Like many mental health practitioners, marital and family therapists (MFTs) provide therapeutic services to help their clients overcome a wide range of mental, emotional, and behavioral issues. MFTs view their clients in the context of relationships—assuming that every individual influences and is influenced by people in his/her life in a systemic fashion.

Marital and family therapists may work with individuals, couples, or families who are coping with a wide range of problems including depression, anxiety, marital and relationship problems, child-parent conflict, and more. They assist their clients in better understanding how their personal behavior patterns may be influencing the behaviors of those around them. MFTs help their clients find new ways of thinking about and interacting with others—and ultimately lead more harmonious, fulfilling lives.

Marital and family therapy is one of the fastest growing disciplines in the mental health field and MFTs apply their skills in many different work settings, including private practice, social service agencies, inpatient psychiatric facilities, hospitals, community mental health centers, schools, and even courts and prisons.

Psy.D. in Marital and Family Therapy (Post-Master’s)

• Offered in Westwood.
• An accelerated, post-master’s program that may be completed in three years (Program is offered in a flexible format suitable for working professionals).
• Graduates are equipped with expert knowledge in theory, research, and practice in marital and family therapy—preparing them to serve as leaders and/or senior administrators in both educational and clinical settings, or to teach in regionally accredited institutions of higher education.
• Students choose one of two concentrations: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy or Management Practice.
• Students in this concentration gain essential diagnostic, therapeutic, and consultative skills as well as in-depth knowledge of psychodynamic theory and exposure to a broad range of dynamically based clinical applications to assist the therapeutic process.

M.A. in Clinical Psychology, Marital and Family Therapy Specialization

• Offered in Los Angeles, Westwood, and Irvine.
• Two years full time. Program is offered in both traditional weekday formats as well as flexible formats suitable for working professionals:
  • Los Angeles formats: a weekday format in which students attend class one day each week, and a weeknight format in which students attend classes two evenings a week
  • Westwood formats: a weekday format in which students attend class two days each week, and a weekend format in which students attend classes two weekends a month
  • Irvine formats: a weeknight format in which students attend classes two evenings a week, and a weekend format in which students attend classes two weekends a month
• Curriculum qualifies graduates to sit for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) MFT licensure exam, and prepares them to enter a doctoral program that leads to licensure by the California Board of Psychology (BOP).
• Program is unique in that students receive a solid foundation in the principles of clinical psychology, in addition to gaining the essential diagnostic, therapeutic, and consultative skills they need to be outstanding marital and family therapists working with a range of clinical populations and a variety of emotional, behavioral, and psychological issues.
• Students may fulfill their practicum, traineeship, and internship hours at The Chicago School’s Counseling Centers in Westwood and Irvine. Developed around an innovative apprentice model, the centers offer students the opportunity to work side by side with senior clinicians in the psychology and marital and family therapy fields as they apply classroom theories in a real-world environment. The model is unique in the breadth and depth of experience it offers; students are not limited to a single treatment philosophy and instead are exposed to a wide variety of therapeutic approaches and clinical interventions. They develop a working knowledge in a variety of clinical sub-specialties and benefit from an unusually rich learning experience that includes intensive mentoring by seasoned practitioners, and that prepares them to work in a wide range of professional environments or to launch private practices of their own.