Program Overview
The Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) master’s program is an excellent professional training opportunity providing the educational requirements to apply to become a licensed marriage and family therapist in Texas. Graduates are equipped to bring needed change and relief to distressed families, couples and individuals. Our diverse faculty team seeks to serve students and families in Central Texas.
Texas A&M University-Central Texas provides the only MFT Program in the Central Texas area. The program prepares students to effectively serve family systems in a collaborative environment conducive for working within the broader health care system through learning, therapeutic practice and community involvement. Students learn ethical responsibility to ensure professional practices and develop personal and professional growth through intentional self-awareness and self-reflection.
Students participating in our practicums will gain real-world experience serving distressed families in the Central Texas region through The Community Counseling and Family Therapy Center, as well as our practicum site partners. Our program will maintain collaborative relationships with broader healthcare organizations and agencies and will place its students in those settings to develop the critical consciousness and systemic framework necessary to serve area individuals, couples, and families.
Career Opportunities
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice or an agency
- Family Researcher
- Consultant
- Media Personality
Program Application
Fall Admission: July 1st
Spring Admission: November 1st
Summer Admission: April 1st
Program Mission, Values, and Outcomes
Program Mission
The mission of the Marriage and Family Therapy program is to train couple and family therapists to demonstrate clinical excellence through the mastery of the MFT core competencies, the practice of personal knowledge and professional integrity, and compassionate and collaborative service to distressed and/or underserved individuals, couples, and families in the broader Central Texas area.
Program Values
- Critical consciousness necessary to effectively service diverse family systems
- Collaborative environment conducive for working within the broader health care system
- Ethical responsibility to ensure professional practices
- Personal and professional growth through intentional self-awareness and self-reflection
- Community understanding through systemic conceptualization and assessment
- Clinical excellence through understanding and practice effective therapeutic approaches
- Compassion through local, regional, and global service
Program Goals
- Community- The program will deploy students to compassionately serve diverse and distressed families in the Central Texas region through The Community Counseling and Family Therapy Center, as well as its practicum site partners
- Practice- The program will create a brand of clinical excellence whereby its students are known for self-knowledge, integrity, professionalism, and effectiveness consistent with the AAMFT Code of Ethics.
- Diversity- The program will provide experiences that will allow its students and graduates to develop critical consciousness and a systemic framework necessary to serve diverse families in the Central Texas region and across the globe.
- Scholarship- The program will provide students with the skills to obtain relevant information and trends in MFT research.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will demonstrate knowledge and appropriate application of classical and postmodern MFT theories. (SLO-1)
- Students will demonstrate basic and systemic therapeutic techniques. (SLO-2)
- Students will assess how contextual issues affect individual lives and relational dynamics. (SLO-3
- Students will demonstrate practice consistent with the AAMFT Code of Ethics, formulate and execute treatment plans based on individual issues, relational dynamics, and contextual issues. (SLO-4)
- Students will assess the influence of their social location and personal experiences on the conceptualization and intervention of cases. (SLO-5)
- Students will develop collaborative relationships with other mental health professionals and agencies within the local community. (SLO-6)
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of current trends and research methods in the field of marriage and family therapy. (SLO-7)
Program Coordinator
Dr. Hao-Min Chen
Associate Professor
College of Education and Human Development
Room: WH-318J
Email: hmchen@tamuct.edu
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