies Scott Perkins, Associate Professor of Psychology |
Introduction
The Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, located in the College of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University, offers a Master in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) degree.
The 60-hour Marriage and Family Therapy degree plan is designed to be completed in 24 consecutive months. Part-time students are not admitted to the program.
The program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE).
The primary objective of the degree is to provide professional training for persons intending to occupy positions in community mental health agencies, child and family service agencies, church ministries, institutional settings, and private practice, as well as those desiring advanced academic degrees. The majority of MMFT graduates are working in the placement of their choice or are accepted into doctoral programs in a variety of disciplines including marriage and family therapy, counseling psychology, and family studies.
The clinical faculty of the department are practicing clinicians and supervisors, certified as Clinical Members and Approved Supervisors by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and licensed by the Texas State Board of Examiners. Most also hold another license in either psychology or professional counseling.
The Marriage and Family Therapy program is committed to a value system that espouses a Christian worldview in terms of human nature, the development of interpersonal or intrapersonal problems, and the context within which those problems can be solved. Integration of theory, therapy, theology and spirituality are found in the classroom as well as within the clinical experience.
The curriculum is intended to prepare graduates for membership in the AAMFT and state licensure in marriage and family therapy. Additionally, the Marriage and Family Therapy program prepares graduates for licensure as a Licensed Professional Counselor.
Marriage and family therapy training is by nature interdisciplinary and, therefore, includes relevant courses in psychology, sociology, ministry, and marriage and family therapy.
Each graduate will receive a minimum of 500 hours of direct clinical experience and 100 hours of approved supervision, both of which are graduation requirements. Supervision is provided by the departmental faculty. Graduates normally meet the necessary requirements for an upgrade in their membership from student to associate, and then to clinical membership status in AAMFT. Graduates also normally meet the requirements necessary to begin post-graduate licensure requirements.
Two predominant components of the program are clinical training and academic research. Beginning in the fall semester of the first year, all students are evaluated and then begin their clinical experience. The intern initially functions as a co-therapist beginning in the early spring of the first year. Supervision of this internship is provided by the MFT faculty in individual and group settings utilizing video, live and case presentation approaches.
The supervision experience focuses on integrating the student’s academic training with the clinical skills of marriage and family therapy. During the clinical phase, interns develop skills of assessing, diagnosing and treating individuals, couples and families from both medical models and systems perspectives.
Since each supervisor may come from a different therapeutic model, students are exposed to a variety of models such as cognitive-behavioral, structural-strategic, multi-generational, narrative, integrative, brief-solution focused, emotionally focused, and internal family systems.
The clientele for the internship experience come from the community and offer a wide variety of problems. Most internships are conducted in the department’s clinical facilities with 11 therapy rooms equipped with closed-circuit color television cameras and phone-in supervision capabilities.
A second emphasis within the department is research. Students are required to submit abstracts for presentation at the annual conference of the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. It is a refereed process, and most of our students’ projects are accepted for presentation. The research projects are prepared for submission to refereed journals and are occasionally accepted for publication. All projects are guided by a primary faculty researcher. The research projects are either qualitatively or quantitatively oriented.
Admission Requirements
Admission to the program is on a competitive basis. The admission requirements for the MMFT are:
1. Complete an application and application fee (see online link to admission);
2. Complete a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university or comparable non-U.S. university (see specific department for any additions or exceptions);
3. A cumulative undergraduate approximate B average or above in the area of focus or related area and evidence of an overall productive GPA;
4. A minimum GRE score of 900;
5. Three letters of recommendation;
6. A written purpose statement declaring why the applicant wishes to study marriage and family therapy at ACU and what he or she plans to do professionally upon graduation;
7. Psychological testing;
8. Completion of a psychosocial history;
9. A quality of life that reflects high moral standards;
10. A writing sample; and
11. An on-campus interview with the faculty. The personal interview for applicants residing outside the continental United States can be done via telephone and/or video recording.
When all required materials are assembled, the application will be reviewed by the MFT faculty. Students are admitted once a year and begin their program of study in the fall semester. All application materials MUST be completed by the preceding January 15 for the fall semester. The GRE and personal interviews MUST be completed by February 15. Acceptance into the program will be granted by April 1.
No specific undergraduate major is essential for admission. Applicants are encouraged to have undergraduate credit in subjects that embrace human development, family relations, theology, sociology, psychology and statistics.
Applicants without adequate preparation may be accepted upon the condition that they register for additional courses deemed necessary by the graduate advisor.
MASTER OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY (MMFT)
Major Code: MFTH
The Master of Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) degree plan for all students follows the requirements of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education. Students are expected to take courses in the sequence required by the department. No more than 12 semester hours may be transferred into the program with the approval of the graduate advisor.
Requirements for the MMFT are:
1. Marital and family systems, 3 hours:
BMFT 639 Family Theory/General Systems Theory
2. Marital and family therapy, 15 hours:
BMFT 610 Couples Therapy
BMFT 641 Family Therapy I
BMFT 645 Marital and Family Assessment
BMFT 651 Sexual Therapy
BMFT 661 Family Therapy II
3. Individual development, 12 hours:
BMFT 662 Family Life Cycle
BMFT 663 Cultural Diversity in Marriage and Family Therapy
BMFT 665 Family Therapy Across the Life-Cycle
PSYC 682 Advanced Psychopathology
4. Professional studies, 3 hours:
BMFT 643 Professional Ethics and the Law
5. Supervised clinical practice, 15 hours:
BMFT 601, 602, 603, 604, 605
6. Research, 3 hours:
SOCI 615 Social Research
7. Additional courses, 6 hours:
BIBM 696 Theological Perspectives on Human Behavior
BMFT 634 Addictive Disorders
8. One elective from the following list:
PSYC 657 Multivariate Statistics
PSYC 620 Group Psychotherapy
BIBM 648 Christian Spiritual Formation
9. Comprehensive Exam.
Degree Sequence
| 1. Core courses (36 hours); Practicum (16 hours) | ||
| YEAR 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | ||
Family Theory Couples Therapy Pre-Internship Family Therapy I | ||
| Spring | ||
Internship I Marriage and Family Assessment Family Life Cycle Advanced Psychopathology | ||
| Summer | ||
Family Therapy Across the Life-Cycle Professional Ethics and the Law | ||
| YEAR 2 | ||
| Fall | ||
Social Research Cultural Diversity in Marriage and Family Therapy Internship II Addictive Disorders | ||
| Spring | ||
PSYC 657 PSYC 620 | Sexual Therapy Family Therapy II Internship III Multivariate Statistics Group Psychotherapy Christian Spiritual Formation | |
| Summer | ||
Internship IV Theological Perspectives on Human Behavior | ||
| 2. Comprehensive Exam | ||
