Course Descriptions

The social context of contemporary issues facing families. Includes family history, cross-cultural issues, research and theory regarding changing gender roles, family violence and abuse, divorce, single parenting, work families, sexual orientation, non-traditional families, and other relevant issues.

MFTH 6800: Orientation to MFT Practice and Ethics (3 credits).

Introduces students to the basic epistemological issues in marriage and family therapy, history of the field and current developments, professional socialization and organizations, ethics and values associated with the practice of MFT. Self-awareness critical to practice is also addressed. 

Prerequisite: Orientation to MFT or Sociology in Applied Settings
An in-depth study of the sensitivities needed by family therapists and other social science practitioners to the issues of social class, gender, and ethnicity. Addresses the interface between professional responsibilities and ethics and the social and political context of treatment. A multi-cultural perspective is to be developed by each student.

Prerequisite: MFTH 6800 
An in-depth study of family systems theory. Emphasis on the major schools of thought included in a systems analysis of the family and current issues and ideas within family systems discourse.

Pre or Co-requisite: MFTH 7101
A review of the various intervention techniques employed by the major theoretical approaches to MFT. Emphasis on skill development, video and role-play demonstrations, and linking practice and theory with appropriate treatment goals.

Prerequisite: MFTH 7102 and clinical experience.
A series of seminars that allow students to develop in-depth understanding of at least two theoretical approaches to MFT. Examples of offerings include structural/strategic, family of origin, narrative/constructivism, and solution-oriented.

Prerequisite: a statistics course
Quantitative and qualitative methods for research design and data analysis in marriage and family therapy. Emphasis on current outcome and process studies and on critical evaluation and application of research data.

Prerequisite: MFTH 6800
Legal responsibilities and liabilities in the practice of family therapy. Addresses issues such as limits to confidentiality, therapist liability, and client privilege. Includes working with the legal system and relevant aspects of family law.

Prerequisite: MFTH 6800
Psychological, biological, and medical issues in the practice of MFT and an introduction to pharmacology. Emphasis on DSM IV diagnosis within a systemic context and collaboration with other mental health professionals.

Human growth and development within the family system. Includes theories of individual development, developmental tasks over the family life cycle, normative and non-normative change, processes of divorce and remarriage, and social, economic, and ethnic influences on the family life cycle. Implications for practice are emphasized. Cross-listed with SOCI 7500.

Prerequisite: MFTH 7102
Applications of family systems approaches to the treatment of issues facing families in crisis and transition. Addresses grief and loss, substance abuse, family violence and abuse, child and adolescent behavioral problems, and chronic physical and mental illness. Emphasis on conceptualization and treatment planning.

Prerequisite: MFTH 7102
Treatment techniques for intimate relationships. Emphasis on premarital and commitment issues, anger and conflict, gender and intimacy, and techniques for treating sexual dysfunctions.

Prerequisites: MFTH 7101 & MFTH 7500
How to assess family processes within a developmental context. Models for assessing family functioning and use of individual and family assessment instruments will be included.

MFTH 7880: Professional Ethics Seminar (1 credit).

  Prerequisite: MFTH 7102 and approval of the MFT faculty.
Supervised experience in the practice of marriage and family therapy. Includes practice and live supervision at the Marriage and Family Therapy Training Clinic as well as experience in community placements. Requires a minimum of 20 hours per week. Must be taken three successive semesters for a total of 500 hours direct client contact.

Electives

*Other elective courses may be approved on an individual basis

The cultural, social, physical, psychological, and interpersonal aspects of human sexuality and gender. Includes gender role socialization and the development of gendered identities, sexual functioning and attraction, sexual orientation, and problems related to sex and gender.

Understanding normative and catastrophic stress, trauma, and crisis across the lifespan from a family systems perspective. Focus on approaches to prevention and intervention with families, agencies, and communities.

A rotating series of seminars addressing important contemporary issues in the field of marriage and family therapy. Examples of topics include working with children, working with adolescents, spirituality, family violence, and substance abuse.

Evaluation of social statistics and data management for applied research problems. Students will gain skills in determining which statistics to use for particular research problems and designs, which statistics provide the most practical means for reading and interpreting data, and what computer software is available to facilitate data analysis in sociology.

Requires consent of instructor
Specialized study in an area of Marriage and Family Therapy under the direction of a faculty member.

Introduces students to the history and causes of mental illness as well as the language of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. The relationship between mental illness and the major sociological variables, such as social class, race, gender, age, and marital status will be analyzed. Students will evaluate mental illness from the institutional and client points of view.

Supervised experience in the practice of marriage and family therapy in a community placement.

Addresses professional issues in the workplace. Includes marketing oneself, politics in the workplace, professional licensure and clinical membership, working in interdisciplinary teams, professional wellness, and the ethics, values, and decision-making associated with current practice issues.

An advanced study of specific criminal behavior types emphasizing violent offenders, sexual deviants, the anti-social personality, and the criminally insane.

SOCI 6130: Social Gerontology. (3 credits).
Study of the social phenomenon of the aging process, the life cycle, and patterns that include social roles, medicalization of aging and death, and the values, norms, and beliefs related to these phenomenon. Emphasis on the social changes that have occurred as medical technology and science impact on the culture and institutional patterns related to aging and death. Study of the process of dying will include the entire life cycle and new efforts to deal with this complex social phenomenon.