Couple and Family Therapy, MS

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Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage & Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE; www.coamfte.org).

The Couple & Family Therapy Program at Purdue University Northwest prepares students to provide ethical, research-informed, culturally competent relational mental health services to a diverse range of clients. The program trains students to accomplish this mission by embracing a scholar-practitioner model of systemic family therapy training.

Admission Requirements

The CFT Program admits a new cohort of students once per year, in fall semester. Applications for Admission are due in early January of every year. After initial review, selected finalists will be invited to an interview with the faculty, staff, and students of the program. Specific admissions requirements, application packet instructions and links to apply can be found on the Couple & Family Therapy Program web page; www.pnw.edu/couple-family-therapy

Program Requirements

There are 60-63 Credit required to complete the Master of Science in Couple & Family Therapy. As part of your plan of study, and in conjunction with the advisor, students select whether to complete a thesis as part of their graduation requirements. All students must complete a capstone project in their final semester, regardless of thesis selection.

Required Courses

Additional Requirements

500 hours of Direct Client Contact
100 hours of Approved Supervision
Capstone Project and (optional) Thesis

Total 60-63 Credits Required

Additional Information

It is the policy of the Purdue Northwest (PNW) Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) Program to inform prospective and incoming students about the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Profession’s general regulatory structure and practice/licensure requirements.

There are typically 3 general requirements necessary to achieve full licensure as a marriage and family therapist in all states in the United States and provinces in Canada. The first step is to complete the educational requirements outlined by the state/province regulatory body as relevant to education in marriage and family therapy. The educational requirements in the first step are typically comprised of completion of a curriculum, accruing a certain number of client contact hours, and accruing a certain number of supervision hours, all of which occur within the graduate program.

The next two steps occur post-degree, or after graduation from the graduate program. Those interested in seeking full licensure as a marriage and family therapist typically need to complete steps two and three, which involve accruing client contact hours and supervision hours post-degree, as well as passing an exam (written and/or oral) related to knowledge of marriage and family therapy.

Currently, each state has its own MFT regulatory board that oversees these requirements. As a result, the 3 general requirements outlined above frequently differ or vary from state to state. Moreover, each state may modify its requirements at any time.

When you are seeking an education in Couple and Family Therapy at Purdue Northwest, you are working toward completing the first step toward the licensure process; therefore, the CFT Program at PNW assists you in meeting the educational requirements as you work toward licensure.

The PNW CFT Master’s degree Program offers a COAMFTE-accredited onsite educational program that meets the educational requirements for many states. Students should contact the state in which they intend to practices’ licensure board to determine the requirements for licensure. The Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB) has a website that provides information about each state’s licensure requirements, found at: https://amftrb.org/resources/state-licensure-comparison/. Students are encouraged to check the website frequently for changes to licensure requirements.