How to Be an Effective Marriage & Family Therapist

Help families stay healthy and happy while taking care of yourself and you'll be the most effective therapist on the block.

Destructive kids. Damaged marriages. Drug use. Elder abuse. The list grows, yet mental health budgets continue to be slashed. If becoming a marriage and family counselor tops your career-goal list, you're to be congratulated and held in high esteem, for you'll face unprecedented challenges on the road to mending souls. Keep that thought at the forefront of your brain as you help marriages and families survive in these complex times.

Things You'll Need

• Training
• Internship
• Therapy job
• Certification

Instructions

1. Load your university schedule with behavioral and social sciences. Look outside the College of Arts and Sciences for electives exclusive to the School of Social Work and guidance and counseling programs administered by the College of Education. Go directly from undergraduate school to a master's program if you can afford to do so, as your effectiveness as a marriage and family counselor may rest on the theories and practices you learn while pursuing an advanced degree.

2. Obtain an internship with an agency focused on family counseling to experience firsthand how effective marriage and family counselors go about myriad types of therapy. Explore target-group therapy: youngsters, teens, adults and seniors. Decide whether being a generalist or a specialist in, for example, marriage counseling has the potential to make you a more effective practitioner than counseling a variety of ages and stages.

3. Use your first job to learn the ins and outs of hands-on marriage and family counseling by ministering to clients with specialized needs. Add in-service seminars and workshops in areas such as helping parents cope with addicted kids, dealing with those who have Alzheimer's disease and other such topics to expand your competencies.

4. Learn the ins and outs of running group therapy sessions to understand how group dynamics change a counseling environment. Increase your effectiveness by conceiving and organizing marriage retreats, mother and child communication workshops and teen peer groups that offer a safe environment in which kids can learn to handle volatile situations.

5. Become proficient at treating the whole patient or family rather than the catastrophic events that precipitate your intervention. Increase your effectiveness as a marriage and family therapist by adding relationship-building assessments and activities to your therapeutic repertoire to help clients confront emotional, physical and spiritual challenges.

6. Keep your psyche balanced and healthy. Seek therapy if client problems weigh so heavily on your mind that you can't let go. Sort out situations that push your personal buttons to help you evolve into the most effective marriage and family counselor you can be. Give yourself plenty of recreational and social time to even out the stress you experience during your counseling duties.

7. Become a certified marriage and family therapist. Take classes from certifying bodies and pass the examination that allows you to use your new credentials on your business cards, letterhead and other practice-related items. Affiliate with professional groups dedicated to supporting marriage and family therapists. Cement your position as a leader in marriage and family relationship counseling by conducting workshops on issues that plague today's family. Expect these workshops to attract new clients.

References

• Marriage Quest: Marriage Counseling Model
• U.S. Government: Jobs in Counseling
• No Problem Marriage Counseling: Marriage Retreat

Resources

• All Psychology Schools: Social Worker Programs
• Education Portal: How to Become a Social Worker