Online Family & Marriage Therapy Degrees
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Marriage and family therapy is a specific kind of therapy directed at the use of counseling and other therapeutic techniques to help family and marriages. Family and marriage therapists tend to spend time with clients in their office talking through problems that the couple or family has had. Generally, issues relate to problems with communicating, and the therapists will help their patients break through communication barriers in order to solve the problems that brought them to marriage or family therapy in the first place.
Marriage and family therapy is similar to other types of counseling in the way that the work is performed. Like other counselors, marriage and family therapists will spend their day seeing clients in their office and talking through problems. However, unlike other types of counseling, marriage and family therapy focuses less on the specific internal psychological problems of individual clients in order to focus more on the external projection of feelings and dynamics within a relationship between spouses or other family members.
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What are some of the specializations within this degree program?
Family and marriage therapy is considered a specialization within the greater field of counseling and so such does not have any formalized further specification within the field. In some cases, marriage and family therapists may specialize in only the treatment of families or only the treatment of marriages, but usually therapists will take on both types of clients.
Additionally, marriage and family therapists may choose to take on research or teaching as a type of specialization in order to further advance the field of marriage and family therapy instead of directly support clients. However, most therapists who take on research or teaching do so only in addition to their traditional therapy practice and not as a direct specialization separate from the main career path available to all marriage and family therapists.
What degree levels are available?
- Bachelor's Degree: 4 years
- Master's Degree: 2 years
What are the educational and certification requirements?
The specific licensing requirements vary by state, but it is generally a requirement for therapists to have a master's degree before they can become licensed to practice as a therapist. Students pursuing a degree in therapy generally take undergraduate courses in psychology, sociology, and other related subjects. Often times, people will come into the field of therapy through a background in education, and many master's degree programs are housed in the education department (though some are housed in social sciences depending on the focus of the program). All accredited counseling graduate programs have a requirement for a certain amount of supervised clinical experience as a therapist, providing students with the hands on experience to work as a therapist upon graduation.
Not all therapists are required to become licensed, but all 50 states and the District of Columbia do required marriage and family therapists to become licensed before they begin practicing. In order to become licensed, the therapist has to have completed a master's degree program in counseling or marriage and family therapy and has to have completed two years or 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience beyond the master's degree level. In addition, the aspiring marriage and family therapist must pass a state licensing exam. Marriage and family therapists must also complete annual continuing education requirements in order to maintain their license. Those interested in gaining licensure to practice in their state should look up the specific process and requirements for their state before going forward as each state has slightly different requirements and procedures for licensing. (BLS)
What kinds of classes will I be expected to take?
- Human Growth and Development: This course covers basics about the the psychological development of humans as they mature into adults. In marriage and family therapy, this course would focus on the development of social interaction in children and adolescents.
- Relationships: This course covers the dynamics and psychological underpinnings of relationships from spousal relationships to friends and children or parents. Students can expect to learn about the varying dynamics of relationships and the ways that relationships can run into problems.
- Counseling Techniques: This basic overview course would cover the beginning techniques of counseling in a group and individual setting. Students can expect to practice therapy sessions with fellow students in mock sessions and critique different ways of handling real-life situations as they would arise in a clinical therapy session.
- Group Therapy: Building off of the basic techniques taught in an introductory counseling course, group therapy would apply techniques of therapy to group counseling sessions. Students learn how to handle different group dynamics and to use the group setting to improve individual patient results.
- Counseling Ethics: Therapists have a great deal of influence on their patients in order to help them work through their issues. This influence is necessary for the work of a therapist, but it also comes with moral responsibilities. This course covers the basic ethics that surround counseling and how to deal with different ethically questionable situations.
If I pursue this program online, will I be required to complete any on-site training?
Typically, online programs do not require specific on-site training; however, all counseling programs do require supervised clinical experience as part of the program which has to be completed in person. This supervised experience can be completed offsite through a certified counselor who would then be required to submit a report or other form of assessment on the student's progress and completion of the required supervised clinical experience.
What are some other degrees that are related to this program?
- Alcohol and Drug Counseling: This career is for counselors who specialize in the treatment of patients with substance abuse problems. Alcohol and drug counselors work with patients who have a problem with drugs or alcohol in order to either help them stop abusing substances or to support them through the process as they become clean and stay clean.
- Counseling: Counselors may work in a wide variety of settings providing personal support to people who suffer from mental problems. Counselors typically work one-on-one or in small groups with patients in order to help them deal with problems in their life or to overcome mental illnesses.
- Conflict resolution: Conflict resolution and negotiation is a career field that tries to bring two parties to an agreement over some legal issue without the use of the traditional legal system. Negotiators, or mediators, will work with both parties to try to find a middle ground without having to have the case resolved by a judge or a jury in a costly court proceeding.
- Social Work: Social workers are responsible for the well-being of children and adults in economically, socially, or otherwise difficult situations. Social workers are often responsible for ensuring the safety of children or spouses in abusive or neglectful situations by removing them from bad locations and placing the children in a safe home.
- School Counseling: School counselors specialize in working with children in the school district. They will often help support students who are struggling to fit in socially or to perform in a traditional academic setting.
