MS in Marriage-Family Therapy Brochure

M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy The Department of Family Therapy trains students to help individuals, couples, and families create positive changes in their relationships. We build programs on the assumption that the best way to help people is to guide them to see and understand the relationship contexts that shape their lives. The M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy curriculum consists of coursework and direct supervision of clinical practice, including live supervision. Training focuses on brief, systemic, and interactional models of family therapy, preparing graduates to practice in a time-sensitive, cost-effective manner. Graduates of the M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy program apply their knowledge of settings and human-relationship systems in clinical, educational, health care, community, and business contexts. They hold positions in universities, mental health agencies, and corporate entities. Many are active in private practice. Many publish their work in leading journals in the field, and present at local, state, national, and international conferences. The master’s degree program is fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). The program fulfills the academic requirements for licensure as an MFT in Florida and clinical membership in AAMFT. Full-time students can complete the program in two years. NSU offers the only COAMFTE-accredited master’s degree program in Florida. The Family Therapy Clinic at the Brief Therapy Institute Students in the Family Therapy program receive clinical training and experience at the Brief Therapy Institute (BTI), NSU’s on-site family therapy clinic. The clinic serves a wide variety of clients from all life circumstances. This training focuses on working with families and individuals of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, religious affiliations, and sexual orientations. Much of the therapy at BTI is provided by practicum teams, each composed of an AAMFT-approved faculty supervisor and a maximum of six graduate student therapists. As one of the team members—a designated primary therapist—works directly with clients, the others join the supervisor in an observation room behind a one-way mirror. Communication between the two rooms is by telephone, so that, during the session, the supervisor and team may call the primary therapist, make observations, and pose questions. This hands-on supervision model effectively promotes students’ clinical expertise.