About the program
Students in Seattle Pacific University’s cohort-centered Marriage and Family Therapy program learn to bring cultural sensitivity to family therapy practice. Development of competent skills occurs through an integration of self-of-the-therapist, family systems models, bio-psycho-social-spiritual perspective, and our unique ORCA-Stance. Training in a Christian context, students become instruments of healing through ethical care within diverse communities and clinical populations.
Graduates of the Master’s of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy (MS) program are prepared to demonstrate the following program goals:
- Application of family systems theoretical models and clinical interventions to therapeutic work with diverse populations of individuals, couples, groups, and families.
- Examination of personal and professional values that are integrated into an ethical practice of psychotherapy.
- Awareness of sociocultural factors and professional trends that influence the practice of psychotherapy.
Students are assessed for competencies related to our student-learning outcomes which align with each of these program goals, based on the professional marriage and family therapy principles as regulated by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education.
Distinctives
A strong self-of-the-therapist orientation undergirds the MFT program as well as the ORCA stance, a theological and multiculturally valuing exploration of persons through open, respectful, curious, and accountable social interactions.
- A holistic, systemic, and relational view of clinical care from systemic/social-ecological perspectives. You will integrate biological, psychological, social, and spiritual resources for holistic clinical care.
- Strong self-of-the-therapist emphasis on your understanding of the moral-values-spiritual dimensions of your own life, as well as how these dimensions interact with your clients’ lives. You become an instrument of healing through self-understanding and development.
- Values-based (“ORCA”) stance. You will explore the worldviews of your clients with an “ORCA” (Open, Respectful, Curious, and Accountable) relational posture.
- Our cohort-centered, intentionally sequenced curriculum with purposeful self-of-the-therapist development, while bringing cultural and theological sensitivity into the practice of family therapy.
- This MFT program trains within a faithfully Christian context that respects a diversity of spiritual explorations. Our faculty and staff hold a Christian faith commitment; students are free to share any religious perspective or none at all.
- You are prepared for supervised service in clinical and agency mental health organizations, educational settings, and private psychotherapy. Other professional opportunities include educator, consultant, mediator, administrator, and medical family therapist.
- Graduates with post-master’s degree experience are eligible to apply for licensure through Washington state’s Department of Health. Five hundred hours of clinical practice and 100 hours of supervision may be applied toward Washington state MFT licensure if an applicant graduates from the SPU MFT program. (Licensure in other states often follows COAMFTE curriculum and supervision requirements.)
Medical Family Therapy Certificate (MedFT)
Due to complex treatment protocols and life effects of chronic illness, health care systems are struggling to provide adequate care. Post-graduate students with advanced training in medical family therapy are vital to today’s health care teams. MFT students can add the MedFT c