Couple and Family Therapy: Post-Master's Certificate Program

Introduction
The Post-Master’s Certificate Program was established in 2001 and prepares students for the profession of couple and family therapy through academic and clinical training. It exposes students to broad areas of theory and practice and provides an intensive, supervised clinical experience. The program emphasizes the interdependence of individual experience and the relational context, extending from family of origin (including traditional and nontraditional families) to the global community. The program is committed to training students to be aware of and sensitive to cultural diversity.

In addition, the person of the therapist, including the student’s own culture, is a major aspect of the program. We value cultural diversity and strongly believe that contextual issues such as race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality, religion, age, ability, power, and privilege should be fundamental to the education, training, and practice of couple and family therapy. The program is firmly committed to providing a learning context for students that reflects its emphasis on the importance of recognizing human diversity through both a racially diverse faculty and a racially diverse student body.

Curriculum
The curriculum assists students in integrating theory and practice. Issues of race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality, religion, age, ability, power, and privilege are addressed throughout the program. Students are fully trained to assume clinical practice in couple and family therapy and are prepared for AAMFT Associate Membership. In addition, the program provides graduates the educational requirements needed for eligibility for Pennsylvania licensure as a marriage and family therapist.

The educational and training experience has seven major components:
• The historical development of systems theory and cybernetics and the use of the systems paradigm in treatment.
• A comprehensive survey of major models of change in marriage and family therapy, with an emphasis on assessment and treatment.
• Conceptual understanding of complex relational dynamics across the family life cycle, with a focus on contextual issues such as race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality, religion, age, ability, power, and privilege.
• Ethical, legal, and professional responsibilities of marriage and family therapists.
• Quantitative and qualitative research in marriage and family therapy.
• Supervised clinical practica, in which students receive a minimum of 100 hours of individual and group supervision and a minimum of 500 hours of face-to face client contact; 250 of the 500 hours must be relational (couples or families).