Marriage and Family Therapy is a discipline for individuals with backgrounds in family studies, psychology, social work, counseling, and other areas. It is a program designed for those desirous of learning more about theory, research and clinical training with families, couples, individuals, and children from a relational or systems perspective.
The Doctoral Program in Marriage and Family at Florida State University is in the Department of Family and Child Sciences, College of Human Sciences. The mission of the program is to produce marriage and family therapy scholars and researchers, who are leaders and innovators in understanding and addressing the needs of contemporary families. Students from across the country and around the world pursue their doctoral degree in this program.
 Wescott Building
The Doctoral Program in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) is one of the most distinguished in the nation. It is one of the oldest doctoral programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
The MFT program shares the vision of the Department of Family and Child Sciences of which it is a living part. Its concern is with understanding family systems in interaction with their environments along the lifespan, and best practices in relational interventions. Accordingly, the program requires a substantial foundation in family science and a commitment to human diversity. MFT increasingly is being practiced by diverse individuals with diverse clients with diverse goals in diverse settings. A credible program of applied family science must incorporate empirically validated interventions that appreciate contextual issues and it must recognize the existence and value of multiple realities. Accordingly, the Department and MFT clinical faculty are committed to applied family scholarship and acquiring individuals – faculty, students, and clients – with diverse voices and lived experiences.
MFT graduates are expected to compete successfully for faculty positions in family science, MFT, and related fields, occupy high-level administrative and policy making/consultation positions, and/or provide and train others to provide MFT in a wide range of settings. Therefore, the focus of the MFT program is to provide education and training in theory, research, and evidence-based clinical practice while working with diverse individuals, couples, families, and settings. The sequence of courses generally takes two years, including summer semesters. Full-time attendance is required. Required courses, in addition to clinical training, include doctoral-level offerings in MFT theory and topics, human development, family science, and research methodology – including experimental design, family therapy and services evaluation, and quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry.
After the student has been accepted to the program, the Marriage and Family Therapy Program Director will draft an initial program of studies, based on the student's master's degree. All new students will be expected to take the identified core and the research courses approved by the program. Graduates of mental health masters programs other than COAMFTE-accredited MFT programs will be expected to complete the Standard Curriculum specified by that body. (See www.aamft.org, "Commission on Accreditation".)
Before graduating from the doctoral program, all students will have completed 1000 hours of direct client contact. Graduates of COAMFTE-accredited master’s programs will therefore need to acquire 500 additional hours meeting COAMFTE accreditation standards. 200 of these hours will be at the Center for Marriage and Family Therapy and must be completed if the student is to be eligible for his or her Comprehensive Examination(s). In addition to these clinical hours, students who do not have a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from a COAMFTE-accredited program are responsible for completing all of the COAMFTE Standard Curriculum courses and clinical requirements in addition to the doctoral program requirements. These include 500 direct client contact hours, half of which are relational, under the supervision of an AAMFT Approved Supervisor or a designated equivalent. No part of the Standard Curriculum may be waived. Courses and clinical hours thought to be equivalent to that required in the Standard Curriculum require approval of the supervisory faculty. All clinical hours must be accomplished at the Center for Marriage and Family Therapy, under the supervision of the program’s clinical faculty. Upon entering the program, each non-COAMFTE master’s graduate will negotiate a training contract with the MFT Program Director which specifies how the students and the program will allow the requirements of the Standard Curriculum to be met.
Students and faculty collaborate in grant writing, quantitative and qualitative research, and family science and clinical publications. They also frequently present scholarly papers at national conferences (AAMFT, NCFR, SRCD) and regional meetings.
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