How to become a Marriage and Family Therapist

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health practitioners who focus on mental health issues in the context of personal relationships, particularly within marriage and family systems. They are committed to facilitating harmonious relationships between family members/ married couples. Trained in the field of psychotherapy, they address issues such as disagreements regarding child-rearing decisions, mental illnesses, substance abuse, stress. They aim to stabilize the home environment and guide the clients through crises.

They may include the client’s family members through group sessions or with the individual on a one-on-one basis, depending upon the circumstances and the nature of the problem. The main focus of the MFT is to assist their client/s to build and maintain healthy relationships with their spouse/ families. They do so by evaluating patterns of interaction between the client and their spouse/family members, and further assisting them to modify their behaviours and thoughts to aid more effective, purposeful channels of communication.

A Marriage and Family Therapist shall be tasked with the following responsibilities as a part of their job:

• Encourage the client to open about their problems, emotions, experiences 
• Gather comprehensive information for a thorough case history, including the clients’ perceptions about the issue and their relationships through testing, observations, interviews
• Confer and collaborate with other professionals as necessary to assess and in
• Examining the intra-familial functioning, 
• Assist clients through transitions in the context of family/ marital relationships such as divorce, separation
• Investigate the underlying causes of the presenting problem
• Determine the goals of the therapy in collaboration with the client/s and develop treatment plans 
• Help the client/s develop methods of communicating and confronting peacefully, purposefully, and effectively even outside the counselling session in a constructive manner
• Maintain accurate confidential documentation of the case, including case histories, session notes, progress notes, assessment data
• Assist the client to find and avail resources to support their progress
• Organize meetings with the family members or the spouse of the client
• Refer the client/s to other specialists as relevant, including psychiatrists, lawyers, doctors
• Be engaged in efforts for continued professional development by attending seminars, conferences, keeping up-to-date with emerging research

Central to the role of a Marriage and Family Therapist is the ability to create a safe, non-judgmental space that invites the clients to open up about such deeply personal issues regarding their family and/ or spouses. A professional should possess the necessary communication and listening skills to accurately convey empathy, warmth, and a genuine interest to help their clients and lend a patient ear to them.  As with all forms of therapy, one must strictly adhere to the ethical and legal guidelines for practice to ensure the interests of both, themselves and their client. An MFT must be socially perceptive with sharp observation skills to be able to account for the clients’ nonverbal cues to get an insight into their emotions and perceptions.

Meticulous organization skills and time management abilities are a must to effectively function as a therapist. The therapist’s emotional intelligence and psychological strength is crucial, owing to the emotionally demanding nature of the job. They should be able to expertly apply psychological principles and theoretical knowledge to practical problems and develop effective strategies to assist the clients to overcome those problems.

• There is NET (National Educational Test) by UGC for people who want to get into Lectureship and want to teach Marital and Family Therapy at College Level.
• Many organizations prefer Counsellors who have their practicing license from RCI. (Rehabilitation Council of India)

•  Clinical Settings
• Hospitals
• Rehabilitation Centres
• NGO’S
•  Ministries and Government Bodies
• Research Units
• Universities- Private/Government