MA in Clinical Psychology: Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Clinical Counselor
Location: AU Los Angeles
Credits for Degree: 90 quarter credits
Standard Mode of Instruction: Classroom
Standard time to completion: 48 months
Program Overview
In 2009, the Board of Behavioral Sciences in California differentiated Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from Professional Clinical Counseling (PCC) as two distinct licenses that were available to mental health professionals at the master’s level. As such, Antioch University developed the opportunity for students in the MAP-Clinical program who designated the General Practice specialization to take coursework in their general practice elective coursework that would make them eligible for the PCC license in California.
The profession of counseling, governed by the American Counseling Association (ACA), holds a theoretical framework that is slightly different than that of marriage and family therapy. Historically, marriage and family therapists were trained in a diagnosis, medical-focused model (often trained to work in hospitals and clinics), whereas counselors were trained in a developmental, normative-stress model (often trained to work in schools and college counseling centers for people undergoing normative life stressors). After World War II, many counselors and therapists were trained and hired interchangeably to work with the massive increase of individuals needing a wide variety of services, including vocational guidance and job placement as well as comprehensive psychological treatment to aid in their suffering of PTSD symptoms. Thus, MFTs and PCCs are now often working in many of the same locations, although their scope of practice and theoretical framework of training are different. Specifically, PCCs often are focused on:
- normative development across the lifespan (e.g. development throughout adulthood and midlife) at the master’s level; and,
- career counseling theory and career-focused assessment techniques (e.g., development throughout adulthood and midlife) at the master’s level.
Current Tuition and Fees
University Tuition and Fees
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