MA in Psychology with a Specialization in
Couple & Family Therapy (CFT)
Advantages
- Degree that meets all state licensing requirements
- Clinical training program that is professionally accredited and meets national standards
- Student-centered and competency-based curriculum
- Focus on both individually and interpersonally oriented therapies
- Competency in child, adolescent, adult, couple, and family therapy
- Balance of experiential and didactic learning with rigorous internship
- Strong social justice orientation with an emphasis on multiculturalism
- Focus on intense personal discovery and applied scholarship
- Elective credit options that focus on students’ areas of individual interest
- Award winning core faculty who bring their clinical world experience to the classroom
- Options for selection of multiple instructor and meeting times with classes held late afternoons, evenings, and all day Fridays
General Requirements
The CFT specialization requires completion of 75 quarter credits including 56 credits of required coursework, 12 elective credits, and 19 credits of Internship and Case Consultation.
To learn about the application prerequisites, click here.
Length of Program
Students typically complete the degree requirements for the CFT Specialization in 2 ½ – 3 years.
Tuition and Fees
- Tuition: $662 per credit
- Required fees: $145 per quarter
- $6,103 tuition and required fees per quarter, full time (9 credits)
- $24,412 typical annual tuition and fees
Annual tuition and fees based on 2013-14 rates for four quarters. Antioch University Seattle students typically attend classes all year.
Salary Range
Read more about the average salaries of licensed MFT therapists.
Career Opportunities
- Community mental health agencies
- Child, youth, and family service agencies
- Employee assistance programs
- Hospital and family medicine facilities
- Senior centers and care facilities
- Foster care programs
- Homeless shelters
- Community college and school counseling services
- Military and government agencies including the V.A.
- Pastoral/religious/spiritual agencies
- Prison facilities
- Rehabilitation agencies
- Residential treatment centers
- Domestic violence programs
- Substance abuse settings
- Eating disorder clinics
- Private practice settings
Program Summary
The CFT Specialization is about challenging and training you to become a well-rounded and skilled therapist. We do this by engaging you in a competency-based curriculum that prepares you to employ an integrated set of individual, couple, and family therapy modalities with a diverse range of clientele.
To insure optimum levels of competence and professionalism, the CFT Specialization meets and exceeds all of the educational standards for licensure in Washington State and for national accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE).
Our mission is not only to imbue best practices and rigor in our clinical training, but also to instill multicultural sensitivity and a commitment to social justice. Our specialization and faculty distinguish themselves by showing our students how to systemically incorporate this diversity and responsibility into clinical treatment.
Core Coursework
Antioch University Seattle's MA in Psychology with Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) concentration offers you comprehensive clinical training for a career as a licensed marriage and family therapist. Classes emphasize developing your capabilities to work at multiple levels of clinical treatment with children, couples, and families.
The CFT is 75 quarter credits. Classes are offered Monday through Thursday late afternoons and evenings for students from the metropolitan Seattle area. Concentrated scheduling is available Thursday evenings and during the day Fridays for students commuting from more distant locations. You may begin the program in the fall, winter, or spring quarter.
Core Courses (44 credits)
All coursework is completed prior to your internship.
- Competency Assessment I, II, III
- Family of Origin Systems
- Multicultural Perspectives
- Communication and Counseling Skills
- Counseling Individuals in the Family System
- Systems Perspectives in Family Therapy
- Theories and Practice of Family Therapy I and II
- Human Sexuality
- Human Development in the Family Life Cycle
- Psychopathology
- Psychodiagnostics and Treatment Planning
- Ethics and Professional Issues
- Ethics in Family Practice
- Research Methods: Introduction or Advanced
- Research in Family Practice
Elective Courses (12 credits)
This concentration affords you the flexibility to individualize your studies based upon your professional goals and interests. Choose approximately four courses to satisfy your elective requirements. These include:
- One elective in Family Practice Series
- One elective in Multicultural Counseling Series: Counseling a culturally specific population
- One elective in Abusive Relationships or Addictions
- Three other elective credits
Internship Courses (19 credits)
- Internship Preparation (taken two quarters before beginning internship)
- CFT Internship I,II, III, and IV
- Case Consultation I, II, III, and IV
Internship Experience
All students participate in an internship in a professional setting. This experience will enable you to validate and clarify the theory you acquire in the classroom as you develop your own role as a clinician. Examples of internship sites include the following:
- College counseling centers
- Group homes
- Homeless shelters
- Youth and family services
- Community centers
- Public mental health clinics
- Jails
- Penitentiaries
- In-patient psychiatric hospitals
Program requirements and course offerings are subject to change.
Faculty
Read about adjunct faculty who teach in the School of Applied Psychology, Counseling & Family Therapy.
Paul David
PhD, Family Psychology
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
Couple & Family Therapy Specialization
Amanda Franklin
MEd
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy
Macall Gordon
M.A. Applied Psychology - Antioch Seattle
B.S. Human Biology - Stanford University,
Kirk Honda
LMFT, MA
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
Couple & Family Therapy Specialization
Janice Hoshino
ATR-BC, LMFT, PhD
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
Chair, Art Therapy and Drama Therapy Specializations
Tim Jenkins
MA, University of North Carolina
MA, Antioch University Seattle
Kim McBride
LMFT, MA
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
Couple & Family Therapy Specialization
Gerald Saltzman
MA
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
Couple & Family Therapy Specialization
Anne Celila
MA Psychology, Couple and Family Therapy , 2003
Her education led to a career change from a homemaker and retail worker with a focus on children to a professionally educated, independent woman eager to give something substantial back to society.
Dawn Stremel
MA Education, MA Psychology, Couple and Family Therapy, 1988, 2007
After she completed her MAEd at Antioch, she says she enjoyed more than 20 years as an educational leader and passionate champion for creative change in the schools. Then she returned to Antioch so she could craft a meaningful new retirement career.
Kim McBride
M.A. Psychology, Couple and Family Therapy , 2003
Ask her what role Antioch has played in her career and Kim McBride says, "If it wasn't for Antioch, I would not be living my dream."
Peggy E. Bochun
MA Psychology, Couple & Family Therapy, 2002
A couple and family therapist in Vancouver, B.C., she says her Antioch studies helped her develop a richer therapy practice and raised her awareness of the many social and cultural factors that affect her clients.
Sue Ann Birdwell
M.A. Psychology, Child, Couple, and Family Therapy, 2006
She launched an independent practice the month before she completed her Antioch University degree and says it has been a busy time since then. Antioch University Seattle prepared her well, she notes, for the realities of working as a therapist.
Why you should consider attending Antioch University Seattle to start your career as a Couple and Family Therapist
Below you will find a brief summary of the survey results gathered from current, graduating, and graduated students from the Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) Program.
CFT Current Students' Satisfaction with Classes
At the conclusion of each quarter, we ask our CFT students to evaluate each of the courses they have completed. The following are the average ratings for each of the nine CFT Competency Domains in which all of the courses are organized:
Graduating Student Skills Gained
We asked our graduating CFT students to evaluate the CFT Specialization on the following dimensions:
Alumni Satisfaction with the CFT program
We asked our alumni: “Overall, did your educational experiences in the CFT Specialization meet your expectations?”
