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MFT Program Philosophy
Valuing difference
The VSU MFT program curriculum and faculty members place a strong emphasis and value on diversity. We feel that mere tolerance of difference is not sufficient—we set a higher standard for our students. We believe that the differences that make up the rainbow of humanity must be embraced and cherished. As Mary Catherine Bateson reminds us, it is contrast—the relationship to “otherness”—that makes learning possible.
We believe that to be successful, MFT’s must have a genuine interest in their clients, possess therapeutic curiosity, be aware of ethical and therapeutic limitations, and be willing to talk openly about anything a client might wish to discuss regardless of age, sex, sexual practices and preferences, religion, race, sexual orientation, physical disadvantage, political leanings, and level of education.
Students learn that problems and attempts to solve problems make sense when viewed through contexts such as age, culture, environment, ethnicity, gender, health, physical ability, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, spirituality, socioeconomic status, and languaged meaning. These give shape and meaning to clients’ lives. That these contexts are embedded in more encompassing cultural contexts of privilege, power, subjugation, and susceptibility is a notion that is infused throughout the entire curriculum. Through coursework, practica, and internships, we emphasize the way these contexts inform human experience and meaning systems, giving rise to multiple perspectives.
Embedding diversity in the curriculum
The relationship between diversity and the variety of dominant cultural discourses such as ageism, classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and gender are woven throughout the fabric of our curriculum. MFT faculty members strive to explore with our students the ways that cultural and institutionalized discrimination are embedded in culture and language, exacerbating the treatment issues that clients present. We also examine the ways that issues of diversity and discrimination shape the context of therapy. By the time students graduate from our program, they are able to situate themselves in the relational web of issues—class, privilege, and disenfranchisement—that are always at work in the therapy room.
Valuing & Creating a Diverse Student Body
In addition to attending to issues of diversity in therapy, the MFT program attends to issues of diversity in the classroom. We work hard to assemble a diverse student body. We have students who are grandparents and students who have not yet begun to build families. We have students who are well traveled and those who have not strayed far from home. We have students who are active in religious communities and those who do not claim a faith. We have gay and straight students. Some of our students are affluent students; others keep their cars together with hope and bailing twine! We have students in their early 60’s, who have owned businesses, raised families, and returned to school for a second career and students in their early 20’s, who have traveled straight from high school through undergraduate school to our program. The complex ways that students bring diversity to the classroom is intrinsically immeasurable.
Four important areas that the MFT Program emphasizes
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