Psychology - Marriage and Family Therapy

Overview

About the program

The 63-unit Psychology - Marriage and Family Therapy program from University of the West prepares students to meet requirements for California licensure to provide psychotherapy as Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT). 

Beyond having mastered standard MFT competencies, UWest graduates are:

• Grounded in Recovery-Oriented Practice, putting clients at the heart of treatment, focusing upon co-creating a life worth living
• Well-practiced at making ethical decisions from the overlapping lenses of multiculturalism, Buddhist psychology, and biomedical/behavioral health law and ethics
• Clinically and personally skilled in contemplative practice
• Versed in effective practices that borrow heavily from Buddhist psychology, such as Mindfulness-Based
• Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion
• Focused Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Training
• Trained in the fundamentals of Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples
• Experienced in the applications of Interpersonal Neurobiology from the inside out

The university takes pride in offering small teacher-student ratio, diversity, and individual attention in the classroom as the faculty nurtures all aspects of the therapist’s personhood, particularly intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal and multicultural knowledge, and the skills to turn this awareness and knowledge into helpful interactions with others. In 2015, UWest’s MA in Psychology was ranked as the 9th most affordable graduate psychology program in the United States.