MA in Marital and Family Therapy
As a graduate from this program you’ll have the education and skills you need to flourish in your career as a couple and family therapist. Some of the topics touched on include parent-child therapy, group therapy, trauma and crisis intervention, and more. Find out how you can provide people with tools to make their lives better.
PsyD in Marital and Family Therapy
When you’re ready to advance beyond your master’s degree, a PsyD in marriage and family Therapy degree will expand your ability to treat your clients holistically. This field of psychology focuses on each aspect of who we are as individuals in various communities, taught through a model of scholarship and hands-on practice.
Meet Your Program Directors
I chose Alliant because they are COAMFTE-accredited and degree portability was really important to me. My experience through the masters and doctoral MFT programs has not only prepared me to be a therapist, but also to be an advocate for my clients, and for the MFT profession as a whole.
Online and on-Campus MFT Programs in California
Overview
As a professional couples and family therapist (MFT), you’ll explore the relationships of family members and the way their behaviors affect the family as a whole. Families have evolved, and in CSPP programs you’ll learn to work with diverse individuals, couples and families, regardless of their structure or circumstance, to assist them in navigating challenging times.
CSPP offers two COAMFTE–accredited marriage and family therapy graduate programs: a master’s degree program, offered on-campus and online, and a PsyD degree program, offered online and at California campuses such as San Diego, Irvine, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
COAMFTE accreditation
CSPP MFT graduate programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). Of the more than 80 license-eligible MFT programs offered in Marriage and Family Therapy Schools in California, Alliant is one of only a few universities to hold the elite COAMFTE accreditation for our graduate degree programs.
In addition to ensuring that you will receive a quality family therapy education, COAMFTE-accredited programs offer MFT students several other unique benefits, including:
- Employment opportunities through the VA: All marriage and family therapists hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs must hold a COAMFTE-accredited degree.
- Loan reimbursement through the National Health Services Corps (NHSC): In exchange for two years of work in an underserved area, NHSC offers up to $50,000 in federal loan payments for marriage and family therapists with a COAMFTE-accredited degree.
- Increased licensed portability: Educational requirements and licensure requirements for marriage and family therapists differs from state-to-state; holding a graduate study degree from a COAMFTE-accredited program makes it easier to obtain MFT licensure in a new state.
Tailored schedule
Apply for the marriage family therapy program and Earn your MFT degree on a schedule that works for you. Day, evening, and executive-format classes are offered at each campus, and make every effort to meet the needs of each cohort of students.
Online program options
The master's program in MFT or marriage family counseling and our 69 unit PsyD programs have coursework offered completely online, and are two of the small number of such programs in the nation to be COAMFTE-accredited.
Cultural competency
Our marriage family counseling programs, as with all CSPP programs, are designed to prepare culturally and linguistically qualified mental-health professionals to become agents of change in the field of psychology and family science.
Mission and student outcomes
The mission of the marriage and family therapist graduate programs is to provide the highest quality counseling psychology education, training, hands-on experience, scholarship, and service in the field. We train ethical professionals to foster the well-being and mental health of individuals, children, couples, families, organizations, and communities primarily through improving relationships.
Our MFT programs specifically focus on the understanding and respect for the diversity of human relationships across different populations from a variety of multicultural, socioeconomic, and international backgrounds. MFT students are encouraged to respect the many dimensions of human diversity, develop a mature personal and professional identity in clinical psychology, stay current with professional knowledge and practice in clinical mental health counseling, and make a positive difference for clients and society.
Program goals
The MFT degree graduate program goals flow directly from the four pillars of the university: practice, diversity, community, and scholarship:
- Practice: The program graduates students who are able to deliver MFT professional services competently.
- Diversity: The program graduates diverse students prepared to meet the needs of diverse communities.
- Community: The program engages various communities through the application of the knowledge and skills of MFT.
- Scholarship: The program contributes to both the understanding and creation of couples and family therapy scholarship.
Continuing a legacy of impact
MFT degree programs at CSPP have a long and storied history of esteemed faculty and industry luminaries that have passed through its doors to share knowledge with the next generation of licensed marriage and family therapy practitioners and mental health counseling professionals.
Read more about our storied legacy
Are you ready to explore an education in couples and family therapy and work towards a career as a family therapist? These courses will give you hands-on experience, exposure to knowledgeable faculty members, and first-hand experience of clinical training practices to prepare you to work in the field of family psychology. Apply for a MFT program today!