COAMFTE

Northcentral University becomes first mostly-online program to earn COAMFTE accreditation

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Their masters program uses practicum site supervisors as co-instructors, meeting COAMFTE’s requirement for in-person education.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Books-aj.svg aj ashton 01The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education announced just before the holiday that Northcentral University, one of five online programs (or in their case, mostly-online programs) I discussed in this recent post, has become the first such program to earn COAMFTE accreditation. (Here’s why COAMFTE accreditation matters to students.)

As I mentioned previously, they appear to use practicum site supervisors as co-instructors for the practicum class, thus meeting the COAMFTE requirement (page 8) that at least some instruction in any accredited program be provided in person.

This is a milestone for graduate education in MFT, though I will confess I am not quite sure what meaning to put to it. That’s a longer discussion I’ll put in another post. For now, my hearty congratulations to the faculty, staff and students at Northcentral for a significant achievement!

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In the interest of full disclosure, I have served in the past as a COAMFTE Site Visitor, but I had no involvement with the accreditation process for Northcentral and have no affiliation with that university.

Your comments are welcome. You can email me at ben[at]bencaldwell[dot]com, post a comment below, or find me on Twitter @benjamincaldwel.

Online MFT programs

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Are you interested in getting your marriage and family therapy degree through an online program? Here are five MFT programs that are mostly or fully online.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Computer and screenOnline education holds the promise of extending the reach of marriage and family therapy training. Champions of these programs argue that they make advanced education available to those who otherwise might not have access to it, due to scheduling, geographic, or other barriers. It is possible that the growth of online MFT programs will particularly help bring cultural diversity and rural practitioners into our community of licensees.

Of course, there are also general concerns about online education, including dropout rates, profit motives (as many online schools are for-profit), and overall effectiveness.

In the MFT field, online education seems to be an especially challenging proposition: We need to train practitioners in the art and science of relating, face-to-face, in a way that will heal clients and their family relationships. That is a skill set, and one that would seem to require a fair amount of face-to-face interaction to be best developed, shaped, and observed.

Online graduate programs in MFT are experimenting with a number of creative ways to resolve this dilemma — and also keep themselves eligible for COAMFTE accreditation. COAMFTE has tried to walk a difficult middle ground in its educational standards, saying that MFT programs can employ some distance education but not be fully online; since “fully” means “fully,” it would seem a program could get around the letter of this requirement simply by requiring a one-hour meeting on campus at some point during the educational process. But many of the online MFT programs appear to be genuinely interested in maximizing the potential benefits of online education alongside a recognition of the need for in-person work to develop relational skills. As such, many have integrated in-person events and coursework into their online curricula.

Below you will find a list of five MFT programs that are mostly or fully online. Some things to know about all of these programs: 1, As of early December 2012, none of them have yet earned COAMFTE accreditation. (Here’s why COAMFTE accreditation matters to you.) That is only one consideration in choosing the right MFT program, but it is worth considering. [Update 2013: Northcentral is now COAMFTE-accredited.] 2, The information here is drawn from the universities’ web sites. Information can change quickly. 3, Any cost statements do not include books, supplies, living expenses, or the cost of travel or lodging for any required in-person events. 4, It is always the responsibility of the student to ensure their academic program will meet the requirements for licensure in the state where they wish to be licensed; check with your state’s licensing board before choosing a program and remain up-to-date as state requirements change. 5, States typically require hours of supervised experience in a clinic setting as part of the graduate degree; the schools also have this requirement, and offer varying levels of assistance in locating placements. 6, And of course, requirements and costs can change quickly; the information here is as of December 2012, and you should check with the schools for current information.

  • Touro University Worldwide is based in Woodland Hills, CA and has been rapidly growing their Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program. Part of this is due to cost; at $500 per unit, Touro’s program is less expensive than some of their competitors. Their 60-semester-unit program is delivered in eight-week terms (six of them per year). This program is fully online.

  • Northcentral University is widely considered a pioneer in online MFT education. Members of their faculty have spoken at past AAMFT Annual Conferences about their efforts to comply with COAMFTE standards [Update 2013: Northcentral is now COAMFTE-accredited]; it looks to me like they do so by utilizing site supervisors as co-instructors with university mentors for the practicum courses, which would then be considered in-person instruction. The Northcentral MA in MFT program is a 45-semester-unit program that can be bumped to 48 or 60 units for those living in states requiring more units for licensure. They also offer a PhD in MFT that requires an additional 72 semester units.

  • Capella University offers a Master of Science degree in Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy. They have quickly grown this program to national prominence and notably earned CACREP accreditation. To their credit, they list cost information plainly and prominently on their site: Their 92-quarter-unit degree, at $458 per credit, will run about $40,000 in total tuition. The program requires two six-day colloquia in to accompany the online instruction. Like many online schools, Capella is for-profit, which may or may not matter to you. (I’ll do a separate post in the next few months on non-profit versus for-profit schools.)

  • Liberty University promises an affordable online MFT masters degree with a Christian perspective. They advertise themselves as the nation’s largest private, nonprofit online university. Their MFT program requires four one-week intensives to accompany the online instruction. Unfortunately, the information on their web site is surprisingly thin — I could not locate a program plan (curriculum) or specific cost information anywhere on their site.

  • Cal Southern University offers a Marriage and Family Therapy concentration within its Master of Arts in Psychology program. This 63-semester-unit program is entirely online.

There are other online programs out there as well, I’m sure. Feel free to share info on them in the comments, and I’ll update this post every once in a while with more recent additions.

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Your comments are welcomed; you can email me at ben[at]bencaldwell[dot]com, post a comment below, or find me on Twitter @bcmft. I regret that I cannot answer every comment personally, but I do chime in on the comments when I can!

Iowa State MFT program closing; Saint Louis U. may do the same

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While some family therapy graduate programs fight to survive, others open or expand.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Abandoned 4The Iowa State Daily is reporting on the pending closure of the university’s marriage and family therapy program and associated clinic. While there are only four students remaining in the program, the Daily reports that the clinic continues to serve a beneficial role in the community, as one of very few low-cost service providers in mental health.

Meanwhile, the Saint Louis Beacon is reporting that Saint Louis University’s COAMFTE-accredited MFT PhD program could stop accepting new students as early as next year, with plans to close completely in 2015. A document the newspaper described as a “draft memo” circulated to a faculty retreat outlined the proposed changes, which would also include the shuttering of several other programs. The university responded to the newspaper by saying the recommendations were preliminary, and faculty would have the opportunity to respond to them before final decisions are made by the university’s board of trustees. Last week, the Beacon reported that the trustees took no immediate action, which could leave the door open for the targeted programs to survive.

If both MFT programs do ultimately close (and the Iowa State closing appears certain, while Saint Louis is more in the air), they would join a small but significant list of MFT program closures in recent years. Although accreditation in MFT is growing, with more than 100 programs around the country now COAMFTE accredited (hey Californians, COAMFTE accreditation matters), even these programs are sometimes threatened with closure. Last year, the University of Nevada Las Vegas threatened to close its MFT program, though the program survived after a reorganization.

Saint Louis and Iowa State would make at least the third and fourth closures of COAMFTE-accredited MFT graduate programs in recent years. Syracuse and Purdue both shuttered their MFT doctoral programs, though both continue to have strong masters degree programs. In addition, the MS in Clinical Psychology program at San Jose State University, which was not COAMFTE-accredited but had been producing graduates headed for MFT licensure, is on at least a two-year hiatus. According to its web site, the program will reopen as an LPCC program if it reopens at all.

It would be a mistake, though, to presume that means that opportunities for high-quality education in MFT are decreasing. As I mentioned above, COAMFTE accreditation is growing, and as some programs close, others open or expand. Alliant International University (where I teach) will be expanding its COAMFTE-accredited PsyD program in Couple and Family Therapy to my beautiful new hometown of Los Angeles this fall.

UNLV’s MFT program will survive

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This post was originally posted on June 5, 2010 under the headline “UNLV MFT program to close.” The original post follows. It is updated below. -bc

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that the state’s Board of Regents has approved the closing of UNLV’s marriage and family therapy program. The decision was based on state budget cuts, which also have forced the closing of five other UNLV programs. This appears to be the first COAMFTE-accredited program to be shuttered due to state budget cuts.

Update 7-17-2010: As noted in the comments, the program has been saved thanks to some thoughtful maneuvering by its faculty. Though the MFT program will no longer have its own department, the program will continue under a new administrative structure. This is wonderful news to students, faculty, and colleagues alike. The UNLV program is the only COAMFTE-accredited program in the state and is vital to the region.