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About Marriage & Family Therapy

Who are Marriage and Family Therapists?

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health professionals trained and licensed to serve individuals, couples and families. Trained to diagnose and treat mental health issues, such as depression, substance abuse, alcoholism, marital problems, child-parent problems, ADD/ADHD, and schizophrenia, MFTs receive special training in family dynamics attending to how these dynamics shape and maintain our well-being.

Marriage and Family Therapists are skilled to address a wide array of relationship issues within the context of couples, family systems and communities.

MFTs take a holistic perspective to health care; they are concerned with the overall, long-term well-being of individuals, their families and their communities. MFTs broaden the traditional emphasis on the individual and attend to the nature and role of individuals in their primary relationship networks. This unique training and focus differentiate MFTs from other mental health professionals.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists have graduate training (a Master’s or Doctoral degree) in marriage and family therapy and at least two years of clinical experience. Marriage and family therapists are recognized as a “core” mental health profession, along with psychiatry, psychology, social work and psychiatric nursing.

Research has shown that MFT clients are highly satisfied with the services they receive. Upon completion of therapeutic services MFT clients report an increase in emotional health, and many report an improvement in their overall physical health.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kinds of services do MFT's provide?

MFTs provide a variety of different services based on the needs and severity of an individual, couple or family’s situation.  These services include:

  • Assessment and diagnosis of psychological and emotional disorders
  • Individual, couples and family psychotherapy
  • Group therapy
  • Treatment planning
  • Pre-marital Counseling
  • Life Coaching

What are the issues do MFT's work with?

The most commonly addressed issues in therapy by MFTs include:

  • Mood Issues (e.g.: Depression, Anxiety, Bi-polar)
  • Childhood Behavioral and Developmental Disorders (e.g.: ADHD, Autism)
  • Conduct Disorders
  • Trauma-Related Issues
  • Alcoholism and other Addictions
  • Marital and Relational Problems
  • Domestic Violence and Abuse
  • Chronic Illness
  • Cultural Issues (e.g.: gender, ethnicity, religion)

Where do MFT's work?

Marriage and family therapists provide services in a variety of sectors in the health care industry.  Nearly half of all MFTs assume work in private practice settings.  Therapists are starting to obtain employments in agencies and companies outside of the traditional healthcare sector.  The most common areas of employment include:

  • Private Practice
  • Community Mental Health Centers
  • Inpatient facilities
  • Hospital and Medical Centers
  • Schools and Head Start Centers
  • Social Service Agencies
  • University clinics
  • Courts and Prisons

How are MFT's similar or different with other mental health professionals?

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, which independently diagnose and treat a variety of mental health, substance abuse and relational issues.  MFTs focus on understanding their clients’ symptoms and interactional patterns with their environment.  MFTs provide help to individuals, couples, families and groups with a variety of theoretical approaches. MFTs are one of the five core professionals in the mental health system, with distinct differences among each discipline.

  • Clinical Social Workers are licensed mental health professionals trained to help people find solutions for many of life’s most difficult situations.  Additionally, Clinical Social Workers believe in drawing upon the strengths of the individual and are skilled at mobilizing family, friends, and community resources to help solve problems.
  • Clinical Psychologists Clinical Psychologists are involved in research, teaching and supervision, program development and evaluation, consultation, public policy, professional practice, and other activities that promote psychological health in individuals, families, groups, and organizations. Professionals are trained to administer and interpret a number of tests and assessments that can help diagnose a condition or tell more about the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves.
  • Psychiatrists are physicians (a medical doctor–either an MD or a DO) who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, addictive, and emotional disorders. Psychiatrists are trained to work with a variety of mental health disorders and utilize a broad range of treatment modalities such as diagnostic tests, prescribing medications and psychotherapy for clients and families.
  • Psychiatric Nurses are registered nurses who work with individuals, families, groups, and communities to assess mental health needs, develop diagnoses, and plan, implement, and evaluate nursing care.  Psychiatric nurses use a variety of interventions that promote and foster health, assess dysfunction, assist clients to regain or improve their coping abilities, and prevent further disability.

How effective is marriage and family therapy?

The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists notes that research indicates that marriage and family therapy is as effective, and in some cases more effective than standard and/or individual treatments for many mental health problems such as: adult schizophrenia, affective (mood) disorders, adult alcoholism and drug abuse, children’s conduct disorders, adolescent drug abuse, anorexia in young adult women, childhood autism, chronic physical illness in adults and children, and marital distress and conflict.

Marriage and family therapists regularly practice short-term therapy; 12 sessions on average. Nearly 65.6% of the cases are completed within 20 sessions, 87.9% within 50 sessions. Marital/couples therapy (11.5 sessions) and family therapy (9 sessions) both require less time than the average individuated treatment (13 sessions). About half of the treatment provided by marriage and family therapists is one-on-one with the other half divided between marital/couple and family therapy, or a combination of treatments.

How does someone become an MFT?

There are specific requirements that the Minnesota Board of Marriage and Family Therapy has for prospective therapists obtaining licensure. The general requirements include:

  • Complete a Masters or doctoral degree from a Marriage and Family Therapy program from a regionally accredited institution
  • Have at least two years of post-masters supervision from an approved supervisor, with at least 200 hours of supervision.
  • Complete 1,000 post-masters clinical contact hours (500 hours must be with couples or families)
  • Complete 4,000 total professional hours (This may include not only client contact hours, but any work related to therapy such as progress notes, case consultations, phone calls, etc

For more information about specific licensing regulations and rules, you can visit the Minnesota Board of MFT website.

Typically, it takes 2-3 years to complete a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy.  The time of completion may differ based on curriculum of departments, length of one’s internship and other department requirements.  Usually, a student completes their clinical internship (or practicum) portion of their training in the final year of the program.

Who is Wild Apricot and why do I need to agree to their terms of use when I first login to MAMFT’s website?

We’ve had a few questions from MAMFT members about the Wild Apricot terms you are asked to agree to when you first login to the new MAMFT website. Wild Apricot is the cloud-based membership and event management system that powers the MAMFT website.  As with all cloud-based services, they have their own terms of use that all users (including our members) need to agree to in order to use their online system. 

We’ve specifically had questions on the section regarding ‘Fees and Refunds’ in Wild Apricot’s terms of use.  Wild Apricot uses the same terms of use for everyone.  To clarify, the term, “if you are a paying customer”  within the ‘Fees and Refunds’ section refers to the MAMFT organization, as we are the paying customer of Wild Apricot.  MAMFT (the paying customer) has the sole responsibility for all payments to Wild Apricot.  You, as a member of MAMFT, using Wild Apricot, are not responsible for any payments direct to Wild Apricot.  Thank you to those members who asked for clarification on this point. We’ve forwarded your feedback to Wild Apricot’s Privacy Team, requesting they consider changing the verbiage to help clarify this better for future Wild Apricot users.  To view Wild Apricot’s terms of use that you are asked to agree to when logging in, you can visit this page: https://www.wildapricot.com/termsofuse?lightVersion. Please don’t hesitate to contact MAMFT with any further questions.  You also have the option of contacting Wild Apricot’s Privacy team directly, wa.privacy@personifycorp.com to help answer any additional questions you may have.

MAMFT has its own terms of use, that can be found here: https://www.mamft.net/terms-conditions and MAMFT’s privacy policy that can be found here: https://www.mamft.net/privacy-policy

Interested in finding a Marriage and Family Therapist?

Those looking to access the services of an MFT are encouraged to examine the information and credentials of the practitioners listed. Finding a therapist is an important and personal matter and it is important to explore and locate the marriage and family therapist who is right for you and your family.

To find a marriage and family therapist please use our therapist search engine!


Interested in becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist?

If you are interested in finding out more about how to become a Marriage and Family Therapist please find more information here!

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